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Business leaders accept science company into local network
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Related Topics: Montgomery County
Envisioner, a Rockville startup, last month introduced the first battery-powered, portable endoscopic camera. The camera is used to help physicians look into patients’ body cavities to better treat their ailments.
Company Founder and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Melder said the invention, which he toiled with for seven years before its introduction into the market, has the possibility to change the entire face of the ear, nose and throat medical field. For surgeons, it becomes possible to use a much more compact, less expensive tool to see into the human body.
“It’s analogous to what Apple has done with the iPod — taken a stereo rack system and put it in the palm of people’s hands,” Melder explained. “With this, you can also literally put it in your pocket. ... The implications are pretty incredible.”
For Envisioner — which has only six employees and limited funds behind its product — being involved in the incubator network provides them infrastructure and business networking resources to which they would otherwise not have access.
Montgomery County meanwhile gets the benefit of a company that is going somewhere.
Joe Shapiro, a spokesman for the county’s Economic Development Department, said the idea is not just to aid the companies in the network but also to help them graduate and then provide added jobs to county residents.
With Envisionier’s entrance into the Shady Grove network, Montgomery officials are extremely excited, according to Shapiro.
“They’re exactly the type of company we had envisioned when we started the network,” he said. “What they’re doing, it’s groundbreaking technology. We think they have a great opportunity for growth.”
Right now the county is home to three business incubator networks — Wheaton and Silver Spring on top of Shady Grove’s.
dlevitz@dcexaminer.com
