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Success Stories for May 2011

Oct 26, 2011

ViewPlus Technologies, Inc.
Corvallis, OR 97333

The story of ViewPlus Technologies starts with a minor eye operation gone awry. One day in 1988, John A. Gardner was a physics professor at Oregon State University. The next, he was blind.

When he returned to work, he encountered enormous barriers. For one, he could no longer understand graphically displayed data,...

Oct 26, 2011

Balfour Technologies
Bethpage, NY 11714

Highlights: Recipient of 22 SBIR Awards showcases the SBIR program

Founded in 1999 by twin brothers, Robert and Richard Balfour, Balfour Technologies began as a consultancy with expertise in simulation and training. The company’s chief offering was a software program, which they decided to develop...

Oct 25, 2011

Touch Graphics, Inc.
New York, NY 10018

Like many entrepreneurs, Steven Landau studied a field that ended up having nothing to do with the one he ultimately pursued. An architect by training, after graduating from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, he went to work in New York. Here, he “discovered that I really had a bent for invention.” He met up with a professor...

Jul 30, 2011

Wyatt Technology Corporation
Santa Barbara, CA 93117


The success of Wyatt Technologies started with a misdirected phone call.

While cleaning up the pieces of a failed company, founder Dr. Phil Wyatt received a phone call from the Department of Defense. They thought they were calling the old company, also named “Wyatt,” letting him know he’d won a contract award...

Jul 30, 2011

Variation Reduction Solutions, Inc.
Plymouth, MI 48170

With its roots in the automotive industry, VRSI could have faced a fate similar to many Michigan companies when the economic downturn hit in 2007. Instead, VRSI has grown and thrived, thanks in part to the SBIR Program. Innovative leaders at the company had looked to extend beyond...