Peters, Stabenow & Dingell Announce $100,000 for Ypsilanti Small Business
Ecovia Renewables LLC Receives Funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Small Business Innovation Research Program
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow and U.S. Representative Debbie Dingell today announced that Ecovia Renewables LLC has been awarded $100,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The funding will go towards engineering microbial systems that convert the byproducts of industrial crops into valuable materials, such as plastics, in an eco-friendly manner.
“Small businesses are the engines of economic growth and leaders in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship,” said Senator Peters, a member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee. “Ecovia Renewables LLC is conducting important high-tech research on agricultural conservation and sustainability, and I congratulate them on receiving this grant. Thanks to this funding, Ecovia Renewables LLC can continue helping make Michigan a national leader in innovation.”
“When we grow things and make things in Michigan, we create jobs in Michigan,” said Senator Stabenow. “This support is additional recognition of Michigan’s leadership in producing cutting-edge biobased fuels and chemicals. Investments like these help save consumers money, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and create American jobs.”
“Small businesses drive innovation and economic growth in Michigan, and we need to help them succeed,” said Congresswoman Dingell. “Ecovia Renewables LLC is leading the way in developing new technologies that will reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and improve conservation and sustainability. This grant will help them continue to grow, innovate and find solutions to some of the most pressing problems we face.”
Ecovia Renewables LLC was launched in 2014 with a mission of developing and commercializing technologies that enable more efficient, cost-effective routes for producing bio-based chemicals and fuels, utilizing a microbial co-culture platform technology developed at the University of Michigan.
The SBIR program at the USDA offers competitively awarded grants to qualified small businesses to support high quality, advanced concepts research related to important scientific problems and opportunities in agriculture that could lead to significant public benefits. The SBIR program at USDA is administered exclusively by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and awards small businesses based on the scientific and technical merit of investigator initiated ideas.
The objectives of the SBIR Program are to: stimulate technological innovations in the private sector; strengthen the role of small businesses in meeting federal research and development needs; increase private sector commercialization of innovations derived from USDA-supported research and development efforts; and foster and encourage participation by women-owned and socially and economically disadvantaged small business firms in technological innovations.
###
