Innovation + Job News

Columbus start-up JoeMetric, is poised to track the world's consumers, one smart phone at a time, with its new iPhone application set to launch in January.

Pending approval by Apple this month, JoeMetric will begin offering its smart phone app, JoeSurvey, free to iPhone users next year. The users can then take targeted surveys through the app and get paid for their responses.

JoeMetric makes money when marketers sign up to use their application to question consumers about their shopping habits or to get feedback instantly about events or advertising, says Stephanie Rucinski, head Joe (aka president) of JoeMetric.

"Right now market research is so expensive it's out of reach of most small businesses," says Rucinski. "(With JoeMetric) it's a self service model that opens the door to get the information they want."

Rucinski says that JoeMetric is also the only application she knows of that is making use of global positioning technology to allow marketers to track consumers through their phones, with their consent, of course, so they can instantly determine how much time a customer spends in a particular store or venue and even what they browse the most while they are there.

"We couldn't roll out fast enough for some folks," says Rucinski of the potential demand for JoeSurvey. "This type of information has been unable to be gathered before now. They've been trying to do this for years, and now they can."

After their launch in January, Rucinski says that JoeMetric will add between three and six employees to its current two. Most of the jobs will be in sales, with one position planned for tech development.

Source: Stephanie Rucinski, JoeMetric
Writer: Val Prevish

If you're like many Web users, you have a zillion bookmarks set up in your browser's favorites list. You may also have come across must-see content that you want to share with your friends: that cool llama farm, the dancing baby video, a list of favorite books or movies.

The problem is, when it comes time to share those things, you find yourself wading through an unorganized morass of bookmarks.

That's why Toobla was born. Founded in 2008 and launched this fall, the Columbus-based tech company is banking on your need for order -- and your desire to share web content with friends and acquaintances.

"Toobla was created because there are a lot of bookmarking services out there, but no one is doing it in a very visual way," says Brian Link, CEO of the fledgling company.

Toobla solves the problem by organizing everything in folders within a free Toobla account. Have a list of favorite publications? Stick them in a folder. Favorite bands? Another folder. A Toobla user can either keep the folder private for personal reference or make it public -- allowing it to be shared with friends, business associates or a wider audience via one click from within a social networking site.

"People really haven't innovated the shared space (of the Web)," Link says. "People are sending links one at a time."

The Columbus-based company, which employs four but plans to grow to around 35 over the next three years as revenues grow, has raised more than $1 million in capital through TechColumbus, the Third Frontier's Entrepreneurial Signature Program and other sources. Link says the company anticipates $335,000 in revenues in 2010 -- and as much as $31 million within five years.

Source: Brian Link, Toobla
Writer: Gene Monteith

CKS Solution, Inc. in southwest Ohio's Batavia Township is a story of a fast-growing, innovative manufacturing startup founded in February 2008.

Since its founding, CKS has more than doubled its U.S. workforce from 26 earlier this year to 57 today. That kind of growth earned it Cincy Magazine's Manny Award for job growth. The Manny's celebrate growth and innovation in manufacturing.

CKS high-tech video display service provider repairs and services plasma televisions for well-known companies like Samsung SDI and LG and Dell. The company also customizes video displays, and provides warehouse, warranty and software application services to customers.

Housed in a 72,000-square-foot space, including a 20,000-square-foot environmentally controlled repair area, and 30,000-square-foot warehouse, CKS also has a branch in Seoul, Korea to make it highly accessible to its Asian client base.

"If something happens to your display, it will come here and we'll remanufacture it. And when you receive a replacement product, many of its pieces come from here," said CKS co-founder James Braun, who has worked in the remanufacturing industry for 15 years. "There are some companies that do a portion of what we do however our methods and machinery are one-of-a-kind -- we custom designed and built them for efficiency and we are the only independent plasma remanufacturing company in the U.S."

CKS chose to locate in Cincinnati because of its proximity to a majority of the U.S. population, the site selection help of Clermont County economic development officials and the region's workforce skill level.

Source: James Braun, CKS Solution
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

Juice Technologies is helping the University of Toledo "go green." But that project -- an effort to audit and upgrade the campus's energy infrastructure -- is only a fraction of what the company believes awaits it within an evolving automotive and electric utility industry.

