Cleveland : Innovation + Job News

The Ohio Department of Development wants to help companies and organizations buy and sell their products locally across the state. 

Check Ohio First is a free and easy-to-use online program to promote contracting with and between Ohio businesses. “Both suppliers and buyers enter brief profiles into the Check Ohio First directory, which can then be searched by Check Ohio First members,” explains Wendy Boortz, Program Manager. “The program automatically matches buyers and suppliers by industry codes.”

“Check Ohio First celebrates the strength of Ohio businesses,” said Christine Schmenk, Director of ODOD, in a news release. “Ohio buyers like to do business with local companies, and this partnership is perfect for job creation.”

Check Ohio First was launched in October 2011 as a virtual, year-round extension of the Ohio Department of Development’s annual Ohio Business Matchmaker program, an annual procurement event now going into its eighth year.

According to Boortz, Check Ohio First recently added free webinars to the mix. “Buyers educate suppliers on how to do business with their organization, and procurement counselors provide webinars that help businesses get ready for contracting opportunities,” she says.  Most of the webinars are recorded and stored in the resource library located on the Check Ohio First website.

“The website also contains a list of upcoming events, and visitors can browse our resource library and link to procurement training and opportunities,” she states.

Boortz notes that Check Ohio First is building a database to reflect private and public users. “We currently have about 350 profiles, including 100 companies that have registered as both buyers and suppliers and 20 as buyers only.”


Source:  Wendy Boortz
Writer: Lynne Meyer

The inaugural Great Lakes Venture Fair will take place at the Cleveland Marriott Downtown October 17-18, on the heels of the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds annual conference. The fair is a collaborative effort  between  JumpStart, Ohio Capital Fund, Ohio Venture Association, TiE Ohio, CincyTech and TechColumbus and will bring together investors and startups from across the Midwest.
 
“It’s a chance for the venture capital community to come together and see some of the most promising startups,” explains Carolyn Pione Micheli, director of communications for CincyTech. “According to a study by the Kauffman Foundation, in 2007 all net news job growth came from companies that are less than five years old.” The event is the successor to the Ohio Capital Fund’s Early Stage Summit, which was held in Columbus for seven years.
 
The GLVF will only accept 18 startup companies in bioscience and IT to pitch their companies to investors. Other activities at the event include presentations on regional investment activity, and conversations about building future growth in startups and investing.
 
“In terms of growing fresh new jobs, small companies are the key, “ says Micheli. “The startup community is really important to our economic future.”
 
Keynote speaker will be Jeff Weedman, vice president of global business development for Proctor & Gamble. The application deadline for companies looking for funding is Aug. 12. Registration to attend is $200 before Sep. 15, $250 after that.

 
Source: Carolyn Pione Micheli
Writer: Karin Connelly

Enforcer eCoaching, a personalized wellness coaching service, has secured $250,00 from JumpStart to expand services across the country. A spin-off out of the Cleveland Clinic, Enforcer eCoaching was founded by Cleveland Clinic chief wellness officer Dr. Michael Roizen, television health guru Dr. Mehmet Oz and entrepreneurs Steven Lindseth and Arthur Benjamin.
 
The eCoaching focuses on smoking cessation, weight loss, hypertension control and diabetes control through personalized one-on-one email coaching and behavior modification.

“It’s based on 25 years of health coaching by Dr. Roizen,” says Mart Butler, Enforcer’s president and CEO. “We’re seeing a lot of niche treatment programs in the marketplace for companies looking to reduce their healthcare spending. Employers see a very strong return on investment.”
 
Butler says participants in the smoking cessation program have an 85-percent success rate, while weight loss participants lose an average of two inches to their waist lines.
 
Employers or private individuals can sign up for eCoaching. They select the type of coaching they want, are assigned a coach, and then check in with daily email correspondence. “It’s part automation, part personal coaching,” says Butler. “Every email is reviewed by a personal health coach, and they really build relationships and people become more accountable for their own healthcare.”
 
