Third Frontier : Innovation + Job News

A Youngstown-based startup medical device company is changing the way critically ill patients are cared for � and tossing out the notion of a painfully difficult startup process � one innovative feeding tube at a time.

The entire process of starting up Syncro Medical Innovations was made a whole lot easier because of the simple design of the BlueTube, the company's staple product, says Syncro CEO Gary Wakeford. Instead of relying solely on lots of X-rays to guide a feeding tube into the stomach, two powerful magnets do the job. And they do it a lot faster.

One of the magnets is at the tip of the feeding tube, and the other is placed near the patient's belly button, and voil�. "We solve a real problem," Wakeford says. "It's very difficult to insert a feeding tube. We turn a difficult procedure with a low success rate, into an easy procedure with a very high success rate."

People are taking notice. Prestigious customers, including Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore and the Brooke Army Hospital in San Antonio, have placed orders. The Ohio Third Frontier recently OK'd $490,000 for Syncro through its Innovation Ohio Loan fund.

The BlueTube is currently manufactured in Germany, but plans are in the works to manufacture the product in Ohio by the end of 2010. "Depending on our success, our long-term goal is to do our manufacturing in-house, which could add 30 jobs within three to five years," Wakeford says, adding that there are currently four full-time, two part-time and one intern employed with the company.

"We've really been welcomed here," he adds, noting the company moved to the Buckeye State from Macon, Ga. "This is our headquarters and we plan on always having our base rooted in the Youngstown area."

Source: Gary Wakeford, Syncro
Writer: Colin McEwen

Entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel funders and economic development officials will descend on Columbus Sept. 27 and 28 to network and to hear the latest developments within Ohio's entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Sponsored by the Ohio Capital Fund and the Ohio Third Frontier, the Ohio Early Stage Summit will focus on the vitality of Ohio's early stage companies and investors, says Paul Cohn, the Capital Fund's vice president and regional director.

While past events have provided an opportunity for a handful of early stage companies to pitch their services and products to potential funders, popular demand has led to an expansion of that portion of the summit on the event's first day.

"For the past two years, we had half a dozen companies make pitches during the conference," Cohn says. "That's resulted in companies actually getting funded. We've expanded that to a separate event -- a half a day leading up to the summit."

Other presentations and panel discussions this year will include the state of the Ohio Third Frontier and what capital needs continue to exist across Ohio.

"Now that the Third Frontier has been investing for a number of years in early stage companies, is there a need for some later stage money as these companies are starting to mature?," Cohn explains.

Another discussion will focus on minority early stage businesses and both the opportunities and challenges they face. And participants will hear about the state of venture capital in Ohio.

Cohn notes that about 350 people from throughout Ohio attended last year's event.

The summit is free of charge, but attendees should register by Sept. 22. That can be done by going here. 

Source: Paul Cohn, the Ohio Capital Fund
Writer: Gene Monteith

What began as an Internet service provider in 2001 has blossomed into one of the fastest growing tech companies in the country.

CentraComm, based in Findlay, is an IT security and service provider with clients throughout the U.S. Despite a tough economy, CentraComm has managed to land on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies three years running; it's been on the CRN list of fastest growing technology companies four years in a row.

CEO Daniel Bemis attributes that success to smart employees with a passion for customer service -- and to staying focused.

"We know what we do very well and we try to stay focused on that," Bemis says. "We don't try to be all things to all people. Another key is that we're very customer-focused. It can be a clich�, but in several cases we're literally a four-digit extension on a company's phone."

Bemis, a Monroeville native, returned to Ohio last year when he took the helm of CentraComm after serving stints at Vonage, Adelphia and CRN. At Vonage, Bemis oversaw all customer operations and inside sales as the company became the fastest growing startup in the country.

While he says the company won't add significantly this year to its 25-employee headcount, a few jobs likely will be added. At the same time, the company is taking advantage of the Ohio Third Frontier Internship Program, which helps pay the freight for students participating in the program.

"We see that as a great way to attract young talent in school and get them on-boarded at a cost that you can sustain," he says. "The other thing we believe is that as the Third Frontier helps fund existing manufacturers moving to more high tech manufacturing, that will create opportunity for us because we support those kinds of companies."

