The Colorado Economic Development Commission on Thursday took a pause from its usual agenda of providing large incentives packages to big companies hiring hundreds of people to focus on the small.
Commissioners approved $4.6 million in grants to more than two dozen proof-of-concept and early-stage companies across the state under the Advanced Industries Accelerator Grant Program.
Denver-based FractureID, which uses the sounds coming from drill bits to measure geological formations, received $500,000, the largest amount awarded. Grants as small as $50,000 each were awarded to a biotech start-up and a fiber laser lab, both in Boulder County.
The program is designed to keep innovations uncovered at Colorado universities and research labs within the state rather than seeing them sold off and developed elsewhere.
“We are creating Colorado companies with Colorado technologies,” said Denise Brown, one of two commissioners added under the legislation that created the program.
Commissioner Noel Ginsburg, also added to the commission for that reason, said some winners were starting to emerge and suggested adding a provision next year, when the program comes up for renewal, requiring successful recipients to repay their grants.
Approval also was given to three companies under the first round of the Rural Jump-Start program, which offers enhanced incentives to employers working in conjunction with nearby universities and colleges to create jobs in distressed rural areas
Colorado Clear ASW generated the most buzz.
The Palisade start-up has developed a plastic film called Amphora that is recyclable and biodegradable when exposed to microbes in a landfill.
Testing shows plastic containers made from the film break apart after about 13.5 months in a landfill, and they don’t contaminate the recycling stream, said owner Tim Huff.
Huff passed out water bottles made with Amphora, which could go a long way to assuaging the guilt of consumers worried about the environmental impacts their hydration efforts are having.
ProStar Geocorp Inc., a Grand Junction company that helps utilities manage their pipelines using geospatial data, also won approval under Rural Jump-Start. That was on top a $500,000 grant it received under the Advanced Industries Accelerator Grant Program.
The third company approved was TSW Analytical, an investigative laboratory based in Perth, Australia, that wants to set up North American operations in Grand Junction.
The company has tests that can identify the precise origins of food based on their chemical fingerprint, i.e. proving Olathe sweet corn really is from Olathe.
Clear Creek County also asked to be added to the 45 Colorado counties eligible to participate in Rural Jump-Start. The county didn’t qualify initially, but the pending closure of the Henderson Mine near Empire because of depressed molybdenum prices has changed its economic outlook dramatically.
Commissioners also approved spending rebates for two film projects that covered hellish and heavenly topics.
“Gnaw” is a dark metaphorical thriller about a demon that hounds and disassembles a woman, who comes to realize she must face her problems rather than run from them. It was approved for a $100,789 rebate tied to Colorado spending.
A film based on a live musical of “God with Us” that will be staged at the Charis Bible College in Woodland Park received $52,566 in spending rebates.
Brown, however, questioned whether state funds should be used to support projects with a religious message.
“A lot of films have a message,” responded state film commissioner Donald Zuckerman. “We are serving the filmmaking community. We are not into censoring.”
The commission also approved $3.9 million in job-growth incentive tax credits to a Denver-based food processor looking to locate a $160 million research lab in the city that would employ 300 people.
The commission on Thursday also elected J.J. Ament as its new chairman, replacing Colorado Rockies co-owner Dick Monfort.
Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410, asvaldi@denverpost.com or @aldosvaldi