The convenience of email contributes for Enforcer’s success. “People can email whenever and wherever they want, and read the emails whenever and wherever,” says Butler. “We’re slowly nudging people to success because of the daily email exchange.”
 
In addition to JumpStart’s investment to help Enforcer complete its computer platform, the organization has also provided expertise in hiring sales and IT staff.

 
Source: Marty Butler
Writer: Karin Connelly

Phoenix Coffee has introduced a direct trade coffee from Amado Nervo, in the Chiapas area of Mexico, to its menu. By purchasing the coffee directly from the growers, the middleman is eliminated and more money goes directly to the farmers.

“It’s a town of about 1,100 people and coffee is their only crop,” says Christopher Feran, coffee and marketing director for Phoenix. “We’re having a direct impact on the people of Amado Nervo. We like to connect people, and now we’re connecting them through coffee.”
 
Phoenix joined a coffee co-op out of Pittsburgh, Three Rivers Coffee Importers, to obtain the Chiapas coffee. The co-op provides health services, micro loans, low-interest loans, tools and education to the farmers. “This is the first of many direct trades to come,” promises Feran.
 
The direct trade concept fits Phoenix’s philosophy perfectly. “It makes a lot of sense for us,” Feran says. “We’ve always tried to focus on green and sustainability.”
 
The coffee is available online or in Phoenix cafes, in light and dark roasts.

 
Source: Christopher Feran
Writer: Karin Connelly

Case Western Reserve University is expanding their regenerative medicine research thanks to $2.4 million in funding awarded from the Ohio Third Frontier Commission. Case Western’s National Center for Regenerative Medicine (NCRM) will match funds along with a variety of collaborators, including Ohio State, Nanofiber Solutions and BioOhio to provide $4.8 million for the university’s “OH-Alive Innovator Platform: A Process and Manufacturing Platform for Cell Therapy” project.
 
The goals, says NCRM Marketing and Operations Manager Michael Gilkey, are twofold: first, to transform medical therapy through the use of cells rather than drugs to heal tissues and organs; second, to create the commercial and academic infrastructure in Ohio to establish a self-sufficient industry of biotechnology and support services that prove attractive to cell-therapy institutions across the U.S.
 
If successful, taxpayers and private companies in the industry stand to benefit. “[This project] plays a significant role in building the biotechnology infrastructure in Ohio,” explains Gilkey, reiterating that lives will be directly impacted by this research. “New cell therapies will be accelerated into clinical trials and market approval, so patients will get access to effective, cutting-edge therapies sooner.”
 
This project will save in public health costs. “Many diseases and injuries have no regenerative or curative therapy, so costs to U.S. tax payers is often high,” says Gilkey. “For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated the cost of diabetes to be $174 billion in 2007.” Functional cell therapy could cure the disease early on and eliminate the possibility of developing complications associated with diabetes, saving billions of dollars every year.
 
The project’s finish date is slated three years from the start of the grant in late October or early November 2012. Gilkey says the platform will result in a new startup company that will commercialize the platform’s base technology. “We hope to have a long legacy of successful spinout companies from OH-Alive whose manufacturing technology is based from work by this innovative platform.”


Source: Michael Gilkey
Writer: Joe Baur

Youngstown will once again become a hub for advanced manufacturing -- this time with the 21st century firmly in mind -- thanks to a $30 million federal grant that was announced last week.
 
Surrounded by White House officials, Congressman Tim Ryan and Senator Sherrod Brown,  M7 Technologies President and CEO Mike Garvey announced a $60 million 3D printing hub to be built on the campus of the Youngstown Business Incubator in downtown Youngstown.
 
Thirty million dollars of the project’s total budget will stem from a competitive White House grant, while public and private partners will pick up the other $30 million. The strategic partnership will develop additive manufacturing (3D printing) for the defense, aerospace and automotive industries. The 3D printing process consists of making three dimensional, solid objects from digital models.
 
“M7 Technologies was established in 2004 to build strategic partnerships and skillsets to enable our community to participate in 21^st century manufacturing,” Garvey told a room full of business owners, students and media. “Because of this mission, we have devoted ourselves to helping to transition the skillsets of one of our most important resources here at M7 – the people who work here.”
 
