Microscopic robots to help with brain surgery. Nanoscale printing that’s 1,000 times faster than what’s now available. A portable, low-cost solution to monitor and produce beneficial algae to help with water quality.

These and other technology-based startups, all rooted in faculty research at the Georgia Institute of Technology, received a boost from Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing, or Georgia AIM. Georgia AIM partnered with Quadrant-i, Georgia Tech’s commercialization initiative for supporting faculty-led startups creation, to distribute funding focused on AI and manufacturing technologies.

“This Georgia AIM funding is crucial for them,” said Paul Joseph, Quadrant-i principal and Georgia Tech faculty member. The funding allowed the research teams to move from solid technology concepts into prototype development and customer validation.

As a result, these startups, which range from 3D printing to audio design to supply chain improvements, are one step closer to becoming commercially viable and launching as Georgia businesses.

On-campus innovations

The Georgia AIM funding came at a key time for Quadrant-i, which recently evolved out of Georgia Tech’s Venture Lab. As a new initiative of Georgia Tech’s Office of Commercialization, Quadrant-i works to move faculty research toward commercialization.

Funding is always the most difficult piece of the go-to-market puzzle.

That’s why, once he learned the funding was available, Joseph began structuring the inaugural Quadrant-i student support program. He developed an application process to ensure approved startups would fund graduate students to continue the work toward minimum viable product development and one step closer to commercialization.

“It’s such good timing, and all eight faculty members in the program are very excited because it’s all about speed,” said Joseph. “If they have additional funds, they can have one student fully working on it. Because if you don’t show the workable prototype and do some piloting activities, you cannot move to the next level.”

By helping faculty-led startups reach higher levels of technology readiness, Georgia AIM is helping create a pipeline of AI-enabled technologies that could support Georgia manufacturers, healthcare systems, logistics providers, and other industries.

A range of technology

In order to qualify for funding, projects had to incorporate AI and involve manufacturing, creating key ties to Georgia AIM and its mission to develop and deploy AI in manufacturing across the state. Applicants also needed to show the market need for their technology and a clear path to commercialization.

Joseph received eight applications for eight funding opportunities — and said he was blown away by the range and depth of technology that would get the program’s boost.

“It’s not that they’re all going into one technology segment. One is robotics, another is medical tech, another is pure manufacturing,” he said. “There’s educational technology, quantum computing, and even one in music technology. It was lots of fun.”

Emerging technology fostered through the Georgia AIM/Quadrant-i student sponsorship program includes:

• The fabrication of “neurobots” that bring precision to brain surgery with minimal invasiveness and tissue damage
• AI agents that provide real-time information from manufacturing equipment, allowing customers to access supply chain data
• An AI-powered platform to help educators better analyze student feedback
• Nanoscale 3D printing that uses AI to optimize the framework and print 1,000 times faster than current commercial printers
• AI-designed, ultra-precise, low-power navigation systems that are small enough to fit on a chip, work without GPS, and can be mass-produced like computer semiconductors
• A low-cost, portable system that uses AI to monitor, identify, and biomanufacturer helpful algae for use in wastewater treatment, industrial systems, or agricultural settings
• Spherephones, a new open-ear design of headphones that indirectly projects audio into the ear canal and uses AI to convert traditional audio into compatible sound
• An AI agent to assist with the design and testing, to help small teams use industry-standard verification processes in rapid chip manufacturing.

Steps toward success

Project teams presented their technologies earlier this year during an online event. Now, they are doing more advanced demonstrations, evaluating and validating software and AI agents, conducting usability testing, and finalizing designs for broader audiences.

Getting to this point in the process, said Joseph, is critical. It also shows the success of the program.

“Deep tech takes more time. And these are hard technologies that we’re dealing with, so the funding really enables us to move these hard-tech innovations to market quicker than ever,” he said. “Getting Georgia AIM to fully focus on MVP (minimum viable product) and prototype development is of immense value, because they can put all these funds into this, and then — boom — start the MVP and push it across quickly.”

This summer, one team plans to submit its chip design for manufacturing, further validating the AI agent built for the process. Another will be testing its headphones on various video game platforms and preparing for commercialization, while another continues refining the mechanisms that control neurobots to avoid blood vessels and other sensitive areas of the brain.

By supporting faculty-led startups at an early stage, Georgia AIM is helping accelerate the development of AI-enabled technologies that could contribute to Georgia’s innovation economy and advanced manufacturing ecosystem.

Many technologies developed in academic labs stall before reaching the prototype stage because funding for early commercialization work is limited. But Georgia AIM funding helped teams advance their technologies toward commercialization, making them more attractive for industry partnerships and future investment.

“We cannot move the technology forward without pushing the technology readiness level (TRL) up,” he added. “So, derisking is a key component, and that’s why it’s so critical for people to see the Georgia AIM dollars.”