MATRIC announces Grant, Contract
Several hundred business and political leaders attended MATRIC's annual reception
Charleston Daily Mail
October 22, 2009
http://www.dailymail.com/Business/200910210534
by George Hohmann
Daily Mail Business Editor
The Mid-Atlantic Technology, Research & Innovation Center, known as MATRIC, announced it has received a $146,000 grant from the Benedum Foundation to give a boost to area entrepreneurs and separately said it is part of a team that will provide research and engineering services to the federal Department of Energy's lab in Morgantown.
The announcements were made Wednesday evening at MATRIC's annual reception at the Clay Center.
Bill Goode, chairman of Mid-Atlantic Holdings - the company that commercializes MATRIC's technology - announced the grant. He said the money will be used to provide entrepreneurs with small grants for their start-up businesses and will provide office and laboratory space, professional and technical support services at the South Charleston Technology Park.
Goode said the intent is to help five to 10 technology companies get started and grow.
Keith Pauley, MATRIC's president and chief executive officer, announced that the organization has been selected to participate in a team to provide services to the Energy Department's National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown.
The contract is for two years, with options to extend it to five years. The contract has a maximum value of $322 million over five years. The lead company is URS Corp., a San Francisco-based provider of engineering, construction and technical services. A knowledgeable source said MATRIC may receive up to $1 million a year for the services it provides.
Other contract team members are the Midwest Research Institute and a consortium of regional universities that includes West Virginia University, Carnegie Mellon, the University of Pittsburg, Penn State University and Virginia Tech.
MATRIC was established five years ago to harness the brainpower that Union Carbide Corp. brought to the Kanawha Valley over the decades. The organization has been seeking to hire as many Dow Chemical researchers as possible as Dow downsizes here.
MATRIC has created and spun off nine companies and ended 2008 with more than 100 full- and part-time scientists, engineers, administrators and support personnel.
Contact writer George Hohmann at busin...@dailymail.com or 304-348-4836.
