Kitware is very busy.
The Clifton Park software development company won 19 federal seed funding grants totaling $8.3 million in 2020 to develop various artificial intelligence and other technologies.
Those projects include a training system that virtually simulates rotator cuff repair surgery. For the U.S. Army, Kitware is developing a helmet-mounted sensor system meant to track hostile projectiles in flight.
Kitware won the largest sum among the 14 Capital Region companies that received $15.2 million in federal seed funding grants in 2020.
The grants are part of the federal Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs. The SBIR program helps small businesses meet the federal government’s research and development needs, while the STTR program helps commercialize technology.
There were a couple of startups that won awards for the first time in 2020.
Achillea Research in Schenectady is developing software that can measure the benefits of deploying more advanced electricity transmission systems. FastWatt in Clifton Park is developing a lighter, more compact version of the device that’s used to convert energy created by wind turbines into usable electricity.
Among the other recipients:
- Senex Biotechnology, based at the Center for Medical Science in Albany, received $1.1 million to develop a treatment for advanced prostate cancer.
- Sunthru in Scotia is developing technology meant to improve the automated process of making aerogel windows.
- Lux Semiconductors is a next-generation circuit board that allows chips to be packed closer together for higher performance and smaller size.
- SMART Pad in Colonie is developing technology that can control microfeatures on the pads used to polish semiconductor wafers, leading to better polishing results.
