State to honor innovative technology firms

A Groton Long Point entrepreneur who invented a device that automatically stops a boat engine when its operator falls overboard won a statewide award this week for the Most Promising Technology Product of the Year.

Anthony Viggiano, inventor of the Autotether wireless lanyard, was among a host of local inventors and entrepreneurs to be recognized at the annual Connecticut Technologies Council awards dinner Thursday.

Other local start-ups recognized as 70 Companies to Watch during the fifth annual Innovation Pipeline Awards at The Omni Hotel in New Haven were Aquatic Sensor Network Technology, Arcanatura LLC, Catelectric Corp., Mystic Technology Partners and Smart Coating Systems, all of Groton, as well as Network Therapeutics of New London.

Autotether Inc., based in Chester, also was named a Company to Watch, but owner Viggiano had no idea until the event that he had also won one of the state's top technology prizes.

"It was a surprise," Viggiano, attending a boat show in Florida, said by telephone Friday. "I was just a guy in his back yard, basically, against guys spending millions of dollars."

But Mary Anne Rooke of Lyme, president of the Angel Investor Forum that screens companies for potential investment purposes, said her group found Viggiano and his startup an exciting proposition.

The company's principals put their own money into the project, she said, and recently have gained acceptance in the marketplace, with both West Marine and Defender Industries stores now stocking the Autotether.

"They've been boostrapping it from day one, and they have come away with a very impressive technology," she said.

The Autotether, which took two years to develop, can track up to four people on a boat. The device, which communicates with the boat's motor via software and radio signals, can determine whether someone has been immersed in water - rather than just splashed - through a break in the radio signal.

Autotether shared the award for the top product innovation with Dark Field Technologies of Orange, which has introduced a laser and camera technology it calls NxtGen.

Other top awards handed out this week were: Most Promising Software Product of the Year, Occams Resources, New Haven; Most Promising New Internet/New Media Company of the Year, SeeClickFix, New Haven; Most Promising Life Sciences Company of the Year, Biorasis Inc., Storrs, and Most Promising New Green Tech Company of the Year, Centritec Seals LLC, East Hartford.

l.howard@theday.com