In an effort to support startup technology companies, the Illinois Technology Enterprise Corporation at Evanston, managed by Northwestern, has awarded its first of five $25,000 grants to an Evanston-based biotechnology company.

Launched at NU in April 2000, ITEC gave $25,000 to Ocularis Pharma, Inc., to develop a drug that reduces “night blindness,” said Bret Johnson, ITEC business development manager.

The drug being develop aims to help night vision or vision in dimmed light, he said.

“When people have laser surgery for their eyes, they have blurry vision and see halo effects at night,” Johnson said. “This drug is being developed to control pupil size by eliminating the pupil dilation to improve their view at night.”

Keith Terry, president of Ocularis, said the funds will be used for clinical trials to test treatment, the next step toward developing the drug.

The state of Illinois founded ITEC to help finance early-stage technology firms and selected NU to help advise how the funding is distributed.

“(ITEC is) funded by grants from the state and matching funding from Northwestern,” Johnson said. “When we received our latest grant from Illinois, we earmarked the $125,000 to invest in five early-stage companies.”

NU’s policies towards new technology development help ITEC, said Donald Haider, a public management professor in the Kellogg School of Management and member of the ITEC advisory board.

“Northwestern is a great place to begin because it is compatible with the school’s mission to commercialize developments and to make them marketable,” Haider said.

Improving the marketability of the company is one of the grants’ purposes, Johnson said.

“This is an incredible opportunity for companies based out of Northwestern or companies in the community,” he said. “What often happens early on is that you get technology development, but you need business development to take it to the next level. We’re hoping that the $25,000 will allow companies to get a good hold in the marketplace.”

While Terry and Johnson agreed that $25,000 isn’t much in the world of funding, Terry said that if the money is used wisely, the grant can help the developing company.

“With the current economy, any amount of money is badly needed,” Terry said.

Johnson said ITEC selects companies based upon their societal impact.

“When we evaluate companies, some of the questions that we ask are what kind of problem they are trying to solve and how it is solved today, ” he said. “If they get the opportunity to develop their product, we want to know the impact it will have.”

For instance, Johnson said, they are interested in whether the product will produce jobs or have social or community impact. They also are favorable to “breakthrough technology — something that seriously changes the landscape of the industry they are in.”

Haider said Ocularis fits that description.

“Ocularis fell in that context and where it was in the stage of developments,” he said. “It was very promising — they’re looking at what the commercial application of this is (and if they) should go to full scale commercialization.”

As for ITEC’s future, Johnson’s goals are clear: The organization will continue to help startup firms be successful.

“I think when we get the next round of grants from the state, we would like to give some more companies a chance,” Johnson said. “Our goal is to help early-stage companies be successful.”