Source: Daniel Bemis, CentraComm
Writer: Gene Monteith

One of alternative energy's best hopes is the solid oxide fuel cell, a century-old invention that produces electricity directly from oxidizing fuel within a closed environment. Long used as power source in practically every NASA mission since the 1960's, the technology has never been widely used because the inherent high costs.

That is, until now.

Refractory Specialties Inc., a Sebring-based company that has a 40-year history of supplying insulation and other products for high-temperature manufacturing processes, has emerged as a solution to lowering the cost of making the cells, while increasing their quality. RSI has developed kiln products from an existing company line and a new coating that ensure very exact production of ceramic parts used in SOFCs, which in turn, should boost production of the high-efficiency energy source.

The company developed this new product line, Sinterlyte, with the help of a $400,000 grant from the Ohio Third Frontier initiative.

"To make the ceramic parts, you have to fire them at a very high temperatures � we're talking in excess of 1,300 degrees Celsius, and as high as 1,400 degrees," explains Suhas Patil, RSI's head of engineering. "We were able to take our T-Cast material that we already had and put a coating on it, which allows you to deal with these very high temperatures without contaminating the ceramic piece you're making. I tell people it's like baking cookies. We make the cookie tray. You don't want anything from the tray to ruin the cookie."

Sinteryte also allows for precise molding of the ceramic pieces, which is also important to the long-term dependability of SOFCs that normally operate at high temperatures while in use. RSI's advance means the fuel cells can finally be a financially viable alternative to fossil fuels.

The company had been working on Sinteryte prior to getting the Third Frontier grant in 2008, and brought it to market this year. Revenue projections for the line are expected to surpass $25 million within four years. That means expected growth for RSI as well, which currently has more than 100 employees at two sites, and services over 30 major and hundreds of smaller clients. SinterLyte's success could earn RSI a large share of the global market, including overseas clients like Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited in Australia to Wartsilla in Finland among others.

Source: Suhas Patil, Refractory Specialties Inc.
Writer: Dave Malaska

iSqFt has merged information technology with traditional bidding and construction planning methods to realize a 30 percent increase in revenue and a 230 percent jump in employment over the last two years.

Founded in 1993, the Blue Ash-based firm began as a client-based software firm, says Dave Conway, president and CEO. That started to change when the company became serious about leveraging the Internet.

The result was Internet Plan Room and Private Construction Offices.

"The Internet Plan room is a service for subcontractors to gain access to bidding projects," Conway says. "They get a list of the projects in their market area and are able to view those projects on blueprints, view the specifications, search queries and they can find the kind of projects they would like to bid on. We connect subcontractors to the general contractors who are actually bidding the job. And then the general contractors will use an online tool (Private Construction Office) to manage the bidding process so they can manage their documents, manage their data base of subcontractors as well as all the communications that occur during the bidding phase."

The technology improves business processes, which reduces costs and increases efficiencies and effectiveness, he says.

Not only has iSqFt been recognized as one of Ohio's fastest-growing companies, but as one of the best places to work. Along the way, employment has increased from 150 to 350 in the last two years.

The company has received both Ohio Third Frontier money -- $2 million in 2006 and another $1 million earlier this year to further develop its platform -- and venture capital from Ohio Capital Fund participants like River Cities Capital Fund, Chysalis Ventures, Tri-State Growth Capital Fund and Reservoir Venture Partners.

Source: Dave Conway, iSqFt
Writer: Gene Monteith

Frank Harris, a professor emeritus of polymer science at the University of Akron, knows what it's like to be the bona fide poster child for the growing high-tech industry in Ohio. And he's OK with that.

He co-founded Akron Polymer Systems in 2005 (with Dr. Stephen Cheng, dean of the UA College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering) and the company has enjoyed steady growth since.

The company now says it's within a year of taking its polymer product � with uses in fuel cells, liquid-crystal displays and solar cells � to the market.

APS has attracted the attention of several companies, including Lockheed Martin, Kent Displays and solar powerhouse Xunlight.
And to think the company was this close to leaving Ohio.

