Care about high speed Internet connections? Blazing fast computer processing? Medical and security scanners that safely identify threats? Then you should be a fan of Advanced Photonix, a company that moved part of its operations from California to Ann Arbor.
Zingerman's brand continues to pop up in media outlets across the nation and even around the world. The latest content creator to make a pilgrimage to Ann Arbor's Kerrytown is the Cynical Cook blog, and hails from the wilds of Mississippi.Excerpt:It’s been more than two years since I first ordered from the Zingerman’s website. In that time a variety of culinary oddities and delights have crossed my kitchen counter; salamis, real fruit juice gummi treats, coffees, peppercorns, bacon, bread, olive oil, teas, I could keep going but I’m afraid I’d list the bulk of their catalogue.When I saw Zingerman’s at the 2009 NASFT Fancy Foods show in New York, I thought that would be the closest I’d get to the actual deli. With little to no reason to visit Michigan, making the rounds of the Zingerman’s shops was tucked away in the back of my mind.Having made myself content to order religiously from the website, I recently found myself in an interesting situation. My good friend, Jon, was getting married to the love of his love, Stephanie. With Stephanie hailing from Northwest Ohio, the wedding would be in Toledo. Immediately the gears in my mind began to turn. I knew that Toledo had been the subject of a border war for Michigan and Ohio for years, so I looked to see just how close Toledo was to Ann Arbor. Seeing the drive was less than 50 miles, I knew where I was going the day after the wedding.Read the rest of the story here.
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The Chronicle of Higher Education recently came out with its annual list of "Top Producers of U.S. Fulbright Students," and the University of Michigan is on the top of the list. The university had the most applicants (144) and the most award winners (40), easily outpacing the runner-up (Yale) by nine winners. Check out the complete list here.
Dexter hopes to save money in energy bills and light maintenance with the recent installation of 124 light-emitting diode bulbs downtown.The village recently swapped the light pole bulbs for LEDs, considered to be among the best technology for conserving energy and heat. Most of the project was funded by energy efficiency block grants worth $50,000, to which the village contributed its own $20,000, explains Dexter assistant village manager Courtney Nicholls.The LED light installation was due to not just grant support, but had already been discussed by the village council and the Dexter Downtown Development Authority. "It's an effective way for us to reduce our electric bills, and also our maintenance costs," she says.Although the lights are covered under warranty for seven years, they should last closer to 15, and that means fewer trips up to replace them.Another green project the village is considering for the future is participating in the Michigan Green Communities Challenge, run by the Michigan Municipal League, which gives municipalities ideas for operating with better energy efficiency.Source: Courtney Nicholls, Dexter assistant village managerWriter: Kristin Lukowski
Pioneer High School now boasts a new student courtyard, improved tunnels, and more space for its culinary arts and special education programs after a $1.7 million project was recently completed.The project improved the back half of the high school on the city's west side, creating a student courtyard in an open area that formerly served as the home to 16 portable classrooms. The structures had been a fixture at the high school for more than 25 years, as the district managed its growth.While most of the work will be done over the summer, the student courtyard construction continued through early fall. "The work will be completed by the end of October as planned," said Randy Trent, executive director of physical properties for Ann Arbor Public Schools, last month in an e-mail.The project was paid for by money raised in a 2004 bond proposal that calls for improving Pioneer High School.The school opened in the early 1950s on a huge parcel of land bordered by Seventh Street, Stadium Boulevard, Main Street, and Scio Church Street. It has been renovated and added on a number of times since then. It has been 20 years since the last major renovation. The opening of Skyline High School allowed the school district to redevelop Pioneer High School.Source: Randy Trent, executive director of physical properties, Ann Arbor Public SchoolsWriter: Kristin Lukowski
