2009 – Page 12 of 98

Ann Arbor SPARK gets ready to kick off Entreprneur Boot Camp

By Newsroom

●

November 4, 2009

The 16th bi-annual Ann Arbor SPARK Entrepreneur's Boot Camp is getting ready to kick off this weekend.The two-day intensive program lets aspiring businesspeople cram a few years worth of business expertise into a few days. Bottom line, boot camp is as an entrepreneurship cramming session for people with ideas who lack the basic knowledge about starting a business. Most other new economy business incubators offer similar services in a hodgepodge of programs over a longer period of time."The value these campers get is unparalleled to what they get anywhere else," says Elizabeth Parkinson, vice president of marketing and public relations for Ann Arbor SPARK.Last fall, Concentrate followed one start-up through the boot camp process. That story can be read here. This fall 13 start-ups will take place in boot camp. They will pay about $1,000 to take place in the event where they receive about $5,000 in consulting and education services with peers and experts in their fields (typically rooted in the new economy). "This is such a large value and we also want companies that are serious," Parkinson says. "This is an investment."This year's boot camps have also focused on preparing firms for boot camp with more reading and interaction and also doing more follow-up work to help ensure their success.Source: Elizabeth Parkinson, vice president of marketing and public relations for Ann Arbor SPARKWriter: Jon Zemke

U-M engineering students turn class project into Endocutter

By Newsroom

●

Innovation News

●

November 4, 2009

What started out as a class project could turn into a career for a handful of University of Michigan students.Taarif Jafferi, Rahula Rattan, Zach Weingarden and Raghunath Katragadda are all graduate engineering students at U-M who were taking a year graduate bio-medical design class. That led to the creation of Endocutter, a new piece of technology with promising commercial prospects.The students took the problem of what do with bleeding when doctors perform stomach procedures. The new technology helps limit the bleeding and makes these types of stomach procedures less invasive."We saw this problem and got prett excited about this," Jafferi says. "We think this is very commercially viable."The group of engineering students are looking at licensing out the technology when they are done developing it early next year. Source: Taarif Jafferi, co-founder of EndocutterWriter: Jon Zemke

eVjump makes move from Saline to downtown Ann Arbor

By Newsroom

●

Innovation News

●

November 4, 2009

The high price of installing solar panels isn't all wrapped up in research and development. Some of it involves good old American manufacturing.Saline-based eVjump specializes in lowering solar installation costs through the latter, and it's going to do it in downtown Ann Arbor. The year-old start-up is moving to Ann Arbor SPARK's central incubator with all eight of its employees."It's not so much the technology of the solar cell but how you go about it," says Mike Medvec, head of business development for eVjump.The idea is that driving down the manufacturing and installation costs can make solar panel installation more feasible for more consumers. That way the technology can arrive to the mass market sooner by finding efficiencies elsewhere in the process.The company's name is a reference to an electron volt, specifically when an electron jumps off its rotation to create electricity in alternative energy fields like solar.Source: Mike Medvec, head of business development for eVjumpWriter: Jon Zemke

U-M begins to eek ahead of Ivy League heavyweights, like Harvard

By Newsroom

●

In The News

●

November 4, 2009

At this rate it won't be too long before they start saying, "Harvard, the University of Michigan of the East."Excerpt:Tough economic times have hurt Harvard University's public standing in the media over the past nine months, while schools perceived as a safer educational investment have benefited, a research firm said.Global Language Monitor, which ranks colleges and universities based on their appearances in print and other media, said the venerable Ivy League institution has fallen from first to third behind University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Read the rest of the story here.

U-M wants its students to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset

By Newsroom

●

Entrepreneurship

●

November 4, 2009

The University of Michigan wants its students to think less like students and more like businessmen (and women) as part of its 1,000 Pitches contest.Excerpt:University of Michigan's MPowered Entrepreneurship, an engineering student group, is challenging students campuswide to think like an entrepreneur with its annual “1,000 Pitches” competition.In its second year, the competition, running through Nov. 20, asks students to pitch new products and business ideas through a one- to three-minute video uploaded to the 1,000 Pitches” Web site. The premise of the competition is to get the world out about entrepreneurship and MPowered,” said Lauren Leland, MPowered president and a junior at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business.Read the rest of the story here.

Ann Arbor VC funds reap big returns from HandyLab sale

By Newsroom

●

Economic Development

●

November 4, 2009

The smaller venture capital funds in the Ann Arbor area are starting to get bigger thanks to big deals, like the sale of HandyLab.Excerpt:As major venture capital firms in California and Boston shift their attention toward late-stage investments to mitigate risk, opportunity emerges for Michigan investors willing to take the risky plunge into early-stage ventures.The potential benefits of an early-stage strategy for Ann Arbor were on full display with the student-led Wolverine Venture Fund, which last week celebrated a financial windfall from one of its first investments.The Wolverine Venture Fund reaped a return of six to seven times its total investment of $350,000 in U-M spinoff HandyLab, an Ann Arbor-based medical devices firm acquired Friday by New Jersey-based Becton, Dickinson and Co. AnnArbor.com confirmed Friday that BD paid close to $300 million.The deal showcases the potential of small-scale, early-stage investors and underscores the increasing prominence of student-run funds. The Wolverine Venture Fund, along with Ann Arbor-based EDF Ventures, was a founding investor of HandyLab when it started in 1999.“It wouldn’t have existed without EDF, and Wolverine was part of that,” said Tom Kinnear, executive director of the Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the U-M Ross School of Business. “We were there Day One when they were first founded.”Read the rest of the story here.

Ann Arbor’s Kaydon success starts to show in major magazines

By Newsroom

●

In The News

●

November 4, 2009

Another Ann Arbor-based alternative energy firm is making a splash on the national scene.Excerpt:Kaydon Corp. shares soared Thursday after the maker of engineered products reported third-quarter earnings that easily beat Wall Street expectations, largely due to a boost from its wind energy business.Read the rest of the story here.

Ann Arbor rotates in as an Iowa college town for new movie

By Newsroom

●

Arts and Culture

●

November 4, 2009

Ann Arbor is starting to become America's college town because it keeps playing college towns from across America.Excerpt:A movie featuring some top names in comedy is in pre-production in Ann Arbor."Cedar Rapids" stars Ed Helms, who was in the smash hit "The Hangover," and John C. Reilly, the versatile character actor from "Chicago" and "Talladega Nights."Some of the names involved in the film have worked in Michigan recently. Director Miguel Arteta was in metro Detroit last year to make the upcoming "Youth in Revolt."Read the rest of the story here.

Here, There, Then Back Again

By Leia Menlove

●

Economic Development

●

November 4, 2009

Born and schooled in Michigan, Greg Schwartz did what most ambitious U-M graduates do: He moved to New York City to find success. But then the digital biz director for Warner Music Group did something few Big Apple bigwigs would ever consider: He moved back to Michigan to run a start-up.

NIGHT AND DAY: Ann Arbor Ignites (but lacks space to innovative)

By Jeff Meyers

●

General

●

November 4, 2009

This week is chock-a-block with cool and interesting events. Editor Jeff Meyers points you to the creme de la creme as well as the also-rans. Top o' the list? IGNITE... which leads to thoughts of Ann Arbor's lack of accessible creative space (and possible solutions).