Innovation + Job News

ChoreMonster app aims to connect families, make work fun

Thursday, August 25, 2011

For most kids there is no getting around chores. Whether it's cleaning their bedrooms, mowing the yard or taking out the trash, they are part of family life.

While the tedious tasks may never make it on the list of things kids look forward to, two Cincinnati entrepreneurs are developing a web-based and mobile application that can make them more enjoyable.

ChoreMonster, now under development, connects chores and rewards through a point system. The application, which can be accessed by parents and their children, gives kids points based on the type of chore they complete. Once they garner enough points, kids can cash them in for real-life rewards like a Christmastime gaming system or $25 for a night out at the movies.

The parent decides how to award points and what rewards to associate with them.

ChoreMonster is the brainchild of Chris Bergman and Paul Armstrong, digital marketing consultants at WiseAcre Digital in Over-The-Rhine.

"I grew up in a household where chores had a negative connotation," says Bergman, whose first child is due in December. "ChoreMonster is a way to enjoy daily chores. We wanted to create an experience where parents could interact with their children in a unique and engaging way. This gives them an opportunity to do that."

ChoreMonster is one of eight startups that are part of The Brandery's 2011 class. The seed stage consumer marketing venture accelerator offers a 12-week course that includes mentoring, 20K in financing upon completion and access to potential investors.

"We already have a lot of strengths (in business) but we want to learn more about strategic partnerships and fundraising. It's a great opportunity to access the network, mentors and the collective wisdom of The Brandeary," says Bergman, of College Hill.

ChoreMonster will be ready for private Beta when The Brandery class finishes this fall, Bergman says. As with each class, the application will be unveiled during a demo day before the public and the local investor community.

Source: Chris Bergman, ChoreMonster
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

You can follow Feoshia on Twitter @feoshiawrites

This story originally appeared in sister publication Soapbox.

Venturi Motors sets sights on electric car production within two years

Thursday, August 11, 2011

The Buckeye Bullet attracted Venturi Automobiles to Ohio. But a perfect mix of conditions could keep it here and result in all-electric cars being produced in Columbus in the next two years.

Venturi, a Monaco-based company that builds electric vehicles, announced in January that it was establishing North American headquarters at TechColumbus, located on the Ohio State University campus. Since then, Venturi North America has been working through regulatory requirements for manufacturing cars here while continuing to partner with OSU engineering students and the university's Center for Automotive Research (CAR) on the experimental Buckeye Bullet, which has continually set land speed records (see our story in July 28 issue).

"A few years ago the owner of the company, Gildo Pastor, got involved in the Buckeye Bullet during the hydrogen run when it was using fuel cells," says John Pohill, an industry veteran and CEO of Venturi North America.

Pastor "fell in love with speed and became a donor to CAR and to the university," Pohill explains. "In their attempt for that speed record, they talked about what would be next, and Gildo, being an electric car manufacturer, said maybe we can go to electric, and that's exactly what happened. He became even more involved."

When Pastor decided to establish North American operations, Pohill says, "the perfect spot was Columbus because Ohio State was here, the Buckeye Bullet was here and a great deal of other activities relating to the electric car."

Venturi North America announced at the Detroit Auto Show in January that it would build its America automobile in Ohio. Pohill describes the America as a "buggy style vehicle. It's all electric, it's purpose-built in that it was not a change from another vehicle. The other discussion we had was whether to build it for the masses or to make it what Venturi is known for, which is a high-end performance car. We still haven't come to a final decision on that, but it looks more like it's going to be something that's not exorbitantly expensive, but it also won't be cheap."

Pohill expects to hire several employees in the next month to assist with such things as marketing, engineering, finance and dealer development.

"Eventually I want to hire a younger staff, bring some of the OSU students in, and really create a small car company somewhere from 70 to 100 people," Pohill says.

In the next year, Venturi will complete regulatory work and testing of the America to ready it for production, Pohill predicts. "Within two years we'll launch it and get it out on the highway," he says.

