Technology and Innovation

Avicenna Medical Systems signs Ann Arbor VA Hospital

By Newsroom

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February 20, 2013

Avicenna Medical Systems has high hopes for its partnership with the VA Hospital in Ann Arbor, which is currently using its technology platform, AviTracks. The technology enabled its users to better manage treatment of their chronic diseases from home. It's aimed at people who utilize blood thinners or monitor cardiac rhythms. The idea is to lessen the information burden on health-care IT systems, freeing healthcare staff to maximize time with patients and employ best practices for treatment. "It helps monitor patient information," says Frank Pelosi, chief medical officer of Avicenna Medical Systems. The VA Hospital in Ann Arbor is not alone in testing out AviTracks. The technology, spun out of the University of Michigan in 2006, is also being used in seven different divisions in the University of Michigan Health System. A team of four people currently works on Avicenna Medical Solutions. "There is a lot of potential to spread the technology throughout the region, as well as other areas," Pelosi says. Source: Frank Pelosi, chief medical officer of Avicenna Medical Systems Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Latest in Technology and Innovation

Duo Security scales up tech, staff in Ann Arbor’s Kerrytown

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Innovation News

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February 20, 2013

From Duo Security's launch in 2010, the Internet security start-up was built to scale. This is the year the downtown Ann Arbor-based company begins to accelerate its growth. Duo Security specializes in creating two-factor authentication software, which enables its users to use their mobile phones to secure their logins. The idea is to add another layer of protection against account takeover and data theft for companies. "These days passwords are not enough to really protect anything," says Dug Song, co-founder & CEO of Duo Security. The market for Duo Security's software has a high ceiling. The company has watched its revenue grow by 400 percent over the last year as its customer base has doubled to more than 1,000 clients. Some of those users include a variety of big brand names ranging from Fortune 500 companies to large research institutions. Song declined to publicly name those firms. "Probably half of our customers are first-time customers of two-factor," Song says. "We are helping grow the two-factor market." That growth has allowed Duo Security to more than quadruple its staff to just under 50 people. To accommodate its growth, the firm moved from the Tech Brewery to a newly refurbished office on the northern edge of Kerrytown. It now occupies most of the 10,000 square feet of space there, which it is currently working to fill out. Duo Security currently has five job openings and expects to hire 10 new people in total by the end of the first quarter. "We have grown pretty quickly," Song says. Source: Dug Song, co-founder & CEO of Duo Security Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Tissue Regeneration Systems near to closing on Series B round

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Economic Development

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February 13, 2013

Tissue Regeneration Systems is close to announcing its Series B round of fundraising, an infusion of seed capital that is expected to be worth between $2 million and $2.5 million. The nearly 5-year-old medical device start-up is commercializing a skeletal reconstruction and bone regeneration technology. The University of Michigan spin-out is going for initial FDA approvals for its technologies and hopes to score those approvals within the next year. It also has scored a $1 million grant from the National Institute of Health. "We believe that achieving these objectives puts the company in position to raise larger amounts of capital," says Jim Fitzsimmons, president & CEO of Tissue Regeneration Systems. To really build the company we need to raise sufficient capital." The company is predominantly a virtually based firm but has offices in both Ann Arbor and Seattle. It has a team of five employees and the occasional intern. Three members of its team are based in Ann Arbor. Source: Jim Fitzsimmons, president & CEO of Tissue Regeneration Systems Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Ann Arbor’s Lycera locks down strategic partnership with Merck

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Economic Development

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February 13, 2013

Merck is re-upping with Lycera, forming a second strategic partnership with the Ann Arbor-based biopharmaceutical startup that could bring the total investment between the two firms of nearly $600 million. Lycera is working to develop new autoimmune disease drugs that will help treat things like rheumatoid arthritis. It landed its first strategic partnership with Merck (worth $295 million in research investment) in 2011, which focused on therapies targeting the retinoic acid related orphan receptor. The second partnership, announced this week, is distinct from the first partnership deal because the firms will spend up to $300 million to discover, develop and commercialize small-molecule therapies directed to selected novel targets being investigated for the treatment of a broad range of immune-mediated disorders. "The validates Lycera as the partner of choice," says Kathleen Metters, president & CEO of Lycera. "It was built on a very successful first collaboration (between Lycera and Merck)." Lycera is based in the North Campus Research Complex at the University of Michigan (formerly Pfizer's Ann Arbor campus) where it has a staff of 22 employees and a handful of interns. It has hired three people over the last year, including a chemistry project manager. These hires are strategic and often represent people relocating to Ann Arbor. Metters expects to continue making those sorts of strategic, high-end hires throughout this year. Lycera is also looking to continue its research into its proprietary products, which are independent from its partnerships with Merck, and develop new technologies in the autoimmune disease sector. "This is a very important area to continue investment in," Metters says. Source: Kathleen Metters, president & CEO of Lycera Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Downtown Ann Arbor’s Kalyspo wins Entrepreneur Boot Camp

