Arkansas Science and Technology Authority Awards $50,000 to Angel Eye Company

By Ben Boulden

The technology enables parents, family members and friends using a camera and audio system to view an infant in a neonatal intensive care unit 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“We’re proud to be associated with Angel Eye,” said Tim Atkinson, ASTA president. “They’ve delivered a solution that will provide peace of mind to all those who use it.”

The Angel Eye Camera System allows users access through a password-protected, HIPPA-compliant website for viewing options that include computers, smart phones and other internet-accessible devices. The system promotes bonding between parents and their premature babies, who sometimes have to stay in the hospital for weeks or months.

Angel Eye Camera Systems LLC was organized in January 2013 to exclusively license the proprietary technology from UAMS.

“Angel Eye Camera Systems is very fortunate to have support from ASTA through the Seed Capital Investment Program,” said Steve Bethel, Angel Eye Camera Systems CEO and president. “This funding is critical to the early-stage success of our business platform. We also appreciate the resources and mentoring services of Innovate Arkansas, which has been instrumental in helping Angel Eye transition a university-based technology into a viable commercial business.”

Established in 1983, ASTA addresses strategies to promote scientific research, technology development, business innovation and math, science and engineering education so Arkansas can compete and prosper in the global economy. The Seed Capital Investment Program fosters the development of innovative technology-based businesses and projects that will stimulate economic growth and industrial competitiveness in Arkansas.

“Angel Eye is the combination of several key factors that give this Innovate Arkansas client company a strong shot at commercialization success,” said Mike Smith Jr., Innovate Arkansas advisor. “The company has a trusted leader in Steve Bethel, strong technology from UAMS and start-up funding from the founders and an astute life-science investor – Tristar.”

Nashville, Tenn.-based TriStar Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture firm, recently has shown its confidence in Angel Eye technology and its appeal to hospitals and families by becoming one of the leading investors in Angel Eye Camera Systems.

Innovate Arkansas is a program of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission and Winrock International. Its purpose is to encourage technology-based innovations and create jobs in Arkansas.

In 2006, UAMS created the first prototype for Angel Eye with webcams mounted on IV poles next to infant beds. A second-generation of the technology using a bed-mounted camera unit was developed in 2009. Three years later, Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Penn., became the first health care facility outside UAMS to deploy the technology.

UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. Named best Little Rock metropolitan area hospital by U.S. News & World Report, it is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has more than 2,800 students and 790 medical residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,000 physicians and other professionals who provide care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS regional centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com.

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