But stay tuned: Pohill says the company plans to unveil a brand new car at the next Detroit Auto Show. And, eventually, there might be an elecric motorcycle in the works.

Source: John Pohill, Ventui North America
Writer: Gene Monteith

Ohio fuel cell industry positioned as global leader

Thursday, August 11, 2011

The Ohio Fuel Cell Coalition wants to let the world know Ohio is the global center of fuel cell technology.

"We have all the assets to really allow the industry to survive," says Pat Valente, executive director of the OFCC, the largest state association of its type in the US. Valente expects the state's industry to "explode in the not-so-distant future."

Fuel cells are efficient, low-emission power sources that use renewable and non-renewable fuels. Energy sources include: solar, wind, water and geothermal sources; hydrogen; traditional fuels; ethanol, methanol, landfill gas and methane; and innovative materials such as algae, peanut shells and industrial gases. Fuel cells are utilized in hybrid cars and buses, residential power, and military and industrial machinery. Transit authorities in Cleveland and Columbus have launched fleets of hybrid buses using Ohio-grown fuel cell technology.

Last year, Fuel Cells 2000 , a Washington, D.C., organization promoting fuel cell technology, released "State of the States: Fuel Cells in America," a report compiled from public records, websites and contact with state and industry representatives. The report noted that a "focus on business attraction and development, building supply chain and manufacturing base," makes Ohio one of the top five fuel cell producing states in the nation.

Valente cites research and development from companies and universities, the state's low cost of doing business, and "the best supply chain in the country, maybe the world. One of the things they say is 'there's not a fuel cell made that doesn't use an Ohio supplier.'"

Valente estimates that the industry employs some 3,000 Ohio workers, with $80 million in Ohio Third Frontier funds designated for fuel cell development.

"Ohio's Third Frontier Fuel Cell Program has resulted in the creation or retention of 295 jobs with an average salary of $61,651�(and) a leverage ratio of 4.5, meaning that for every dollar spent the state attains $4.50 in benefits," according to the Ohio Department of Development 2009 "Fuel Cell Roadmap" report.

"If anything, we need to stay the course in fuel cell development in Ohio," says Valente.

Sources: Fuel Cells 2000, Federal Transit Administration, Central Ohio Transit Authority, Ohio Fuel Cell Corridor, Pat Valente
Writer: Kitty McConnell

Canton's Entrepreneur Launch says job number one is jobs

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Despite the name, the City of Canton's Entrepreneur Launch has no intention of landing a homegrown version of Bill Gates on the Moon. It's all about jobs.

Derek Gordon, project manager for the city, would love to discover the next Diebold or Timken, but he will be satisfied giving seed money to a startup that is likely to create new jobs. The program, which is part of the JumpStart Entrepreneurial Network, has $100,000 in grants for a company or companies with the most promising business plans. The funding mechanism for the program is Community Development Block Grants provided by the state.

Canton's mayor, William J. Healy II, had the initial idea for the program, which he hopes will stimulate jobs. While no one has claimed any of the money yet, the application process only opened last month. The project's website is administered by ystark!, which Gordon describes as "the premiere young professional organization in Stark County."

Joe Schauer, the outgoing chairperson of ystark!, serves as chairman of the Launch Commission, which was established in June. The commission, comprised of community members, local entrepreneurs, the Chamber of Commerce, Canton's department of development and others, is responsible for selecting the winning application/s.

The city plans to replenish the fund every year. "We'd like to pair the public money with private funds and have a nice chunk of change available for those interested parties," says Gordon. "We've been very pleased with the coverage we've received, but it's now up to the applicants to determine the interest level."

Applications, which are first reviewed by JumpStart, can be found at www.cantonlaunch.org.

Source: Derek Gordon, City of Canton
Writer: Patrick G. Mahoney

OSU researchers mix old, new traditions in fight against brain cancer

Thursday, August 11, 2011

New research from Ohio State University, a mix of Western medicine and Eastern herbal remedies, may finally give doctors a needed weapon in their fight against the most aggressive types of brain cancer.

