Southern Indiana Business Report
Pitch competition-winning company Kupros was welcomed to Loogootee by Mayor Noel Harty on August 4 during an award ceremony marking Kupros’s first place finish in the recent Crane IP Pitch Competition. Kupros, an additive manufacturing company that is commercializing intellectual property developed by an NSWC-Crane engineer, selected Loogootee as the location for its first production facility.
“Loogootee is very close to Crane, many of our citizens work at Crane, we’re at the crossroads of two national highways, so we are always welcoming to Crane-related businesses,” Mayor Harty noted. “This new technology company is a welcome addition to our business community; Kupros helps to diversify our economic base, and we look forward to watching their growth and success.”
Ian Ramsdell, founder and CEO of Kupros, was presented with a $6,000 check by Blaine Parker, Director of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Support at Radius Indiana. Radius, a regional economic development organization, originated the concept of the Crane IP Pitch Competition in 2020, when the NSWC-Crane Technology Transfer Office established a “royalty-free” policy for commercialization of IP from the NSWC lab as a way to stimulate economic activity in the early days of the COVID pandemic.
The prize money for the pitch competition included funds contributed by Radius itself, as well as funds from the Office of Naval Research, which were contributed to Bloomington’s Mill co-working space, and eventually added to the Pitch Competition prize funds.
“The people and officials of Loogootee have made us feel extremely welcome as we have been setting up our production facility in the city,” Ramsdell commented. “I am personally committed to bringing US manufacturing back to middle America. Our company has enshrined a social impact commitment to help create over 1000 veteran owned small businesses based around additive manufacturing, many of which we hope to spring up in the local community”, he said.
“The Crane IP Pitch Competition is a regional effort supported by multiple organizations such as the Indiana Innovation Institute, the Small Business Development Center, Ivy Tech, The Mill, NSWC-Crane, Elevate Ventures, and Radius. The pitch helps call attention to the intellectual property that is constantly developing at Crane. This year we’ve taken a next step towards great success by having active commercialization of the IP recognized and achieved,” Parker commented. “We believe the environment is right for a pipeline of successful commercialization companies to grow and prosper here. There’s talent, a pro-business climate, and resources that will support entrepreneurs with a vision.”