"We were approached by the state of South Carolina, but we stayed, primarily because of the Third Frontier," says Harris. "South Carolina could offer us some incentives, but they couldn't come anywhere close to the help that the Third Frontier could offer us." APS has received about $350,000 in direct funding from the state program for fuel cell technology, but through subcontracts it has also been awarded more than $2 million for several other projects.

Harris says another benefit is that the company has been able to match Third Frontier funding with industry funding, something he calls the "doubling effect."

There are currently a dozen people employed with APS, but Harris says once a product is on the market within a year, there could be more than 25 positions added. In more good news for the company, APS has been approved for a $1.25 million loan to build a new $3 million facility in downtown Akron.

Source: Frank Harris, Akron Polymer Systems
Writer: Colin McEwen

An electric utility's biggest bane, John Lauletta says, is the power outage. It makes sense that if utilities could predict outages -- or at least when parts of the system were about to fail -- they'd jump at the chance.

Enter Exacter, which over the past four years has grown rapidly by helping to predict how and where overhead power distribution systems might fail.

Lauletta, Exacter's CEO, says the company began to gel in 2004, when he and fellow utilities veteran Larry Anderson (Exacter's vice president of international business) "started talking about this idea of predictive technologies. We started our work with the Ohio State University High Voltage Laboratory, and we opened our company on July 1, 2006."

Today, Exacter has 100 utility customers in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia and the U.K.

In a nutshell, here's Exacter's approach: As a vehicle drives along the distribution route at regular speeds, a patented sensor in the car detects radio emissions from damaged components. Exacter sends a person into the field to confirm which component is damaged or failing. A digital photograph is taken, latitude and longitude confirmed, and reported to the utility so the problem can be fixed.

While there are other methods for finding bad components, none is as accurate, fast or as comprehensive as the method Exacter uses, Lauletta says.

Lauletta says another growing service for Exacter is helping utilities understand the feasibility of laying "smartgrid" networks over their distribution lines.

Exacter has received support from the Ohio TechAngel Funds and the Ohio Third Frontier Innovation Ohio Loan Fund. Last year, the company received Outstanding Startup and Outstanding Service awards from TechColumbus, and, more recently, a statewide professional engineering award for innovation for small companies.

Source: John Lauletta, Exacter
Writer: Gene Monteith

A news release calls it "a game-changing new nanomaterial that will allow composites to multitask - a wind turbine tower that can de-ice its own blades in winter, or store energy to release on a calm day, powering a grid even when its blades are not moving. Or a military vehicle whose armor can serve as a battery - powering some of the vehicle's electrical components."

Khalid Lafdi, who discovered the material, says it's not hype. He says his "fuzzy fiber" could revolutionize everything from water treatment to electronics to the manufacture of airplane parts.

Lafdi, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Dayton and group leader for carbon materials at the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI), says the new carbon nanomaterial surfaced eight or nine years ago while he was working on subcontract with the U.S. Air Force. But the material has drawn more attention recently because of a $3-million Ohio Third Frontier award to UDRI to fund scale-up and production.

Most carbon nanomaterials are used purely for structural purposes. They are stiff, light and strong. But they are poor conductors of heat or electricity because they are locked inside a flat sheet of resin. Sort of like slicked down hair.

But, Lafdi says, imagine if you put that gel into your hair and tousled it for a rakish, stylish Hollywood look. Voila -- more surface area, which makes for a better conductor of heat and electricity and provides other functionality that traditional carbon nanomaterials can't approach. All without lessening the structural benefits.

The Third Frontier award will help fund creation and equipment of a full-scale production facility for the hybrid fabric. The award will be matched by UDRI and Ohio collaborators Goodrich and Owens Corning -- potential end users of the material -- and Renegade Materials -- which intends to commercialize the product.

Source, Khalid Lafdi, UDRI
Writer: Gene Monteith

Global Neighbor has struck a chord with dandelion haters who want to kill the buggers in an environmentally friendly way.

Jon Jackson, president of the Dayton-based company, reports that by the end of the year he expects to sell his 1,000th unit of the NaturZap, a device that kills broadleaf weeds without chemicals.

The company was formed in 2003, and in 2006 piloted the NaturCut, an energy-efficient, battery-operated, shear-cut lawn mower. While Global Neighbor is still working on a cost-competitive design for the NaturCut, gardeners seem to have found a new friend in the AC-driven NaturZap, which was rolled out in 2008.