Senator Brown of Cleveland characterized the announcement as a “highly competitive” win, dubbing the Cleveland-Akron-Youngstown-Pittsburgh region as the Tech Belt.
 
“Youngstown wasn’t competing against Akron,” added Congressman Ryan of Youngstown. “We were all competing against Shanghai, Beijing, Mumbai, and if we didn’t all come together locally as a region, then we would never be able to compete globally.”
 
Ryan doubled down on Brown’s remarks, saying Youngstown beat out competitors at MIT and Georgia Tech. “I think it is absolutely a signal that this community and this region is back to play and play hard.”


Writer: Joe Baur

eQED is developing a solar microinverter that will improve the efficiency of solar panels. As with all solar panels, an inverter converts the output from the panel to AC power. Normal setups use one large inverter for an entire string of solar panels. eQED’s technology places one small inverter under each panel, increasing the amount of power gained from each solar panel.
 
The HIKARI microinverter provides improved energy harvesting, is more reliable than traditional inverters, and is easier to install and requires little maintenance.
 
“With the microinverter you can adjust each panel individually to adjust for shade or bright sun,” explains John Patrick, chief technical marketing officer. “This way you can extract up to 15 percent more power in shady conditions and five to 10 percent more power in normal conditions.”
 
eQED’s 250-watt HIKARI solar microinverter earned the company a NorTech 2012 Innovation Award in March. eQED is a partner company of Quality Electrodynamics (QED), a medical imaging company. Both are growing substantially. QED employs 87 people – up from 75 a year ago.
 
“We probably have five or six openings right now,” says Patrick. “eQED has 10 people, but that number will grow quite a bit as we commercialize the product.” eQED is in the final stages of development before sending it to market. Patrick says they expect to conduct testing on several hundred units later this year and begin commercial shipments in early 2013.
 
 
Source: John Patrick
Writer: Karin Connelly

Startup Lakewood is looking for new businesses and the organization is willing to help entrepreneurs take their ideas to fruition. The second annual Ideation Challenge showcases the new ideas and new business startups that will add to the diversity of the Lakewood business community. 

“We think there are all sorts of people right here in Lakewood who have ideas for businesses but haven’t taken the steps to launch them,” says Mike Belsito, Lakewood’s entrepreneur-in-residence and director of the Ideation Challenge. “New businesses are important to the city, and this is one way to help people actually get started.”
 
Anyone with a business idea can submit an executive summary and a one- to two-minute elevator pitch for a chance to win a prize package that includes consulting, training and other resources for starting a new business. “The prizes will help the entrepreneurs take the next steps and take their ideas into reality,” says Belsito.
 
Two winners will be chosen -- one from Lakewood and one from Northeast Ohio. All entrants will receive feedback from Startup Lakewood. The competition is open to anybody, with the hope that the winners will start their businesses in Lakewood.
 
The deadline to submit executive summaries was recently extended to August 14. Startup Lakewood will then invite finalists by August 17 to make their elevator pitches on August 28 at University of Akron’s Lakewood Campus.
 

Source: Mike Belsito
Writer: Karin Connelly

Kent State University (KSU) is attempting to go where no project has gone before. In collaboration with AlphaMicron Inc. (AMI), Akron Polymer Systems (APS), Crystal Diagnostics (CDx), the Liquid Crystal Institute (LCI) and Kent Displays Inc. (KDI), KSU was awarded $3 million for its “New Concept Devices Based on Nanoscale Engineering of Polymer-Liquid Crystal Interface” project.

If it is successful, the research project could have very wide-ranging consumer benefit. “The project ultimately aims to develop consumer electronic products that make the life of ordinary people better, just like the liquid crystal TVs have positively changed our lives in a manner completely unimaginable 40 years ago," explains the Director of LCI, Hiroshi Yokoyama. He lists a slew of new inventions that could be generated by the end of the three-year project, including new electronic tablet capabilities.
 
