Innovation + Job News

Every year, the Columbus entrepreneurial community awaits the TechColumbus Innovation Awards gala with anticipation. The event is held in recognition of individuals, companies and technology teams in the 15-county Central Ohio region for achievements and contributions in technology leadership and innovation.

This month’s 2011 Innovation Awards program commemorated the Capitol City’s bicentennial. In celebration of “200 years of innovation in the Columbus region,” Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman joined Ohio State University President Gordon Gee and Les Wexner, Chairman and CEO of Limited Brands, in recognizing thirteen business leaders and two promising high school students.

The gala drew a record crowd of 1,100-plus attendees. Wexner led the audience in singing “Happy Birthday” to President Gee, whom he followed at the gala podium. During his speech, Wexner praised Central Ohio’s entrepreneurs and developers for emphasizing the importance of intellectual curiosity in their work.

TechColumbus CEO Tim Haynes attributes the event’s success to growing interest in TechColumbus’s mission as a startup business accelerator. “The idea that the innovation and tech ecosystem -- all of the companies that make up our tech economy -- are crucial to our individual and collective strength is really resonating," he says.

Innovation Award recipients are selected by a panel of independent judges from the entrepreneurial community. The 2011 winners included JP Morgan Chase’s Corporate Technology Team for Corporate Innovators of the Year, Owens Corning for Green Innovation; The Wright Center of Innovation in Biomedical Imaging at The Ohio State University for Innovation in Nonprofit Service Delivery; Health Care DataWorks for Outstanding Startup Business; and OSU’s Center for Automotive Research (CAR) for Outstanding Technology Team.

A complete roster of award winners is available on the TechColumbus website.


Source: Tim Haynes
Writer: Kitty McConnell

One year after TeraView opened its first U.S. office, the UK-based imaging company is finding its niche within Dayton's vibrant, high-tech business sector. Dayton was the logical locale for TeraView's U.S. office because the region is a center for aerospace engineering and the development of advanced sensor technologies.

TeraView’s Dayton office is housed within the the Institute for the Development and Commercialization of Advanced Sensor Technology (IDCAST), a facility established by the University of Dayton with a $28 million Third Frontier grant in 2008. The company develops technologies using Terahertz light for imaging and spectroscopy that have pharmaceutical, biomedical and military applications.
 
“We have had a long relationship with Dayton and with a number of the excellent Universities in the state,” says TeraView spokesperson Alessia Portieri. “There is a now a strong Terahertz network in the area. This was one of the key reasons why we selected Dayton to create our base.”
 
Over the past year, Teraview has conducted two Terahertz techonology training sessions through IDCAST, a facility that has over 30 companies and eight universities as its partners and is considered one of the most prominent advanced sensor research and development centers in the U.S.

“These have been well attended by people from across the U.S. and helped to raise the profile of Terahertz, Teraview and the capabilities of Ohio,” says Portieri. TeraView’s Dayton location supports Terahertz technology projects in surrounding states, including an ongoing project in Indiana.
 
TeraView has just raised $5.5 million of new investment, and more training events are in the works, including one aimed at the pharmaceutical industry. “We’ve just moved additional equipment into the facility and are starting to offer contract analytical services,” says Portieri. The company hopes to eventually see U.S. interest for TeraView applications rise to the level of its European demand.
 
As the Ohio-based operation shows progress in the US market, TeraView plans to add more jobs in the Dayton facility. Meanwhile, the company plans on subcontracting existing work to IDCAST teams.
 

Source: Alessia Portieri
Writer: Kitty McConnell

The effort to build a world-class biomedical industry in Northeast Ohio took another step forward last week, when JumpStart Inc. invested $250,000 in Milo Biotechnology, a new company formed to pursue promising treatments for muscle degeneration.

Columbia Station native Al Hawkins will serve as Milo's CEO. The former director of new ventures at Boston University, Hawkins returned to Northeast Ohio last year to serve as CEO in Residence at BioEnterprise, the Cleveland-based biotech incubation initiative, and to find emerging technologies worthy of investment. The adeno-associated virus (AAV) delivered follistatin protein developed and patented by researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus fit the bill. Follistatin can stimulate muscle growth, and early trials with mice and macaques suggest it could help patients suffering from muscular dystrophy and other conditions that weaken muscles, Hawkins says. According to JumpStart, a Phase I/II trial, funded by Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, is enrolling patients.
 