In a study released on July 11, researchers at OSU's Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute determined a compound family called indirubins stop brain tumor cells from spreading to other areas of the brain.

Indirubins, which are found in a common Chinese herbal remedy, not only stop glioblastoma cells from migrating, the substance also retards other cells that help tumors form new blood vessels and grow, according to the study.

"Breakthroughs are in the eye of the beholder," says Dr. E. Antonio Chiocca, one of the study's principal investigators, "but time will tell. The key issue is that most patients with these kinds of tumors die because the cancer cells infiltrate the entire brain. We think indirubins are the answer for stopping that infiltration."

Glioblastomas are the most common and most aggressive form of brain tumors, with about 18,5000 cases diagnosed annually. The initial tumor can be treated through medication, chemotherapy or surgery, but the migration of cancer cells to other parts of the brain lead to a high mortality rate. Almost 13,000 death per year are attributed to the cancer. The median length of survival after diagnosis is roughly 15 months.

"We have pretty good therapies to keep the original tumor at bay, but there's nothing we currently have to stop the migration of those cells," Chiocca explains. "Combined with current therapies, we think indirubins can make a real difference."

The study, which appears in the current issue of "Cancer Research," was funded by the Esther L. Dardinger Endowment for Neuro-oncology and Neurosciences, the National Cancer Institute, the Jeffrey Thomas Hayden Foundation and the American Brain Tumor Association. It began by examining several classes of substances for their effect on tumor growth in mice.

Now, Chiocca says, the challenge is to continue the research until indirubins can be used in humans. For that, they'll need FDA approval. Another hurdle: Since indirubins have already been described chemically by other scientists, it isn't patentable.

"Without the promise of a patent, companies won't be interested in developing it further," he continues. To continue their work, they'll have to find a chemical variant of the substance that can be patented, or petition the National Institute of Health for funding.

Source: E. Antonio Chiocca, OSU's Dardinger Center for Neurooncology and Neurosciences
Writer: Dave Malaska

UNCOMN.TV Network showcasing northeast Ohio

Thursday, August 11, 2011

"Flannel Channel." "Hot Shots @ Hot Spots." "Got*City GAME! Cleveland."

Those catchy monikers are the titles of some of the channels of the new UNCOMN.TV Network, established in April by Cleveland's Barb Siss Oney.

UNCOMN.TV is short for "unifying communities," and UNCOMN.TV Network is an online technology company that brings together employers, universities, civic organizations and communities in Northeast Ohio to inform individuals, both locally and globally, about what the region offers.

"We want to attract talent, business and resources to the region by demonstrating the rich economic assets and quality of life in Northeast Ohio," Oney explains.

"I believe that positive community change is possible, and my goal is to find ways for individuals, businesses, organizations, and institutions to collaborate to positively impact Northeast Ohio. It's one thing to produce a great show, but that has a limited life," she notes. "If we are to have an ongoing impact on attracting and retaining talent in Northeast Ohio, however, we need a way to build ongoing engagement."

UNCOMN.TV Network is a combination of relevant content, collaborative marketing and social media.

"We apply the power of traditional TV, the global reach of the web and the interactivity of social networking to deliver information about living, learning and earning in Northeast Ohio," Oney says.

Tune in to the "Flannel Channel," and you'll view programs about regional businesses, educational institutions and organizations that are employing and educating local professionals. The "Hot Shots @ Hot Spots" channel features members of the Cleveland Professional 20/30 Club, Ohio's largest young professionals group, showcasing what they think is "hot" about Cleveland.

Got*City GAME! Cleveland (GCGC) was the first program of the UNCOMN.TV Network. GCGC represents a partnership with more than 150 colleges, universities, businesses and civic organizations to showcase fun locations throughout Cleveland. "Within weeks of launching, GCGC was being watched in more than 1,065 cities in more than 66 countries," Oney says.

