Technology & Innovation

Coverage of innovative research, development and deployment of technology and technological advance, including hardware, software and software as service.

Ann Arbor Nanosystems blooms thanks to green products

By Newsroom

●

In The News

●

October 7, 2009

Ann Arbor-based, green-chem start-up Nanosystems doesn't look to stay small for much longer.Excerpt:In just four years, John Nanos has gone from teaching organic chemistry at the University of Michigan to building a multimillion-dollar company that's helping the environment.In 2005, the former adjunct professor launched a start-up company in Ann Arbor called Nanosystems Inc. after coming up with a greener way to make the polyurethane foam used in everything from the cores of surfboards to ear plugs and wound dressings.Nanos, who grew up in Dearborn as the son of a Ford Motor Co. engineer, developed chemicals for foam that are derived from soybeans, corn and other vegetables instead of oil. Today, Nanosystems produces these liquid building blocks for foam in Ann Arbor and Los Angeles, shipping them to dozens of customers around the country."You are essentially having a softer carbon footprint," said Nanos, who works out of a laboratory at the Michigan Research Institute in Ann Arbor.Read the rest of the story here.

Latest in Technology & Innovation

Skype president reflects on business, following his heart and time in Ann Arbor

By Newsroom

●

Community Development

●

September 30, 2009

A big shot in the start-up world (president of Skype) reflects on the lessons he learned growing up in Ann Arbor.Excerpt:MY life has been punctuated by points where I followed my heart rather than my head. I grew up in Ann Arbor, Mich., and went to the alternative high school there. It was called Community High — Commie High for short — and it had an unstructured format. I spent much of my junior and senior years traveling the country in a six-member jazz ensemble.Read the rest of the story here.

Cybernet Systems opens Fla office, has 4 openings

By Newsroom

●

Community Development

●

September 30, 2009

Cybernet Systems is spreading its tentacles beyond its Ann Arbor home.The company of 50 people and a few summer interns is opening a new office in Orlando. The handful of people will serve as information assurance capacity for clients of its military vehicle work down south. In the meantime the company has four jobs openings, including a mathematical engineer for its Ann Arbor headquarters."We're almost always accepting resumes and hiring," says Patrick Lewis, a spokesman for Cybernet Systems. The 20-year-old firm specializes in research and development in the defense and medical fields. It deals mostly with federal contracts. Among its products is the Large Caliber Automated Resupply, which loads ammunition into tanks and unloads unwanted casings or ammunition remotely. Its Automated Tactical Ammunition Classification System sorts ammunition, a costly and time-consuming task in the military. Cybernet Systems medical division developed a telemedicine service that enables physicians to remotely gather and review outpatient physiological data over the Internet. It was used in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.Source: Patrick Lewis, a spokesman for Cybernet SystemsWriter: Jon Zemke

MetaSpring adds 4, plans to do it again in Ann Arbor

By Newsroom

●

Economic Development

●

September 30, 2009

MetaSpring didn't just move because its old space was too small and the start-up was growing too big. The Ann Arbor-based firm needed a space that represented its creative personality."We really wanted to define ourselves with our space," says John Paul Narowski, strategic marketing director for MetaSpring.So the web-development-and-marketing firm moved out of its subleased corner of SpamStopsHere's office and set up shop in 2,000 square feet near Briarwood Mall. About one third of that building was office-space and the rest was warehouse. MetaSpring built the rest of it out in chic loft-style office space, decked out in bright colors and creative spaces. That is expected to give the company space for is burgeoning growth. MetaSpring (Meta is programmer jargon for fancy code and spring is a reference to a river or brook) started with four people in 1999. Today it employs seven people, two interns and an independent contractor. Two employees and two interns were brought on within the last year. "We have been expanding at a pretty consistent rate," Narowski says.It plans to develop internal software this year that it plans to turn into software as a service product. That would allow the firm to diversify into both a consulting and subscription-as-a-service model. MetaSpring plans to use that as a launching pad for hiring 3-4 more people (programmers and designers) within the next year.Source: John Paul Narowski, strategic marketing director for MetaSpringWriter: Jon Zemke

ICON Creative Technologies grows staff in Ann Arbor

By Newsroom

●

Economic Development

●

September 30, 2009

There is a reason ICON Creative Technologies Group is moving into a bigger space, mainly to accommodate the new hiring its doing right now.The Ann Arbor-based firm super sized from its old downtown digs to the former second home for the Ann Arbor Art Center just outside of downtown. That nearly tripling of space is allowing the company to continue to hire. It recently brought two more people to its payroll and plans to hire more soon."The more business we bring in the more we will hire," says Jennifer Peak, a spokeswoman for ICON Creative Technologies Group. The 14-year-old Internet firm now employs 27 people around the world, including with people in as far away as Germany and as close as Northern Michigan. It's Ann Arbor contingent measures out to 20 people. It hopes to hit 60 people within the next five years.ICON Creative Technologies Group is an interactive marketing agency focusing on Internet marketing. Its 60-some clients include firms in the bio-tech, automotive and service industries.Source: Jennifer Peak, a spokeswoman for ICON Creative Technologies GroupWriter: Jon Zemke