Hawkins will retain his position with BioEnterprise until Milo has raised at least $1.5 million. Longterm, his job will be to keep raising funds for the six to seven years it could take to get follistatin all the way through the FDA-approval process, or to hire a new CEO and find another new technology on which to build a company in Cleveland.
 
Moving back to Northeast Ohio, he says, “is something I considered for a couple years. There are great opportunities here.”
 
 
Source: Al Hawkins
Writer: Frank Lewis

If you are one of dozens of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky residents heading to the Interactive portion of the huge South by Southwest festival in Austin next month, you’ll find a little bit of home when you get there.
 
Venture development group CincyTech has secured a #SxCincy Haus -- space in downtown Austin for members of the Cincinnati community to recharge themselves and their devices during the interactive portion of SxSW this year.
 
Four local digital pros will speak on panels. Krista Neher of Boot Camp Digital, Jeff Busdieker of Possible Worldwide, Marty Boyer of Possible Worldwide and Glenn Platt, professor of Interactive Studies at Miami University.
 
In addition, CincyTech, the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber and the Greater Cincinnati Venture Association, in partnership with U.S. Bank in Cincinnati, is helping to sponsor a Startup Bus. Twenty-five to 30 software developers, Web designers and business development folks will ride the bus and work on startup company ideas, which they will pitch to judges in Austin. Find out more and register here: startupbus.com.

Cincinnati is one of only 12 cities across the country hosting the national Startup Bus program.
 
In Austin each day of Interactive, CincyTech will host a #SxCincy Chat featuring a different digital expert from Cincinnati beginning at 4 pm at the #SxCincy Haus. The chats will take place after panels end and before parties begin each day and give SxSW attendees a chance to unwind while networking with other Cincinnati professionals.
 
#SxCincy Haus will be open from 8 am until 8 pm from Friday, March 9, through Monday, March 12. Participants can hang out, get work done, snack and rest up.
 
Additionally, CincyTech will host a #SxCincy Haus Party from 8-11 pm, Saturday, March 10, featuring Cincinnati beer and chili, music from Cincinnati bands and the opportunity to mingle with Cincy’s consumer, brand and marketing experts.
 
On the morning of March 11, founder and CEO of Cincinnati startup Venturepax will lead a kayak and standup paddle board outing on Austin’s Lady Bird Lake. Anyone interested in getting some fresh air should meet at the #SxCincy Haus at 10 am Sunday, March 11.
 
“We’re promoting Cincinnati as a city that understands the future of consumer interactive,” says Carolyn Pione Micheli, communications director for CincyTech. "We have a large number of innovative thinkers at huge corporations, digital agencies and startup companies. SxSW is a great audience with whom to share our story.”


Source: Carolyn Pione Micheli
Writer: Sarah Blazak

With a strong manufacturing infrastructure and more than 630,000 skilled workers, Ohio has the opportunity to become one of the most attractive states in the U.S. for clean energy manufacturers, according to the Ohio BlueGreen Apollo Alliance. Yet while Ohio has created policies to make clean manufacturing a priority, it needs to create further incentives to spur growth, according to The Ohio Green Manufacturing Action Plan (GreenMAP), a report by the Alliance.

“Successful renewable energy programs and energy-efficient projects over the past few years have proven that there’s significant potential for Ohio to meet the growing demands of the clean energy sector,” said Shanelle Smith, Ohio senior coordinator of the Alliance. “Ohio can’t afford to stand on the sidelines while other states and countries compete to win good jobs in one of the world’s fastest growing industries.”

The report praise Ohio’s new incentive programs for renewable energy installations and energy efficiency projects, as well as the new Alternative Energy Portfolio standard. However, it recommends renewed efforts targeting clean energy manufacturing.

“The state has lost over 400,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000 and needs to reassert itself as a manufacturing hub,” the report states. “The infrastructure and expertise remain in place … Ohio policymakers should bolster the manufacturing sector by doing more to support those trying to compete in the growing clean energy industry.”

The GreenMAP report outlines specific recommendations to help ramp up Ohio’s growth in clean manufacturing. These recommendations include expanding financing and incentives, prioritizing support for small to mid-size clean energy manufacturers and increasing support for research and development. Other recommendations include broadening workforce development programs to train more employees for these new industries, expanding Ohio’s demand-side clean-energy policies, and pushing for improvements in clean-energy manufacturing policy at the federal and regional levels.

The report emerged from a special task force comprised of representatives from the business, investor, labor, policy and environmental communities. The group aims to provide a blueprint for Ohio to win the competition for future clean-energy jobs.