The device works with a combination of high heat -- which damages the root system -- and natural processes that introduce fungus into the damaged root.

That's good news for consumers like Jackson, who says his lab/pit bull mix gets a rash every time it encounters a chemically treated lawn.

NaturZap is sold primarily through online organic gardening outlets and is on back order, Jackson says. While the product is currently manufactured overseas, he intends to move production to Tipp City as volumes increase. Jackson also hopes to increase his number of employees from one -- himself -- to three next year.

Jackson is working on a souped-up, battery driven NaturZap. But he hasn't given up on the NaturCut's technology -- in fact, he hopes to springboard off of both products to create "a lawn care solution that has zero environmental impact," he says. "We envision something that is self propelled or you push through the lawn. It cuts the grass, it kills the weeds, it applies an organic fertilizer, all under computer control."

The company has benefited from a $12,500 Third Frontier grant through the Dayton Development Coalition, resulting in matching funds from private sources.

Source: Jon Jackson, Global Neighbor
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

"The traditional paradigm in regenerative medicine consists of injecting stem cells into injured organs so that the damaged tissue can begin to repair itself," explains Juventas Therapeutics president Rahul Aras. "Ours is a more simplified approach that moves away from extracting and reinjecting stem cells."

Based on the research of Cleveland Clinic cardiologist and Juventas co-founder Marc Penn, the biomed company developed an innovative technology that offers a fresh way of looking at regenerative therapy. Penn discovered that it wasn't a lack of stem cells that made an organ's natural repair process ineffective, but rather because the molecular signals that recruit those stem cells are too short-lived.

The key molecule that serves as the beacon for stem cells is Stromal�cell Derived Factor 1 (SDF�1). Injecting SDF-1 into damaged tissue, they found, restarts a patient's natural repair process.

Presently, Juventas is in Phase 1 clinical trials to evaluate the safety and efficacy of using SDF-1 to improve cardiac function following a heart attack. But in the future, adds Aras, the same repair biology likely can be used to treat other diseases as well.

Thanks to help from the State of Ohio's Third Frontier initiative, Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center and JumpStart, Juventas spun out from the Cleveland Clinic in 2007. The Cleveland-based company currently employs four full-time and two part-time members. But as the technology moves into other disease applications, Aras anticipates exponential growth.

Source: Rahul Aras, Juventas Therapeutics
Writer: Douglas Trattner

Both patients and docs benefit when new medical advances reduce the cost, complexity and risks of surgery. Miamisburg-based X-spine has built a growing business on that idea.

Founded in 2004 by spine surgeon and medical device inventor David Kirschman, the company is growing on the strength of nine FDA- approved products.

The company bills itself as "leader in design and development of novel technologies for the spine." That includes the highly successful X90 screw system, a one-piece product that Kirschman, X-spine's CEO, says simplifies the old two-piece system used before.

The company's new Fixcet Spinal Facet Screw System, which received FDA clearance just last week, sports a novel dual thread design, which Kirschman -- X-spine's CEO -- says provides a more stable way to connect bones. Not just that, but it can be put in through the skin of the patient with only a very small incision.

Kirschman says X-spine is growing 20 percent to 30 percent in both revenues and employment, with nearly 30 employees to date. Along the way, it has benefited from Ohio Third Frontier programs like the Entrepreneurial Signature Program, which provided a $300,000 commercialization investment two and a half years ago, and a current University of Cincinnati-led project funded by a $3-million Third Frontier grant for development of a laser metal processing technology for use in transplants.

"Most of our products are manufactured right here in Dayton," says Kirschman. "There are a lot of skilled engineers here and lot of people with good manufacturing skills."

Source: David Kirschman, X-spine
Writer: Gene Monteith

At Tremco, it's not only about being a part of the "green" movement. It's about staying ahead of the curve.

The Cleveland-based company is creating a photovoltaic roof that is both functional in creating energy and protective of the building's integrity � the latest sustainable product in Tremco's long history.

"Sustainability has become one of the most important subjects in the construction industry, if not the most important," says Deryl Kratzer, Tremco's roofing and building maintenance division president. "If we don't focus constantly on helping our customers meet their sustainability goals, we will lose a competitive advantage that we have built over 80 years. We will also be disrespecting our founding principals."

