Ann Arbor

Video Planet Rock

Get vertical! Yes, even here in the flatlands of SE Michigan it's possible to boulder and top rope with the best of 'em. With over 20,000 sq ft of climbing, Planet Rock is the official cure to the 2-D blues. Plus they serve espresso. Even Joshua Tree can't give you that.

U-M student start-ups rake in $106,000 in seed capital grants

A number of student-led start-ups at the University of Michigan have recently received thousands of dollars in seed-capital grants from the Michigan Business Challenge competition and Eugene Applebaum Dare to Dream Grants.A total of 20 start-ups landed $106,000. Michigan Business Challenge awarded $54,300 in prize money while the Dare to Dream gave grants worth $1,500 to $10,000 to 15 start-ups."Some of them are pretty raw ideas," says Tim Faley, managing director of the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Michigan. "Others are working on the feasibility study. Others are preparing for market."Among those winners is Regenerate, which markets onsite anaerobic digesters for food service operators. It was the runner-up for Best Business in the Michigan Business Challenge ($10,000), winner of the Erb Award for Sustainability ($7,500), a Dare to Dream grant ($10,000), and an Ann Arbor SPARK Bootcamp scholarship. Regenerate also recently took the top place in the Michigan Clean Energy Prize competition ($25,000) earlier this year."Regenerate has come a long ways," Faley says. "They're in the right space at the right time. They could pull this off."He adds that this year's student-led start-ups now offer a wider variety of ideas and technologies. For instance, Faley points out that five years ago almost all the contestants were software- or medical device-centric start-ups. This year features start-ups specializing in logistics, clean-tech, websites, foreign languages, and market research, on top of the normal software and medical device companies."We're seeing a whole lot of social entrepreneurship," Faley says.Source: Tim Faley, managing director of the Zell-Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of MichiganWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Smart lighting pilot project glows at U-M’s Hill Street parking structure

MASTERMIND: Dr. Jeff Masters

"Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get."-Mark TwainAnn Arbor is home to the first (and second biggest) weather website in the country – Weather Underground. The brainchild of weather guru Jeff Masters, it's the culmination of a life-long love affair with that most temperamental of subjects.

More links coming to Border to Border Trail

Mayor’s Green Fair puts spring in your eco step

Lakeside Software to open downtown Ann Arbor office, add 73 jobs

Lakeside Software is set to open an office in downtown Ann Arbor later this spring, a move that will bring 73 new jobs to Tree Town's city center."We were impressed with the amount of resources available and the community support," says Dan Salinas, vice president of business development for Lakeside Software.The Bloomfield Hills-based firm was aiming to set up its new office in Palo Alto, California, the heart of Silicon Valley. The 14-year-old company's leaders, University of Michigan graduates, weren't really considering Metro Detroit or even Michigan until a Michigan Economic Development Corp official cold-called them and made the case for the Great Lakes State.The argument worked. Lakeside Software dropped plans to expand in California and instead focused on growing its Metro Detroit home base and a new office in Ann Arbor. The MEDC included a five-year tax credit worth $731,000 to seal the deal. "In Palo Alto, quite frankly, we would have been one of many companies," Salinas says. Lakeside Software creates management software solutions for the Windows operating system. Its SysTrack software combines comprehensive system monitoring capabilities with sophisticated analysis for applications and users to create a total management solution.Source: Dan Salinas, vice president of business development for Lakeside SoftwareWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Concentrate Speaker Event: Transit Corridors Of Opportunity

How we get from here to there is important. But so is what's in between. As we take stock of how much of our community has been set aside for cars new ideas are emerging about transit corridors and how they can become more people-focused. This month, Concentrate's Speaker Series invites Anya Dale and Richard Murphy to talk about the importance, challenges, and opportunities of developing the region's transit corridors. It takes place on Thursday, March 31st. Sign up now!

U-M’s Ross School Of Biz gets first female dean

Alison Davis-Blake didn't move from Minnesota to Michigan for the warmer climes. She moved here to become part of a small but growing elite: Women deans of university business schools. Stepping into the top slot at U-M's Ross School of Business, she makes history for the second time (the first was when she became the dean of the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.Excerpt:"Women deans are becoming an increasingly common sight on business school campuses, as I wrote about two years ago in an article on the topic. Of the 668 deans at AACSB-member schools in the U.S. in 2009, nearly 17 percent were women. At the time, I interviewed Davis-Blake about some of the unique challenges women deans face. Here's an excerpt from my conversation with her:"I don't worry about people actually saying to my face: 'I won't deal with you because you are a woman,' that has never indeed happened," Davis-Blake said. "But there is always that moment, when people say, 'Oh, this person is different from the past five people I've dealt with. I wonder what this will be like.'"Read the rest of the story here.