In the News

As reported by the New Britain Herald, September 30, 2007.

New Idea In Braces Wins Company A Boost of $250G

By Scott Whipple

FARMINGTON - Connecticut Innovations, the state's quasi-public authority responsible for technology investing and innovation development, has provided seed funding of $250,000 to New Ortho Polymers Inc. of Farmington.

New Ortho is the second company helped by the program. Funds will be used to help it develop innovative orthodontic systems making use of "shape memory" polymer technology developed at the University of Connecticut. The systems will make it easier for orthodontists to apply braces, offering patients greater comfort and a more natural look compared with metal-based systems, said Peter Longo, Connecticut Innovation's deputy director.

The company was started by the University of Connecticut's R&D Corp., a for-profit subsidiary of the UConn Foundation that creates businesses based on research by faculty and staff. To date, it has developed four companies. "New Ortho Polymers and other entrepreneurial ventures are vital to the state in so many ways," Gov. M. Jodi Rell said. "They are spawning the next generation of high-tech products and creating high-quality jobs of the future for our citizens."

Rell said these entrepreneurs should continue to be provided with resources - financial and advisory - needed to grow. Programs such as CI's Seed Investment Fund are aimed at helping companies who need this support.

With CI as a collaborator, "We plan to continue our research efforts to bring to market some of the most innovative orthodontic products designed and developed by some of the most renowned scientists in each of their respective fields of study," said Eleanor Tandler, the company's chief executive.