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Innovation News

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February 13, 2013

Kalyspo, a bio-tech start-up, has won Ann Arbor SPARK's 21st Entrepreneur Boot Camp's Best of Boot Camp award with its new surgery-tool-tracking technology. "The whole experience was very, very positive," says Dr. Theodore Marentis, co-founder of Kalyspo. "It got us from building the product point of view to building the business point of view." The downtown Ann Arbor-based startup is developing technology that prevents foreign objects, such as surgical tools, from being left in patients during surgery. The technology employs a micro machined tag that improves the visibility of objects on x-rays and computer software that detects the tag, as well as untagged objects such as needles. Kalyspo spun out of the University of Michigan four months ago and currently has a team of four people working on it. The team hopes to strike a strategic partnership with a major surgical sponge maker this year. It also expects to bring its product to market this year. Source: Dr. Theodore Marentis, co-founder of Kalyspo Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Pharma Form Solutions carves out niche with contract research

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Economic Development

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February 6, 2013

Pharma Form Solutions sees a need in the pharmaceutical industry (contract research) and is making headway to meet it in Ann Arbor. The less-than-1-year-old company was launched by a couple of locals who have more than 50 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. They saw that companies in that sector, both big and small, are looking to outsource some of their lab research work instead of shouldering the costs of maintaining their own research facilities. "There is a tremendous need for this sort of discovery work done in the pharma industry," Barry Paxton, CEO & co-founder Pharma Form Solutions. Pharma Form Solutions provides contract research services and offers high quality solid-state screening services, process development, and a generation of intellectual property associated with physical forms of research compounds. The company recently won the "Most Committed to the Business Model Canvas Process Award" award at Ann Arbor SPARK's most recent Entrepreneur Boot Camp. Paxton points out the boot camp experience help his three-person firm see that it has both opportunities to get work from both big pharmaceutical companies and smaller pharma start-ups. "The best way we found to penetrate the market is to do work with these small pharmaceutical companies," Paxton says. "It's a more direct path to get into a profitable business." Source: Barry Paxton, CEO & co-founder Pharma Form Solutions Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Monarch Antenna wins top prize at ACE ’13 competition

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Economic Development

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February 6, 2013

Monarch Antenna is off to a fast start in 2013, winning the top prize at the Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest's ACE business plan competition last week. The Ann Arbor-based start-up took home first place in the Emerging Company category and $5,000 in seed capital with it. The company is developing next-generation antenna technology and was able to translate the science behind the new technology into why its a promising investment. "We have been carving out mind space with the industry players," says Randy Dence, CEO of Monarch Antenna. "We need working capital and working engineers right now." The 5-year-old company was spun out of Michigan State University. The technology alters the electronic properties of an antenna so it can maximize signal quality. It started out in 2007 with grant money from NASA and the U.S. military to create its first applications for a space suit belt and a flak vest. Today it's working toward creating revenue through producing the antenna technology in medical devices, military applications and smart phones. It counts Automation Alley as one of its early investors. Monarch Antenna currently employs four people and the occasional intern. The company is working on building prototypes of the technology, raising seed capital and looking for strategic investors. Dence has been focusing on product development and clarifying the message about its potential. "My goal is to be mentioned in the top two or three companies in the tunable antenna space," Dence says. Source: Randy Dence, CEO of Monarch Antenna Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

PRIME Research to triple footprint in former Borders building downtown

By Natalie Burg

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Community Development

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February 6, 2013

Though many were sad to see Borders exit their State St. location, there's reason for cheer again as another high tech company has signed on to help refill the key downtown building. Germany-based PRIME Research plans to expand their North American headquarters into a 16,000 square foot, second-floor space this year. "We have grown out of it," says PRIME Research North America's Julie Myers-Beach of the company's current, 5,000 square foot Ashley St. location. "We're about as close together as we can be." Myers-Beach says the company is eager to get into the new space, which is now undergoing significant renovations, including a new elevator. "They'll be putting in windows," says says. "Along the side of Maynard and Liberty, it will be almost all windows. They're also adding additional bathrooms and updating the stairway. They're doing a lot of infrastructure work to the building." PRIME Research hopes to move into the new space in June, in advance of the Ann Arbor Art Fair According to Myers-Beach, the location was ideal for the company, which chose the State Street location for one of the same reasons it chose Ann Arbor as its headquarters in 2004. "We really like being so close to the University of Michigan, because we do hire quite a few students here," says Myers-Beach. "We wanted to be close to the universities, and, at the beginning, we were almost predominantly auto clients, so we wanted to be close enough to Detroit." The staff of PRIME Research's Ann Arbor location has grown from 42 employees to 80 over the past year. Myers-Beach says she expects that growth to continue in the new space as the company hopes to expand into new markets, such as the hospitality sector. Source: Julie Myers-Beach, PRIME Research North America Writer: Natalie Burg, Development News Editor

Ann Arbor is tops in churning out patents

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Economic Development

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February 6, 2013

Okay, it's a per capita ranking (patents/thousand jobs) but still tenth in the nation is pretty impressive. For overall patent output over five year (590) we were 37th. That averages out to more than 2 per day. Detroit ranked tenth in overall patents with 2,720 but 35th per capita. Check out the stats by metro area and company here.

L to R Mike Klein and Yan Ness with the twin power generators at Online Tech in Ann Arbor

Online Tech’s co-CEOs always have a backup

By Patrick Dunn

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Economic Development

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January 30, 2013

In the world of computer data hosting redundancy is a way of life. Ann Arbor's Online Tech has taken that philosophy to a new level, putting in place two CEOs. But far from duplicating each other's efforts, the dual company leaders have found that they complement and strengthen each other's talents.