Idaho Company Increases Sustainability Efforts

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Fish Breeders of Idaho is setting up a feed facility to recycle a waste product into an expensive feed ingredient.

Fish Breeders raises a variety of fish and had been giving away the waste generated by producing fillets and other products for the market. But this is all about to change. This is all about to change. The company is building a facility to generate fish feed without using dry fishmeal.

“The best thing you can feed a fish is another fish,” said Leo Ray, company found and president.

The company has plans to make many different kinds of feed to cater both to the different species of fish raised, and for different life stages.

Ray says that about 30-50% of the store’s fish may be sold while the other percentage would be considered waste products.

“If you grow a fish, you have enough waste to make fishmeal to grow another pound of fish. If you do it right, it’s a very sustainable process, all you have to do is add grains – there’s not excuse for depleting the ocean,” said Ray.

Using an internally generated product instead of fishmeal is supposed to cut the company’s expenses for fish feed almost in half.

To find out more about R&D or to determine whether you may be eligible for an R&D Tax Credit  Contact a Swanson Reed specialist to see if you qualify.

Idaho Tech Sector Growing

Normally when it comes to the growing tech economy of a region the pattern goes as follows; the tech part comes first, usually from colleges and universities or emerging from established companies with large R&D budgets which then leads to emerging innovations leading to new companies, and those companies tend to leave to head to places such as Silicon Valley and Austin, Texas.

Idaho is a textbook example of this all too familiar pattern. Thanks to organizations such as the Idaho National Laboratory, Boise State University, the University of Idaho, Idaho State University, BYU Idaho, HP, Micron and Simplot, innovation has not been an issue. Idaho has experienced tremendous growth in the tech sector across the state over the past 10 years, but unfortunately Idaho tech entrepreneurs have had to look outside the state for capital.

This is changing. Venture-capital companies are settling within the region and the number of successful homegrown tech companies continues to increase.

If you are an Idaho company performing research and development, you may qualify for the the Idaho research credit. Contact a Swanson Reed specialist for more information.

Idaho Policy Changes to Fuel Innovation

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The Research and Business Development Center and the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) have  worked together to quantify INL’s economic impact over the past three years. The recent report on the lab’s economic contributions in Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 demonstrated the substantial benefits nuclear research brings to Idaho.

Innovation at INL is credited with a boost of more than $142 million in one year alone. This reinforces the importance of fueling innovation by making the legislative and policy changes necessary to enable more advancements in nuclear energy.

Members of Congress are looking to introduce the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act (NEICA) which would make it easier for America to remain innovative in the nuclear sector.

The legislation would allow the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to prioritize partnering with private innovators to test and demonstrate advanced reactor concepts. The measure authorizes the creation of a National Reactor Innovation Center that brings together the technical expertise of the National Labs and DOE to permit the construction of experimental reactors. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) would partner with the DOE in this effort, which would enable the NRC to contribute its expertise on safety issues while also learning about the new technologies developed through the Center. This measure strengthens the abilities of national laboratories to partner with private industry to prove the principles behind their ideas.

If you’re an Idaho company that conducts research and development to create new and innovative products or processes then you may be eligible for the state R&D tax credit. Click here to speak with a Swanson Reed specialist to find out more information.