NanoFrontier Selected for Tokyo Metropolitan SME Support Center Grant

NanoFrontier Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Sendai, Miyagi; CEO: Seiya Inoue) is pleased to announce its selection for the 'Business Foundation Strengthening Project (General Course)' conducted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Small and Medium Enterprise Support Center. This grant program supports businesses in strengthening their management foundations by 'deepening and developing existing businesses' in response to post-COVID environmental changes. Based on over 30 years of research at Tohoku University, NanoFrontier provides contract R&D services focusing on the design, prototyping, and optimization of functional nanoparticles for chemical manufacturers and material development firms. The competitiveness of contract business depends on the speed of prototyping and evaluation, as well as high reproducibility. However, as a startup, the company has relied on manual, small-team operations, leading to challenges with longer lead times and additional labor for experiment documentation. Given the rising market demand for faster R&D and the need to automate hazardous tasks, the company applied for this grant to automate its core experimental processes and build a data infrastructure. Through this project, NanoFrontier will promote: 1) Construction of an automated experimental cell using robot arms to standardize and automate nanoparticle synthesis, and 2) Development of a data infrastructure linking electronic lab notebooks with sensor and video logs. The grant covers up to 2/3 of eligible expenses, with a maximum of 8 million yen.