Walter Voit of Syzygy demonstrates his company's shape-memory plastic technology.

Syzygy, a high-tech startup developed through Georgia Tech’s TI:GER® program, recently received a $100,000 small business innovation research (SBIR) grant from the National Science Foundation.

The company’s founders participated in the Technological Innovation: Generating Economic Results (TI:GER) program, a collaboration between Georgia Tech and Emory Law School that is nationally recognized for its success developing the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Syzygy has developed shape-memory plastics that are capable of perfectly adapting to fit into a customer's ears. This technology creates a personalized fit for earphones, wireless Bluetooth devices, and hearing aids, alleviating the common comfort problems associated with these devices.

Syzygy’s team includes Brent Duncan, who earned his MBA at Georgia Tech in 2009; Walter Voit, a materials science and engineering PhD student at Tech; and 2009 Emory law graduates Justin Helsby and Rob MacKenna.

They won second place ($3,000) in the 2009 Georgia Tech Business Plan Competition as well as the Most Fundable Award (a service package worth $35,000 in legal, financial, and other services), which goes to the team deemed by judges to be most ready to enter the marketplace.

Housed in Georgia Tech College of Management, TI:GER is the only program of its kind to bring together PhD, MBA, and law students in the classroom and research lab to learn about the challenges of commercializing innovative technologies.

© 2012 Georgia Institute of Technology