CNSE licenses battery storage technology

MANHASSET, NY -- The College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering of the University at Albany has entered into a licensing agreement with its first student spin-off company, B.E.S.S. Technologies, which will allow B.E.S.S. to commercialize and begin scale-up of its battery storage technology.

The agreement is part Governor Andrew Cuomo’s NY-SUN initiative and energy superhighway blueprint, whose intent is to enable homegrown high-tech growth in upstate New York.

B.E.S.S., which stands for Battery Energy Storage Systems, is a component design and engineering firm started by a group of CNSE graduate students in 2010. Working at CNSE’s Albany NanoTech Complex, BESS developed an innovative process to build nanostructures that enable energy storage capacity, faster charging rates, and a longer lifetime for lithium-ion batteries.

BESS is one of 15 companies working with CNSE’s Incubators for Collaborating & Leveraging Energy and Nanotechnology (iCLEAN incubator), which provides technical incubation assistance, including investment, legal and insurance contacts, mentoring, and other start-up business support. BESS also captured first place in the inaugural New York Business Plan Competition held at CNSE in 2010, earning $19,000 in cash and in-kind services for its next-generation battery storage technology. 

Furthermore, CNSE has already assisted BESS in obtaining more than $800,000 in funding through technology programs offered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Partnerships for Innovation program.