OSU in Business

By Sidney Reilly

SciShort_2-12-15Since its inception just a few years ago, the OSU Advantage Accelerator, a sort of business incubator for startup companies with big goals, has already aided in the launch of 21 successful companies. Five of those were just added to the list this past year after completing the program and unleashing themselves on the market.

The Accelerator program acts as a boot camp for young businesses, giving them an opportunity to build their business plan, court investors, strategize for the future, and do it all with the help and backing of university minds.

The companies that just completed the program are: NRGIndependence, an energy storage solutions firm; KW Associates, creators of “arc position sensing” which will increase metals industry efficiency; Bosky Optics, an eyewear company; TAPS, a chemical company that deals with stainless steel surface modification; and Baker Seed Technologies, an environmentally friendly grass seed coating company.

“We believe our technology is going to be a game-changer in the billion-dollar battery market,” said Alexander Bistrika, CEO of NRGIndependence in a press release, underscoring the major achievement.

One of the Advantage Accelerator’s major aims is to bring OSU creations to consumers, and it acts as a high-speed bridge that helps creations born out of OSU research get to the marketplace with as little friction as possible. The Accelerator is one of the big reasons behind OSU’s growing economic footprint. They plan to have five new startups completing the program per year by 2017, meaning things are just getting warmed up for the ambitious group.

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