Ann Arbor

NY Times on Ann Arbor Caldecott winners

Ann Arbor, the college town known for trees and books, now has the hardware to back up its literary claim to fame. Erin and Philip Stead, Ann Arbor residents, recently won the Caldecott medal for their illustrations in the children's book, A Sick Day for Amos McGee.Excerpt:The winner of the Caldecott medal, A Sick Day for Amos McGee, was also a debut by its authors, a husband-and-wife team in Ann Arbor, Mich. It is the story of a zookeeper and his tender friendship with the animals, and was published by Roaring Brook Press, an imprint of the Macmillan Children's Publishing Group.Mr. Stead said he and Ms. Stead conceived the project in 2006, when they were living in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. (They first met in a high school art class in Dearborn, Mich.) Now they work together in the same studio in Ann Arbor, when Mr. Stead is not teaching graphic design at Washtenaw Community College, a side job. Read the rest of the story here.

U-M biz engagement, tech transfer offices move to NCRC; Venture Accelerator opens

Wind-powered church practices what it preaches

n her musings, writer and poet Janet Frame presciently noted: "Electricity, the peril the wind sings to in the wires on a gray day."With mounting concern over sourcing energy, groups are pooling their resources to fund alternative energy projects. And religious organizations, many with large and diverse memberships, are no exception. Case in point: Last November the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor installed a 2.5KW wind turbine system in its parking lot, together with 48 solar panels on the church roof that generate an additional 10.8 kilowatts of energy. Together, the installations are expected to save the church up to 20% on its annual energy costs, according to Dave Friedrichs, chair of the congregation's renewable energy committee and managing member of Homeland Builders of Michigan, LLC.Friedrichs says after the church moved to a 45-acre site on the south side of Ann Arbor, members were focused on how best to use the land. The impetus behind the renewable energy projects was a result of "..the raising of the concerns of the congregation in general about energy issues and… our desire to increase sustainability and lessen the dependence on fossil fuels."The $30,000 wind turbine portion of the project was funded almost entirely through the sale of personalized paving stones to be used in a renewable energy plaza on the premises - scheduled for completion by Earth Day, April 22. Next in the energy pipeline, although no start date has been set yet, will be an amping up of the solar panel installation to accommodate up to 100KW of energy generation, Friedrichs says. The church is a member of Michigan Interfaith Power & Light, a non-profit coalition supporting energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in the faith community statewide. While it's not at all unusual for faith-based organizations to install solar panels on their properties, wind turbines are a rarity due to the need for open space and good elevation. This wind turbine sits atop an 85-foot monopole in the parking lot, an open area at an elevation of just over 900 feet. The wind activity is good, Friedrichs notes. Energy production and cost savings statistics are available on the congregation's website."[People] are able to have a real test case right here in Ann Arbor where they can watch and listen to a wind turbine. It's doing its educational job," he explains. "It's an item of curiosity and it's almost taken for granted now... People don't even notice it. They park their cars and go about their business. It's part of the anatomy of the church...parking lot now."Source: Dave Friedrichs, chair of First Unitarian Universalist of Ann Arbor's renewable energy committee and managing member of Homeland Builders of Michigan, LLCWriter: Tanya Muzumdar

U-M start-ups look to repeat successes at Clean Energy Prize

Accelerating Michigan’s Economy

Last month Ann Arbor hosted The Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition --an American Idol-style contest for start-ups. It was a joint effort between SE Michigan's top business accelerators. Concentrate chats with Dave Egner, the executive director of the New Economy Initiative, and new MEDC head Mike Finney about regional cooperation and rebuilding Michigan's economy.

Concentrate Speaker Event: The Business Of Making Music

It used to be, if you wanted to be in the music industry you had to head to the coasts. Sam Valenti IV didn't like those rules so he followed in Berry Gordy's footsteps and made a few rules of his own. Today he runs Ghostly International, Ann Arbor's highly successful and hipper than hip music label. Sam kicks off Concentrate's 2011 Speaker Series with a talk about the evolution of his company here in Ann Arbor. The event is Thursday, January 27th. Sign up today!