At the University of Toledo, Juice Technologies is helping the campus both with an extensive energy audit and in managing the evolution of the institution as one that will, in the future, leave no "carbon footprint."

Rich Housh, Juice's president and CEO, says that project is paying the start-up's bills for now. But he sees a future in which his company is also leader in management of plug-in vehicle charging and energy management technologies that tie into utility "smart-grid" infrastructures.

Developed under the Plug Smart brand, products include the Plug Smart Pal and Plug Smart Solo, cordset devices that can be carried in a car's trunk to allow charging anywhere. Both collect, store, report and calculate emission statistics that can be viewed at a Plug Smart-hosted website. The technology is expected to be in the marketplace sometime next year. Meanwhile, the company is advancing charging station technology that can communicate directly with a utility company to authenticate the vehicle and owner as well as information needed to bill the owner through his or her home utility bill.

The 12-person, Columbus-based company -- which appropriately shares a location with the Ohio State University Center for Automotive Research -- is also developing prototypes of a networkable energy management system to let homes and businesses tie into a utility company's advanced meter infrastructure using a web server to view energy statistics, configure their own energy strategies, and control their usage.

Source: Rich Housh, Juice Technologies
Writer: Gene Monteith

Can you have the best of both worlds? Kaivac thinks so.

The Butler County-based company has found a way for janitors and other personnel to not just clean but sanitize the most grungy items without directly touching them -- all with use of "green" chemicals. The key is a high-pressure fan spray, then vacuum extraction and a recovery tank.

An independent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-certified lab recently confirmed two Kaivac products are effective sanitizing devices that, when used as directed, reduce E. coli, C. difficile, MRSA, pseudomonas, and salmonella bacteria by 99.9 percent.

"To date, we've sold approximately 30,000 units on every inhabitable continent. The vast majority of the business is in North America," says spokesman Robert Kravitz. "The primary segments are: K-12 schools (approximately 65 percent), higher education (approximately 10 percent), and building service contractors (approximately 10 percent)."

Business has risen since summer, as the public becomes more aware of the threat of a flu pandemic, he said.

Kaivac has 40 full-time employees. Last year, the company purchased a larger facility and moved its manufacturing and R&D functions there; the rest of the Kaivac will follow in the next year or two, according to Kravitz. "Kaivac will remain in Hamilton," he said.

CEO Robert Robinson is among executives included in the book, "The Success Effect: Uncommon Conversations with America's Business Trailblazers" by Cincinnati-area author John Eckberg. It is available on Amazon.com

Robertson and his wife, Carlene, are also majority owners of Hamilton-based Valley Janitor Supply Co.

Source: Robert Kravitz, Kaivac
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs

Deploying new technology for growing the world's longest carbon nanotubes has created a world of possibilities for Cincinnati-based General Nano LLC in the aerospace/defense, biomedical, electronics and sensor industries.

Created in 2007 to advance the commercial application of groundbreaking research at the University of Cincinnati Nanoworld and Smart Materials and Devices Laboratory, General Nano is hoping to tap into the commercial market for the lab's creation of the world's longest carbon nanotubes, 18 mm.

Because of their excellent properties of electrical conductivity, heat resistance and extremely light weight, the nanotubes have tremendous commercial potential in such industries as aerospace, where lightweight conductive devices are highly desirable, says General Nano President and CEO Joe Sprengard, Jr.

In fact, General Nano has received phase I and II grants from the U.S. Air Force Small Business and Innovation Research Program of $400,000, plus an Imagining Grant of $25,000 from CincyTech.

The nanotubes, which are less than the thickness of human hair and float on ambient air, could eventually replace copper wire on aircraft and satellites, making them much lighter and more efficient, says Sprengard.

"About 4,000 pounds of the weight of a jet fighter is copper wire. Nanotubes would be a small fraction of that weight."

General Nano has four employees now and expects to double that number next year as it begins commercial manufacturing of the nanotubes. Sprengard said in addition to the jobs created at General Nano itself, there will be many more jobs created through the contract manufacturers that are chosen for the project, although he cannot name them yet.

Source: Joe Sprengard, General Nano
Writer: Val Prevish

About 100 years ago, 20 percent of Cleveland's population was composed of immigrants. Those entrepreneurial and innovative minds helped shape the Rockefeller-run city. Today, Cleveland's immigrant population has sunk to 4 percent.

