Columbus : Innovation + Job News

Ohio State University has announced a new commercialization center that it calls a unique model for collaboration between university researchers and business -- one that will strengthen the state and national economies and increase university revenues.

The Technology Commercialization Center, which Ohio State says departs from typical university commercialization models, will emphasize partnerships between the colleges of engineering, food agricultural and environmental sciences, health sciences, business, law, and the Office of Research.

In a news release, OSU said the center will be housed within the Fisher College of Business and will "bring together, in one unified organization, new-technology evaluation, license negotiation, company-formation mentorship and undergraduate and graduate education on entrepreneurship and commercialization."

In addition, a Proof of Concept Center will be established to ensure inventions with the greatest potential for the commercial market will receive the most attention.

Caroline Whitacre, vice president for research, told hiVelocity in May that the center was in development.

"We need to prioritize these technologies and develop the most promising ones further within the university," she said at the time. "So the idea here is twofold: to do a thorough evaluation of these technologies, and that involves bringing in some people from outside as well, bringing in some market experts, both local and national. And using the expertise within the university to look at what's really valuable."

OSU says the strategy presents a significant opportunity to generate new revenue for the university, which is recruiting a chief commercialization officer to lead the effort. Ohio State, based in Columbus, ranks in the top ten nationally with $716 million in research expenditures in 2009 and is second in industry-sponsored research. The university's 2009 licensing revenue was $1.7 million.

Source: Ohio State University
Writer: Gene Monteith

Rocker Bret Michaels has one. Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi has one. Beau Biden, son of Vice President Joe Biden, has one too.

What they have is a hole in the heart known as a patent foramen ovale, or PFO. It's a problem shared with millions of other Americans -- one that, left undetected, can lead to strokes and death.

Until now, detecting a PFO has required the skills of two physicians, use of a heart catheterization lab, mild sedation and a plastic tube shoved uncomfortably down the throat, says CardioX CEO Larry Heaton. That procedure is so uncomfortable that many patients refuse follow-up tests to determine if treatments have been effective.

But if all goes as planned, the Dublin-based CardioX will complete clinical trials this summer -- and next year begin marketing -- a siimpler process that requires only a small injection of dye into the blood, sensors attached to a person's ears and a tube into which a patient blows to open the flap covering the PFO. (Because blood passing through a PFO doesn't go to the lungs as it should, the dye will reach the ears ahead of schedule -- proving the existence of the hole).

CardioX, founded in 2008, has raised about $4 million in outside investments, including two rounds led by Reservoir Venture Partners and Early Stage Partners, respectively. The company has also benefited from angel funding led by Ohio TechAngels and $500,000 through the TechColumbus Regional Commercialization Fund.

"The combination of (state) initiatives, along with the source of capital, have combined to make a very nice climate for CardioX to stay here in this area," Heaton says.

The company has five full-time employees and a network of about half-a dozen outsourced or part-time people, Heaton says. More will come on board as the system goes to market.

Source: Larry Heaton, CardioX
Writer: Gene Monteith

Columbus-based DoMedia was founded in 2007 to help bring some order to the "out-of-home" media marketplace. Since then, it's tripled its employee base and is ready to ride the booming digital media wave.

Out-of-home advertising is anything out of the home on which you can place a branded message, explains DoMedia CEO Andy Mansinne. Bus huts, aerial banners, pizza boxes -- just about anything can be used as an advertising medium.

However, "it's very fragmented and very opaque and there aren't very many ways to get your arms around what's out there, measure its efficacy and then systematically and efficiently secure and purchase those media assets," Mansinne says.

DoMedia provides an online marketplace for finding, planning, buying and selling alternative, traditional and digital out-of-home media. Media providers (like billboard companies) use DoMedia to create detailed online profiles, while advertisers and agencies can use DoMedia's database to plan and build their out-of-home campaigns.

While traditional out-of-home is alive and well, "digital out of home has come screaming to the forefront in the last year," Mansinne says. Think of those big screens you might view while waiting in line at the movies -- "anything that can be delivered from an extended video format or even like Captivate, which is static art in elevators."

Mansinne says 400 agencies are now registered DoMedia users as well as 1,200 media sellers worldwide. The company has benefitted from funding led by Columbus-based NCT Ventures as well as support from the Ohio Third Frontier's Innovation Ohio Loan Fund -- DoMedia received more than $1 million from the fund for 2010, Mansinne says.

DoMedia has 10 employees today compared to three two years ago, and expects continued growth behind new services and the rise of digital out-of-home media.

Source: Andy Mansinne, DoMedia
Writer: Gene Monteith

Imagine an imaging technology that can identify TNT or anthrax beneath a terrorist's clothes. That's exactly the kind of capability the Columbus startup Traycer wants the world to have.

Conceived in an Ohio State University lab, incorporated in 2007 and housed in the TechColumbus incubator, Traycer is already attracting attention for its promising terahertz -- or "T-ray" -- technology.

"Terahertz is just a different wavelength of light," explains Don J. Burdette, director of scientific research. "It falls between infrared and microwave, so there are a lot of applications for infrared technology -- you know, catching the bad guys running from the cops."

But many materials that aren't easily detected using infrared or microwave can be readily identified using T-rays. "So this has a lot of applications for spectroscopy, food quality control, chemical detection under people's clothing, detection of breast cancer -- the applications abound."

That potential has attracted the attention of TechColumbus, which in early 2008 awarded it $500,000 in pre-seed funds. And it's caught the eye of the U.S. Air Force.

"We're in our third contract with the Air Force to prove out the technology," says CEO Brad Beasecker. "And there certainly are numerous applications within the department of defense."

The company is working with a variety of partners -- including IDCAST (Institute for the Development and Commercialization of Advanced Sensor Technology) in Dayton, where it has lab space -- and numerous Ohio and out-of-state universities.

Beasecker says the three-person company was expected to close this week on an investment round led by Ohio Techangels. But it's most important next step lies ahead.

"We've got to finish the camera. It's pretty simple."

If all goes as planned, Traycer could be in the marketplace early next year and "generate a new industry based here in Ohio," Beasecker says.

Sources: Brad Beasecker and Don J. Burdette, Traycer
Writer: Gene Monteith

Advertising has always been a tricky business. With the dawn of advertising on the internet, that tricky situation became an impossibly intricate one: a dizzying array of mouse clicks, website "hits" and page referrals.

While companies jockeyed to accurately measure the success of internet advertising, Columbus-based ClearSaleing Inc. has become a leader in ensuring its clients are getting the most bang for their online advertising buck.

ClearSaleing, founded in 2006 with help from the Ohio TechAngel Fund and TechColumbus, partners talent pooled from Google, electronic commerce leader ECNext, eBusiness Solutions and top online marketers. The company has gone on to develop software that accurately attributes profit and return on investment across the varied online marketing touch-points that eventually lead to more business for its clients.

"We're fully focused on advertising analytics, which is tracking every form of traffic brought to a website," says Adam S. Goldberg, one of the company's founders and its chief innovation officer.

Goldberg, who jumped to ClearSaleing after helping start Google's first inside sales team, says it's not enough to track just the end result of website visits, which is what most tracking systems do now. Instead, ClearSaleing focuses on every step along the way.

"Now, when a marketer look at their online ad investments, they have a better idea of which ones are profitable, and how profitable they are. Those that aren't, they can fix or put their money elsewhere."

Recently named TechColumbus' Product of the Year and a product marketers "Can't Live Without" at the Search Engine Watch Awards, ClearSaleing has nearly 100 clients that include names like Goodyear and Stanley Steemer. The company's also growing fast, with 40 employees -- a number Goldberg says could be increasing soon.

Source: Adam S. Goldberg, ClearSaleing
Writer: Dave Malaska

Getting noticed by a Hollywood producer is tough -- especially if you live in Ohio.

GotCast answered the problem with an interactive website designed to make it easier for aspiring actors, models and others across the country to connect with producers on the coasts.

Founded in Columbus in 2007, "there was a serious problem with casting directors and producers in Hollywood connecting with your average entertainment person across the country," says Justin Moodley, director of operations.

A shift from scripted television programming to reality shows and those looking for "normal people off the street" strengthened the need for links between aspiring talent and production teams looking for fresh faces.

GotCast today boasts more than 250,000 members and has tracked more than 5,000 castings, Moodley says -- including a member chosen for next season's "Project Runway."

Most features of the site are free, though members can join at a "pro" level for $19 a month, Moodley says. GotCast's revenues come largely from sponsors and website management for entertainment partners (see http://stortellers.vh1.com)

While answering a listing on the site is easy, getting noticed takes thought," Moodley says.

"The profile's really the most important thing," he says. "You have to think about it the same way you would on Monster.com."

GotCast also includes "open" online castings, in which contestants ask others to vote for them, but Moodley says the vast majority of members get hired through manual submissions.

While GotCast management moved to Los Angeles two and a half years ago, half of GotCast's eight employees remain in central Ohio, with plans to add additional support personnel.

Source: Justin Moodley, GotCast
Writer: Gene Monteith

Michael Tomsic calls his Columbus-based HyperTech "a poster child" for how the Ohio Third Frontier should work. Not only has his company benefited from numerous state and federal grants, but since 2005 has increased employment from two to 25.

Tomsic says HyperTech is one of two companies in the world working to commercialize magnesium diboride wires, a superconducting material that could eliminate the need for high-cost helium baths needed to keep magnetic resonance imagers cool. The other is located in Genoa, Italy, and named, ironically, Columbus Superconducting.

In 2001, the company won an $800,000 grant from the Ohio Technology Action Fund to demonstrate that the magnesium-boron compound could be made into a useful wire.

"That was first major funding anywhere around the world to actually try to commercialize this magnesium diboride," says Tomsic, HyperTech's president.

That project helped paved the way for a three-year, $5-million Third Frontier research and commercialization grant in 2009, which in turn has helped HyperTech strengthen its collaboration with Siemens, Philips and General Electric -- who Tomsic says "have 95 percent of the MRI magnet market" -- as well as with the Ohio State University Wright Center of Innnovation in Biomedical Imaging and the OSU Center for Superconducting and Magnetic Materials.

Along the way, the company has garnered more than $18 million in federal funds to continue to improve the performance of magnesium diboride wire for MRI companies.

While most of HyperTech's focus today is on MRIs, Tomsic says the wires have great potential for upgrading and protecting electric power grids. In anticipation of further growth, the company moved into a 45,000 square foot facility in February.

Source: Michael Tomsic, HyperTech
Writer: Gene Monteith

Nexergy is on the cutting edge of advanced battery technology -- a niche that helped the company add nearly 20 jobs between 2009 and early 2010.

The Columbus-based company is working on some of the technological challenges of building lithium ion battery packs -- a battery that produces more energy per weight and size than anything else on the market.

Lithium ion batteries today are used in many consumer products, like notebook computers and cell phones (by contrast, Nexergy builds battery packs for high-value portable electronics like medical instruments and tools, safety and security equipment). But they have a couple of problems when battery size increases -- they can generate a lot of heat and they have to be carefully controlled with electronics. That makes developing a large lithium ion battery that can be used in such things as electric vehicles a major technological challenge.

"One of the big issues that the industry is dealing with in kind of moving up the food chain in getting lithium ion used in bigger and bigger packs for things like wheelchair batteries or lawnmower batteries or electric vehicle batteries," says company founder Phil Glandon.

Nexergy is helping to solve that problem in a collaboration with GrafTech, Mobius Power, and the Center for Automotive Research at Ohio State University. The companies are receiving $965,000 from the Ohio Third Frontier to build a next generation of applications for lithium ion power.

Overcoming those challenges could mean tremendous growth for a company like Nexergy if it's able to convert its large lead-acid battery business to lithium, Glandon says. The company, which also has operations in California and Colorado, employs 165 in Ohio.

Sources: Phil Glandon, founder, and Sean Harrigan, president and CEO, Nexergy
Writer: Gene Monteith

Born-and-bred Ohioans need no explanation of what cornhole is. Canadian censors, on the other hand, have apparently never heard of the bean bag game.

The founders of Columbus-based JUFTi learned that the hard way last August when they launched Cornhole All-Stars, "the first and only true 3D cornhole game for your iPhone or iPod touch."

While the app was published on Apple's App Store worldwide, the Canadian App Store would only list it as "C******e All-Stars."

"We sent a formal letter of inquiry to the Canadian government demanding to know why our title was censored. And we sent one to Apple," says JUFTi co-founder Jon Myers, who says he believes his is "the first app to be censored by a government."

Myers also contact the Wall Street Journal (which wrote wrote about snafu) and staged a high-profile meet-up in Toronto. The censorship was mysteriously lifted.

While Canadian downloads remain "a blip," Myers says the game is catching on among others, with about 60,000 downloads to date.

"We do get downloads from all over, and the other thing too, is we have about a thousand Facebook fans."

Formed a year and a half ago, the 10-employee company recently entered into a licensing agreement for a Garfield the Cat game for iPhone, iPod and Facebook, which Myers hopes to launch this summer.

