Hartford Business Journal

FAMILY BUSINESS AWARDS 2020 CATEGORY | FIRST GENERATION — TOLLAND-BASED MACROSCOPIC SOLUTIONS Geologist Mark Smith's Macropod puts small creatures in full focus By Natalie Missakian Special to the Hartford Business Journal I f you read a news story about giant "murder hornets" de- scending on the U.S. this spring, you may have seen images captured with Macroscopic Solutions' technology. Geologist Mark Smith founded the Tolland startup in 2013 to develop and commercialize the Macropod, a por- table microscope photography system that takes striking, ultra-high-resolu- tion, full-color images of some of the smallest creatures in the natural world. Longtime client Mark Buffington, an entomologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, confirmed the identity of the world's largest hornet when it was seen for the first time in North America late last year. He used the Macropod to document the wasp. The images were featured in Smithsonian Magazine and elsewhere, Smith said. "The images [generated by the Macropod] are very sharp, very high in clarity, and they're great for digi- tizing small materials for research or just digitizing standard materials that you can then observe, share and publish on," Smith said. While in high school in Pennsylvania, Smith worked on a prototype for the Macropod with his neighbor, Anthony Gutierrez, an entomologist who was studying ticks and mosquitoes for the U.S. Army Institute of Public Health. "At the time they were using [an imaging] system that would do what our system does, but not nearly as high in quality. And the cost was well over $100,000," Smith said. Gutierrez was trying to improve the technique and make it more af- fordable, using a process known as focus stacking. He enlisted Smith's help in creating an early version of the Macropod, which now fits into a bookbag and sells for about $20,000. Smith, 31, said he first recognized its commercial potential while do- ing undergraduate research as a geology major at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. "I realized a lot of the materials I was looking at could benefit from this new technology," he said. He thought other researchers might also find the system useful. So in 2013, while pursuing his mas- ter's in geology at UConn, he licensed the technology from the Army, devel- oped a business plan and pitched it at a UConn entrepreneurship competi- tion. He won first prize: $15,000. Today the company, which he owns with his wife, Annette Evans, boasts a client roster that includes NASA, Harvard, the Smithsonian Institution and dozens of universities and natural history museums around the world. Smith said the company was prof- itable in its first year, and "continues to grow exponentially year-over- year" without seeking any capital from outside investors. He continues to innovate and explore new markets, eyeing the oil and gas and environmental/conser- vation industries with a new system that can image sections of tree, sedi- ment, rock or ice drill core. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Mark Smith and his wife Annette Evans co-own Macroscopic Solutions. MEET HBJ'S 2020 FAMILY BUSINESS AWARD WINNERS! PREMIERING ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 29 TH AT 3:00 P.M. Featuring a special keynote presentation from Judy Lin Walsh, Principal, BanyanGlobal Help Celebrate Our State's outstanding family-owned businesses! PRESENTED BY: PLATINUM SPONSORS: SILVER SPONSORS: EVENT PARTNERS: REGISTER TODAY AT: WWW.HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM/HBJ-EVENTS/FAMILY-BUSINESS-AWARDS If you have questions about this event, please contact Christina Zuraw at 860-236-9998 x134 or email czuraw@hartfordbusiness.com Family businesses are an integral part of the social and business fabric of our state. These awards recognize outstanding achievements in family-owned businesses and tell the story of a select group of the region's most successful fi rms. Help us celebrate the 2020 honorees by tuning in on July 29th at 3:00 p.m. to a special virtual awards ceremony presented by the Hartford Business Journal.

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