OptTEK receives $150,000 NFS grant

BOULDER – OptTek Systems Inc. received a $150,000 phase 1 grant from the National Science Foundation to help improve economic development on American Indian reservations.

The Boulder-based company received the Small Business Innovative Research grant to develop economic-development software as well as an entrepreneurial education curriculum to help reservation leaders reach economic and community goals.

The company will set up the software to reflect the current economic condition as well as the goals of reservation leaders.

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“In this project, significant focus on the reservations will be placed on developing sustainable entrepreneurial ventures owned and operated by the people on the reservations,” Brian Wilkerson, OptTek’s vice president, said in a statement.

Currently the company is working with Spirit of the Sun, a Louisville-based nonprofit focused on helping American Indian communities improve economic development efforts, to find tribes to partner with during the software development.

The six-month grant will last through December at which time OptTek plans to apply for a two-year phase 2 grant that likely won’t be awarded until mid-2011, said Jay April, the company’s chief development officer.