Innovation News

Ann Arbor’s NanoBio, U-M score $9.3M research grant

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Innovation News
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October 21, 2009

NanoBio isn't as small as its name implies... especially after nailing down millions in a federal research grant.The Ann Arbor-based firm is splitting the $9.3 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a division of the National Institute of Health, with the University of Michigan. NanoBio's slice of the pie is $4.1 million.That means three research job openings at NanoBio right now. The company's staff currently stands at 17 employees and three interns, and is expected to continue to grow."I expect we'll be adding a couple more to that in the near future," says John Coffey, vice president of business development for NanoBio. He hinted that a few more deals are expected to materialize this fall, describing them as "commercial opportunities."The grant is expected to support research to develop nanoemulsion-based mucosal vaccine adjuvants for a wide variety of antigens. The idea is to leverage the body's natural immune defenses to protect it against a wider range of diseases.The U-M spin-off has nailed down a variety of funding so far this, totaling more than $20 million. It has received $60 million in private equity since 2006.Source: John Coffey, vice president of business development for NanoBioWriter: Jon Zemke

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U-M plans to launch start-ups with new Mich Venture Center
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Economic Development
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October 21, 2009

The University of Michigan has created a number of avenues to allow entrepreneurs to spin off university technology or enable students to chase after their start-up dreams. The newly formed Michigan Venture Center will serve as the hub for all of that activity."It's meant as a one-stop hub for people interested in working with us on University of Michigan start-up opportunities," says Ken Nisbet, executive director of the Office of Technology Transfer at the University of Michigan.The Michigan Venture Center will allow entrepreneurs, investors and faculty inventors do everything from evolve their start-up to leveraging the university's bevy of inventions, innovations and patents. The main focus is to facilitate the creation of start-ups by helping them form business plans, assess potential for commercialization, attract investors and acquire gap financing.The university has programs and staff to facilitate all of these angles. But bringing them all under one roof at the U-M Tech Transfer's Business Engagement Center --1214 S. University Ave.-- is meant to help streamline the process. So far, the Engagement Center has been involved in the creation of 83 start-ups over the last nine years. "We've had a lot of success at creating new companies," We're easily in the Top 10 of U.S. universities, maybe the Top 5," Nisbet says.For more information on the Michigan Venture Center, send an email to techtransfer@umich.edu or call (734) 763-0614.Source: Ken Nisbet, executive director of the Office of Technology Transfer at the University of MichiganWriter: Jon Zemke

U-M student start-ups score $50K in Dare to Dream grants
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Arts and Culture
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October 21, 2009

$5,000 means a lot of Drew Leahy and his co-workers at Mybandstock. The start-up made up almost entirely of college students and recent college graduates needs every dollar it can get to push its company forward.It's why the Ann Arbor-based firm is pretty excited about winning one of the "Dare to Dream" grants from the University of Michigan's Samuel Zell and Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies. The money will help the firm develop its business plan, cover some travel expenses and even pay a few of its web programmers. But more importantly it will help the start-up's 15-member team keep its focus."It keeps us away from part-time jobs so we can focus on our business," says Leahy, the president of Mybandstock. "It definitely really, really helps us out."The Dare to Dream program offers $500-$10,000 grants to help student entrepreneurs jump start their businesses. About $50,000 in grants were awarded this fall to the likes of Mybandstock, which is a web-based fundraiser for local musicians. The business allows people to invest in the development of the bands they enjoy.Source: Drew Leahy, president of MybandstockWriter: Jon Zemke

New report says green jobs growing in Ann Arbor area
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Innovation News
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October 21, 2009