There are plans to launch city-specific channels for Cleveland, Akron, Canton and Youngstown. "We'll also have forums, blogs, podcasts, live webcasts of conference keynote speakers and webinars for workforce development," she notes.

UNCOMN.TV Network received funding from Cleveland's Civic Innovation Lab as well as Ohio's Third Frontier program through Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise (GLIDE).

Source: Barb Siss Oney, UNCOMN.TV Network LLC
Writer: Lynne Meyer

pH Matter foresees big market by thinking small

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Catalysis -- the process by which one substance creates or affects a reaction in another -- is, experts say, present in 90 percent of all commercially produced chemical products. From catalytic converters to fuel cells, petroleum refining to margarine, catalysts are used to produce desired reactions as part of the manufacturing process.

A Columbus-based startup in the TechColumbus incubator sees a future in the development of application-specific catalysts, but they're thinking very, very small.

pH Matter, LLC, has already received grants for research on projects for NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF). For NASA: a catalyst for the continuous formation of carbon in a carbon dioxide and hydrogen-fed system to remove carbon dioxide from the cabin of manned space craft. For NSF: a contaminant-resistant catalyst for use in production of fuel from biomass.

Ultimately, however, the company wants to be a manufacturer of nano materials, carbon "doped" fibers for use in metal-air batteries, fuel cells and industrial electrolysis.

"Our core technology is fabrication of doped nanofibers for energy storage," says Paul Matter, Ph.D., president and founder. "This is something I worked on in grad school. I saw that a lot of other applications were arising, so I thought this would be a good basis for a company.

"The doping means we're taking carbon and replacing an atom with boron or nitrogen and when you do that it changes the electronic properties of the carbon. By controlling the carbon at the nano scale you can get vastly different properties."

Currently. Matter and his busines partner, Christopher Holt, vice president and director of engineering, are producing the fibers only at lab scale -- a couple of grams at a time for properties testing. In 2012, however, the company plans to build a pilot scale manufacturing system at TechColumbus. And from there?

"Right now," Matter says, "Based on initial testing and customer feedback, we see potential opportunities for our materials in energy storage applications, fuel cells, capacitors. And we have had some early conversations with battery and fuel cell manufacturers."

Source: Paul Matter, pH Matter
Writer: Dana Griffith

PercuVision brings sight to tricky catheterizations

Thursday, August 11, 2011

It's an unpleasant scene, but one that occurs daily in medical centers around the world. A person needs a urinary catheter. The nurse begins to place it. The catheter encounters an obstruction, so the nurse pulls it out and tries again. And again.

A Westerville company, PercuVision, has come up with a camera-aided alternative to make such a situation safer and more bearable. Called DirectVision, the technology is being used by nurses around the country.

"We added vision to urinary catheterization," says founder and CEO Errol Singh, who also practices urology at Capital Urology in Columbus. "As urologists, we have scopes in our hands that give us vision, and we use that primarily for diagnostic and other procedures, but the nurses unfortunately don't when they run into a difficult catheterization. (Now) the nurses can see what the problem is and are able to turn it and guide it."

PercuVision was founded in 2007, and DirectVison received FDA approval in August of 2009.

"It took time to make it through the commercialization process and get our supply chain established and so forth," says Singh. However, since then reception of the product "has been very very positive on a number of fronts. The technology is being embraced system wide in OhioHealth and we have the technology deployed in approximately six or seven sites around the country. We probably have another dozen or so sites that will be getting the technology soon."

OhioHealth, through the OhioHealth Research Institute, has supported Singh's work by facilitating clinical trials designed to confirm the device's effectiveness, he says. Other supporters include angel investors (who have funded the company to the tune of $6 million) and the Ohio Department of Development, which earlier this year awarded PercuVision a $1-million grant to develop the next generation of technology.

While the company currently employs 15 people -- 13 of whom are located in Ohio -- PercuVision plans to hire an additional 42 people in the next three to four years as the next generation of vision-guided catheters come to market.

