Mesdi Systems specializes in the production and implementation of advanced spray equipment used to manufacture nano-materials and ultra-thin coatings.

The agreement gives Mesdi the tools it needs to scale-up its proprietary equipment that is currently being implemented to manufacture next-generation lithium-ion batteries.

鈥淢esdi is a clear example of the benefits of helping our student entrepreneurs enter the marketplace,鈥� said Svetlana Shtrom, .

The company is now in position to dominate the world market in the production of large-area electrospray coating equipment that can be used to lower the manufacturing cost of high-technology products such as lithium-ion batteries, solar panels, fuel cells, and energy efficient glass. The spray technology can also improve the quality of medical products such as pharmaceuticals.

Mesdi鈥檚 Chief Technology Officer, Brandon Lojewski, co-developed the idea for Mesdi while working on the spray technology as a research assistant in Weiwei Deng鈥檚 Droplet and Energy Lab. Lojewski realized the great potential for this technology in large-scale industrial applications and formed Mesdi by winning a $10,000 award in the inaugural Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored Megawatt Ventures competition.

Lojewski explained, 鈥淚 am very fortunate to have the resources provided by and . Being a 麻豆原创 student and an entrepreneur allowed me to leverage assistance with company formation, venture pitch coaching, document preparation, and introductions to a network of professional start-up mentors. The relationships with these mentors led to building the Mesdi executive team and has moved the company forward in many aspects.鈥�

Mesdi went on to win $100,000 in the DOE National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition last year and has recently opened a manufacturing center in Brevard County.

Since the license was signed, Mesdi initiated a strategic partnership with a key player in the field of energy storage. It is Mesdi’s goal to manufacture key materials and components in next-generation energy storage devices such as lithium-ion batteries and super-capacitors. Future plans for Mesdi are to implement advanced spray processes for nanotechnology and advanced materials in a wide variety of medical, industrial and energy applications.

Those efforts begin with the outstanding work that faculty members and students conduct in university research labs, M.J. Soileau, vice president for Research and Commercialization, told the Board of Trustees on Thursday during its November meeting.

鈥淥ur faculty and students do research with national and international impact,鈥� Soileau said.

Among 麻豆原创鈥檚 many success stories that were recognized for their innovation and impact:

麻豆原创 researchers are national leaders for the impact of their patents. The university ranks third among U.S. universities in the latest patent impact rankings from IEEE, the world鈥檚 leading association for the advancement of technology.

The Venture Lab helps entrepreneurs vet ideas for new companies and conduct market research, enabling them to develop business plans with high growth potential.

麻豆原创鈥檚 Business Incubation Program develops homegrown companies that succeed at very high rates and remain loyal to their communities. Services include shared conference space, mentoring and flexible leases that allow companies to add or subtract space as needed. Clients of the program accounted for more than 2,700 direct and indirect jobs in the region in 2009.

GrowFL, a program administered by 麻豆原创鈥檚 Economic Gardening Institute, helps businesses that have grown beyond the incubation stage. GrowFL, which offers services that include CEO roundtables and mentoring, has helped more than 300 Florida companies create more than 3,200 jobs since 2009.

Also at Thursday鈥檚 Board of Trustees meeting:

Trustees approved a new domestic partner benefits program. Beginning in early 2012, eligible employees with same-sex domestic partners can apply for stipends to help pay for their partners鈥� health care coverage. 麻豆原创鈥檚 program is similar to those offered by other state universities; state law prohibits coverage of domestic partners in universities鈥� traditional health plans. More information about eligibility and how to apply for the stipends will be distributed soon to employees.

President John C. Hitt presented Rick Walsh with a plaque, which recognizes聽the chair emeritus status awarded to him in September. Walsh served as a trustee for 10 years and as the board’s chair for four years.

Trustees also approved the conferral of about 4,700 degrees at fall commencement ceremonies Dec. 15 and 16 at the 麻豆原创 Arena. They also voted to award an honorary doctorate in Public Service to James A. Hinson, whose extensive community involvement includes service as chair of the Dr. P. Phillips Foundation and Dr. Phillips Inc.

Prior to the merger of the two groups, Svetlana Shtrom had been directing the commercial development of life sciences technologies at 麻豆原创鈥檚 . Svetlana brings over 10 years of experience in life sciences and broad expertise in business development and technology management. She holds an MBA from 麻豆原创 and a Ph.D. in cell biology from the University of California at San Francisco.

The Venture Lab鈥檚 former director, Kirstie Chadwick, will continue to work with the Venture Lab, focusing her efforts on enhancing the venture coaching network.

The 麻豆原创 Office of Technology Transfer has been guiding scientists and inventors through the complex patenting and commercialization process for over a decade, overseeing issuance of over 340 patents and formation of more than 20 start-up companies. In 2009, 麻豆原创 ranked third in the nation for the strength and impact of its patents and had moved up from seventh place the previous year in the rankings by IEEE, the world鈥檚 leading association for the advancement of technology.

