WORCESTER, Mass. June 20, 2007 The founder of a biomedical company that has developed a polymer technology for treating bone defects has won the 2007 Kalenian Award from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). Albert G. Prescott II, a 1990 WPI graduate and president of Crescent Innovations in Worcester, will receive $25,000 to help further development and commercialization of the novel technology.
The Kalenian Award was established in 2006 by Alba Kalenian in memory of her late husband, inventor Aram Kalenian '33. Its purpose is to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship among WPI students, faculty, and alumni by providing seed funds to advance their ideas. Alba Kalenian says her husband believed "the highest and best use of a WPI education is to invent, and patent, then create an invention-based business and employ."
This award funds a single viable invention each year. Proposals are reviewed by Paul Kalenian, son of Aram and Alba, and McRae Banks, head of WPI's Department of Management and director of the university's Collaborative for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The winner is selected based on the novelty of the invention, as well as its commercial potential and the likelihood of its success. The seed funds are designed to help recipient move their inventions toward commercialization.
Crescent Innovations Inc. was founded in 2000 to develop products to treat TMJ (temporomandibular joint) disorders, degenerative joint disease, bone disease, fractures, and more, using proprietary polymer technology. These state-of-the-art polymers are used to treat chronic and acute pain, along with controlled release/drug delivery products. The company has received a Phase I SBIR grant from the National Institutes of Health, and has worked with Fortune 500 companies.
"I cannot emphasize enough how important this award is to us at Crescent Innovations," Prescott says. "The technology we are developing to treat bone defects will ulti
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Contact: Michael Dorsey
mwdorsey@wpi.edu
508-831-5609
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
20-Jun-2007