Source: Errol Singh, PercuVision
Writer: Gene Monteith

NanoLogix says new research moves company a step closer to fast detection of Strep in moms, newborns

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Hubbard-based NanoLogix on Monday announced new research confirming the company's ability to detect and identify Group B streptococcus in four to six hours -- 12 to 18 times more quickly than traditional detection methods, it says.

NanoLogix, which is awaiting FDA approval for its BioNanoPore and BioNanoFilter Quick Test technology, says in a news release that the research moves the company another step closer to making the technology available to women and newborns who are especially susceptible to strep infections.

According to NanoLogix, speed is of the essence when detecting Group B strep in mothers and infants. The release cites Centers for Disease Control statistics showing "25 percent of pregnant women may be colonized with Group B Strep. If colonized mothers give birth before antibiotics can be administered, the bacteria can be passed to the newborn and cause life-threatening blood infections, such as meningitis, sepsis, pneumonia or even still birth."

The new study was conducted at the University of Texas Health Science Center and published in the American Journal of Perinatology.

Begun more than 20 years ago as Infectech, the company for years focused on research and other endeavors, including alternative energy. Re-christened NanoLogix in 2005, the company quickly refocused on rapid detection testing.

Last year, the company signed a multi-year contract with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop rapid testing for bacterial threats to drinking water.

The company has also built a 2,800-square foot manufacturing facility in Hubbard to localize work being done elsewhere.

Source: NanoLogix

Arteriocyte to expand in Cleveland , add 15 to 20 new jobs

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Arteriocyte, a leading clinical-stage biotechnology company with offices in Cleveland and Hopkinton, Mass., has been awarded a $1 million grant by the Ohio Department of Development's Third Frontier Commission. The company, which develops proprietary stem cell and tissue engineering based therapies, will use the grant for the development and commercialization of hematopoietic stem cell expansion for clinical applications.

The move is part of the Ohio Third Frontier Biomedical Program to accelerate the company's Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) of its NANEX technology for clinical use under the product name HemaEx.

"The technology takes a small amount of stem cells and gets a large amount of stem cells," explains Adam Sorkin, Arteriocyte's director of research and development. "We are converting our existing process that is suitable for research to a process that is suitable for use in humans."

Arteriocyte's therapies help find cures for chronic heart disease and peripheral artery disease, among other diseases.

The company, which was founded in 2004 as a spin-off out of Case Western Reserve University, has seen rapid growth in the past couple of years, going from four employees to 80. The expansion will create between 15 and 20 jobs in the production facility.

Source: Adam Sorkin
Writer: Karin Connelly

This story originally appeared in hiVelocity's sister publication, Fresh Water Cleveland.

BIOSTART moves toward service-based model

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Fifteen years after opening its doors, BIOSTART, Cincinnati's life sciences start-up center, is changing the way it does business. In order to remain competitive in a fast-changing business market, it is closing its lab space and moving from its location near the University of Cincinnati.

BIOSTART President Carol Frankenstein says the organization will focus exclusively on business services, making the hard shift as its closes its current facility at the Hoxworth Blood Center in September. She says the change was both a business and a strategic decision.

"Today, companies, even at the very early stages, are outsourcing their commercialization and development activity. That includes clinical and preclinical work, development and manufacturing," Frankenstein says. "That increase in outsourcing reduces the cost of getting a product to market. That makes lab space less necessary. Because of the economy, there is so much low-cost and even free space available; our companies have the ability to benefit from that."

BIOSTART serves life sciences entrepreneurs in health care service and product development. Since 1996, it's helped 125 companies launch their business and raise $180 million. Three-fourths of those businesses have had successful exits or are currently in business, the organization reports.

BIOSTART is working with local business advocates, including the Hamilton County Business Center, Uptown Consortium and CincinnatiUSA Regional Chamber to help its 18 tenant companies (which occupy about 65 percent of its space) to relocate.

Frankenstein said BIOSTART is looking for a new space downtown. She will remain with the organization as will three entrepreneurs in residence. The organization has received $500,000 in funding, half from the Ohio Department of Development and half from private sources, to aid in the transition.