Source:  Shanelle Smith, Ohio BlueGreen Apollo Alliance
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

To grow Ohio’s considerable clout in the aerospace industry, the state’s leaders are looking north to Canada as an important source of trade partnerships.

The Canada-Ohio Aerospace Summit held last month in Cleveland attracted a large number of Canadian and Ohioan aerospace business leaders and government representatives. It was initiated by the Ohio Aerospace Institute to help industry leaders get to know each other better with the hope of nourishing business relationships.

The two countries appear to be a good match for international aerospace trade, which is a $382 billion industry. Canada is the world’s fifth largest aerospace market with sales of roughly $22 billion annually. Ohio is the nation’s leader in propulsion and power technology with more than 1,200 companies 100,000 workers in the field.

“The event gave us the opportunity to highlight the potential for partnerships that could take place between businesses in Ohio and Canada in the aerospace trade,” says Patricia Grospiron, Director of Technology and Innovation Partnerships with OAI.

Grospiron also pointed to up-and-coming companies in Canada such as Bombardier in Montreal, an airplane manufacturer that is growing rapidly and challenging established leaders such as Boeing and France’s Airbus for international aircraft orders.

“Ohio is already a leader in supplying parts to airplane manufacturers such as Airbus,” says Grospiron. “Opportunities with companies such as Bombardier could help expand our businesses here.”

During the one and half day summit, at least 130 one-on-one business meetings took place between companies with synergistic profiles, says Grospiron.


Source: Patricia Grospiron
Writer: Val Prevish

Can monsters make kids do chores that parents can’t make them do?

Chris Bergman and Paul Armstrong think they can. Not by frightening kids into action, but rather by encouraging them to collect the cute, funny monsters that these entrepreneurs have created as part of their new mobile app, Choremonster.

The founders of the Cincinnati-based startup are both experienced web designers who were part of the 2011 graduating class at The Brandery, a startup accelerator based in Cincy that helped to launch a dozen new tech businesses in the past two years.

Choremonster is a web-based mobile app that lets parents and kids interact to make chores more enjoyable.  Kids are rewarded for completing tasks by earning real-life rewards from mom and dad. They can also collect cool, virtual monsters from Choremonster that they can play games with online or trade with friends.

Bergman describes the app as “allowance meets Pokemon” and says it’s targeted at kids age 6-12. “The monsters are instant gratification for kids. What kid doesn’t like monsters? It’s worked well in all of our test families.  Kids are really inspired.”

Choremonster recently received a $200,000 investment from CincyTech, a public- private partnership whose mission is to invest in high-growth startup technology companies in Southwest Ohio.  In addition, support from CincyTech has helped to attract angel investors, bringing the total seed-stage funding to $350,000.

“As of 2010, 51 percent of children between 4 and 12 years old had digital devices that could run the Choremonster app, and we know that number is growing,” says Mike Venerable, Managing Director of Digital, Software and Health Technology at CincyTech. “By incorporating a web-based service into its platform as well, Choremonster has a strong market on which it can capitalize.”

Bergman says that Choremonster will earn revenue through selling memberships to a premium version of the program. The company also plans to sell licensed products depicting the app’s monster characters, which include colorful names such as Frank Rumpnoodle and Phil Dustrumple. There are over 250 monsters kids can collect.

Public release of the app is the next step, says Bergman, although he declined to estimate exactly when that would take place.


Source: Chris Bergman
Writer: Val Prevish

LifeServe Innovations, which is developing a percutaneous tracheostomy introducer dilator, recently received $75,000 from the Lorain Innovation Fund. The device allows medical personnel to place a tracheotomy tube with greater ease and with fewer procedural complications than existing systems.
 
Co-founders Zach Bloom and Rick Arlow first came up with the idea as a class assignment while attending Lehigh University. “We were looking for problems to solve in emergency or critical care,” recalls Bloom. “We ultimately developed a safer and much more user-friendly approach.”
 
While they each went on to graduate school, they took their intellectual property and decided to bring their device to market. LifeServe Innovations was born in 2009. Bloom and Arlow chose Cleveland for its balance of medical and entrepreneurial support. “Cleveland is an entrepreneurial community and a medical community,” Bloom says.
 
The process of developing the dilator was one of trial and error. “It’s the nature of any startup -- the product you ultimately come up with is never the original,” says Bloom. “We kept designing products for surgical airways until we found something that met the need.”
 
