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Print Edition StoriesFriday, July 31, 2009
Emerging Technologies
Peddling and pedaling emerging technologies
By James Connolly
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MHT's Efrain Viscarolasaga: Tech companies may have to wait for stimulus funds
MHT's Galen Moore: Service allows customers to pay taxi via cell phone
From niche to mass market, entrepreneurs have continued to draw ideas from work in labs and from the back of their brains during the recession.
A sampling of tech companies launched in the past two years and listed in Mass High Tech’s New England Technology Directory provides a flavor for today’s emerging technologies. Some of these companies have been profiled in MHT and on www.masshightech.com.
No surprise to most people, robotics remains hot. Still in stealth mode, but noteworthy, is the new effort by iRobot Corp. co-founder Helen Greiner, The Droid Works, which received a $100,000 National Science Foundation grant in June.
Other robotics initiatives include Focus Robotics out of Hudson, N.H., which makes stereo vision-based sensing devices. Focus says, “Our technology enables customers to measure, identify, track and visualize objects in the environment with incredible speed and accuracy.” Meanwhile Rep Invariant Systems Inc. of Cambridge develops robotics-related software.
On the medical side, Heartlander Surgical Inc. of Westwood has developed a robotic instrument for minimally-invasive heart surgery.
In information technology, startups continue to focus on the importance of storing and protecting the massive amounts of data being generated by businesses and consumers. Newcomers to the storage scene include Weston-based Actifio Inc., started by storage veteran Ash Ashutosh. Still pretty much in stealth, Actifio raised $4 million earlier this month.
Also acting mostly in stealth is Greenbytes Inc. in Ashtaway, R.I., which says, “Field trials of a new generation of de-duplication appliances under development since 2007 are scheduled to conclude this summer.”
Two other startups in the storage space are Capital Vault Inc., which lists a postal box at the Massachusetts State House as its address and offers online backup and business continuity, and MacLeathe Preservation Group of Westminster, offering disaster recovery services.
In the clean-tech sector, Catalyte in Arlington says its is developing technology to generate electricity “without carbon dioxide exhaust.” Boston-based Genasun LLC is building components and controllers for solar power systems, while Coneco Geothermal Systems LLC in Bridgewater is a unit of environmental consultancy Coneco Engineers and Scientists Inc., providing turnkey geothermal heating, cooling and hot water systems.
Then there are the offbeat applications of technology. Levant Power Corp. in Boston has developed a vehicle system that leverages wasted energy in a suspension system to generate power, while Pickup Zone LLC, also in Boston, helps convenience stores and other retail businesses to track shipments. Pubget Inc. in Chestnut Hill has built a search engine, now in beta, designed to search PDF files in life sciences, and says it has indexed 20 million documents so far. That technology is being brought to market through the collaboration of a physician, Ramy Arnaout, and a former Lotus Notes developer, Ian Connor.
Finally, there are the technologies that make you go “hmmm.” Top of the list is the work of Global Cycle Solutions in Cambridge, a finalist in the MIT $100K competition and co-founded by a team of current and former MIT folks from both the engineering and business sides of the school. They include serial entrepreneur Semyon Dukach. Global Cycle Solutions is building bicycle-powered peripherals such as a corn sheller, a grain grinder and a cell phone charger for use in developing nations.
On its website the company says, “Our mission is to leverage a worldwide market of over 1 billion bicycles as a driver of innovation and affordable energy. We hope to enable micro-entrepreneurs to bring the service of pedal-powered devices to their communities to meet an extensive range of needs from agricultural food processing to home appliances to battery charging.”
jconnolly@masshightech.com | 617-316-3274
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