FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 21, 2007
For more information contact:

Eugene (Gene) Watson, Program Manager
Wyoming SBIR/STTR Initiative (WSSI)
Phone: 307-742-7162, Cell: 307-760-0456
Web site: www.uwyo.edu/sbir

Karin Guernsey, Elk Mountain Herbs
214 Ord Street
Laramie, WY 82070
Phone: 307.742.0404

Eliot Case, Panamax35
612 Harmony Lane
Cheyenne, WY 82009
Phone: 307.637.8900

Cheyenne and Laramie firms score SBIR Phase 0 awards

CHEYENNE – Two southeast Wyoming-based firms received $5,000 awards for their work in technology innovation through the Wyoming Business Council and the Wyoming SBIR/SBTTR Initiative.

The SBIR Phase 0 Program helps Wyoming companies develop competitive proposals for the federal SBIR and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. The SBIR Phase 0 program is a project of the Wyoming SBIR/STTR Initiative (WSSI). The WSSI initiative is funded by the Wyoming Business Council and gives out $120,000 in Phase 0 awards each year.

The award earned by Cheyenne-based Panamax35 will assist in building a team of specialists to prepare a federal award proposal to the Missile Defense Agency. The Missile Defense Agency is seeking innovative new designs for portable and inexpensive phased-array antenna systems for detection of ballistic missiles. Phased-array antennas allow the entire sky to be scanned electronically without a requirement for the moving parts needed in customary rotating radar antennas.

Elk Mountain Herbs award-winning proposal focuses on developing a production technology for improving manufacturing yields on alternative and specialty crops that address the growing niche market for herbal supplements. Elk Mountain Herbs, started in Laramie, Wyoming in 1994, manufactures herbal products from Wyoming medicinal plants.

Elk Mountain Herbs, Inc., President, Karin Guernsey, noted that “The Phase 0 program has been a tremendous opportunity for our company to explore new technologies that can improve our production capabilities.”

The federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs make up the WSSI alliance and provide more than $2 billion annually in Research and Development (R&D) awards and contracts to qualified small businesses.

Eleven federal agencies are required by law to provide these funds by setting aside 2.5 percent of their annual extra-mural research and development budgets for use exclusively by U.S. small businesses for new product R&D. Hence, these programs provide a unique source of start-up and seed capital for small businesses to develop new innovative product concepts.

The mission of the Wyoming Business Council is to facilitate the economic growth of Wyoming. For more information, please visit the Web site at www.wyomingbusiness.org.

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