TiE Ohio is hoping to reverse that trend.

The organization (founded in the 1990s in Silicon Valley) is filling a niche in Northeast Ohio's business-development landscape by focusing on immigrant and minority entrepreneurs within the region � and encouraging others to consider Ohio as a destination for new businesses.

The Ohio chapter of TiE (The International Entrepreneur) is the 50th out of 53 worldwide and celebrated its one-year anniversary in October. So far, so good.

While the chapter covers the entire state, most members are based in Northeast Ohio. Every month, 113 members of TiE Ohio meet at the organization's Cleveland office to socialize. And talk shop.

R�ka Barab�s, the executive director of TiE Ohio, says networking is key, but the organization also provides support to up-and-coming entrepreneurs through mentoring and business education programs.
But, why Cleveland?

"If you think about what the made the U.S. great -- and Cleveland for that matter -- it was immigrant entrepreneurs," she says. "If you came to the US to pursue your dreams, you were a risk taker� When the immigrant population is gone, you lose that fresh, entrepreneurial spirit."

There are plenty of opportunities to re-create a lively economy in Ohio, with a burgeoning medical and technology base. And the potential for lots of additional jobs.

"We certainly hope that will be the ripple effect of what we do," Barab�s says. "In our first year, we are just trying to promote international entrepreneurship."

Source: R�ka Barab�s
Writer: Colin McEwen

As Greater Cincinnati's first brand new, full service hospital built in 25 years, West Chester Medical Center has not only brought good-paying medical jobs to the area, but a patient-centered approach to care.

West Chester Medical Center opened in May 2009, and is part of the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, in the same company as the Queen City's University Hospital and Jewish Hospital. The state-of-the art medical center sits in West Chester Township, one of Ohio's fastest growing areas, just off Interstate 75 between Cincinnati and Dayton.

West Chester Medical opened with 160 beds, and 500 employees, but was designed with future growth in mind. Plans call for it to accommodate 300 beds, an additional medical office building and parking garage.

"West Chester and the surrounding communities are growing rapidly, with both businesses and population booming. With this expansion comes an increased need for close-to-home health care services," said Jennifer Garcia, West Chester Medical Center spokeswoman.

Thirty-six design teams worked on the hospital's features, which include private rooms with visitor sleeper sofas, open visiting hours, on-demand room service, and mini-nurse stations between every two rooms.

"Our family-centered care means that patients and families won't have a long wait to be seen, won't get lost navigating confusing floor plans, and will be made as comfortable as if they were staying at a hotel," said hospital Senior Vice President, Carol King, RN.

Source: Jennifer Garcia, West Chester Medical Center
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

The United States is awash in water, but our capacity for storing surface water and the demands on it are growing. In fact, 36 states anticipate shortages in localities, regions, or statewide in the next 10 years, according to the U.S. Accountability Office.

While that's bad news for states like Colorado and Texas, the Dayton region sees an opportunity. Sitting on top of one of the largest clean aquifers in the nation, those who market the region are preparing to lure new companies to the area with the promise of 1.5 trillion gallons of H2O.

"We don't have mountains, we don't have oceans, but boy we have water," says Maureen Patterson, vice president of stakeholder relations for the Dayton Development Coalition. "We're seeking responsible water users, like data centers, chip manufacturers, food wholesalers," Patterson says. "Or brewers, or bottlers."

In April, the Coalition placed an ad in the Wall Street Journal as the first volley in its H2Open for Business campaign touting the region's water resources. Subsequently, the coalition sent a bottle of Dayton-area water to site selection officials across the country.

After the first of the year, the coalition will begin distributing marketing materials to site selectors and companies that might be tempted by an almost unquenchable resource. Patterson says the Water Innovations Alliance will hold a convention in Dayton in May. Backed by IBM and Intel -- which Patterson says is "the number one user of water" -- the conference is a perfect forum to highlight Dayton water, she says.

"This is a clean, buried, valley aquifer. You don't have to purify it. And it also remains a constant 56 degrees -- that's perfect for geothermal heating and cooling."

Source: Maureen Patterson, Dayton Development Coalition
Writer: Gene Monteith

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says Meridian Bioscience can market two new tests for upper respiratory diseases. That means more health care providers can detect more problems faster.

