ALBANY, N.Y. — Clients of the CNY Biotech Accelerator in Syracuse and the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator in Binghamton, along with a project at Cornell University, have secured manufacturing grants.

The nonprofit FuzeHub, which is based in Albany, issued nine grants totaling $450,000 with money through the Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund. All projects were allocated about $50,000 each. 

FuzeHub says it provides small to medium-sized manufacturers with “guided access to an extensive network of industry experts, programs and resources to solve business growth challenges.”

“Stronger domestic production supports a more resilient economy,” Elena Garuc, executive director at FuzeHub, said in a July 5 announcement. “During this round of Manufacturing Grants, many of the projects that were selected involved advanced materials. As awardees work to solve technical challenges, they’re also supporting the onshoring of production, which is crucial for supply chain resiliency, especially in these post-pandemic times.”

The Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund, offering $1 million annually, supports a set of activities designed to spur technology development and commercialization across New York state. FuzeHub is administering this fund as part of its role as the Empire State Development (ESD)-designated statewide MEP (manufacturing extension partnership) center.

The Innovation Fund is made possible through funding from ESD’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR). FuzeHub in 2022 received additional funding from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), supporting additional awards benefiting startup companies, the nonprofit said.

Project descriptions

CathBuddy, Inc. is a client within the state-certified business incubator, CNY Biotech Accelerator (CNYBAC), which is part of Upstate Medical University. 

With the $50,000 FuzeHub grant, this project will enable CathBuddy to identify New York–based contract manufacturers for the Aurie reusable system, a novel portable catheter-disinfection device to “increase reprocessor prototype readiness,” per a FuzeHub description.

The Aurie reusable catheter system helps 600,000 intermittent catheter users in the U.S. to automatically clean, disinfect, and lubricate their catheters between uses with the help of tap water and pre-packaged cleaning supplies.

In another project receiving a $50,000 FuzeHub grant, researchers at Cornell University are partnering with ceramic 3D printing company Lithoz America and energy startup Dimensional Energy (DE) to develop new, advanced printable ceramics that are better able to withstand the challenging operating environments of clean-energy reactors. 

FuzeHub also awarded $50,000 in funding to KLAW Industries, which has operations at the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator in Binghamton.

For the past 40 years, New York’s recycled glass has been sent to landfills due to high contamination and the lack of an end market. KLAW Industries has developed a process to use this waste glass as a raw material to create Pantheon, a cement replacement for concrete, to decarbonize the construction industry. 

Working with the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator, and its Southern Tier Clean Energy Incubator program, the proposed project will scale KLAW Industries’ logistics system to pick up waste glass from potential environmental-justice areas around New York and deploy Pantheon into the Southern Tier concrete market.