Wilmington company gets state innovation grant

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A Wilmington company is one of 13 across North Carolina to win a state innovation grant.

Seatox Research Inc. is getting a $50,000 grant from the One North Carolina Small Business Fund to develop a less expensive, faster system for the detection of marine neurotoxins that cause paralytic and shellfish poisoning, thus improving the safety of the nation’s seafood.

In all, the fund awarded $640,448 in grants today.

“These grants will help leverage public investment in research, producing new companies, products and jobs for future generations of North Carolinians,” Gov. Pat McCrory said in a statement. “We want to get research and development to the commercial market.”

One North Carolina Small Business Fund grant recipients must have been awarded a highly competitive federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) award. Federal funders of these awards for this round of grantees include the National Institutes of Health, the US Army, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Aeronautics & Space Administration, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The state matches up to half the federal money, with a $50,000 maximum per grant. The budget for this program is $2.5 million for FY2015.