David Fry buys Aysling Digital Media Solutions

David Fry's re-entry into the web-development entrepreneurial scene is one part serendipity, one part intentional and another part in the cards, considering Ann Arbor's entrepreneurial ecosystem.Fry built up Internet firm Fry over the last decade before selling it to Micros Systems in 2008. He now serves as the CTO of Fry Communications and is active with other local startups, such as Current Motors Co. (Ann Arbor) and gloStream (Southfield). And he's rolling back into the start-up game by acquiring Aysling Digital Media Solutions through Fry Communications.This is where the serendipity comes in. Fry was looking for a top digital content company to buy, and Aysling happened to be based in Ann Arbor. "It was a lucky, happy occurrence," Fry says. He plans to grow the 20-person firm's staff by 25-40 percent over the next year.The intentional part is staying active in Ann Arbor's entrepreneurial ecosystem. Aysling will allow him to be an active executive again, building up another company locally. "I firmly believe that you stay with the girl that took you to the dance," Fry says.The in-the-cards part comes from Fry's belief that it was inevitable before this happened. The entrepreneurial talent pool in Ann Arbor runs deep and continues to grow; he points to local angel investment meetings for Ann Arbor Angels as an example. "Those are very crowded meetings," Fry says. "There are probably 30-40 people in that room. There is a lot of talent in Ann Arbor."Source: David Fry, CTO of Fry CommunicationsWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

ProQuest acquires ebrary, LexisNexis lines, adds 100 jobs

Plenty of Ann Arbor's companies have been acquisition targets in recent months, but Proquest has been on the other end of the deals this year. The firm has been on an acquisition spree in recent years, including two more purchases in the last two months.Its acquisitions of e-book pioneer ebrary and the Congressional Information Service and University Publications of America product lines from LexisNexis have allowed it to notch double-digit growth in the last four years, after becoming a subsidiary of the Cambridge Information Group. ProQuest has grown its Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti staffs by 100 people, to reach a headcount of 585."Our growth has been extraordinary," says Elliot Forsyth, senior vice president of human resources for ProQuest. "We have grown in excess of 60 percent."ProQuest focuses on offering specialized information electronically, which it sells to researchers at every level, from grade school to commercial. The ebrary and LexisNexis-line acquisitions are expected to strengthen its product line for researchers."Our vision is to become central to researchers around the world," Forsyth says. "Our strength has been in journals, dissertations, and newspapers." Source: Elliot Forsyth, senior vice president of human resources for ProQuestWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Adaptive Materials acquired by UK-based Ultra Electronics

All new businesses strive to make the leap from start-up to second-stage company. However, the real challenge is moving from second-stage to established firm, a jump Adaptive Materials recently made and its founders have an opinion or two about.The Ann Arbor-based company made that leap last week when Ultra Electronics, a global firm traded on the London Stock Exchange, acquired it. Ultra Electronics' 4,020 employees will allow the newly blended company, Ultra-AMI, to sell its fuel cells world wide, a task it couldn't do with only 60 employees."For fuel cells to be successful they need to be deployed in several different markets simultaneously," says Aaron Crumm, who co-founded Adaptive Materials with his wife Michelle Crumm. So although growing a company to 60 people is a number to be proud of, it's not enough to reach their window of opportunity in the market organically. Since IPOs have been basically non-existent since the financial meltdown, acquisition was the only growth path for establishing Adaptive Materials as a significant business player in Metro Detroit.Nonetheless, acquisition has become a loaded term, often inspiring workers in Michigan to duck when they hear it. But the Crumms, now executives with Ultra Electronics, are convinced this acquisition will be more HealthMedia than HandyLab, staying local and growing their presence. Ultra-AMI has 11 open positions and plans to continue growing in Ann Arbor for the foreseeable future."We carefully choose our acquisition company to be the right-sized company," Aaron Crumm says. "They're big, but not too big. They operate globally with 24 business units. We're No. 25, but they're not too big that they can't have another business unit."He adds that acquired companies are likelier to stay put if their products are more innovative. If it's a start-up in a mature industry, then it makes more sense for the bigger company to eliminate the corporate staff to streamline the new combined operations. However, if it's in an emerging sector than it's not as easily assimilated into bigger operations. Those companies are often left to grow and continue to create jobs locally."That's ultimately the true measure of success locally, at least in my opinion," Aaron Crumm says.Source: Aaron Crumm, co-founder of Adaptive MaterialsWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.