Block MEMS/Engineering Selected Among Top 25 Companies for SBIR's Commercialization Pilot Program (CPP)

MARLBOROUGH, Mass., Jan. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Block MEMS/Engineering announced today that it has been notified by the Army's SBIR Administration that it has been selected as one of the top 25 companies to receive additional support towards commercialization of its technology. The CPP group has gone through a detailed evaluation of all companies in the SBIR program and has selected the top companies that mostly support the CPP mission of addressing high priority Army needs, exhibiting potential for accelerated transition and offering high commercialization potential. Block was selected for its "MEMS Enhanced Laser Spectrometer for Ultra-Sensitive Toxic Chemical Detection" technology, which utilizes a combination of micro-optical and laser technologies to develop an infrared, handheld laser spectrometer.

"I want to thank the Army's SBIR Administration for this award and express my enthusiasm for the potential of our laser and MEMS products to meet the needs of our warfighters and commercial customers," said Dr. Petros Kotidis, CEO of Block MEMS/Engineering. "I view this award as a validation of our company's strategic direction to offer revolutionary technologies that would enable high-performance, reliable substance identification in challenging applications outside the laboratory, ranging from military missions and homeland security to on-line process control, quality assurance and life safety."

About Block MEMS/Engineering

Block MEMS/Engineering is a leading developer of high performance infrared spectrometers for chemical detection and analysis to military, government, commercial, and industrial customers. Its Mobile Chemical Agent Detector (MCAD) system, in partnership with Northrop Grumman Corporation, and, PORTHOS (TM), a portable FT-IR spectrometer system, remotely detect chemical threats as far as 3 miles and protect against chemical warfare agents and weapons of mass destruction. Block's systems are currently used to protect critical infrastructure in the Washington Capital region. Following this success, Block has applied its extensive knowledge of spectroscopy and chemical detection towards revolutionary MEMS and laser based, miniaturized spectrometers, such as the ChemPen (TM) -- a low cost, FTIR chemical detector the size of a fountain pen – and the LaserScan (TM) -- a handheld laser-based infrared spectrometer.

Block MEMS/Engineering is headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts, USA. For more information, visit http://www.blockeng.com.

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SOURCE Block MEMS/Engineering