LifeServe will use the grant money to manufacture and test their dilator. “We hope to have the product cleared for market by the end of second quarter,” says Bloom. While the company has volunteers helping them, Bloom hopes to hire two to three people in the near future. “As the growth begins to come and we see success in our investment, we want to bring income to Cleveland.”

 
Source: Zach Bloom
Writer: Karin Connelly

For nearly a decade, a quiet but dynamic partnership between the University of Cincinnati and Cincom software has grown in prominence, through a business plan competition that prepares the winner for the international stage.

The annual UC Center for Entrepreneurship Spirit of Enterprise Graduate Business Plan Competition kicks off Feb. 23, and is an intense 36-hour contest where graduate students from across the country and Canada have their business plans poked, prodded – and for the best – rewarded.

The top plan wins the $10,000 Cincom Spirit of Champion Award, and earns an automatic bid to the international 2012 Venture Labs Investment Competition, formerly the Moot Corp competition at The University of Texas at Austin.

This year teams from 16 universities will compete at the UC event, which will be held at Cincom Systems Cincinnati headquarters. In addition to UC students, teams from Brigham Young, Johns Hopkins and Carnegie Mellon universities will compete as well, says Cincom Finance Director Dan Vogel.

Vogel, who has served as a competition judge in the past, says the contest is open to any type of business idea. Entries have been varied, from medical devices and software to a new liqueur. In recent years, more of the entries have focused on biotechnology and research-based medical devices.

“We get some partnering of MBA students and the medical research department testing out ideas to see if they are commercially viable,” Vogel says.

The plans represent a shift in Ohio’s economy, one that relied on traditional manufacturing jobs to one that increasingly is turning to innovation, technology and research in job creation.

“In the Midwest in particular we are evolving from an economy based on manufacturing to one that is more services and researched based, and when you look at the number of top research schools in Ohio, Michigan and Illinois, a lot of time and money is being devoted to research,” he says. “The universities are fostering that environment and we are trying to jump on board.”

In addition to the Grand Prize, the competition awards $3,000 the first runner up, $2,000 to the second runner up (sponsored by Queen City Angels First Fund) and a $1,000 to the third runner up.  

The team with the top plan will move on to the Venture Labs Investment Competition in May where they will pitch to potential investors from across the globe and compete for a a prize package worth $135,000. The students will compete against 40 teams from more than 12 countries including Thailand, Norway and Brazil.


Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Source: Dan Vogel

As part of a global environmental concern about trash, a University of Cincinnati team proposed the “Renew Trash Compactor,” a new product and service that reduces trash, increases recycling, improves sanitation and generates income for the Padli Gujar village in India.
 
Mark Schutte, Carmen Ostermann, Morgen Schroeder and Autumn Utley, all University of Cincinnati students, headed to Minnesota to present their compactor in the next round of the Acara Challenge.
 
The competition is organized by the Acara Institute and administered by the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment, with the mission to mold students into a new generation of leaders by providing them with insight into global issues and how to influence change.
 
The environmental challenge given to students came through “Take The Challenge for Sustainable Design and Development,” a multidisciplinary course offered as part of the University Honors Program at UC. The course is taught by Rajan Kamath, associate professor of management, and Ratee Apana, associate professor-educator of management/international business.
 
“The course encourages students to think boldly and break with convention and rules,” Apana says.
 
First-round winners from all competing universities are fine-tuning business plans in the second-round of the competition, where four winning teams will be awarded a $5,000 scholarship and the opportunity to attend the University of Minnesota Acara Summer Institute in Bangalore, India.
 
The UC team, one of six in the country from colleges such as Duke University, Cornell University, Arizona State University, is paired with industry mentors to create business plans for their ideas.
 
“The compactor was designed to be simple and affordable,” Utley says.“The waste collection service, which accompanies the compactor, will generate 29 well-paying jobs for the community and additional household income.”
 
If the team makes it to the summer institute in India, members will meet with top entrepreneurs and capitalists to further develop their idea and help secure funding.


Source: Ratee Apana, Autumn Utley
Writer: Evan Wallis

Last year hiVelocity spoke with Mitch McLeod, founder of Columbus-based software company ARCOS, Inc. Utility companies across the country depend on his company’s Automated Crew Callout and Resource Management System when there’s a power outage or other emergency. The web-based system instantly finds, assembles and tracks repair crews, thus reducing the duration of such events. McLeod recently assumed an advisory role so we contacted his successor, Bruce Duff, for an update on the company and his plans for the future. The new CEO has more than 25 years of experience in the software industry, including assignments across North America, Europe and Australia. He previously worked for Pathlore Software Corp., Information Dimensions, Inc. and Foresight Corp. Duff has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from the “Thunderbird” School of Global Management.


