Eighty-four companies applied, with 21 applications submitted to a panel of venture capitalists from across the country. The award was funded by Ann Arbor SPARK, a company focused on making Ann Arbor attractive for business expansion.

InPore is working with MSU chemistry professor Thomas Pinnavaia to produce a platform for Pinnavaia’s creation, Silapore particles, said Michael Brooks, vice president of business development at InPore.

“We’re in the process of commercializing this technology,” Brooks said. “The technology itself involves using silicon-based particles, like sand, run through a series of processes.”

The particles will be blended with plastics to improve several characteristics of the material, Brooks said.

“It can make plastics stronger, cure faster and more fire retardant,” he said. “There are some big advantages to being able to use the product.”

Brooks and InPore CEO Gerry Roston have been working with Pinnavaia for several years to create the platform and have a pilot plant on campus producing small quantities of the product. Brooks said he hoped the first application for the product would be used for wind turbine blades.

The investment by Ann Arbor SPARK started the fund with returns on 30 investments made just a few years ago, SPARK vice president Skip Simms said. He said InPore showed the most promise of all the contestants.

“They won the award because they showed they were the most likely to succeed with their business plan,” Simms said.

Jeff Smith, a project manager with the East Lansing’s Technology Innovation Center said the award is outstanding to the area’s efforts in technology.

“It says a lot about the efforts in the region and speaks volumes about the type of new, ground-breaking technologies making their way from the testing grounds of Michigan State University to full-blown commercialization,” Smith said.

The award will be beneficial to InPore’s reputation and potentially bring more investors to the project, Brooks said.

“It’s a big boost for us in name recognition,” he said. “And the $100,000 is needed for product testing, market planning and just to develop the business at a larger level.”

Simms said the investment in InPore will pay off in the long run.

“We believe InPore will be successful,” he said. “And when they are, they will repay the award and we can invest in other promising companies.”

The product will be useful in many walks of life, especially in the energy industry, Brooks said.

“This material, the basic product platform, doesn’t exist anywhere else right now,” he said. “We have high hopes for it.”