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September 4th, 2007
GOV. BLAGOJEVICH ANNOUNCES $190,000 IN GRANTS TO HELP FOUR HIGH-GROWTH, TECH-BASED FIRMS ADVANCE COMMERCIALIZATION EFFORTS IN THE CHICAGOLAND AREA
CHICAGO – In his continuing efforts to support technology-driven enterprises, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich today announced $190,000 in Opportunity Returns grants to four Chicagoland technology-based firms to help these companies advance commercialization efforts and grow their businesses. American BioOptics in Evanston, MicroLink Devices in Niles, QuesTek Innovations in Evanston and Advanced Diamond Technologies in Romeoville all received funding through the federally-administered Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) program, which these dollars helped to match. This support comes as a part of Opportunity Returns, the Governor’s pro-active, comprehensive economic development strategy designed to create even more jobs and spur continued growth throughout the region.
“Illinois is filled with world-class research and promising new technologies, but, in order to successfully translate this research into viable ventures, companies need access to the critical dollars to get there. By investing in innovative, high-growth companies like these four Chicagoland firms, we are helping them leverage vital federal contracts that will turn cutting-edge research into successful new products. We will continue creating a business environment that encourages innovation, so emerging firms can access the resources they need to build their businesses and create even more high-paying jobs,” Gov. Blagojevich said.
This funding comes from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s (DCEO) Innovation Challenge Matching Grant program, which is designed to help companies across various technology sectors tap into federal contracts, like the Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, to develop technologies that can lead to commercial products. The Governor committed $1 million toward this program, which provides an up to 50 percent match on federal funding to assist with technology development and commercialization efforts.
MicroLink Devices, a Niles-based ISO-9001 semiconductor manufacturing company providing specialized high performance GaAs (gallium arsenide) based semiconductors, is receiving a $50,000 grant to develop a low-cost manufacturing process for high efficiency and high specific power solar array technology. The high performance GaAs based semiconductors are currently being used as power amplifiers in cellular phones and RF (radio frequency) test equipment. MicroLink has developed state-of-the-art gallium arsenide based semiconductors for RF amplifiers with the highest efficiency and reliability performance. As part of the Phase I SBIR, this technology will be extended to provide high conversion efficiency and cost effective solar cells for terrestrial concentrator systems in addition to high specific power density for space applications. This project is expected to create two new jobs and retain three others.
More from the Illinois DCEO Press Release.