U-M researchers push envelope with new morphine system

By Newsroom

●

Education

●

September 30, 2009

University of Michigan researchers have developed a smart-drug technology that can help medics administer the correct amount of morphine to casualties on the battlefield.The intense challenge to administering morphine is two-fold: (1) stresses of the battlefield, coupled with erratic patient circulation caused by trauma and (2) no two soldiers are the same size. The results? Not enough morphine to blunt pain or too much, causing an overdose. The new U-M research has produced nanotechnology made up of ultra-small polymer particles that control the release of morphine. They are also working on an antidote that will sense and prevent the effects of overdosing before a patient actually ODs."We're creating a number of these drugs that have a number of release kinetics," says Dr. James Baker, director of the University of Michigan's Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and Biological Sciences.This new technology also has other promising spin-off uses in the private sector, such as being used by first-responders or intensive care units in hospitals or to treat chronic pain at home. "We feel we could use this for a variety of drugs," Baker says.Source: Dr. James Baker, director of the University of Michigan's Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and Biological SciencesWriter: Jon Zemke

A123 Systems goes public with IPO

By Newsroom

●

Economic Development

●

September 30, 2009

One of Ann Arbor's biggest employers for engineering and R&D talent is going public. A123 Systems issued an initial public offering last week of 28,180,501 shares of its common stock at $13.50 per share.An IPO is a sign of not only that a company has arrived but expects significant growth in the near term. The Massachusetts-based firm bought Ann Arbor's T/J Technologies in 2006 and is maintaining its presence in the city. That equals out to 300 of its 1,000 employees in Ann Arbor, and both numbers are expected to grow. A123 Systems specializes in hybrid and high power lithium technology that goes in the next generation of cars, like the Chevrolet Volt. It plans to build a lithium-ion battery factory in Novi after receiving a $69 million investment fro General Electric. A123 Systems is one of the main beneficiaries of the billions of dollars of federal money being invested into electric- and hybrid-car development. The federal government is making these huge investments with the idea of putting 5 million hybrid or plug-in electric vehicles on the road by 2013.Source: A123 SystemsWriter: Jon Zemke

Video Small Company Innovation

By Keith Jefferies

●

Economic Development

●

September 30, 2009

U-M produces two very important things: Talent and research. The university's Small Company Innovation program connects the commercial to the academic by placing and subsidizing graduate research students in local firms.

Igadea hires 2 in Ann Arbor, plans to hire more

By Newsroom

●

Economic Development

●

September 23, 2009

Eight years ago, Kevin Sly and Steve Owsinski were just a couple of college kids at the University of Michigan with a dream of running their own Internet start-up. Today the two friends turned that passion for the web into a local firm that is starting to really take hold – Igadea.The 8-year-old firm specializes in website development and marketing. It employs eight people in downtown Ann Arbor, including two recent hires. All new hires came on board over the last couple of years as Igadea (a play on words for "I got an idea") grew its revenues an average of 20 percent per year."In the last 3-4 years it has really blossomed," says Kevin Sly, president of igadea. "We have picked up a lot of regional clients. It feels like its going to follow that trend."Those firms include Dew Point in Lansing, Gardiner White in Farmington and re:group in Ann Arbor. The company is focusing on more Internet marketing these days, even though it got its start creating complex web development applications. It also has a side business in e-commerce for jewelry making.Sly expects this will all add up to more growth in the next year or two. He sees the company continuing to add to its staff in the near future.Source: Kevin Sly, president of igadeaWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor govt pushes further into techworld

By Newsroom

●

Community Development

●

September 23, 2009

Ann Arbor city government is pushing further into the tech world these days, sometimes by choice and sometimes by necessity.The city recently offered a call-in service for its public meeting, similar to how a radio show takes questions on air. Normally, people who want to express opinions have to come to the meeting in person and state their case. This newest service let them do it from their cell phone.The city is also looking to move its public notification system into the 21st Century by posting public notices online. This came up when The Ann Arbor News closed this summer leaving the city without a daily newspaper, the normal vehicle for posting public notices like upcoming council votes and informational sessions.Now that the paper is gone, the city is maneuvering to see if it can just post these sort of notices online to satisfy the city's ordinance governing this practice. If so, it would be one of the first local municipalities to rely on this method. Source: City of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke