The Mid-West Energy Research Consortium has announced the first class of 10 companies that will take part in its WERCBench Labs program.
The class includes: hydropower system developer Cadens; project management software developer Comet AI; virtual reality solution tool developer Digital Iris; free learning aggregation developer Kentriko; solar energy software developer Lisa Bosman; water treatment drone developer Loreto Innovation; Internet of Things for research developer pHinding Solutions; physical therapy sensor developer Seiva technologies; sensitive goods monitoring solutions developer Thermodata; and manufacturing analytics developer Tosa Labs. Most of the companies are based in Milwaukee.
Dozens of companies applied for WERCBench, from as far away as Indonesia and Ukraine. The program will allow participants to work with experienced and technical mentors in the M-WERC Energy Innovation Center, which is home to a variety of testing, prototyping and small-scale production tools.
Greg Meier, managing director of innovation at M-WERC, will head the program, which runs June 10 to August 27.
“The group of startup companies and cutting-edge technologies is precisely what we had hoped to attract but the number of applications and enthusiasm of the applications exceeded our expectations,” Meier said.
“Our goal was to attract makers, engineers, and developers to come to Milwaukee this summer to jump-start innovative technologies, transition prototype products to the commercial stage and nurture startup companies,” said Alan Perlstein, executive director of M-WERC. “We’re excited about what’s about to happen.”
