Honolulu, HI July 14, 2023 | Oceanit’s Head of Product, Matthew Sullivan, has been announced as a honoree for the 2023 Fire Awards in the category of Technology, Science & Data. The annual Fire Awards, hosted by Pacific Business News, celebrate innovators who are driving progress in Hawai’i.

Sullivan leads Oceanit’s Commercialization team, which spearheads the transition of innovative science into market-ready technologies, services, and solutions. He has been honored for his contributions to two of Oceanit’s recent ‘mind to market’ successes: the ASSURE-100 Rapid COVID-19 Tests and the Blast Ninja brand of noise-reducing abrasive blasting nozzles. Sullivan and the Commercialization team work closely with Oceanit’s S&T and engineering arms, developing pathways for a diverse range of programs and projects to reach the product or service stage.

Developed in Hawai’i, Oceanit’s rapid test for COVID-19, known as ASSURE-100™, has received two FDA authorizations for Point-of-Care (POC) and At-Home (OTC) use. The test leverages novel artificial intelligence developed at Oceanit to design custom RNA molecules and is the first product on the market to utilize this platform technology. Sullivan’s team guided the test through multiple clinical trials in collaboration with the biomedical development teams at Oceanit. The ASSURE-100 test is now being utilized by organizations in several countries.

In 2022, Oceanit also launched a new industrial product line called Blast Ninja™, which enhances workplace safety for industrial workers. Blast Ninja is a novel design for abrasive blast nozzles, notorious for their loudness that can damage operators’ hearing over time. Developed by aero-acoustic engineers at Oceanit, Blast Ninja limits noise output without reducing productivity, thus safeguarding workers while maintaining the nozzle’s functionality. Sullivan and the Commercialization team brought Blast Ninja to market, establishing a network of suppliers and doing direct sales in many countries, across multiple continents. The product was acquired by Kennametal (NYSE: KMT) at the end of 2022.

“When locals hear about Oceanit they often consider us a unique outlier compared with what can be done here in Hawai’i,” said Sullivan. “What they miss is that the world is rapidly changing, and the new ‘knowledge economy’ is based on imagination, education, and determination. In the past, being in Hawai’i came with significant geographic limitations to doing business. That is no longer the case for many industries”

Congratulations to Matthew Sullivan, the Commercialization team, and the wider Oceanit team who are bringing disruptive innovations from mind to market, to positively impact humans and society.

Visit Oceanit’s technology showcase on Pacific Business News’s site to see some of our ongoing initiatives from health to hydrogen, featured here: https://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/listings/14/item/14012