Speech at NASDAQ Applauds Environmental Benefits of Products MycoBoard™ and MycoFoam™
Troy, NY
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet cited Ecovative Design as one of its investment success stories, in a speech today on the State of Entrepreneurship in the United States. Administrator Contreras-Sweet is the voice of entrepreneurs in President Barack Obama’s Cabinet.
Citing Ecovative’s participation in the SBA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, Administrator Contreras-Sweet highlighted the initial invention of biodegradable packaging that is being used as a substitute for Styrofoam, and the more recent production of products used to make sustainable furniture.
“SBIR helped America find these two innovators in places Wall Street often forgets to look,” Contreras-Sweet said, noting that “Ecovative isn’t based in Silicon Valley. The company is breathing new life into the smallest town in New York, upstate Green lsland. It was once home to a railroad car factory and a Ford parts plant. Gavin McIntyre and his friend made their discovery while studying at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy.”
McIntrye and Contreras-Sweet at the NASDAQ closing bell ceremony
A leading biomaterials company, Ecovative grows high performance, cost-competitive, award-wining products—including MycoBoard™ panels for furniture and construction, MycoFoam™ packaging materials, and other consumer goods—that are healthy, environmentally friendly, and certifiably sustainable.
Ecovative products enable its customers—including Fortune 500 companies, international mills and furniture makers, and boutique interior design shops—to meet their design, production, and delivery needs and to achieve their sustainability goals.
“The Small Business Administration’s SBIR program has been fundamental to Ecovative’s growth, and an invaluable partner every step of the way,” said Ecovative co-founder and Chief Scientist Gavin McIntyre, who attended today’s address at the NASDAQ, in New York City.
“Initial Federal investments in our early high risk research led to commercialization of MycoFoam™, our sustainable packaging that is an environmental friendly replacement for products like Styrofoam,” McIntyre said. “Essential Federal support for the underlying research also helped us bring MycoBoard™ to market, and it is now being used by manufacturers to create healthy furniture, free of toxic resins.”
Through the SBIR program, Ecovative has received Federal funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the US Department of Agriculture, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Ecovative was founded in 2007, and received its first SBIR program related grant in 2008.
In 2013 Ecovative received the SBA’s prestigious Tibbetts Award honoring high-tech small businesses “for the critical role they play in research and development for the government and for their success in driving innovation and creating new jobs.”
In addition to recognizing Ecovative and McIntyre during today’s address, Administrator Contreras-Sweet also highlighted the “visionary” work of Ecovative in an op-ed titled “New York’s Startups Have an Angel In Washington,” published today in Crains New York.
McIntyre also was invited to join in the NASDAQ Closing Bell ceremony featuring the SBA. The ceremony took place at 3:50 p.m. on February 12, 2016, and a livestream can be viewed here: http://business.nasdaq.com/discover/nasdaq-at-times-square
