Innovation + Job News

Christopher Che formed Che International Group, LLC in 2005 with the goal of acquiring and growing subsidiary companies from diverse industries.

Since then, Che's first acquisition -- Hooven Dayton Corp., which he purchased in 2007 -- has doubled its revenues (from $10 million in 2007 to $20 million in 2010) and made an acquisition of its own -- Benchmark Graphics of Richmond, Ind.

On June 27, Che International made its second acquisition -- Akron-based Digital Color Imaging, which was promptly renamed Digital Color International, Che says. Altogether, Che International now employs about 150 and primarily serves Fortune 1,000 customers, Che says.

The acquisition of Digital Color, which provides digital, offset and wide format printing as well as direct mail, warehousing and fulfillment services, complements Hooven Dayton, a Dayton-based provider of high quality prime product labels, flexible packaging, promotional coupons and specialty printing solutions, Che says.

"Our goal is for the Che International Group to have subsidiary companies across industry lines but serving the same customer base," he explains.

Che's success as a small-business leader during a slow economy has been noticed not just in west central Ohio but by the White House. In May, he was asked to host a "listening session" of President Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. In June, Che was appointed to the council itself. 

"They felt I could bring my expertise to the council as a small business," he says "and help explain what it takes to grow during tough times and what some of our issues are."

How has he been able to grow?

"We focused on really training our people and we did not cut down on marketing budgets," he says."And we developed a very highly impactful value proposition to take to customers -- a value proposition that would make a difference to their bottom line."

Che, who came to the United States from Camaroon in 1980 to attend college, says Ohio has been "a beautiful place for me. It's proven to be very supportive. Whenever I needed them they were there to help me with low-interest loans or training and so forth."

Meanwhile, Che International Group is working on additional acquisitions as well as companies that might merge with Digital Color, Che says.

Source: Christopher Che, Che International Group
Writer: Gene Monteith



 

A pair of Ohio University professors who turned their academic pursuits into a drug discovery company are getting closer to their goals.

Chemistry Professors Stephen Bergmeier and Mark McMills launched Promiliad Biopharma in 2002 after failing to get a National Institute of Health research grant for similar work they were doing at the university. Their research looked at ways to combat antibiotic resistance to so-called "superbugs." One of the most commonly known is MRSA or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, an infection is caused by a staph bacteria that has become resistant to traditional antibiotics.

"We were doing academic research and applied for an NIH grant to help fund it. We failed to get the grant, but when the reviews came back a couple of reviewers said our application sounded more like a business plan than an academic research grant," says Bergmeier.

An idea was born.

"We said, Let's make a go of it," Bergmeier says.

The company is currently in preclinical trials. Its technology works by stopping a process bacteria needs to grow. If that process is hindered, the bacteria die. Antibiotic resistant indirections have become a growing international health problem, with a lack of new drugs to treat them.

Promiliad Biopharma is located in Ohio University's Innovation Center, an incubator which recently opened the Biotechnology Research and Development Facility to support the region's biotech research community.

Promiliad Biopharma has six employees and a part-time secretary. It's been awarded about $4 million in funding through the NIH's Small Business Technology Transfer program. It recently received a $100,000 grant from TechGrowth Ohio, an Athens-based development organization that receives funding from Ohio Third Frontier.

Promiliad Biopharma will continue its preclinical testing for the next couple of years, and will file an Investigational New Drug application with the U.S. Food and Drug Adminstration, Bergmeier says.

Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Source: Stephen Bergmeier, Promiliad Biopharma

Building a new 45,000 square-foot combination office and clean room building was a leap of faith that has paid off for the Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority.

On July 13, the authority dedicated the building while the building's first tenant -- Goodrich Corp. -- cut the ribbon.

In fact, the port authority had Goodrich in mind when it decided in in October 2009 to authorize architectural and engineering work for the building -- all on spec, says Rick Platt, the port authority's president and CEO.

The port authority was created in 1995 to take over ownership of the Newark Air Force Base after it turned up on the base closure list. Since then, the authority has served as property owner and landlord to 17 contractors and subcontractors focused on guidance systems and metrology at the 350-acre Central Ohio Aerospace and Technology Center.

"Goodrich," says Platt, "came as a subcontractor, and they've been growing over the years. At one point they were in 15 different places on our campus. We knew we needed to do something to get them consolidated and get them into modern office space." Otherwise, he says, "we would have lost them."

While Goodrich had not yet agreed to a lease, the port authority proceeded with the new building -- dubbed the Horton Building -- just the same. The gamble paid off: Goodrich moved into the building's first floor one year to the day after construction started.

Remaining portions of the building are available for additional tenants, including a new 1,000-square-foot Class 10,000 clean room to go with the 250,000 square feet of clean room space now leased to Boeing. Platt says the new facility is the only clean room space available in central Ohio.

"It's a pretty narrow niche, but if you need it it's pretty hard to get."

Source: Rick Platt, Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority
Writer: Gene Monteith

What's really going on with that knee that's giving you trouble? A new device from JointVue, with headquarters in the TechColumbus incubator, may soon give your orthopedic surgeon the ability to see and hear the problem.

JointVue Vision-D Plus, a medical device that combines 3-D ultrasound and Joint Sound (vibration analysis) allows analysis of joint abnormalities through the use of vision and sound -- in real time. The company says a major benefit of the technology will be the capture of 3-D dynamic joint motion, without exposure of the patient to radiation. In addition to competing against X-ray, 3-D computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and fluoroscopy, JointVue is maintaining 3-D anatomic joint databases expected to be of interest to orthopedic companies.