Q:  What happened to former CEO Mitch McLeod?
A:  Mitch McLeod, now chairman of ARCOS, focuses on the company’s long-range business plan and oversees the executive committee. He’s researching and evaluating industry trends and mentoring the ARCOS team.

Q:  Has the company’s focus changed since his departure?
A:  No. We’re still focused on electric and gas utilities as well as power-generation plants. Frankly, ARCOS wants to serve every utility in the United States.

Q:  At the time of our interview with your predecessor, utilities in 23 states were using your software and the company had 18 employees. Have those numbers changed?
A:  Utilities in 35 states now use our software, and we have 25 employees. We now serve all the utilities covering the State of New York, the first state entirely covered by ARCOS.

Q:  How did you rise to your present position?
A:  Three years ago, Mitch asked me to build and lead a national sales team. He wanted me to help guide new-business implementations and get our marketing rolling. After a few years of success on these fronts, Mitch felt the next step to scaling the business for the size of the opportunity in front of us was to develop a leader to whom he could delegate his day-to-day responsibilities. With my previous executive experience and Mitch’s trust, I was tapped for the job.

Q:  How does your management style differ from that of your predecessor?
A:  I guess you could say Mitch is ARCOS’s father -- he built it. I suppose I’m the adopted father. I care every bit as much for the people and the business, but I didn’t have the benefit of seeing the company from its infancy. So I’m probably a little less hands-on because ARCOS has grown big enough to walk independently and, in some ways, even run.

Q:  What challenges is your company facing?
A:  We have many opportunities in front of us. However, we want to address them all with a 100-percent success rate. We don’t want to leave a single customer behind in terms of delivering the level of customer service we’ve become famous for among utilities.

Q:  Are you developing any new products (software)?
A:  Yes. Last year we launched our mobile app for emergency callout and resource management. From a smartphone, a utility company manager can assemble a crew and track work progress. We also have a software add-on that we nicknamed “closest to the trouble.” It’s a proximity-based location service that lets a utility know where its workforce is at any given time and expedites repair work by sending the nearest resource to an outage, gas leak or other emergency.

Q:  Can you briefly describe how your software works?
A:  It’s a hosted, internet-based software system that automatically locates and assembles utility repair crews beyond normal business hours. When a power outage is reported, a dispatcher or manager taps into the ARCOS System, which automatically makes phone calls to assemble repair crews. The system displays a dashboard of real-time statistics, including response times. The system also tracks employee status, taking into account any union agreements or workforce rules. Each crewmember has a PIN that identifies and tracks their response.

Q:  How has the company grown?
A:  We’ve won a Columbus Fast 50 Award five years in a row. The award recognizes companies for financial growth and performance over the past three years. We expect to be on the Fast 50 in 2012, too. We’re also making inroads with the gas utility industry, having added at least five gas utilities in the past 12 months.

Q:  Is there one question you wish we had asked?
A:  Yes. Why is this new position exciting? ARCOS is among one of the few companies I’ve worked for where everything you need to manage effectively has come together. We have a high-quality product that’s incredibly reliable. The culture here is one in which people pride themselves on anticipating customers’ needs and responding quickly. Our customers say: “ARCOS is the vendor we wish all our other vendors were like.” The utility market is hungry for additional solutions and techniques to respond quickly to customers and to protect the public. Who wouldn’t want to be at the front of that?

Author: Patrick Mahoney
 

When it comes to making challenging New Year’s resolutions, Josh Schwarz knows how to set the bar high and deliver results.

The Case Western Reserve University sophomore is a computer science major, and his  resolution for 2011 was to create one Facebook application a week – 52 in all. To his  credit, Schwarz met the goal – on time and on target.
“I’ve always been into computers,” Schwarz explains. “I’m constantly wanting to innovate, and I realized that the Facebook platform has plenty of space for lots of new ideas.”
Schwarz categorizes his 52 apps into two segments – sharing data in a new way and viewing data in a new way.
His first app – Relationship Mania – enables users to organize their friends based on their relationships -- married, single or engaged, for example. With Email Grab, you can set up a simple way to collect email addresses from visitors to your website. Using the City Friends app, you can group your friends by their current locations and plan social events accordingly.