"We're using the grant for the next 12 months to explore new service delivery models," she says.

BIOSTART's current business services include helping companies put together a management team and connecting with and applying for funding sources.

Source: Carol Frankenstein, BIOSTART
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

This story originally appeared in hiVelocity's sister publication, Soapbox.

You can follow Feoshia on Twitter @feoshiawrites

Food service stalwart Bettcher moving into biomedical sphere with $1 million Third Frontier award

Thursday, July 28, 2011

From food service equipment and industrial cutting products to the world of bioscience innovation seems an unlikely leap for a business to make. But Birmingham-based Bettcher Industries is about to accomplish just that, awarded a $1 million Ohio Third Frontier grant to launch a new biomedical product line.

The grant, among $13 million announced on July 15, pairs Bettcher with Community Tissue Services, a Dayton non-profit tissue bank. The partners' $1 million will fund an initial 18-month project to launch Bettcher Medical Debridement Technologies, adapting current products for use in the biomedical field.

"We've been working with Community Tissue for about three years already, but in a very limited way" explains Bettcher president and COO Don Esch. "We recognized early on that a lot of our products were not entirely dissimilar from the kinds of things that were needed in their field. (The grant) is going to open a whole new world for us."

Founded as a machine shop in Cleveland in 1944, Bettcher has become an international business with offices in Switzerland, Brazil and China, among others, and sales to more than 50 countries worldwide. The company moved to Birmingham in the early 1970s, becoming a local landmark with its signature red-barn corporate headquarters just south of the Ohio Turnpike.

The new biomedical line will put existing products -- ranging from precision circular knives to pneumatic cutting tools -- to use in tissue and bone recovery. The powered circular knives already used in meat processing and taxidermy can also be used to harvest layers of skin for use in the treatment of burn patients. Meanwhile, other Bettcher products are ideally suited to harvesting bone and marrow for other transplant surgeries.

Initially, it will also mean 11 new jobs for Bettcher during the run of the 18-month launch, with the possibility of another 40-50 new jobs once the product line gains momentum, adds Esch.

"It's pretty sophisticated stuff, coming from a little red barn in the middle of a cornfield in Ohio," he chuckles.

Source: Don Esch, Bettcher Industries
Writer: Dave Malaska

Engineering students start work on new generation of Buckeye Bullet

Thursday, July 28, 2011

A team of Ohio State University engineering students has begun work on a new generation of electric car designed to push land speeds to at least 400 mph.

The team recently began aerodynamic simulations for the Buckeye Bullet 3, the successor to previous Buckeye Bullets that set electric vehicle land speed records. The team expects to complete the design process by the end of this summer, spend next academic year building and testing the vehicle and finally running it full-out at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats in fall of 2012.

The latest Buckeye Bullet represents a complete makeover from the Buckeye Bullet 2.5 -- which last year set an international electric vehicle record at 307 mph, says Carey Bork, a graduate student in mechanical engineering and the project's chief engineer.

"The Buckeye Bullet 2.5 that we actually set the record with last year was really a test vehicle," Bork says. "The intent has always been to build a brand new land speed record car from the gorund up. And really the difference between them is that the Buckeye Bullet 1 used nickel-metal hydride batteries, and the BB2.5 -- and also the new one that we're going to be building -- will use lithium ion."

Giorgio Rizzoni, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and director of OSU's Center for Automotive Research, says another big difference is that the Buckeye Bullet 3 will run with the assistance of "really high performance, high tech electric motors that are being custom designed and fabricated by Venturi (North America, a project partner). And in addition to that it's a brand new chassis."

The challenges of increasing speeds from the 300 mph to 400 mph range are too numerous to list, Bork says. But one challenge is that testing using wind tunnels or trial runs on Ohio tracks fall short.

"We never get to run these cars full speed until we get them out to the salt flats," Bork says. Additionally, when testing in wind tunnels "you have to have what's called a rolling road in which the surface that the vehicle is sitting on is rolling. That has a very important effect on aerodynamics. But there's no rolling road wind tunnel that can reach those speeds."

