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National Instruments Creates Grant Program to Support the Texas Emerging Technology Fund

5th January 2010

NI-Emerson

ES Admin

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National Instruments today announced the creation of the NI Texas Emerging Technology Grant Program, which provides software and training services to companies that receive investments from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (ETF). NI created the grant to support the ETF, which the Texas Legislature and Texas Governor Rick Perry created in 2005 to help expedite the development and commercialization of new technologies created in Texas. Companies who receive ETF funding in 2010 are prequalified for the NI Texas Emerging Technology Grant, and those who received funding in previous years are encouraged to apply. NI is also accepting applications from companies who qualify for an ETF grant but have not yet received funding.

“The ETF is a key investment by the state of Texas into companies that have the potential to create groundbreaking technologies, and it helps attract top researchers to our state,” said Alan Kirchhoff, director of the Emerging Technology Fund. “National Instruments is a great example of a Texas-based company that has grown from a small start-up to a multinational corporation, employing more than 2,200 Texans. Because the company helps its customers accelerate their product development with NI technologies, we are excited to have NI as a supporter of the ETF.”

The goal of the new grant program is to help Texas-based start-up companies get their new product concepts to market quickly by using prototyping technologies based on the NI LabVIEW graphical system design platform. Using this platform, engineers and scientists can reduce the cost and risk of new product development with the ability to rapidly design, prototype and deploy embedded systems. LabVIEW and embedded system hardware provide easy connectivity to sensors and actuators, extensive algorithm engineering tools and a typical three- to 10-time software productivity improvement compared to traditional text-based software development tools, which allows engineers and scientists to shorten the gap between product idea and implementation.

“NI has grown from a three-man operation based out of my garage in Austin into a successful global corporation,” said Dr. James Truchard, president, CEO and cofounder of National Instruments. “With the help of the ETF and the NI Texas Emerging Technology Grant, other Texas entrepreneurial companies will have an easier time getting their products to market. I look forward to seeing other technology companies succeed with the help of these funds. ”

Readers can visit www.ni.com/etfgrant to learn more about the NI Texas Emerging Technology Grant and to apply. For more information on the ETF, readers can visit www.emergingtechfund.com.