According to Schwarz, Cartoonize Me is the most popular app. “It transforms your photos into colorful cartoons,” he says. Next up in popularity is the Mutual Friends Matrix, designed to tell users which of their friends is most popular.

Schwarz’s apps can be accessed through his website at www.amagit.com.

His project has enabled him to meet many entrepreneurs and people in the technology business in Northeast Ohio and beyond. “This has been a great learning experience,” Schwarz says. “I’m determined to start my own company before graduating, so I’m aggressively pursuing technology, business and entrepreneurship experiences.” To that end, in addition to his classes, he’s an intern at JumpStart, Inc.
Next up for Schwarz is working on a service exclusively for Case students. “I want to build something that provides them recommendations for books, events, and jobs they might want to apply for,” he explains.

Source: Josh Schwarz, www.Amagit.com
Writer:  Lynne Meyer
 

Neuros Medical, a Willoughby company formed in late 2008, has made a major step forward in offering their Electrical Nerve Block technology as an answer for patients around the US suffering from amputation pain, residual limb pain, and other types of chronic pain conditions.

After a successful human study in 2011, the FDA has recently approved Neuros for an Investigational Device Exemption allowing them to perform a pilot trial of up to ten patients this year. The study will run throughout 2012, with a goal of moving to pivotal trials in 2013, and submitting for full FDA approval the following year. Once the approval has been received, Neuros will begin marketing the technology to clinicians and patients.

Working in Ohio has been a major advantage for Neuros, not only because Case Western Reserve Univesity is one of the foremost organizations working on neurostimulation technology, but because the company has been able to partner with Battelle Labs in developing and manufacturing their initial generation of devices for the research trials.

“There’s a wealth of talent in Ohio,” said Jon Snyder, the president of Neuros, “I moved back to Ohio from Chicago to put this company together and our Chief Technology Officer (Dr. Zi-Ping Fang, PhD) was trained at Case Western. There are great resources for product development and clinical activity here.”

Based on technology developed at Case Western Reserve University, the ENB system uses implanted electrodes to deliver direct high frequency stimulation to the user’s peripheral nerves, blocking the pain signals sent to the user’s brain.

“We think this may have many applications in other areas treating patients with chronic pain,” said Snyder, “Including post-surgical pain, occipital neuralgia, which is a form of migraine, and a variety of other chronic pain conditions that are peripheral nerve based. A lot of these patients don’t have a real alternative other than strong narcotics, and our hope is that we get to the market and provide a better, safer alternative for those suffering from these conditions. Our goal is to provide a proven therapy for those who are not getting relief from current therapies and treatments without strong side effects.”

Author: Matt Wagner

A Dublin-based startup Mobile Expeditions is building its future around mobile technology as a growing number of people buy smart phone and tablets like the iPad.

Mobile Expeditions has developed platforms for location-based, media-rich tours, presentations and games that can be used on iPhones, iPads and iPodTouch devices. The applications' content can be customized by users, like an art museum, business or a city, looking to offer people a more engaging experience during an outing or an event.

The company was founded in 2009 by business partners and two software-industry veterans Mark Gilicinski and Sean Boiarski, who saw the potential of such mobile applications after the iPhone was first released in mid-2007. Though there were smart phones before the iPhone, its easy-to-use design, multimedia features and touch screen revolutionized--and popularized--smart phone use.

"I've been involved in software during my entire career. When the iPhone came out there was a computer that you could write software for, and have access to data network that fit in your pocket. It was pretty cool," Gilicinski said.

Mobility paired with high speed-data and multimedia capabilities has led to an explosion of mobile applications like games, virtual tours, and virtual product demonstrations that companies use to promote their brands, products and services.

Many times these mobile applications are custom applications built by developers that can be quite expensive. Mobile Expeditions is developing platforms that its clients can quickly download and populate with its own content including videos, text, audio and pictures.

So far the company has more than a dozen clients, including Celebrity Cruises and Columbus, Ohio’s COSI (Center of Science and Industry). Celebrity Cruises has used the platform to create self-guided tours of its ships' extensive art collections. Through interactive maps, art lovers can locate specific works, and by touching location points on a piece can find more detail like the title, artist’s name, medium and description.

This year Mobile Expeditions is working to expand its client base and has recently hired a sales person. The self-funded company is located in the Dublin Entrepreneurial Center and was propelled from idea to business through TechColumbus's 1492 Business Launch competition and a $50,000 Tech Genesis Grant.

By Feoshia Henderson