Strategic Polymers visited by famous Robert X. Cringely and TV crew

Robert X. Cringely and his family arrived in the State College area on Sunday, July 11, 2010.  On Monday morning, the famous technology journalist arrived at Strategic Polymer Sciences, Inc. (SPS) with a TV crew in hand to begin filming a segment of his upcoming reality internet and TV show, currently titled, "Cringely's (NOT in Silicon Valley) Startup Tour".   SPS was one of 24 companies selected out of 374 total to participate in his planned TV show.  During the competition SPS was highlighted as the highest ranked Advanced Materials companies out of 29 listed.  "Cringely's (NOT in Silicon Valley) Startup Tour" is a program sponsored by author Robert X. Cringely and the Kauffman Foundation of Entrepreneurship in Kansas City to find the "Top Start-Up Companies Outside of Silicon Valley" and highlight innovation across the United States.  It is also already sponsored by Research in Motion (makers of Blackberry phones), and Flip Video with many more to come.  

Bob Cringely is famous for his technology blogs and used to be a columnist in Silicon Valley.  Although he lives in Charleston, SC, he still has many connections in CA and across the country with the technology industry and venture capital community.  He came up with the idea of doing a search for startups "outside" of Silicon Valley and will feature 24 of them in his 12-hour TV show.

SPS is hoping that it's breakthrough electroactive polymer (EAP) technology and the applications its helping to commercialize will be highlighted in the TV show along with the Centre County innovation ecosystem which SPS has greatly benefited from (e.g. Penn State University, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, Life Sciences Greenhouse of Central PA, and the CBICC).  SPS' focus on advanced polymer manufacturing, EAP component fabrication, and medical device production should be a boon in creating jobs in the State College area.

More detail about the motivation of Bob's quest can be found here: The Cringely 2010 (Not in Silicon Valley) Startup Tour.