After spending most of 2018 focused on transitioning from a lab-scale process to commercial product, Akron-based start-up Akron Ascent Innovations is proud to announce that products backed with ShearGrip®, the first nanofiber dry adhesive, are now available at ShearGrip.com.
Akron Ascent Innovations LLC (AAI), a startup company from the University of Akron Research Foundation, announced the formation of a strategic partnership with Velcro Companies to commercialize a range of AAI dry adhesive products. The strategic partnership includes a capital investment by Velcro Companies and a joint development and commercialization agreement under which the companies will collaborate on product solutions that combine AAI’s adhesives with VELCRO® Brand hook and loop technologies and other innovations.
Akron Ascent Innovations has been selected as a semi-finalist in the Green Chemistry & Commerce Council (GC3) Startup Network 4th Annual Technology Showcase. AAI is one of 10 companies selected, which collectively represent Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, in industries including personal care, building, apparel and textiles, cleaning products, electronics, adhesives and coatings, bioplastics, pharmaceutical, and energy.
Richard Weiner, Legal News Reporter for The Akron Legal News, published an article describing Akron Ascent Innovations’ recent launch of ShearGrip and Pinless brand products. The article is a follow-up to an prior report on AAI’s nascent development of dry adhesive technology and provides a particular focus on the consumer-oriented “Pinless Parenting” blog introduced to demonstrate different uses of Pinless products.
AAI’s recent launch of ShearGrip dry adhesives was featured in The Devil Strip, Akron’s source for local music, art, and culture news, this week. The story was included as part of The Devil Strip’s “Akropreneurs” series, made possible by the Burton D. Morgan Foundation and the Fund for Our Economic Future.
AAI is proud to announce its membership in the Green Chemistry & Commerce Council (GC3), part of the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production at the University of Massachusetts. GC3 is an organization that works to develop and promote environmentally friendly and innovative practices for businesses in the chemical industry.
AAI’s own Principal Scientist and Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Kevin White, was interviewed this week for the radio program, “This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro.” In addition to a rousing discussion between Jeanne and Kevin on AAI, the development of ShearGrip, bio-inspired technology, and the launch of Pinless products, the show includes hackers, cyber attacks on the city of Akron, scary messages through home security systems, pothole-filling drones, and new heater technology.
AKRON, Ohio, January 30, 2019 - Akron Ascent Innovations, LLC (AAI), a high-tech start-up, has announced the launch of an innovative dry adhesive technology that offers a unique combination of ease of use, strong adhesion, and damage-free clean removal not possible with today’s conventional adhesives.
After spending most of 2018 focused on transitioning from a lab-scale process to commercial product, Akron-based start-up Akron Ascent Innovations is proud to announce that products backed with ShearGrip®, the first nanofiber dry adhesive, are now available at ShearGrip.com.
AAI Chief Operating Officer and Principal Scientist, Dr. Kevin White, presented recent work on the development of ShearGrip nanofiber dry adhesives at the ACS National Meeting & Expo this summer. The conference, themed “Nanoscience, Nanotechnology & Beyond,” was held in Boston, Massachusetts. With over 16,000 attendees from all over the world, the ACS National meeting and Expo is an ideal event to network, and discover new research and technology.
Akron Ascent is prominently featured in a new article by Simon Montlake on the revitalization of the rust belt through technology innovation. "Inside a clear plastic box the size of a rabbit hutch, a 12-inch drum turns slowly on its axis. At each turn the drum is coated with polymer threads, 100 times as thin as a human hair, fired from a needle-and-syringe electrospinner, just as Spider-Man shoots his webs. It takes 20 minutes to produce an adhesive film...
Akron Ascent Innovations is pleased to welcome Rebecca Kuznarsky to the team. Rebecca is an Akron Zip at heart, having earned an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering with biology separation and a Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering. She has been involved in the applications of electrospinning since her graduate days, and worked in Professor Darrell Reneker's laboratory as an undergraduate...
In a vestige of Akron's industrial rubber past, more than 40 small start-ups are dreaming big new ideas.
The Akron Global Business Accelerator, in the old B.F. Goodrich building on South Main Street, is a glossy, industrial-chic space populated with businesses that range from a single employee to graduates selling products or services around the globe…
With the support of an NSF Technology Enhancement for Commercial Partnerships (TECP) grant, AAI has partnered with Velcro Companies, to develop the technology into products for a range of adhesive markets. “It is a great opportunity to partner with a company that knows the industry and can help us expand and market our product,” said Dr. Barry Rosenbaum, AAI’s President and CEO.
Senator Rob Portman visited AAI's lab at the Akron Accelerator this week. Great to have access to such distinguished visitors. Our engineer Ali Blandon and chemist Fei Wang taught him the principles of electrospinning and how AAI is using nanofibers to create high strength, damage-free, and repositionable dry adhesives.
