Small business, big stage: NSF-funded start-ups at CES 2016

Science Nation

The familiar phrase "wearing your heart on your sleeve" took on a whole new meaning during the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Wearable health tracking devices broke into full stride and some of them got a head start from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Nearly two dozen NSF-funded small businesses were among the companies giving consumers a sneak peek at pre-market technologies, which go beyond health tech to feature robotics, virtual reality, sensors and more in an area of CES known as Eureka Park. NSF co-founded Eureka Park in 2012 to showcase early stage technology. "Our program funds small businesses, mainly start-ups that are developing game-changing technologies that have a big commercial upside -- they could add jobs, boost the economy and help maintain the U.S. technological edge worldwide," says Steven Konsek, a program director for NSF's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. "Nearly all the NSF-funded companies at CES have gone on to raise private capital, in part because of our work with them." Those companies include femtoScale, a Denver start-up that is developing a portable and eventually wearable sensor to provide real time readings of air quality; San Jose, California-based Stratio, Inc., which has shrunk a spectrometer down to palm size so you can inspect your own food and medicine; Aventusoft, LLC of Boca Raton, Florida, which is developing a wearable heart monitor and electrocardiogram; and Salt Lake City-based Veristride, a company using sensors in insoles to provide real-time biomechanics. The SBIR program is under the Industrial Innovation and Partnerships division of the NSF Directorate for Engineering.