Researchers & UT Community
PROOF OF CONCEPT AWARDS
Technology Development
The Texas Proof of Concept Awards provide competitive funding for faculty membersor permanent researchers with principal investigator (PI) status to demonstrate the feasibility of their innovations to accelerate the process towards commercialization. We invite you to learn more about the past awardees and consider applying.
Award recipients
Mitchell Pryor
Inspection Robot for Floating Roof Storage Tanks
Synopsis:
In the oil and gas industry, manual inspection of seals in floating roof storage tanks is inaccurate, costly, and dangerous. Inspections are increasingly necessary given our aging infrastructure and desire to minimize the release of fugitive emissions harmful to inspectors and the environment. UT innovators have developed an autonomous robotic solution that performs tank inspections safer, cheaper, faster, and more accurately than traditional, manual methods.
UT Austin Startup:
Pike Robotics
Details
Website
Farshid Alambeigi
4D Imaging System for Early Diagnosis of Colorectal Cancer
Synopsis:
Colon cancer polyps have a high degree of variation in stiffness, morphology, and sizes across patients, making early polyp detection and classification a imperfect when performing a standard colonoscopy. UT engineers and physicians are developing a new four-dimensional AI-enabled imaging system for the early diagnosis of colon cancer using a novel inflatable tactile sensor and complementary artificial intelligence algorithms.
UT Austin Startup:
Details
Website
Alex Demkov
Manufacturing Electro-optic Wafers for Silicon Photonics
Synopsis:
The rapid growth of global internet traffic is driving rapid growth in demand for computing power and data transmission but current silicon photonic technology cannot fully meet the demand. UT physicists have invented a new process that can easily integrate electro-optic material on silicon which can potentially provide a universal platform for next-generation silicon photonics with a 100X increase in modulation efficiency.
UT Austin Startup:
La Luce Cristallina, Inc.
Details
Website
Emily Porter
High-resolution Microwave Stroke Detection and Imaging
Synopsis:
The current standard for assessment of nearly one million strokes in the United States per year occurs when the patient gets to the hospital, using expensive and time-consuming CT and MRI technologies. UT engineers have developed a low-cost, three-dimensional microwave imaging technology that is supported by machine learning for mobile, rapid, stoke triage and assessment. This can save critical time and lives.
UT Austin Startup:
Details
Website
Jessica Ciarla
Sustainable Trimmings for the Fashion Industry
Synopsis:
Roughly 20% of the nearly 400 million tons of plastic produced globally using fossil fuels is for textile fibers and only about 15% of it is recycled. UT inventors are developing non-plastic sustainable trimmings and embellishments, such as sequins, for the fashion industry using compostable polylactic acid.
UT Austin Startup:
Particles of Color
Details
Website
