WPI has announced that Albert G. Prescott II, a 1990 WPI graduate and president of Worcester-based biomedical company Crescent Innovations, is the recipient of the 2007 Kalenian Award. As part of the award, Crescent Innovations will receive $25,000 to help further develop its new technology for treating bone defects. The award, given annually to support innovative ideas or the development of commercial products, was presented at the June 12 WPI Venture Forum meeting.
WORCESTER, Mass. – Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has announced that Albert G. Prescott II, a 1990 WPI graduate and president of Worcester-based biomedical company Crescent Innovations, is the recipient of the 2007 Kalenian Award. As part of the award, Crescent Innovations will receive $25,000 to help further develop its new technology for treating bone defects. The award, given annually to support innovative ideas or the development of commercial products, was presented at the June 12 WPI Venture Forum meeting.
The Kalenian Award was established in 2006 by Alba Kalenian in memory of her late husband, inventor Aram Kalenian '33. Its purpose is to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship among WPI students, faculty, and alumni by providing seed funds to advance their ideas. Alba Kalenian says her husband believed "the highest and best use of a WPI education is to invent, and patent, then create an invention-based business and employ."
This award is designed to fuel the entrepreneurial spirit by funding a single viable invention each year. Proposals are reviewed by an award committee consisting of Paul Kalenian, son of Aram and Alba, and McRae Banks, head of WPI's Department of Management and director of the university's Collaborative for Entrepreneurship & Innovation.
The winner is selected based on the novelty of the invention and its commercial potential and the likelihood of its success. Ideally, the recipients should be either associated with an existing small business or in the process of trying to establish one. They should plan to use the prize to help move their invention toward commercialization.
Crescent Innovations Inc. was founded in 2000 to develop products to treat TMJ disorders, degenerative joint disease, bone disease, fractures, and more, using proprietary polymer technology. These state-of-the-art polymers are used to treat both chronic and acute pain as well as controlled release/drug delivery products. The company has received a Phase I SBIR grant from the National Institutes of Health, and has worked with Fortune 500 companies.
"I cannot emphasize enough how important this award is to us at Crescent Innovations," said Prescott. "The technology we are developing to treat bone defects will ultimately have deep and far reaching benefits to every one of the 50 million people in America who have ever had a bone fracture or defect. We will use the money specifically to develop prototypes, and to push this technology to commercialization."