The Detroit-Ann Arbor area has made the Top 15 list of metro areas in the U.S. for clean-tech job activity, meaning its green-economy job creation is emerging as a factor in southeast Michigan.The list comes from Clean Edge's Clean Tech Job Trends 2009 report. Detroit-Ann Arbor clocks in at No. 14 just below the Austin-San Marcos area in Texas. "Michigan's commitment to clean tech as the next engine of economic growth is clear, and the initial signs of activity are positive with Hemlock Semiconductors, A123 Systems, United Solar Ovonic, and others expanding their operations or making new commitments to the region," says Dexter Gauntlett, senior research and marketing associate with Clean Edge. "But obviously the state has long way to go. And as our report shows – there's a growing level of competition by states for clean-tech companies – particularly for those that would bring coveted manufacturing jobs. Continued investment in education and training, regulatory support, and government-supported clean-tech procurement is key for any region to attract clean-tech companies so we would expect the most competitive states to continue to invest in these areas." Among the factors driving the ranking is the metro area's ability to attract investment from new advanced battery and hybrid-electric technology firms. Other growing alternative energy firms like United Solar Ovionic played a significant part in the ranking.The ranking was determined by an analysis of job postings, investment and patent activity, among other data. The San Francisco Bay area scored the top spot.Source: Dexter Gauntlett, senior research and marketing associate with Clean EdgeWriter: Jon Zemke

Wolverine Venture Fund invests in Direct Flow Medical
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Economic Development
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October 21, 2009

The University of Michigan's Wolverine Venture Fund has struck again, this time making an investment in a California-based company.The VC fund, run by MBA students at the University of Michigan, has invested in Direct Flow Medical, an emerging medical device company developing a catheter-based, percutaneous-delivered prosthetic aortic valve. This investment is part of Direct Flow Medical's Series C financing, which has raised $40 million from the likes of EDF Ventures, New Leaf Venture Partners and Spray Venture Partners.The Wolverine Venture Fund is part of the University of Michigan's Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies in the Ross Business School. The fund is worth $3.5 million and has invested in more than 18 companies in industries like information technology, life sciences and alternative energy. These firms typically have some sort of U-M connection."That's how we get our deal flow," says Erik Gordon, clinical professor and associate director of the University of Michigan's Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies. "The University of Michigan is one of the most connected places."Source: Erik Gordon, clinical professor and associate director of the University of Michigan's Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial StudiesWriter: Jon Zemke

Ypsilanti bloggers participate in Vegan MoFo
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Healthy Communities
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October 14, 2009

Ypsilanti is making its voice heard in the vegan movement thanks to two bloggers taking part in the 3rd annual Vegan Month of Food, commonly referred to as VeganMoFo.The event is a virtual gathering of 350 bloggers, twitters and other assorted authors of the World Wide Web. They are posting at least five days a week about eating vegan throughout October in an effort to spread the word about consuming non-animal products."I tended to rely on online news sources for suggestions and substitutions for my cooking," says Jennifer Albaum, an Ypsilanti resident who is participating in VeganMoFo this year through her blog Scrumpdilly. "It's just a big resource for me today."Albaum points out this sort of virtual idea sharing is key because veganism isn't as prevalent in most of the Midwest, especially in small towns like Ypsilanti, which doesn’t have vegan-dedicated restaurants. Her blog and fellow Ypsilanti resident Mark Dickson's blog, Irreverent Vegan, are taking part of the event.An alphabetized list of all participating blogs can be found here and a link to the public RSS feed here. The original blog for the event organized by vegan chef and cookbook author Isa Chandra Moskowitz can be found here.Source: Jennifer Albaum, author of the Scrumpdilly blogWriter: Jon Zemke

Systems in Motion hosts entry level job fair in Ypsilanti
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Community Development
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October 14, 2009

Systems in Motion isn't wasting any time breaking into the Ann Arbor-area market.The newest darling of the Silicon Valley IT start-up world chose Ann Arbor to make its first major investment earlier this fall. Today it will hold an information session about its Entry Level Training Program for the IT industry at Ann Arbor SPARK's East Incubator in downtown Ypsilanti, 215 W. Michigan Ave.The program is working with Michigan Works! To help people who have been laid off, are about to lose their jobs or in households making $40,000 a year or less to get a foot in the door in the growing IT industry. The training sessions will be held from November through January and they come with a good likelihood of future employment."They're basically recruiting with the understanding that the people going through the training will more than likely be hired," says Elizabeth Parkinson, vice president of marketing and communications with Ann Arbor SPARK.Systems in Motion is investing $15 million over the next five years to create a new IT support center in Ann Arbor. The IT firm expects to create 1,084 jobs with the investment. It is also evaluating investing in other marquee college towns, such as Austin, Texas and Durham, North Carolina.The California-based firm is only 3 months old but has already been able to lock down some venture capital funding and hire 20 people. Systems in Motion plans to create the next generation of IT infrastructure and workers by setting up IT support center at college towns across North America. The combination of the University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University and Washtenaw Community College made the Ann Arbor area a prime target for Systems in Motion.For information on the IT information session, call (734) 484-7247 or send an email to amy@annarborusa.org.Source: Elizabeth Parkinson, vice president of marketing and communications with Ann Arbor SPARKWriter: Jon Zemke