While the company so far has been self-financed, Myers says efforts continue to find new ways to raise revenues.

"One of them is a marketplace for brand integration into apps � for example, we have the bean bags inside our (cornhole) game. If Donato's wanted to put their graphic on our bag, they would be able to access our platform and find in the marketplace that advertising opportunity and buy it."

Source: Jon Myers, JUFTi
Writer: Gene Monteith

Is there a sustainable fuel alternative in our transportation future? If so, what will it look like and who will lead the way? Can alternative energy cars save the U.S. automotive industry? And what is "clean" energy and how should it best be used in our transportation systems?

Those and other questions will be discussed May 2-4 at "Moving Ahead 2010: Sustainable Transportation Solutions for the 21st Century."

The national conference, to be held at Ohio State University's Ohio Union Conference Center in Columbus, is expected to draw nearly 1,000 people, including "more than 500 industry leaders; federal, state and local policymakers; researchers; investors; students; and media representatives to join the event." The conference is designed to advance federal, state and local policies that will help reduce our dependence on petroleum for transportation and promote economic development.

Speakers and panelists will look at how new innovations impact jobs, the environment and national security and include headliner Carol Browner, assistant to the President for energy and climate change and former director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Clinton.

Among the dozens of other confirmed speakers are: John Viera, director of sustainable business strategies at Ford Motor Company; Jolene Molitoris, director of the Ohio Department of Transportation; Tom Murphy, senior resident fellow at the Urban Land Institute; and Robert E. Martinez, vice president for business development at Norfolk Southern Corp.

For more information or to register, go here:

Source: Melinda T. Swan, Associate Vice President, Ohio State University Office of Communications
Writer: Gene Monteith

Got a crusty customer who doesn't think he should have to pay a late fee? PAKRA, using game technology, will help you train your call center people how to deal with Mr. Congeniality.

Trouble closing phone-based sales? PAKRA says it can simulate the situations your new hires � or current employees � might encounter, through virtual interactions with virtual customers.

The Columbus-based start-up can then provide reports describing the game player's tendencies in reacting to various situations � data that an employer can use to improve training.

Begun in 2008 by Rini Das � she serves as chief executive officer and chief information officer -- and Anne-Claire France and Pamela Schmidt-Cavaliero, both of whom are on PAKRA's board of directors � the company's inspiration was not in IT, but aerospace.

"If you think about flight simulators that pilots use, by immersing themselves and learning by doing -- it was kind of like of an ah-ha moment, like 'why aren't we doing this in the business space, why aren't we improving hiring and training by immersing people in simulations that really let them learn by doing?'" says Michelle Stewart, PAKRA's chief production and marketing officer.

"And not only do that, but let's turn out some data on the back end to give hiring managers, recruiters and trainers information about who they've got coming in, who they've just hired who they've got in their classroom and who they have sitting on the floor taking their phone calls to really give them some information about these simulations."

Stewart says company has benefited from networking and mentoring services from TechColumbus and has six employees, plus a number of Columbus-based contractors. Major clients include Huntington National Bank.

Source: Michelle Stewart, PAKRA
Writer: Gene Monteith

Adding next-generation wind production to Ohio's energy mix presents several technical problems, but one boils down to this: Getting to the best wind will take taller towers, and using steel structures to get there will add significant weight and transportation costs.

But what if we could make the towers on site using lighter-weight composites? A new $1-million Ohio Third Frontier grant is aimed at finding out.

Managing the project is Ershigs, a Bellingham, Wash.-based company with expertise in building composite structures on site and which has operations near Manchester, Ohio. Other partners include the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) and Edison Materials Technology Center in Dayton; Miamisburg-based WebCore, which makes engineered core materials for composite sandwich structures; Owens Corning's Columbus operations, which make an advanced, high-strength glass fiber; and Ashland Performance Materials in Dublin, which makes high-performance resins. A successful project could lead to new Ohio jobs, partners say.

UD, WebCore and Owens-Corning worked on an earlier Third Frontier project that looked at new markets for advanced materials in a variety of areas -- including windmill blades, says Brian Rice, Division Head for Multi-Scale Composites and Polymers at UDRI.

"And we also funded an engineering study to say does it make sense to make towers with composites . . . and we wanted to find out at what point does it make economic sense to switch from steel to composites."

