In the wake of the shutdown of one of the area’s most celebrated start-up companies, technology marches on in Peoria.
Firefly Energy may have declared bankruptcy, short-circuiting a vision of the battery of the future, but other start-up companies continue to pursue high-tech dreams.
At the Peoria NEXT Innovation Center, 801 W. Main St., work goes on across a variety of categories, from heart sensors to intelligent water heaters, said executive director Shad Sleeth.
Since opening in summer 2007, the center is a symbol of the high-tech movement in central Illinois, he said. “Outside the walls of an incubator, 90 percent of (start-up) businesses fail in a year. Incubator-bred businesses, on the other hand, are successful 86 percent of the time,” said Sleeth.
One of those start-ups likely headed for success is Endotronix Inc., now based in East Peoria but still engaged in research at the Peoria NEXT facility in conjunction with Validus LLC, an advanced electronic engineering firm.
The Endotronix idea involves a small sensor – about the size of a grain of rice – that is implanted in an artery near the heart, said Harry Rowland, co-founder and vice president of engineering.
With the Endotronix handheld monitor, the sensor would convey vital information for a patient after a heart attack.
“Congestive heart failure is the single largest cost to our medical system – an estimated $37 billion a year,” said Reed Prior, the Endotronix CEO who recently came on board to help market the concept.
“What happens now is that a patient with a heart problem often winds up in hospital multiple times each year (following a heart attack) from fluid buildup and other problems. These patients are admitted to intensive care units where the problem is resolved and the patient is released. All these visits come at a cost,” said Prior.
What Endotronix hopes to provide is a way for patients to monitor their condition themselves, he said. “The (Endotronix) unit is a speedometer for the blood. It gives the patient a warning or even calls the doctor for you. Once the proper medication is prescribed, a costly hospital visit is averted,” said Prior, one of a group of former CEOs who last year formed Mackinaw Bioscience Management LLC in Waltham, Mass., offering on-demand CEO services.
“I do devices. Other partners focus on other issues. Outsourcing is happening more and more when it comes to research projects,” he said.
Prior said several alternatives face a start-up like Endotronix. “One option is that you keep the company and build it yourself. More typically, a company is built to a stage and then sold,” he said.
Endotronix is probably about two years away from hitting the market, said Rowland, adding that the device has been tested in animals and will next be tested on a human patient.
“The First in Man designation is next. It has to be safe to get approval from the Federal Drug Administration,” said Prior.
Endotronix is an example of a concept that has developed through several stages, said Sleeth. “Our goal (at Peoria NEXT) is to help take companies from an idea to a point where they can hire someone like Reed,” he said.
Another company that looks to warm things up on the home front is Intellihot Green Technologies Inc., a start-up with plans to manufacture a high-tech water heater this summer.
Caterpillar Inc. engineers Sivaprasad Akasam and Sridhar Deivasigamani felt so strongly about the high-tech water heater they developed that they quit their jobs to devote full-time attention to the project.
Intellihot has moved quickly since last year, when the concept won the Launch business plan competition sponsored by the East Peoria, Pekin and Peoria Area chambers of commerce, the Peoria NEXT Innovation Center, the Morton Economic Development Council, SCORE, Bradley University’s Turner Center for Entrepreneurship and Bradley’s Technology Commercialization Center.
“Intellihot has gone from proof of concept to a full-blown prototype in one year when companies often take two to five years to achieve that,” said Sleeth.
“We’re looking for manufacturing space. That’s really a big deal for us. It will be the first tankless water heater totally made in the United States. This was designed with the American customer in mind,” said Deivasigamani.
While other waters offer up to 60 percent efficiency, the Intellihot model is 98 percent to 99 percent efficient, he said. Not only does the heater use energy wisely, there’s less water wasted.
“The average male spends six months over a 70-year life span waiting for hot water. The average home water heater wastes 10,000 gallons of water a year,” said Deivasigamani.
Intellihot looks to do something about both the waiting and the waste, he said.
As for the risks involved, both men recognize them. “We’ve been living off our savings. We also appreciate the support from wives and friends,” said Deivasigamani.
The start-up’s road is never easy, said Prior. “If there aren’t failures, there’s something wrong. It means you haven’t taken enough risks,” he said.
Source:http://www.pjstar.com/business/x1563521036/Technology-start-ups-remain-on-the-rise-despite-Fireflys-fizzle
