Local Start-Up Company Receives $25,000 Peoria NEXT Research Grant for Alternative Energy Project
Posted on June 28th, 2006
Peoria, IL – Peoria NEXT is pleased to announce smartenergy ltd. as the grant recipient for the Spring round of the Peoria NEXT Research Grant Program designed to fund seed-stage scientific and technological research in the Peoria region. Smartenergy has received $25,000 for its alternative energy project entitled, Electromagnetic Subsystem Prototyping.
Smartenergy was founded in 2004 to produce a wind-powered system that will provide space heating for homes, supplementing a home’s conventional heating system, while providing an economical, clean renewable energy source that will reduce heating costs. The system has been designed to appeal to homeowners and to comply with residential zoning regulations.
The grant funds allow smartenergy to build and test prototypes of the electromagnetic subsystems of their wind-powered residential space heating system. The project will validate generator design, control systems, and heating system interfacing.
The smartenergy project research team includes smartenergy staff and co-investigators from Bradley University, Caterpillar Inc. and Illinois Central College.
“The Peoria NEXT Research Grant program creates opportunities for academic, corporate and federal researchers, as well as companies like smartenergy to work with a diverse group of people whose experience and expertise may not have been drawn together otherwise,” says Dr. Robert Bolla, Associate Provost for Research & Dean of the Graduate School at Bradley University. “This grant program is key to Peoria NEXT as it will continue to support the discovery, innovation and commercialization of technologies in the region.”
Selection of grant recipients is based on projects that best incorporate inter-institutional collaboration, scientific/technical merit, potential for commercialization, and future access to funding.
Funds for the program were obtained through donations to Peoria NEXT and have been designated to support innovation and the implementation of commercialization in the areas of life science, material science, and engineering. Peoria NEXT Research Grants are awarded up to $25,000 for up to one year on each project.