“The $3 million grant was awarded under the Innovation Platform Program, one of the support programs run by the Ohio Department of Development under the umbrella of the Ohio Third Frontier,” adds Yokoyama. The grant will be used to hire research staff to form a dedicated team in each partner and to purchase necessary supplies.

Each of the project partners has a different goal. “In close collaboration with Kent State’s Liquid Crystal Institute, KDI will develop and commercialize the next generation Boogie Board [zero-power electronic notepad using liquid crystals] with narrower line and select erase capability," says Yokoyama.

AMI’s goal will be to perfect the optical clarity of the Special Warfare Electronic Eyewear program to meet the stringent specifications required by Navy SEALs in battlefield.
 
For CDx, Yokoyama explains they will “advance their strength in pathogen detection systems by developing a robust design of liquid crystal interface that allows them to manufacture the device by roll-to-roll process.” 

Meanwhile, APS will develop specialty polymers tailored for the target products of KDI, AMI and CDx with mass manufacturing compatible synthetic routes. “The LCI will work together with all of them to analyze their technical issues and develop solutions.”
 
Yet overall, the project aims to advance technology that may soon find its way into consumers' hands while also benefiting the environment. “We are looking into lighter, energy efficient, human and environment friendly electronics products, taking full advantage of liquid crystals and polymers.”


Source: Hiroshi Yokoyama
Writer: Joe Baur

Twenty teams came to LaunchHouse on July 18 to pitch their business ideas for a chance to be accepted into the inaugural LaunchHouse Accelerator program and a $25,000 investment in their businesses at the Tech UnConference.
 
LaunchHouse received a $200,000 grant from the Ohio Third Frontier ONEFund to invest in startups. During the Tech UnConference companies presented three-minute pitches to a panel of Cleveland-area experts. Following the pitch session, companies then had the opportunity to demo their internet, technology or mobile app startup company.
 
The judges will select 10 companies for the accelerator. More than 50 companies applied for the chance to pitch. The chosen companies will then participate in a 12-week program, in which they will have experience-based lab sessions with one on one mentorship, and opportunities to network with successful entrepreneurs.
 
The program curriculum is very customer focused, says LaunchHouse CEO and founder Todd Goldstein. “The companies we select have to be very customer-centric,” he explains. “The entrepreneurs will develop their companies with their clients, so at the end of the 12 weeks they’ve identified who is going to pay for their product and accelerate their business.”
 
Goldstein describes the accelerator as a formalized approach to helping companies. “Up to this point, admission have been on a rolling basis and very informal,” he says. “This is a formalization of the years we’ve spent helping companies.”
 
The 12-week program will conclude with a showcase day, when the businesses will present to investors and venture capitalists. The 10 companies will be announced on Aug.8, with classes beginning Sept. 4.

 
Source: Todd Goldstein
Writer: Karin Connelly

Several Cleveland-based funding organizations have gotten together and pooled their money to help small businesses that otherwise would not have access to the capital they need to grow.

Under the Economic Community Development Institute (EDCI), which officially announced the launch of its Cleveland office on July 17, the City of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Huntington Bank, U.S. Small Business Administration, Commission on Economic Inclusion, The Business of Good Foundation, and the Cleveland Foundation have committed $4.6 million in resources.
 
Micro-loans will account for $4 million of the fund while the remaining $600,000 will provide training and technical assistance for Cleveland small businesses. A 2011 study by Friedman Associates, a national firm specializing in microfinance, estimated a need of $38 million for loans under $50,000 in Cuyahoga County, with the greatest gap among minority-owned businesses.
 
“Neighborhood businesses who would not otherwise have access to capital will benefit from these loans,” says Daniel P. Walsh, Huntington northeast Ohio president. “These loans really stabilize neighborhoods with the capital to achieve the American dream. It will reinvigorate those neighborhoods that need reinvestment.”
 
The average loan is between $15,000 and $20,000. Eight area businesses have already benefited from loans through the program, totaling $163,000. ECDI started a similar program in Columbus in 2004 and has made $11.4 million in loans to 700 small businesses, creating or retaining 1,955 jobs.
 
