Importancia de las manualidades en el aprendizaje de los niños

651 Beacon Pkwy W Ste 214 Birmingham, AL 35209 205-945-0098

www.usinfrastructure.com

Interviewee: Ramjee Raghavan, Principle Investigator Time of phone interview: 11:30AM November 29, 2006

Technology: Upflow Filter for Rapid and Effective Treatment of Stormwater Technology Continuum Stage: Stage 6- Diffusion and Utilization

Media: water treatment

EPA program(s): SBIR and ETV

Sources of funding: This project by USInfrastructure, Inc.(USI) was funded by internal

money along with EPA SBIR Phase I funding of $99,926, and Phase II funding of $225,000 (NCER SBIR USI, 2006) (NCER SBIR USI II, 2006).

Regulation involvement: Storm water regulations have positively impacted this

technology. Business owners are being required to investigate the potential of having to treat the runoff from their sites before it enters the drainage system (NCER SBIR USI, 2006). Without these regulations the technology would not be as nearly successful as it is today.

Environmental problem technology solves: Storm water contains a wide variety of

contaminants that are harmful to the environment. These can include heavy metals, such as mercury. Storm water is collected in storm drains that can empty directly into our natural water system untreated. If the storm water enters into ponds or streams untreated, the storm water brings with it all the contaminants.

Environmental impact: Using filters to treat storm water before it enters our natural

water supply would help to mitigate this problem. The contaminants would be filtered out of the storm water and would not reach our water supply. This would in turn keep our water clean and safe to drink.

Summary: One of the researchers working with USI is an expert in this field and had

many contacts in industry. USI attended conferences where some companies were interested. Hydro Compliance was one of these companies that were interested and also a contact. They bought the technology/ patent from USI. Hydro Compliance then came to a selling agreement with Hydro International, an international company trying to grow in the United States. Hydro International gave USI $100K for commercialization

funding, which allowed USI to go through the ETV program. The results for ETV are not officially out as of the interview date, 11-29-06; even though USI began the verification process two years prior. Development was successful. While waiting for

ETV, pilot tests were conducted. Hydro International handled the packaging and marketing of the technology and did a good job of it. The technology is now available for purchase and a large number have been sold.

USI found Foresight helpful and thought they were a good idea for small businesses.

Challenges along the way (at what stage): USI did not have any major challenges along

the way to commercialization. They were in the right place at the right time.

Solutions to the challenges (resources used): N/A

Interviewee’s Suggestions to improve environmental technology commercialization:

Quality Assurance/ Quality Control (QA/QC) is important. It is good that EPA SBIR program requires these, because when a company tries to commercialize their technology after going through the SBIR program it is helpful. QA/QC gives merit to the data produced.

Mr. Raghavan agrees with the Commercialization Option at the end of Phase II being awarded by cash donations instead of in-kind. Cash donations from an outside company show that the SBIR company is serious about commercialization. It also shows that the outside company is invested and will work to help get the technology

commercialized so that they can see a return on their investment. This also makes sure that small businesses do not try to take advantage of the SBIR program by “creating” in- kind donations that may not exist.

Major conclusions: The EPA SBIR program was helpful in developing this technology.

The funding helped provide the resources necessary to develop this technology. The technology was at the right place at the right time. Once USI developed it far enough along, it was passed off to Hydro International who did a good job of marketing and selling the technology.

Nugget of knowledge, interesting fact: Make sure you know your market! You, the

small business should also know when a new set of regulations are coming in and how they will affect the market and consequently your technology.

Mr. Raghavan says “Jim Gallup is an excellent project officer and is running a good program.”

Analysis: QA/QC helped this technology because they were fortunate enough to have

been working on a technology that met a current demand in the market, and therefore had companies willing to assist with development, packaging and marketing. Therefore, they were working with companies that had access to information about what the end

customer wants. The cash requirement also did not affect this company because they were in the right place at the right time with their technology. Companies were pulling this technology out into the marketplace, which made things much easier for USI.

5.0 Summary Analysis

The EPA SBIR program helps to commercialize environmental technologies. These environmental technologies have a variety of different positive effects on human health and the environment. These new and innovative technologies help to prevent, treat, and monitor pollution. The more environmental technologies become

commercialized, the greater the potential impact on the environment. For example, this impact may be the removal of arsenic from our drinking water, or the implementation of a new manufacturing process for an environmentally friendly oxidizing agent. The EPA SBIR program fosters an environment that is conducive to technology development and commercialization in all the areas of the environment.

The information gathering process for this project has been informative and iterative. We began with background research and from there designed an interview plan. This interview plan was used to interview EPA SBIR funded companies. From these interviews we wrote up case studies highlighting what we thought was important to EPA concerning their SBIR program. Analysis of these case studies was then performed to condense the important information down to a few key points. These key points consist of both things EPA is doing right concerning their SBIR program, and where there is room for improvement.