A year and a half ago, POLY Bioinformatics got its start as a division of POLY, a Manchester-based advanced software technology company. Since then POLY Bioinformatics has sunk roots in downtown Ann Arbor, carving out a niche of licensing innovations from University of Michigan research.The first product is called ChemReader, an automated tool that can recognize chemical structure images in documents. It's the brainchild of Kazuhiro Saitou, a chemical engineering professor at U-M. POLY Bioinformatics spent its first year developing the product and is now shopping it around to pharmaceutical, bio-tech, and consulting firms."In fact, some of them have been contacting us about getting this technology to them," says Michael Conlin, director of business development for POLY Bioinformatics.The spin-off now has licensing agreements with U-M, Wayne State, Michigan State, Central Michigan, and Western Michigan universities. That has allowed it to expand its team from two to six people. Conlin expects his company to double in size as it continues to harness the technology coming out of Michigan's universities."We're looking for advanced software technology we can license," Conlin says. "We're looking for students we can hire and professors we can enter joint partnerships with."Source: Michael Conlin, director of business development for POLY BioinformaticsWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
One would expect book-printing companies to be headed down the same road as newspapers in this time of e-books, digitized documents, and off-shoring. That's not the case for Thomson-Shore.The Dexter-based printer is growing faster than it ever has as it has diversified its business, allowing it to hire nearly a dozen people this year. It plans another repeat in 2011, and might not even wait until the new year to get started."This is the slowest part of our year and we have never been busier," says Kevin Spall, president and CEO of Thomson-Shore.The 38-year-old company used to focus primarily on shorter runs (about 1,000 copies) of one-color books (black ink on white paper). Over the last few years it has invested in upgrading its presses to handle four-color books (think comic and children books) with bigger runs of about 10,000 copies. Thomson-Shore was one of the first printers to commit to green practices, now using 30 percent recycled paper in its pulp. It's also dabbling in e-books and Bible printing, a bit of work most printers gave up as lost to China years ago."We will probably do $2 million in Bibles this year," Spall says. "That's totally new revenue."Those new revenue streams have allowed Thomson-Shore to expand its headcount from 199 at the peak of the recession to 211 employees, two interns, and 15-20 independent contractors today. The company expects to hire another 10-20 people over the next 12-18 months."We seem to be hitting a stride," Spall says.Source: Kevin Spall, president & CEO of Thomson-ShoreWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
Health care normally tops the list of things slated for reformation and new innovation. That's much easier said than done, but a unique partnership between the University of Michigan and Blue Cross Blue Shield could push that movement forward.The two institutions are splitting about $900,000 in grants to find cost efficiencies and ways to provide better services through primary care outlets like doctor's offices. The three-year grants will specifically examine the effectiveness of a Physician Group Incentive program and physicians' progress on transforming their practices into the Blues' Patient Centered Medical Home model. Blue Cross Blue Shield is also teaming up with Michigan State University to compare care management programs delivered through a doctor's office with similar programs delivered through a health plan. The idea is that patients trust their regular physicians most and will be more open to engagement."We need to build better processes of the care for our patients and make sure they can access us when it's the most relevant," says Chris Wise, a principal investigator for one of the grants and director of lean clinical redesign with the University of Michigan Health System. "There is a lot of learning going on."The researchers hope the studies of Michigan doctors will lead to some findings that can help reform and improve primary care across the U.S. Those improvements could include more shared information, better coordination and communication for doctors, patients, and the healthcare plan.Source: Chris Wise, director of lean clinical redesign at the University of Michigan Health SystemWriter: Jon Zemke
It all started with a XXX. Brendan Doms had just moved to Ann Arbor from Silicon Valley last spring and needed a cost-effective-yet-reliable Internet connection for his laptop. The options were plentiful but the system that provided feedback on them wasn't as dynamic. That led the young serial entrepreneur to start working on Staxup."I saw a lot of room for improvement," Doms says. "So I just took my idea and made it."Staxup creates a rating system for a variety of products and topics, showing how certain products stack up to similar choices. The new Ann Arbor-based website provides a quick, visual alternative to reading product reviews using aggregated web info. Think of it as sort of a Kayak for product reviews.Doms got the website up and running earlier this fall. He is focusing on a viral marketing campaign of search engine optimization and social media to promote it over the next year. He hopes to harness advertising and referral sales to places like Amazon to create enough revenue to make it a self-sustaining business. If that plan works out, he expects Staxup to make its first hire in 2011.Source: Brendan Doms, founder of StaxupWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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