Aspinity co-founder David Graham accepts the Governor's Award for Leadership in Smart Manufacturing and Innovative Technologies from TransTech Energy Director Carl Irwin (l) and West Development Office Executive Director Mike Graney.
By Conor Griffith, The State Journal
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- One tech company originating from West Virginia University, has made a splash in the industry during the past few years and shows that academic research has plenty of opportunities for business beyond campus.
With new wireless systems and the proliferation of voice-controlled products, such as Amazon Alexa, new technological challenges are presenting themselves. Key among these are battery life and data overload.
While the traditional approach has been to digitize data first, this often struggles to address issues affecting power consumption. However, this does leave opportunity for analog technology to make a comeback with new innovations.
This is where Aspinity comes in.
The company developed a propriety analog, ultra-low-power, always-on sensing chip that eliminates the digitization of irrelevant data. This equates to a longer battery life in higher-power system processors because they will stay asleep until actually needed as opposed to sensing and processing everything around them nonstop.
"I think it's a great demonstration of how academic research and innovation coming out of academic research can turn into a successful start-up," TransTech Director Carl Irwin said. "It's good research. A student got his Ph.D. and stuck with what he did for his dissertation, and now, I think they're up to $3.5 million in funding."
To read more go to The State Journal website.