By Staff Correspondent
Hydroplane will be one of 12 select companies chosen to participate in the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Investment and Innovation’s (OII) inaugural America’s Seed Fund Startup Expo 2022 on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. EDT.
“We are tremendously honored for this recognition and extraordinary opportunity to share the work Hydroplane is doing toward the ultimate goal of a zero-emissions aviation industry,” says Hydroplane CEO Dr. Anita Sengupta. “We are honored to be partnered with the U.S. Air Force Agility Prime program to develop our technology. We believe public partnership in research and development is a vital piece in successfully developing solutions that will best be adopted and accepted by the industry. Hydrogen is the most abundant element on Earth and requires government infrastructure support for eventual widespread use.”
“I look forward to recognizing Hydroplane as a shining example of how public-private partnerships through programs such as America’s Seed Fund (SBIR/STTR) enable and nurture the commercialization of innovative R&D to advance the creation, growth, and sustainability of small businesses,” wrote Bailey DeVries, associate administrator of the SBA’s Office of Investment & Innovation, in an email announcing Hydroplane’s selection.
The virtual America’s Seed Fund Startup Expo 2022, open to the public, enables entrepreneurs with technology developed through the SBA OII’s Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) programs an opportunity to present their innovative ventures to leading members of the broader innovation ecosystem and the American Public.
Hydroplane has received two U.S. Air Force (USAF) Small Business Technology Transfer contracts, partnered with the University of Houston, and raised private funds to develop from the ground up and demonstrate a hydrogen fuel cell based powerplant for single engine aircraft.
Hydroplane’s 200 kW modular solution is designed to replace existing combustion powerplants in today’s existing single engine and urban air mobility platforms, while simultaneously delivering a significant improvement in range, endurance, and payload over the battery-powered equivalent. It will also significantly lower operating costs compared to conventional piston engines.
Development on the hydrogen fuel cell powerplant is well underway and Hydroplane is on track to fly its demonstrator aircraft in 2023.