One of the features of the new solar roof will allow for the removal of the PV module from the protective roof membrane for maintenance and eventual recycling. If developing a useful renewable energy solution isn't green enough, Tremco will offer a "cradle-to-cradle" business model, allowing the leased roof system, at the end of its service life, to be deconstructed, recycled and reused as raw materials for a new roof.

The company's Roofing and Building Maintenance Division received a $1-million grant from the Third Frontier Advanced Energy Program toward the building-integrated solar project � a global market expected to exceed $1 billion next year.

Tremco (which belongs to parent company RPM Building Solutions Group) employs more than 1,100 internationally. More jobs in Ohio � many of them specialized positions � are expected, Kratzer says.

"We also expect to develop new processes and technologies which will help the system advance the cause of 'green' construction, and have a positive impact both on Ohio's economy and on energy costs for those using the BIPV system," he says.

Source: Deryl Kratzer, Tremco
Writer: Colin McEwen

In no other field is it as important to be perfect than the operating room, where increasingly complex procedures bring dwindling margins for error. One innovative Cleveland-based firm has stepped in to ensure doctors get all the practice they need.
 
Simbionix USA Corp. has become an international leader in simulation-based medical training and education simulators, allowing young doctors to gain experience in surgical procedures, veteran surgeons to hone their skills and all doctors to better visualize intricate procedures beforehand.

"It's made a huge difference in patient care, especially for procedures where it's critical, where there's little room for error," says Simbionix's U.S. Director of Marketing, Bill Lewandowski. "We have about 900 of our simulators in hospitals worldwide, mostly in hospitals that are associated with teaching institutions like the Cleveland Clinic and the Mayo Clinic."

"We're on every continent but Antarctica. We just can't get any of the sales guys to go there," he jokingly adds. 

Simbionix's exponential growth � founded in Israel in 1997, it later moved to Cleveland to follow investment money � has mirrored hospitals' use of highly technical, minimally invasive surgery robotic systems. The most prominent, Intuitive Surgical's highly precise da Vinci surgical system, is a multi-armed operating room robot that allows for less invasive procedures, fewer post-surgical complications for patients and quicker recovery times. It also demands extensive training, which is one area where Simbionix's simulators have proven invaluable.

Using actual patient data, Simbionix simulators allow doctors to practice the surgery electronically beforehand, identifying possible problems before the first incision is made. 

The company has more that 70 employees, but because of a recent Ohio Third Frontier grant expects to surpass 80 and expand its Medical Education Divison in Cleveland.

Source: Bill Lewandowski, Simbionix
Writer: Dave Malaska

JumpStart Inc., a non-profit organization that provides critical resources to promising young companies in northeastern Ohio, helped create and retain 664 jobs in the past four years, says a newly released economic impact report by Cleveland State University.

That's 162 more jobs than had been created through 2008 and a 32 percent increase within the 21-county area JumpStart serves.

Not only did JumpStart's activities lead to more jobs, they helped boost household income for those workers to $39.8 million in 2009 -- up $19.2 million from 2008.

In releasing the report, Ziona Austrian, Director of Cleveland State's Maxine Levin College of Urban Affairs, said "JumpStart's impact . . . increased during a recessionary year because the companies it supports continue to grow and create jobs."

The report was released just days before Tuesday's vote to extend funding for Ohio's Third Frontier initiative. JumpStart, which currently receives nearly half its funding from the Third Frontier, noted the importance of the initiative in its announcement.

The report summarized the impact of JumpStart's activities in three areas: investment in start-up companies through JumpStart Ventures; investments in start-up companies by North Coast Angel Fund, whose creation JumpStart led northeast Ohio's first managed angel fund; and JumpStart services to support other entrepreneurs through JumpStart TechLift Advisors.

The report also took a look at JumpStart's impact on local output -- the value of goods and services produced in the economy -- as well as its effect on tax revenues. Cleveland State measured JumpStart-related output at $90 million in 2009, a 20 percent increase. Local tax revenues in 2009 rose by $5.1 million and federal tax revenues rose by $7 million as a result of JumpStart activities, the report says.

Source: JumpStart
Writer: Gene Monteith