Maine Technology Institute celebrates 25 years of investments
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The Maine Technology Institute (MTI) is a unique public-private partnership whose core mission is to encourage, promote, stimulate, and support innovation and its transformation into new products, services, and companies. MTI offers grants, loans, equity investments, and services to businesses, organizations, and entrepreneurs to support Maine’s innovation economy.
As a key part of the state’s economic development strategy, MTI is a significant driver in expanding research and development to create new innovative ventures. Since its founding in 1999, MTI has distributed nearly $372 million via a variety of programs to more than 4,000 projects throughout the state of Maine. Here are a few examples of Maine companies we have recently supported.
For more information visit mainetechnology.org. Courtesy photos unless otherwise specified.
Dirigo Sea Farm
In 2023, Alexa McGovern founded Dirigo Sea Farm, a materials company that uses Maine kelp to make nontoxic films to replace single-use and nonbiodegradable plastic. With a background in consumer packaged goods and software, McGovern’s entry into Maine’s farmed-kelp industry was uncertain, but she saw the way forward once she realized that the gelatinous sea algae might be used to make a biodegradable coating on laundry pods instead of the current petroleum-based polymer that can wind up as health-damaging microplastic in waterways and bodies. Prototyping began in 2024, and Dirigo Sea Farm is on track to deliver their film to laundry pod manufacturers by year’s end, entering a global market of more than $12 billion. At millions of pounds annually, Maine is North America’s number one producer of kelp, so Dirigo Sea Farm has a ready supply of materials—and a process with a waste stream of just biomass and salt water.
Croft
Croft co-founder Andrew Frederick had an “aha!” moment in 2019 during a presentation on materials at the passivhausMAINE Fall Forum in Portland where he saw an eye-opening slide. It showed a side-by-side comparison of the carbon cost of a home constructed with common petroleum products like foam insulation and vinyl siding, and that of a home containing cellulose insulation and wood. In those stark differences he found inspiration for Croft, which manufactures durable, carbonnegative building envelopes for architects, builders and homeowners in their Rockland factory. Croft, co-founded by Evan Ryan, uses a highly efficient process to compress locally grown straw and transform it into panels for their super-insulated, vapor-open, airtight building assemblies that click together on site. These assemblies are available as part of Croft’s own sleek, pre-designed building envelopes for builders, architects or DIYers. Other priorities at Croft? Supply chain, energy consumption, and worker and occupant health are all top of mind.
PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF MAINE ADVANCED SATRUCTURES AND COMPOSITES CENTER
Forest Bioproducts Advanced Manufacturing Technology Hub
What if there were a material that could displace plastic as the packaging of choice; fight fires with nontoxic gels, not chemical foam; form orthopedic implants that the body treats as bone; or provide the perfect material for the 3-D printing of entire houses—at scale? There is: wood. Maine, with 89% of its land covered by trees, is the most forested state in the U.S., and the Forest Bioproducts Advanced Manufacturing Technology Hub is primed to help Maine bring forth the next generation of products based on this remarkable natural resource. One of only 31 federally designated Technology Hubs nationwide, Maine’s Tech Hub is a consortium of 70+ multi-sector partners led by MTI and the Mills Administration. The goal? To accelerate the production of new products and technologies made from the biological building blocks in Maine wood, create high-quality jobs, revitalize communities and make a cleaner world.
PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN
Maine Electric Boat
A 19th-century red-brick building in Biddeford used to be a coal-fired electric generating station but now houses its polar opposite: Maine Electric Boat, a six-yearold leader in electric propulsion in Maine for leisure and working boats alike. Electric motors are cleaner and quieter than ones run on fossil fuel; they’re also faster, have better acceleration and need less maintenance. Maine Electric Boat started with a few passenger boats on the Saco River and, though those are still available for rent or purchase, the company has gone much further, installing more than a dozen electric propulsion systems on sailboats and powerboats. Now it has set its sights on working boats, too. By collaborating closely with marine electric motor and battery manufacturers, Maine Electric Boat is marrying the most advanced technology with a deep understanding of Maine’s working waterfront needs and hull design to help the sector make the transition to clean power propulsion.
PHOTO: CHRIS CARY
Viable Gear
In 2017, Katie Weiler became increasingly alarmed by the growing global plastic waste crisis and its disastrous effects on both human health and food systems. Determined to help address the problem, she founded Viable Gear in 2021 and left her job in management consulting in 2022 to work there full-time. Viable Gear, a seaweed-based, bioplastic material technology company in Portland, focuses on providing solutions for the aquaculture, fishing and agriculture industries. Their pilot product, SeaTwine, is slated to launch in 2025 as a replacement for the nylon seed string typically used in seaweed aquaculture, and as a tying twine for the farming industry. Viable Gear’s plans for future products include a bait bag for lobster and crab fishing and transforming their seaweed-based bioplastic into pellets for use in traditional injection-molding plastic machinery across multiple industries.
This article appeared in the Spring 2025 edition of Green & Healthy Maine. Subscribe today!
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