Alaska seed fund awards prototyping grants to grow Alaskan products and companies.

• Position: BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

In March, the Alaska Seed Fund awarded ten grants to assist Alaskans with prototyping their inventions, launching products, and growing companies in the state.

The Alaska Seed Fund is a collaboration between several nonprofits that assist innovators in Alaska: the Alaska Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Office of Intellectual Property and Commercialization, the Alaska Small Business Development Center at the University of Alaska Anchorage Business Enterprise Institute, and the Launch : Alaska startup accelerator.

With $50,000 in funding from the National Science Foundation, the group launched a competition in December to help Alaskan inventors, creators, and developers fund their prototypes. The top applicant received $20,000 while nine other applicants each received more than $3,000.

"Awards from the Alaska Seed Fund might seem small, but for startups, this capital is oxygen," says Joe Morrison, director of the 49th State Angel Fund. "It's efficient, no-strings funding that helps innovators prove out concepts."

The group received more than seventy submissions for projects that focus on solving problems in fields such as energy, healthcare, drug addiction, cybersecurity, tourism, food security, and more.

"For the organizations running the Seed Fund, this competition is a clearinghouse," explains Adam Krynicki from the Alaska Small Business Development Center. "It gives us the opportunity to learn about entrepreneurs across the state and the obstacles they face. From there, our individual organizations can reach out to them and offer to help."

The following ten projects will receive awards to further develop their products and services in Alaska:

Grand Prize Winner ($20,000)

CognitiveDoc, LLC offers a virtual caregiver service (Carebot) that helps hospital patients improve outcomes after surgery and save money on healthcare. Using mobile phone technology, text messaging, and artificial intelligence algorithms, CognitiveDoc helps patients avoid readmission to the hospital after surgeries like knee and hip replacements, thus improving patient outcomes and potentially saving hospitals millions of dollars in readmission costs.

Kickstart Grant Prize Winners

Here and Now Systems, LLC will provide StepAway, an empirically supported mobile application that helps people "Step Away" from alcohol addiction. The mobile application helps users set a goal and monitor progress through a daily...