Jeff Meyers thinks Kevin Smith is one of those rare Hollywood types who's managed to dodge the self-important douche bullet. More importantly, he's a damn funny guy. It's why his Saturday night show at the Michigan Theater is one of the six events spotlighted in this week's FilterD, your guide to what's worth checking out.
The University of Michigan has hit the $1 billion mark for research funding this year for the first time.Research spending is up 9.4 percent over last year for a total of $1.02 billion. About two thirds of that money comes from federal funding, which is also up 7.1 percent from the previous year. These numbers cement U-M as one of the premier economic engines in Metro Detroit, Michigan and even the Midwest region."That number ($1 billion) represents hundreds of faculty and students who are very entrepreneurial," says Marvin Parnes, associated vice president of research for the University of Michigan. The U-M has been focusing more of its resources toward creating entrepreneurial opportunities. For instance, it has helped launch 49 start-ups spun off from the university's research over the last five years. About 70 percent of them are still in Michigan. "The University of Michigan is one of the largest and most productive research institutions in the world," Parnes says. "There are only a handful of institutions who spend that much on research within a year."Source: Marvin Parnes, associated vice president of research for the University of Michigan.Writer: Jon Zemke
Most businesses have more information about their products than they know, let alone know what to do with it. Leveraging that valuable information is where Dataspace comes in.The Ann Arbor-based company specializes in not just tabulating the number of sales, but also the best way to take advantage of them. That could mean determining what products sold best, who the firm's best customers are or why they are so profitable."The vice president doesn't care about the hamburger sold today," says Ben Taub, CEO of Dataspace. "He cares about how many hamburgers he sold and what the trend is."That information allows businesses to tweak their plans and maximize profits. The idea is derived from the data warehousing (i.e. business intelligence) concept from the early 1990s.The 15-year-old company wants to take it a step further from its software applications and break it into cloud computing. The idea is to make the delivery and execution of these systems more efficient and tailored to the customer. Right now Dataspace is working with PhDs at Central Michigan University to develop such applications for the likes of hospitals so they can project patient numbers and plan accordingly.Dataspace employs 10 people and expects to add anywhere between 2-6 people within the next year as it continues to grow.Source: Ben Taub, CEO of DataspaceWriter: Jon Zemke
Zingerman's latest venture, Candy Manufactory, is reminiscent of Willy Wonka in more than just name.The latest member of the Zingerman's family of businesses specializes in making old-fashioned candy through traditional methods, methods that have gotten lost in today's industrial agriculture culture. "We're playing with sugar," says Charlie Frank, managing partner of Zingerman's Candy Manufactory. "We're doing things the way they should be done. The way they were done a long time ago."That includes making fudge on a slab and cooking nugette. Right now it's Frank and one employee sharing space with the Zingerman's Bakehouse on Ann Arbor's south side. Frank expects to hire another 5-6 people within the next year. He wants to expand to 100 repeating wholesale customers from the current 80 plus he has today to accomplish this."We'd like to be known across the country," Frank says.This is Zingerman's 8th spin-off. The Ann Arbor institution started as a deli in the Kerrytown neighborhood in 1982 by Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig. It has since grown to a whole community of businesses, including a creamery, bake house and customer service. Source: Charlie Frank, managing partner of Zingerman's Candy ManufactoryWriter: Jon Zemke
Art Binaire isn't a full-time gig for Goran Bankovic and Nenad Milosavljevic... yet.The two friends met while taking classes at Washtenaw County Community College earlier this decade. They wanted to start their own business together, and got that chance a year ago with Art Binaire.The web development firm based out of Ann Arbor focuses on creating and tweaking websites for local firms. They have been able to develop a reputation and some customer base, but they hope to really gain traction this year."We want to establish steady revenue," Bankovic says.Once they are able to do that, they want to begin bringing on interns next year. Right now they can also bring in independent contractors to help them handle their work.Source: Goran Bankovic, co-owner of Art BinaireWriter: Jon Zemke