Meridian makes, markets and distributes a broad range of diagnostic test kits, purified reagents and related products and technologies. Its customers are hospitals, reference laboratories, research centers, veterinary testing centers, physician offices and diagnostics manufacturers in more than 60 countries.

Fiscal 2009 net sales were $148.3 million, up six percent from the previous year. Operating income was of $48.8 million, up 10 percent.

The first half of '09 was "challenging," CEO Jack Kraeutler says. However, during the second half, "Our respiratory sales were robust as shipments of our rapid influenza tests, driven by the H1N1 pandemic, drove a major portion of the growth of our diagnostics business units." Flu test sales outside of the U.S., especially in Europe, were key.

"Rapid tests for foodborne diseases, such as toxigenic E. coli, also grew double digits in (the fourth quarter) and are expected to be a major contributor to fiscal 2010 sales increases," Kraeutler says.

For fiscal 2010, the company expects its revenue to come mostly from tests for C. difficile, H. pylori (stomach bacterias), upper respiratory infections and foodborne disease.

Founded in 1977, the company employs about 400 people worldwide. R&D, manufacturing and warehousing are at corporate headquarters in Hamilton County.

Meridian has been named to Fortune magazine's list of Fastest Growing Small Companies four times.

Source: Jack Kraeutler, Meridian Bioscience
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs

As a urological surgeon for OhioHealth, Wayne Poll knew there must be a way to keep his laparoscopic lenses clear without constantly having to stop and clean them. While it took him 10 years to bring that vision to fruition, Poll's FloShield is now in the marketplace.

"I tried going to companies with my ideas, and I did that for ten years," says Poll, whose Columbus-based Minimally Invasive Devices gained FDA clearance for the product last year. "But I was constantly frustrated. I got to know some people and entered the Ohio State University (Fisher College of Business) 2006 business plan competition, and we won it. That got us some momentum and we started to raise money."

With the help of TechColumbus, a technology business incubator serving a 15-county area in Central Ohio, MID raised an initial $200,000 in start-up capital and a total of $2.4 million in angel funds, a portion of which came from funds supported by the Ohio Third Frontier. In October, following FDA approval of FloShield, the company raised $2 million in Series B funding.

FloShield works by keeping air flowing around the end of the scope, blowing away debris that can obscure a clear image at the surgical site. Poll says the company, so far, has sold about 600 of the devices and has introduced a new product, FloShield Plus, that uses a saline solution to clear the lens.

MID was founded in 2006 and grew from one employee to five this year. Poll serves as MID's founder and chief executive officer and as director of innovation for the OhioHealth system.

Source: Wayne Poll, Minimally Invasive Devices
Writer: Gene Monteith

Imagine the typical American teenager. He or she is wearing a t-shirt that bears the image of a celebrity and may be chewing fruit-flavored gum or printing photos from a home computer.

That image makes Ibrahim Katampe and Emmanual Itapson very happy, because it personifies their dream for Iya Technologies.

"We can become a part of every facet of life," says Itapson.

The men, CEO and senior vice president, respectively, of the Dayton-area company, are responsible for heat-transfer papers (to put pictures on fabric), microencapsulation of things like flavors in gum, and photo imaging papers. "We are a technology company that specializes in product development, providing solutions," says Katampe.

The patented heat transfer paper technology has been licensed to a Fortune 500 company. Though Katampe said Iya has agreed not to disclose the name of that company, he said Iya's innovations are in products sold under that company's name in office supply and craft stores across the U.S.

Since its formation in July, 2004, Iya has grown from one employee to 10, with more expected. Katampe expects the specialty papers and microencapsulation businesses will expand greatly. Soon, the company will move from Kettering to The Mound Advanced Technology Center in Miamisburg.

One thing's for sure. Iya will remain in Ohio. Itapson says support from economic development programs conducted by the state, Montgomery County, and Dayton has won their loyalty. "All the businesses in the area support and embrace us. If our experience is a measuring stick, as many other entrepreneurs as possible should move to Ohio," he says. "We would shout it from the rooftops."

Sources: Ibrahim Katampe and Emmanual Itapson, Iya Technologies
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs

CardioInsight Technologies takes its work to heart. Literally.