That's why the team is using the Ohio Supercomputer Center to run computational fluid dynamics to design and optimize the car, he says.

While the goal of the project is to set new land speed records for an electric car (while giving engineering students the kind of experience they would get nowhere else) it's possible that the Buckeye Bullet 3 -- if all goes as planned -- could break all land speed records for a wheel-driven vehicle.

"We don't want to go out there and guarantee that," Bork says. "It's a huge jump to go from 300 mph to challenging the all-out wheel-driven record. But, basically, that's not far away, and that's something we're keeping our eyes on."

Sources: Carey Bork and Giorgio Rizzoni, Ohio State University
Author: Gene Monteith

OU prof working on ways to understand those who cannot speak or move

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Imagine how frustrating it would be if you could not let family members and friends know that you understood what they were saying to you.

That is the dilemma that many stroke and brain injury victims face each day.

Brooke Hallowell, a professor of communications sciences and disorders at Ohio University in Athens, is working to make it possible for medical professionals and communication therapists to assess a person's language comprehension even when the individual cannot speak or move.

She is working with Hans Kruse, professor of information and telecommunication systems, and LC Technologies to produce technology known as Eyetracking Comprehension Assessment System, or ECAS, that allows a clinician to evaluate a person's ability to understand questions or commands based on eye movement.

Twenty years in development, ECAS has just completed a phase I project with $700,000 in funding from the National Institutes for Health. The research is about to enter phase II and could be ready for commercial application within a few years, says Hallowell.

This technology could provide significant quality of life boosts for victims of stroke, brain injuries or individuals with congenital brain dysfunctions by allowing them to participate more fully in their treatment, to live at home instead of in an institution or to socialize more.

The system works by using infrared light to monitor eye movement and check for fixation on certain images shown on a screen while a clinician communicates questions or commands.

"When the eyes remain focused on a particular area you can measure comprehension," says Hallowell. "You have to have stable eye movement to see things."

Although eye tracking technology has been used in other areas, such as research on how healthy individuals perform tasks, such as driving, piloting a plane or using certain products, it has not been developed to help with victims of brain injuries before now.

"Knowing how much a person understands is critical for many things in their life," says Hallowell. "Now we can get a better picture of that."

Source: Brooke Hallowell, Ohio University
Writer: Val Prevish

iPinion links companies to their customers via tablets and smartphones

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Web-savvy companies are increasingly reaching out to customers through their mobile devices using a consumer research application pioneered by Columbus-based iPinion.

iPinion licenses a mobile survey platform to corporate clients and businesses. The app allows iPinion clients to integrate consumer research from smartphone users into their consumer data collection streams.

iPinion CEO Pala Kuppusamy formed the company in Columbus in 2010. The tech start-up has four employees, including Kuppusamy, all of whom were hired within the last year. Kuppusamy and co-founders Anitha Manoharan and Steve von Bevern put up the initial $100,000 investment to get the company moving. The trio's friends and family acted as angel funders, investing a total $200,000 in the venture.

Best Buy recently signed on with iPinion, using the company's patent-pending mobile survey platform to conduct a series of brief exit interviews aimed at gaining insight into the purchasing patterns of non-buyers. The iPinion team worked with members of Best Buy's competitive market research team to develop the most technologically efficient, user-friendly survey solution.

"They devised a research technique to do in-store intercept surveys on non-purchasers to understand what products they were looking for, why they did not purchase, what they intend to do next, and where they intend to purchase in the future," says Kuppusamy.

For clients like Best Buy, iPinion executes the technical maneuvers required to reach potential consumers on their wireless devices. "Responses are captured in real-time and sent to (our) server where raw data reports and data exports are viewed by the client," says Kuppusamy. "Offline data capture is supported by iPinion, (allowing clients) to conduct surveys in areas where Internet connection is not stable or available."

Source: Pala Kuppusamy, iPinionsurvey.com
Writer: Kitty McConnell