Steve Hettick, a vice president of manufacturing for Ershigs, says the first year of the two-year grant period will be concerned primarily with "technical development and with materials testing validation." He said the team will perform extensive computer modeling and build sample laminates to first prove out the design. Eventually, the team's objective is to build and test a full-scale tower.

Sources: Brian Rice, UDRI and Steve Hettick, Ershigs
Writer: Gene Monteith

Science and Technology Campus Corp., the state-of-the-art research and office complex at The Ohio State University, is counting on creative synergy, investing in an $7.3 million ElectroScience lab and wireless communication building that housing university researchers and private tech-savvy firms under one roof.

The innovative 40,000-square-foot Wireless Communication Building allows for quick collaboration, making the research-to-commercialization process more dynamic and smooth, says SciTech President Doug Aschenbach.

"A lot of research ideas really do begin in a brainstorming process where people will be talking at lunch. There is a creative process that works better if people are together than if people are working by phone 1,000 miles away," Aschenbach says.

SciTech, a non-profit that partners with state, local and university partners to attract high-tech companies to its research park, is the developer of the Wireless Communication Building. The OSU ElectroScience Lab will occupy half of the new building. SciTech hasn't announced any official private clients yet, but said the companies in the ElectroScience field, like aviation companies, are targeted tenants.

"In many cases (researchers and private industry) are already collaborating. It makes the process more efficient if someone can walk down the hall and talk to the person conducting research on their behalf," Aschenbach says.

The building is expected to be ready for occupancy late this year.

Source: SciTech President Doug Aschenbach
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

Manufacturers have been forced to go "lean," meaning they must take cost out of the parts they make or lose their customers. The resulting focus on internal efficiencies has often hamstrung their ability to develop new processes, new technology and new products.

That's one of the catalysts behind the Ohio Manufacturing Institute, based at Ohio State University's College of Engineering. Another is that universities -- which have the resources to do what manufacturers increasingly can't do in house -- haven't always been good at interfacing with manufacturers, says OMI Director Glenn Daehn.

OMI is just getting its legs. Daehn describes the institute's formation as a "soft launch," with a website, some initial partnerships and some big plans.

OMI views one of its important roles right now as "priming the pump" with short-term projects as a bridge to long-term relationships. It also is acting as broker to bring manufacturers together with needed expertise.

"What I'm hoping is five years from now we have faculty engaged from across the state, bringing along their expertise and local physical resources. Faculty from the University System of Ohio will work with other state resources like Battelle, EWI, MAGNET and TechSolve, who network together," Daehn says. "When projects come in we have project managers and others who assess what (manufacturers) need, we align them with the right resources and they are able to generate new technology to generate more efficient manufacturing processes. A small professional staff will assure that these projects take place at the 'speed of business.'"

In the meantime, OMI has also launched a light structures initiative geared toward the next generation of lightweight vehicles.

Source: Glenn Daehn, Ohio Manufacturing Institute
Writer: Gene Monteith

Platform Lab may be flying under the average person's radar, but within Ohio's information technology world, the "the nation's only state-funded IT test and training facility" seems to have come of age.

Formed in 2001 as a partnership between the Ohio Supercomputer Center and the Columbus-based Business Technology Center (now known as TechColumbus), the center's client list has grown to more than 240 companies ranging in size from startups to established giants like Victoria's Secret Catalog.

The non-profit organization, located with parent TechColumbus, was launched with a $250,000 state grant to give companies an economical place to test IT solutions, says lab Director Steve Gruetter.

"They put together a focus group with 43 consulting companies, and what they decided to do was to create a facility where companies could go to test solutions to get to market quicker," he says.

Then came the Sept. 11 attacks and the dot-com implosion. Platform Lab needed to remake itself quickly. The answer: disaster recovery plan validation, a decision that led to a number of big clients like Wendy's and BMW Financial.

A $1.164-million Ohio Third Frontier grant in 2005 allowed the lab to create a statewide network that interconnected with the Third Frontier network and offered clients a way to use the system on a test-test-only basis to validate high-bandwidth applications.

First came load and stress testing, then the Expertise Partner Program, an initiative that links clients with Ohio-based IT consultants and which has resulted in 71 sales opportunities for consultant partners.

Most recently, Platform Lab built a "private cloud" that allows clients to connect into its resources to do testing using "virtual machines" that mimic what a client would see if he or she were physically present in the lab.

Source: Steve Gruetter, Platform Lab
Writer: Gene Monteith