The majority of businesses who will benefit from the loans are five employees or fewer, explains Bob Eckardt, executive vice president of the Cleveland Foundation. “There’s a pretty significant gap in this community and this will support a wide range of businesses,” he says. “We’re trying to do a big-picture thing. It’s important to support the entrepreneurs by getting them the funding they need to grow big or hire employees.”

 
Source: Daniel P. Walsh, Bob Eckardt
Writer: Karin Connelly

The Burton D. Morgan Foundation is taking significant steps towards making Northeast Ohio a hub for entrepreneurship. The foundation recently awarded $482,000 in grants to various organizations, including the Akron Urban League, BioEnterprise, Entrepreneurial Engagement Ohio and others that are dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education throughout the region.
 
“The mission of the foundation is to strengthen the free enterprise system,” explains Deborah Hoover, President and CEO of the foundation. “We provide grants to organizations that support entrepreneurship education and activity among youth, college, students and adults, primarily in Northeast Ohio.”

The Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron aims to accomplish just that with their $50,000 grant to support internships in 2012-13 for graduate-level students to assist with assessment, development, and commercialization of novel biomedical technologies. The Hudson-based foundation also renewed their support for Lemonade Day, which targets young people and exposes them to entrepreneurship, granting $20,000 to support the 2013 effort.
 
According to the foundation's website, “Lemonade Day is a free, community-wide program dedicated to teaching children how to start and operate their own business through the simple act of creating and running a lemonade stand."

“This year, more than 1,500 children have participated in the program, creating and operating lemonade stands with the support of a national curriculum design by Prepared4Life, which is based in Houston,” says Hoover, who believes you can never start a career in entrepreneurship too early. “Through Lemonade Day, parents and teachers have become engaged in the larger dialogue around the importance of financial literacy and entrepreneurship education.”
 

Source: Deborah Hoover
Writer: Joe Baur

Tremont Electric has released its nPower PEG Energy Charger after releasing a prototype in 2010 and making improvements to the current model. The nPower charger is the first passive kinetic energy charger that can be used to power handheld devices. The device can be placed in a backpack or bag and harvests the user’s energy during walking, running and biking. That energy can then be used to charge smart phones, MP3 players, GPS systems or any other handheld device.
 
“There’s a loop at the top to hang it from a backpacks, it has a much larger battery pack with more available capacity,” says Tremont Electric founder and CEO Aaron LeMieux. “It can power a 3G device 100 percent, and a 4G device 80 percent.”
 
The nPower is manufactured almost completely in Ohio and distributed through a company in Streetsboro. “Anything we can get locally, we use,” says LeMieux.
 
Tremont Electric now has seven employees. LeMieux most recently hired two engineering technicians. He expects the company to continue to gain momentum. “We’re awfully busy these days,” he says. “We expect the next year to be pretty robust.”

 
Source: Aaron LeMieux
Writer: Karin Connelly

An annual JumpStart survey indicates that tech startup companies that receive assistance from mentors, advisors and investors make a significant contribution to the region’s economy, even in the early stages. The Center for Economic Development at Cleveland State University’s Levin College of Urban Affairs surveyed 121 JumpStart and North Coast Angel Fund companies to measure their economic impact on the region.
 
The report showed these companies had a $220.5 million economic impact in 2011 in Northeast Ohio, creating 776 direct jobs within the companies and 864 indirect jobs, for a total of 1,640 regional jobs.
 
“This is great for an economic region -- showing small growing startups are contributing,” says Cathy Belk, chief relationship officer for JumpStart. Belk emphasizes that the surveyed companies are not even a comprehensive list of all small tech companies in the region. However, many of the companies receive support from multiple organizations in addition to JumpStart and the North Coast Angel Fund.
 
Sixty-three companies included in this 2011 impact analysis also were surveyed in 2010. In one year, those companies increased their aggregated Northeast Ohio employment by 111, payroll by $8.7 million and expenditures by $20.6 million.
 
“All of this shows that Cleveland is one of the best places in the country to start and grow your business,” says Belk.

 
Source: Cathy Belk
Writer: Karin Connelly