Aastrom Biosciences was spinning off from the University of Michigan before it was the en vogue thing to do in Michigan.The Ann Arbor-based company spun off of U-M research 20 years ago and is now a publicly traded company with 45 employees and a couple of interns. It also hired five people within the last year and expects to add more as it seeks funding for its research projects."A lot of our hiring has been on the clinical operations side," says George Dunbar, CEO for Aastrom Biosciences.Right now the company, based near Dominoes Farms, is working on a unique for of stem cell research. The new technology would take stem cells from the patient, grow them and then give them back to the patient to help fight disease."The hope is we can resist or retard some diseases like congested heart failure," Dunbar says.Aastrom Biosciences also has a couple of promising research programs on hold it hopes to restart this year with new funding. They include treatment for spinal cord injuries and repairing broken bones that are not easily healed.Source: George Dunbar, CEO for Aastrom BiosciencesWriter: Jon Zemke
One local business is getting some high profile mentions in one of the world's most respected magazines. Excerpt: Small drones, by contrast, cost just tens of thousands of dollars. With electric motors, they are quiet enough for low-altitude spying. But batteries and fuel cells have only recently become light enough to open up a large market. A fuel cell developed by AMI Adaptive Materials, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, exemplifies the progress made. Three years ago AMI sold a 25-watt fuel cell weighing two kilograms. Today its fuel cell is 25% lighter and provides eight times as much power. This won AMI a $500,000 prize from the Department of Defence. Its fuel cells, costing about $12,000 each, now propel small drones. Read the rest of the story here.
Eastern Michigan University has more than its foot in the door when it comes to prosthetics. Excerpt: A researcher at Eastern Michigan University and a company that makes prosthetic feet are working on a device that measures what happens when amputees use artificial limbs. Frank Fedel and College Park Industries in Fraser jointly developed a tool called the Intelligent Prosthetic Endoskeletal Component System, or iPecs. Company executive Mike Leydet said College Park hopes to have iPecs ready to release this fall. Fedel said when he joined Eastern Michigan University's orthotics and prosthetics master's degree program in 2003, he was surprised by the lack of hard data on how and whether prosthetics worked the way they were supposed to. "I wanted to see something that said, 'OK, we're making a difference,'" Fedel said in an interview on the school's Web site. "In the past, when people with an amputation walked around, you'd have a person with experience in gait analysis look at someone with an amputation as they walked around and they'd say, 'OK, you look like you're walking normally,'" he said. "Or, if not, they'd try to adjust the prosthesis. But 'walking normally' is kind of a subjective thing." Read the rest of the story here.
The first luxury student housing development has set off a trend that is reshaping Ann Arbor's skyline. Excerpt: This fall’s opening of the final phase of The Courtyards high-rise near North Campus closes at least seven years of development by two successive companies that saw potential in building new student housing near the University of Michigan. The project at the eastern intersection of Plymouth and Broadway still has vacancies as the third and final building in the complex opens to residents, developers said this week. But they also said the original vision for the project - to build hundreds of upscale rentals with privacy and onsite amenities - has taken hold in Ann Arbor as three additional new projects reconfigure the student rental market. “We were in a bit of a pioneering situation,” said Jim Smith, managing principal at Kensington Realty Advisors. Read the rest of the story here.
One group at the University of Michigan is gearing up for 1,000 pitches and it's not the baseball or softball teams. Excerpt: For Lauren Leland, president of the University of Michigan’s MPowered Entrepreneurship club, entrepreneurialism needs to be more than just a core focus for the university. It needs to be a cultural value. That’s why the group is sponsoring the second annual 1,000 Pitches competition - a campus-wide solicitation for entrepreneurial ideas of all sorts. In 2008, the competition grew far beyond the university’s expectations - so much so that U-M President Mary Sue Coleman has promoted the event at least nine times in public appearances. Leland said the competition underscores the importance of entrepreneurialism in rescuing Michigan’s economy. Read the rest of the story here.
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