ANN ARBOR – In-Pore Technologies won the inaugural $100,000 SmartZone Award Thursday night at the Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest business plan writing contest awards program, the top prize in a night when $250,000 in checks were handed out.

The SmartZone Award, sponsored by the Michigan SmartZones and funded through the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund, a program of the 21st Century Jobs Fund, administered by Ann Arbor SPARK. The check was presented to Interim CEO Gerry Roston by Skip Simms, vice president, entrepreneurial business development at Ann Arbor SPARK and managing director of the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund .

In-Pore Technologies is a start-up company founded by Thomas Pinnavaia, PhD, professor of chemistry at Michigan State University. The company is working on specialized nanomaterial Silapor particles that provide property enhancements that can be used to save energy in the production of chemicals and to strengthen materials for auto parts, wind turbine blades and other products.

To listen to a podcast interview with CEO Gerry Roston, click on MITechNews.JenesysGroup.Com

Another event highlight was the presentation of eight Best of Biotech Awards, sponsored by Michigan Economic Development Corporation and presented by Greg Main, president and CEO.

The top winner, receiving the $40,000 1st Place Award, was Royal Oak-based Innovative Surgical Solutions, LLC. The award was received by Stephen Bartol, M.D., CEO, and Christopher Wybo, vice president. Innovative Surgical has developed a fast, safe, effective surgeon-driven nerve monitoring system for minimally invasive surgical procedures, making possible the implantation of lateral lumbar devices. The NeuralMAS system is an access tool that stimulates the sale of related implants while allowing surgeons to safely avoid injury to nerves.

The 2nd Place Award of $25,000 was presented to Bloomfield Hills-based Angott Medical Products, LLC. Paul Angott, founder and president, received the award. Angott Medical is developing a multi-modality breast cancer test with higher sensitivity and positive predictive value than clinical breast exams.

The 3rd Place Award of $10,000 was presented to Ann Arbor-based Tangent Medical Technologies. Receiving the award was Hank Brown, president and CEO. Tangent is a medical device company addressing health and safety shortcomings of existing peripheral intravenous (PIV) fluid/medication delivery systems with a newly developed proprietary PIV system.

The five Best of Biotech Awards winners in the New Business Idea category, all in the earliest stages of business development, received $5,000. Winning these awards were :

MitoStem, represented by James Eliason, PhD, president and chief scientific officer. Detroit-based MitoStem is a research reagent and instrument company with rights to a novel method to create pluripotential cells from adult cells and sales rights to an instrument to improve freezing of stem cells for storage.

Synaptin, LLC, represented by Greg Merriman, general manager. Ann Arbor-based Synaptin has develop a system for addressing person-to-person communication among medical care team providers in hospitals, larger private practices and other markets and reduces gaps in electronic medical records.

POLY Bioinformatics, represented by Michael Conlin, director of business development. Ann Arbor-based POLY Bioinformatics offers automated chemical and pharmaceutical database annotation, search and discovery.

Therapy Charts, represented by Mark LeBay, director of marketing. Ann Arbor-based Therapy Charts is a software as a service provider offering a system for secure and accurate electronic patient records for independent and small-office therapists.

SanoBio Therapeutics, LLC, represented by Zubair Ahsan, CEO. Ann Arbor-based SanoBio is a biopharmaceutical company commercializing a therapeutic peptide for the treatment of diabetic ulcers.

The fifth annual Automation Alley Innovation Award for Advanced Manufacturing in the amount of $12,500 was presented to Scott Jones, director of product development, Fusion Coolant Systems. Fusion Coolant Systems is developing the next generation of metalworking fluids for machining and metal forming.

The $25,000 GLEQ Grand Prize Award in the Emerging Company category was presented to Advanced Battery Company (ABC) of Midland, led by Dr. Edward Shaffer. ABC has developed a battery electrode technology which enables dramatic improvements in battery performance. The introduction of this technology in the lead-acid battery market generates significant cost and weight benefits resulting in improved feasibility for battery use in electric vehicles and on-grid, peak-power management for alternative energy sources.

The Runner Up Award of $5,000 in the Emerging Company category was captured by Merrill Guerra, founder and CEO of RealKidz, Inc. Ms. Guerra has created a growing company to address the issue of childhood obesity through a unique two-pronged approach of providing clothing to plus-size children and an on-line social network for parents that offers support in incorporating healthy lifestyle choices.

The top six teams competed for the GLEQ Grand Prize in the Emerging Company category pitched their plans to a panel of investment judges made up of Pete Farner, partner at TGap Ventures; Carol Lopucki, Executive Director, Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Center; Leslie Lynn Smith, Director of Business Acceleration, Michigan Economic Development Corporation; and Jeff Van Winkle, Partner, Clark Hill, PLC.

Presentation scores were added to scores on the companies? written business plans to determine the overall winners. Finalists in addition to the winning companies included Concepts, Clean Energy Innovations, Innovative Surgical Solutions, Tangent Medical Technologies, and White Pine Systems.

In the New Business Idea category, FamilyMint, Inc. of Rochester Hills received the First Place Award of $5,000 and SanoBio Therapeutics, LLC, of Ann Arbor, was awarded the Runner Up Award of $2,500.

FamilyMint offers a kid-friendly on-line system for children to learn about financial planning and money management with parental support. The award was received by partners Bob Masterson and Jeff Eusebio. The New Business Idea awards were presented by Sam Hogg, president of Giftzip.com, a 2009 New Business Idea category winner, and market specialist at NextEnergy.

Richard C. Bruder, Enterprise Law Partners, PLLC, was awarded GLEQ Coach of the Year. According to entrepreneur Brian Hewitt, president, Channel1USA.com, getting Richard as his coach “was by far the best thing that ever happened to Channel1USA” Richard?s 30 years of experience as a lawyer and businessperson is demonstrated by his suggestions, attention to detail, and bottom line attitude.

Erika Block, president of Ann Arbor-based Local Orbit, was selected for the Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award. Her GLEQ coach Mickael Felkey, president of Intersect Digital, also from Ann Arbor, said “I’m excited to see Erika Block receive the GLEQ Spirit of Entrepreneurship award. She epitomizes the entrepreneurial persona with her commitment, integrity and compassion. Local Orbit is bound for great success.”

The GLEQ awards event was held in the Main Dining Room of the University Club on the MSU campus. The event included a Boost Mid-Michigan Pitch Competition presented by Jumpstart, part of the Moving Ideas to Market initiative funded by the C.S. Mott Foundation, and a Practice Pitch Run-Through, presented by the SmartZone Network.

Additional event supporters included Michigan Small Business Technology Development Centers (MI-SBTDC) and MIT Enterprise Forum.

The 2011 GLEQ