The Cleveland-based company is working to develop the first non-invasive, real-time, beat-to-beat simultaneous mapping solution for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias and heart failure.

And with heart disease as the leading cause of death worldwide, there is certainly a market for CardioInsight's work.

Headquartered at University Hospitals of Cleveland, CardioInsight has taken tremendous strides lately, including its involvement in a number of trials and its movement toward a commercial trial for its technology called Electrocardiographic Mapping.

The technology -- which takes non-invasive images of the heart's surface -- was developed at Case Western Reserve University.

The mapping and localization technology could be critical to ongoing efforts to improve the diagnosis and treatment of heart conditions, company officials say. The ECM will provide detailed cardiac electrical activity information for the entire epicardial surface of the heart for each heartbeat by combining body surface electrical data simultaneously with 3-D anatomical data obtained from CT scans.

Officials say ECM fills the gaps where current cardiac mapping falls short -- including simultaneous, beat-by-beat mapping and making the entire process quicker.

CardioInsight was quietly founded in May 2006 as a collaborative enterprise by Dr. Charu Ramanathan and Dr. Ping Jia, Case Western Reserve University, Jumpstart Inc. and Draper Triangle Ventures.

There are now 14 people employed with the company including contractors and researchers, says CardioInsight spokesperson Norma Simione. The technology has been evaluated extensively in animal studies and more than 75 human studies. Stay tuned.

Source: Norma Simione
Writer: Colin McEwen

If you've ever come home from the hardware store with hundreds of little stamp-sized paint color swatches and tried to match them to your couch or carpet then you'll appreciate a new product that Miamisburg-based Color Savvy Systems Limited is introducing next year.

Founded in 1993, Miamisburg-based Color Savvy has been seeing tremendous success with its original product, Color-Helper, that uses digital technology to find a matching color for any item in a room.

It works by taking a picture of the item, and then, using mathematical equations, precisely identifying the color and also colors that closely match it from a data base of more than 18,000 possibilities.

Color-Helper has primarily been sold to the commercial contractor market and has been a sales success around the world, causing Color Savvy's revenues to double each year since 1999, except for 2009 due to the economy, says CEO Gary Bodnar.

With the launch of a new, less expensive version of Color-Helper aimed at the retail market in the first quarter of next year, Bodnar says he expects to see even greater sales growth.

"The consumer market is 100 times bigger than the commercial contractor market," says Bodnar of the potential sales.

The development of the new consumer tool was made possible in large part by a nearly $1-million grant from the Innovation Ohio Loan Fund.

Without that Ohio Third Frontier loan, Bodnar says the research and launch efforts would have been impossible during the slow economy of this year.

As revenues increase after the roll-out next year, Bodnar says he expects to hire a few more employees, but he is still cautious about adding staff too quickly from his current employee base of six.

"If the economy improves then we will be adding a few select positions," he says.

Source: Gary Bodner, Color Savvy
Writer: Val Prevish

Catacel Corp. exists because William Whittenberger and two colleagues didn't want to move to Alabama.

Based in Garrettsville, Catacel -- an innovator in the fuel cell, hydrogen, gas-to-liquid, petrochemical and aerospace industries -- is the offspring of Camet, a Hiram-based company that made its name developing and manufacturing emission control products made from coated metal foils.

Camet was purchased by W.R. Grace in 1993, and then by Engelhard in 1998. Then, in 2000, the decision was made to move most of Camet to Alabama.

"A few of us said we didn't want to move to Alabama," says Whittenberger, Catacel's president. "The team was here. We knew all about the metal foil business, and we said what shall we do?"

The answer was to establish Catacel. Now the three are using what they knew about metal foils and catalytic coatings to supply crucial materials for hydrogen fuel cells, heat-exchange systems and industrial hydrogen production.

The company ended fiscal 2009 with an 86 percent growth in employment, a 50-percent increase in work space and a 72-percent increase in revenues. Commercial sales for Catacel increased from $900,000 in 2008 to just under $2 million this year.

Along the way, Catacel has benefited from nearly $5 million in Ohio Third Frontier grants, a recent $250,000 investment commitment by JumpStart Inc., and its own investments of more than $2 million.

The company employs 20 "but we're getting ready to hire more," Whittenberger says.

Source: William Whittenberger, Catacel
Writer: Gene Monteith