Since its inception in 2004, the 麻豆原创 has mentored over 150 technology entrepreneurs in business plan development, investor pitch creation, market research, and product/intellectual property validation. Fifty of the entrepreneurs working with the Venture Lab ultimately started a company in Central Florida. The Venture Lab has worked directly with more than 20 麻豆原创 faculty researchers and assisted them in commercial evaluation and fundraising.Together, the Office of Technology Transfer and the Venture Lab will combine their strengths to offer to the 麻豆原创 faculty, staff and students a broad range of research commercialization services including intellectual property management, technology evaluation, market assessment, industry analysis, business plan preparation, fundraising assistance, and management team development.

Dr. Svetlana Shtrom, the newly named director of the merged group is 鈥渢hrilled to lead such a talented and broadly experienced team of specialists.鈥� 鈥淚 am excited to have the opportunity to build on our strengths and to enhance the breadths of the commercialization services we can offer to our faculty, staff, students and local entrepreneurs. Our combined team is energized and looking forward to assisting inventors and entrepreneurs in developing their ideas and guiding them through the business steps that are critical for successful launch and growth of technology companies.鈥�

With over 20 years of experience in the biomedical and electronics field, Mr. Amato was very adequately positioned to identify opportunities for innovation. Currently, a laboratory鈥檚 standard operation procedure for the calibration verification of hematology instruments largely depends on the subjective and independent decisions made by the operators of the hematology instruments.

Such procedures, if not consistent, in each use of the material by every operator, can cause an accelerated cumulative degradation beyond that expected of the material鈥檚 lifetime performance integrity. Though mostly allotted for in the material design, these human-induced degradatory errors cannot entirely be accounted for, allowing for the potential concern that either the QCM vials or the integral systems of the hematology instruments may be at fault should any of the instrument鈥檚 results be unacceptable. The resulting errors can be extremely costly – not only to the hundreds of dollars to discard and replace the limited and specific lot of the questionable QCM vials, but also to the down-time in instrument testing revenue and the overhead troubleshooting costs incurred by lab and instrument repair personnel. More importantly, the patient materials being tested incur inaccuracies and the time between testing and patient results can be greatly elongated. This directly impacts the response time by doctors in responding to patient issues discovered through hematology test results.

Using the patent-pending ViAlert product, these inconsistencies are greatly reduced. This simple innovative device provides for up to three vials of QCM, which are placed in designated wells and then monitored by the ViAlert device to identify ambient room temperature. Once reached, the handler is alerted by a distinctive sound to utilize the QCM and the handler is alerted once again after a specific amount of time has passed indicating that the QCM should be placed back into a refrigerated setting. The ViAlert device provides control and consistency to this necessary and costly testing process and greatly reduced the expenses associated with the testing process.

The was approached in January for product marketing assistance for ViAlert. Since then, with the aid of coach Frank Watts, the Venture Lab has provided sales and marketing strategies and has assisted in discerning the proper methods for bringing a medical diagnostics device to market. Mr. Amato is steadily readying ViAlert for a commercial debut and extends his appreciation to the Venture Lab team for their ongoing assistance with his entrepreneurial venture.

Orange County Government in partnership with the 麻豆原创 Venture Lab hosted a Cleantech Symposium Workshop on February 18 at the 麻豆原创 Executive Development Center, to discuss the creation of a statewide Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS).

The Cleantech Symposium featured experts in Cleantech policy, technology and finance to discuss ways of increasing renewable energy production by creating an RPS for Florida with a special guest appearance by Florida鈥檚 Governor Charlie Crist. Attendees had the opportunity to actively participate in building a consensus on an important issue that will impact Central Florida and the state, with a forum for open dialogue with industry experts.

An RPS is currently being proposed in the Florida Legislature that would require the increased production of energy from renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal. The RPS would create renewable energy production in Florida by requiring utilities to produce a certain percentage of their electricity from renewable sources.

Speakers included Special Guest 鈥� Governor Charlie Crist; industry experts: Dr. Jim Fenton, Director, Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC); Michael Dobson, Founder, President & CEO, Florida Renewable Energy Producers Association; Tommy Boroughs, Partner, Holland & Knight and former Florida Energy Commissioner, FSEC PAB; George Cavros, attorney and counsel for Natural Resources Defense Council & Southern Alliance for Clean Energy; and Jennifer Szaro, Renewable Energy Manager, Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) among other Cleantech experts.

Seventeen recommendations for growing cleantech were presented in a report released on October 7, 2009 by the 麻豆原创 Institute for Economic Competitiveness: Metro Orlando Cleantech 鈥� Assets, Capabilities, Presence & Potential. Seventy percent of people surveyed upon release of this report selected creating a Florida RPS as either their first or second priority for a cleantech symposium.

Orange County is continually asking 鈥淲hat鈥檚 Next鈥� for our economy. Many people believe that cleantech represents the next big wave of innovation and job creation. In 2008, Mayor Richard T. Crotty launched two initiatives to target cleantech economic development鈥攁imed at attracting, creating, and growing the companies the produce the products and provide the services that will allow us and the rest of the world to go green. The first initiative was preparation of the Cleantech Report that identified our assets, capabilities, and potential. The second initiative was a Cleantech Symposium Series that would provide broad-based input into the Cleantech Report.

Transcripts, videos and copies of presentations from the February 18 Cleantech Symposium Workgroup have been posted to the . Stay tuned for the announcement of the next Cleantech Symposium Workshop which will focus on Green Buildings & Ordinances.

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