KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Some of the brightest minds out there are working together to come up with solutions to the coronavirus pandemic.
In April, Overland Park-based Black and Veatch put a call out for tech companies and innovators to apply to its IgniteX COVID-19 Response Accelerator program.
Black and Veatch on Monday announced four innovators it will collaborate with through the program, which include the University of Missouri's College of Engineering.
One of the companies chosen for the program is Drexel-based microbiology company InnovaPrep.
CEO Dave Alburty said he is excited to work with the company to use testing technology on a bigger scale.
"It's like working with NASA," Alburty said. "It's a chance for us to broaden our impact and help more people and more animals live better, safer lives."
InnovaPrep manufactures products that monitor for viruses in the air and liquids by taking samples for the air, concentrating them, filtering them and sending them through a genetic testing device, which gives results within an hour or two.
By working with Black and Veatch, Alburty said the company will be able to put a lot of effort into monitoring wastewater.
"Identifying the virus in wastewater means that you can detect community spread maybe even before people are sick," Alburty said. "The way that they do that is they use our pre-concentration technology, otherwise the virus is too diluted in the wastewater because of all the water from showers, sinks and dishes."
InnovaPrep is one of the companies that will get a grant from Black and Veatch's IgniteX program and will get to utilize the company's resources.
Vice President of Innovation and Strategy Ryan Pletka said the company looked for innovators actively solving problems with technology that could be used on a bigger scale.
"It's amazing to see that innovation is everywhere, and this is a global problem," Pletka said.
Along with InnovaPrep and MU's College of Engineering, the company will work with AquiSense Technologies, which makes a device that uses UV radiation to disinfect and sterilize medical equipment. The other company is Field2Base, which created a mobile app that keeps track of testing results to help people get back to work safely and quicker.
Pletka said the company is still accepting applications, many of which are from around the world. Black and Veatch plans to announce a new group of innovators it will collaborate with next week.