Ideamine goes prospecting for growth in Ann Arbor
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Economic Development
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October 14, 2009

Have a great idea... or two... or too many to remember ...or where you put the scrap of paper you wrote it down on? That is much less of a problem with Ideamine.The downtown Ann Arbor-based firm creates software that acts similar to a electronic personal assistant, organizing and prioritizing information ranging from emails to thoughts typed on a word processor. The 6-month-old company is getting its start at Ann Arbor SPARK's Central Incubator and plans to begin hitting the market with its product next year.This isn't the first start-up for Ideamine founder Eric Hass, but it's the first one he is quarterbacking on his own. Hass is bootstrapping the idea with his own money for now, but is open to some outside investment in the near future. He wants to stay in Ann Arbor or the Midwest, but admits that it's "tough to shake money out of the Midwest.""We'll go where the money takes us," Hass says.And he think Ideamine is going places fast. It currently employs two people and throws work at four independent contractors. He expects to grow his staff to 20 people by the end of next year.Source: Eric Haas, founder and president of IdeamineWriter: Jon Zemke

U-M hits a new record with an invention a day
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Economic Development
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October 14, 2009

The University of Michigan always likes to compare itself to the academic elite, like MIT, Stanford and Johns Hopkins. Now it has more than a few inventions to stand on when it makes that assertion.The university pushed the number of inventions it creates to 350 for the 2009 fiscal year, an average of almost one per day. That's in comparison to 487 for MIT, 401 for Standford and 282 for Johns Hopkins in 2007, the marquee names for research, development, tech transfer and commercialization."We're in the big leagues now," says Ken Nisbet, executive director of the University of Michigan Office of Technology Transfer.U-M has sharpened its focus on developing its research and transforming it into new spin-off businesses in recent years. For instance, the university had 158 inventions in 1999 and was only in the mid 200s per year as recently as five years ago. Those numbers started to really race upward in 2007 when U-M hit 327 inventions.Although these numbers are impressive, the university is beginning to focus more and more on the quality of these inventions, patents and other assorted bits of research."It's not even a question of quantity," Nisbet says. "It's whether there is a business that can spin off from it."Source: Ken Nisbet, executive director of the U-M Office of Technology Transfer.Writer: Jon Zemke

VANGUARD USA hires 2, plans to continue staff expansion
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Arts and Culture
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October 14, 2009

One of the leading photography accessory manufacturers calls Whitmore Lake home, and continues to grow in the small lake town just north of Ann Arbor.VANGUARD USA has just hired two new people for its local U.S. headquarters, expanding its payroll to 21 people. It plans to hire a handful more people within the next year as it continues to revamp and upgrade its product portfolio."It appears to be nothing but growth on the horizon," says Jody Lamb, marketing manager for VANGUARD USA.The company got its start in 24 years ago when Anne Lee, a native of Taiwan, began making tripods and ball heads for cameras. One of her colleagues had ties to Ann Arbor and persuaded to open up her U.S. office in Dexter shortly after she started the firm. A few years later it moved to Whitmore Lake and expanded its portfolio to include more photography equipment, such as camera bags.The company went international in the 1980s, expanding into the Japanese and European markets. It even started offering hunting/outdoors equipment in 1997. Today VANGUARD USA employs 3,000 worldwide. The company recently overhauled its product line, causing it to focus more on advertising and getting the word out about its new products. That has prompted the recent expansion of the Whitmore Lake office."There has been a great need to focus on marketing and customer outreach," Lamb says.Source: Jody Lamb, marketing manager for VANGUARD USAWriter: Jon Zemke

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