Seed grants for 13 technology projects were approved by the Maine Technology Institute board of directors this week. This round’s winners represent all of Maine’s seven targeted technology sectors. Of the 13 awardees, six are first-time winners. Over $117,000 has been awarded this round with matches of more than $155,000. “Entrepreneurship in Maine continues to thrive,” said MTI President Betsy Biemann. “These technologies have the potential to boost Maine’s economy in the future.” MTI seed grants range from $1,000 to $10,000 per project and are offered on a competitive basis to support early activities for product development, commercialization or business planning and development. Most of the grants went to southern Maine companies. Among the grantees were Whitman Enterprises in Whitefield to assist with trademarking and developing a new skin care product from their sheep dairy. Longfellow’s Cedar Shingles in Windsor will be working to develop software and a vision system to identify knots and defects in northern white cedar. The purpose of this work phase is to determine the best vision system and method to be incorporated with future developments in the milling of cedar shingles. MTI funds to assist with patent filings will be used by OMNI-WiFi Inc. in Machias to develop transmitters, repeaters and client-premises equipment for wireless Internet connectivity.