The University of Iowa Office of the Vice President for Research and the Iowa Centers for Enterprise have announced seven winners of the 2012 Grow Iowa Values Funds (GIVF) Development Funds Proposal Competition.

The competition, with $100,000 in total prizes, was open to tenants of the BioVentures Center (BVC) and Technology Innovation Center (TIC) on the UI Research Park.

Among the winners:

• ASL Analytical, a developer of noninvasive monitoring technology, was awarded $20,000 to develop a bioreactive monitor to lower production costs for drug candidates and reduce the time to market.
• Exemplar Genetics, dedicated to improving therapies for a variety of genetic diseases by using animal models of human disease, was awarded $20,000 to develop a new independent feeding system with commercial applications.
• CQM Systems, a provider of electrochemical water treatment technology that eliminates the need for water treatment chemicals, was awarded $15,000 for project development.
• Tansna Therapeutics, Inc., a drug discovery and development company, was awarded $15,000 for project development.
• Bio:Neos, Inc., a developer of bioinformatics software tools technologies, was awarded $10,000 for project development.
• Innomatrix, LLC, a specialized transportation/vehicle software company, was awarded $10,000 for project development.
• KemPharm, Inc., a pharmaceutical discovery and development company, was awarded $10,000 for project development.

The winners were recognized April 26 at the UI John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center’s annual awards program on campus.

The program is funded by Iowa Economic Development appropriations to the Board of Regents under the Grow Iowa Values Fund (GIVF) and has been critical to the University of Iowa’s success in commercializing intellectual property. In the last five years, 19 start-up companies have emerged from UI faculty research programs. GIVF investments have enabled technologies to move from research to commercialized products and services. This recent round of competitive funding was focused on enabling the high technology and life sciences companies residing in the UI Research Park to further develop their business models and continue to grow.