The company bringing touch to the touchscreen joins 23andMe, EnChroma, QuesTek Innovations and others in a White House ceremony
CHICAGO – January 17, 2017 – Tanvas, the company redefining touch for the touchscreen,announced it was awarded a 2016 Tibbetts Award in recognition of the company’s unique contributions to the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. Tanvas was recognized alongside 37 deserving small businesses, five individuals, and three supportingorganizations during a White House ceremony on January 10, 2017.
“It goes without saying that receiving this award is an incredible honor and only boosts our incredible drive to bring the sense of touch to all touchscreen devices,” said Greg Topel, CEO of Tanvas. “The progress we’ve made, particularly during the early R&D phase which established the foundation for TanvasTouch – is directly attributable to support from the SBIR program. To be recognized among other innovative companies is a testament to the hard work our team has contributed.”
Tanvas was awarded a Tibbetts Award for TanvasTouch, the company’s programmable surface haptic technology that makes it possible to feel what you see on any touch-enabled device. Pioneered by Ed Colgate and Michael Peshkin at Northwestern University’s Neuroscience and Robotics lab, TanvasTouch technology features a solid-state design and combines sensing and haptics on the same layer, making it unlike anything on the market today.
“The science behind TanvasTouch technology could not have come as far as it has without the support of SBIR,” said Dr. Mondher Cherif, Chief Scientist at Tanvas. “TanvasTouch technology can be integrated into existing products and applications to enable a new dimension of touch interaction and is suitable for a range of applications including automotive, consumer electronics, retail, advertising and visual impairment.”
The Tibbetts Awards are presented to companies that promote the mission and goals of theSBIR program which include stimulating technological innovation and increasingcommercialization of federal research. The Awards are named after its founder Roland Tibbetts,an active champion of the SBIR cause. He piloted the program and then served as the SBIR Program Manager at National Science Foundation from 1976-1996.