Tech growing presence as Centre County industry
Published: February 9, 2013
Wang and her partner, Tony Huang, a Penn State professor, own Ascent Bio-Nano Technologies, a fledgling business. Thanks to a chip they’ve developed that produces three-dimensional imaging of a stream of cells, inexpensive portable devices will be able to screen cells for serious diseases.
“We want it to be something that benefits society greatly,” Wang said.
Wang, the CEO and president, and Huang, the chief technology officer, represent the vanguard of industry in Centre County.
Ascent Bio-Nano Technologies is in the Ben Franklin TechCelerator@State College, an incubator at Innovation Park formed from a partnership among several of the area’s economic development providers.
Entrepeneurs such as Wang and Huang receive training, support and mentoring services, office space and access to loan and investment programs. Four-week and eight-week boot camps give researchers the tools to become flourishing independent business owners — with the goal of helping them grow into established tech firms such as local success stories Restek, NanoHorizons, QBC Diagnostics and Sound Technology.