Campus & Community

Innovation Fund at SyracuseCoE Awards $40,000 to Local Climate Tech Companies

Friday, December 8, 2023, By News Staff

Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems has awarded grants to four New York State companies through its Innovation Fund. Since 2014, the SyracuseCoE Innovation Fund has helped companies overcome barriers to the commercialization of potentially transformative products and technologies.

Open to members of the SyracuseCoE Partner Program, the Innovation Fund offers awards of up to $10,000 to companies working to advance innovations in indoor environmental quality, clean and renewable energy and water resources. The awards for this program are funded through SyracuseCoE Partner Program member company contributions.

This year’s winning projects are:

  • BloomOptix, Utica, NY: $10,000 to build a database and extraction tool for monitoring water quality in areas at risk of harmful algal blooms, making it easier to obtain reliable testing results quickly.
  • EMPEQ, Ithaca, NY: $10,000 to support Fast Site SurveyTM, an AI-powered SaaS product that captures atomic-level equipment data to help customers estimate end of useful life and identify inefficient equipment.
  • M3 Innovation, Syracuse, NY: $10,000 to advance the development of a stadium lighting module that uses laser diodes in place of LED lighting for use in extended throw applications, while improving the speed and reliability of optical communications.
  • TK Fabricate, Syracuse, NY: $10,000 to assist in the manufacturing and installation of the HydroPod XL, a retrofit system that provides heating, cooling, domestic hot water production and balanced ventilation, at a pilot NYSERDA housing site in Phoenix, NY.

“These projects are a win-win for Central New York,” says Jianshun “Jensen” Zhang, SyracuseCoE executive director. “Through the support of the SyracuseCoE Innovation Fund and its Partner Program community, these four companies will advance technical innovations and create economic opportunities that address pressing environmental and energy efficiency challenges.”

Each applicant pitched their project proposal to a group of reviewers. This review panel evaluated each project on the principles of sound engineering, innovation potential, feasibility and expected economic outcomes.

SyracuseCoE extends our sincere appreciation to this round’s review panel, including Linda Dickerson Hartsock of Syracuse University, Hugh Henderson of Owahgena Consulting, Kara Jones of CenterState CEO and The Tech Garden, Scott MacBain of Carrier Corp. and Christopher Neville of Upstate Medical University.

Since the program’s inception, SyracuseCoE has supported over 60 Innovation Fund projects, totaling nearly $640,000 in award funding. To learn more about the SyracuseCoE Partner Program or upcoming Innovation Fund opportunities, visit our Partners page or contact Tammy Rosanio at tlrosani@syr.edu.