JointVue Vision-D is one of four tools under development to make treatment of joint abnormalities simpler and more precise. Joint Guide, will allow scanning of the joint to allow more precise placement of injectables.

The venture is lead locally by Chief Medical Officer Ray Wasielewski, M.D., a board-certified orthopedic surgeon who specializes in minimally invasive hip and knee replacement.

"These new technologies will allow us to move treatment of joint abnormalities into the offices of medical practitioners and away from the offices of specialists and hospitals, says Wasielewski, "and that will reduce costs."

Clinical trials of parts of the system are currently under way at Grant Hospital in Columbus, Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey and Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.

Sources: Ray Wasielewski, JointVue; company and industry websites
Writer: Dana Griffith

 Benjamin Parris sees an innovative, cost effective way to get around town. He's promoting and selling electric bicycles through his company, F&E Electric Bikes. The bikes, which hit up to 18.6 miles per hour, are a step away from mopeds, but are classified as bicycles rather than motorized vehicles.

Parris got the idea to produce the bikes after spending some time in China, where the bikes are commonplace.

"They've been very popular in the past five to 10 years in China with the local farmers who need to get from village to village and transport food," explains Parris. "It's an ideal thing for them to use and affordable. When I came back to Cleveland, I said, 'Let's get rid of the parking problem and gas problem and learn something from the largest industrial nation in the world.'"

The bikes initially take five to six hours to charge using just a standard outlet, and then take about an hour to recharge. They go more than 20 miles on a single charge.

Parris has produced 10 bikes thus far and sold two at around $750 apiece. Additionally, he is donating two bikes to cancer charities. Currently the bikes are manufactured oversees. He hopes to start producing them in Ohio next year.

"By far they are the cheapest and only electric bikes that are around Cleveland," he says.

Source: Benjamin Parris
Writer: Karin Connelly

This story originally appeared in sister publication Fresh Water Cleveland.

Cincinnati startup accelerator The Brandery, named a Top 10 startup accelerator in the nation and a member of the TechStars Network, reported a 40 percent increase in applications for its second class of hopeful startups, versus its inaugural class in 2010. This year's applications came from 22 states and seven countries, including India, Germany, China, Italy, Croatia, Canada and Spain.

The 2011 program begins Aug. 1. Over the course of 12 weeks, it will cover a range of startup-related topics such as Why Design Matters for Startups, Social Media Boot Camp and 10 Legal Mistakes that Startups Make. And the nine startups selected to participate in this year's class -- Bitcasa, ChoreMonster, Keepio, Meruni, Receept, RentShare, Roadtrippers and Wellthy -- benefit from not only the programming, but the location of the Cincinnati-based program.

"Cincinnati is not only home to 10 Fortune 500 headquarters, but it's a hotbed for marketing, branding, design and advertising service companies," says The Brandery co-founder J.B. Kropp. "I can't think of a better place for creative, ambitious, young professionals to launch their ideas."

CincyTech is The Brandery's investment partner, providing $20,000 grants for each of the companies going through the program. CincyTech President Bob Coy says The Brandery is helping CincyTech meet its goal of growing jobs in the region.

"The Brandery has demonstrated its ability to attract talented entrepreneurs from around the country and the world to Cincinnati to capitalize on the region's consumer marketing strengths," says Coy. "Our hope is that they will become embedded in the community and enrich the region's entrepreneurial talent base. And of course that means they will help to invigorate our economy by creating jobs and wealth and bringing new perspectives from other regions of the U.S. and the world."

Sources: J.B. Kropp, The Brandery; Bob Coy, CincyTech
Writer: Sarah Blazak for CincyTech

This story originally appeared in sister publication Soapbox.

Some of the technology we'll be using in a few years -- diesel fuel made from recycled plastics and micro electronic devices that detect pathogens in the air -- are being coaxed into the marketplace today by AvMat, a consultancy based in Akron that helps bring new technology to commercialization.

Joe Hensel, CEO, started the firm in 2003 and has since worked with at least 20 start-ups to guide them in their journey from big idea to commercial success.

A former chemical engineer with an MBA in finance who has worked with multinational aerospace and automotive companies, Hensel says his background in R&D and manufacturing gives him a good vantage point to help entrepreneurs take their ventures to the next level.

AvMat specializes in aerospace, electronics and alternative energy businesses. The intellectual property frequently comes through university and government labs where scientists who create it are unfamiliar with the workings of the business world. AvMat offers advice in legal, managerial, financial, operational and branding and marketing services.

Polyflow, a client for the past six years, is a typical example of the type of business he works with. Polyflow takes recycled plastic and rubber materials and creates gasoline, diesel fuel and feedstock for engineering polymers that could be used in place of those normally made from crude oil and natural gas. Over the next year or two, Polyflow could begin commercial sales.

AvMat evolved from Ohio Polymer Enterprise Development, an initiative by the University of Akron to commercialize advanced material technologies for fuel cells.

Today Hensel is sole owner of the company and AvMat is now an equity stake holder in several of the firms that it has worked with. In addition to Hensel, AvMat has one employee. There are no plans to add new employees at this point, says Hensel.

Source: Joe Hensel, AvMat
Writer: Val Prevish

A new intermodal freight facility near Toledo already employs 200 but could result in as many as another 2,600 indirect jobs down the road.

CSX, one of the nation's leading freight logistics service providers, recently opened a new container yard in North Baltimore, Ohio. One study suggests 2,600 jobs could spring up in the area as a direct result of the new yard.

An intermodal yard is basically a high-volume loading dock, where large cranes load and unload train cars. The North Baltimore Facility will load double-stack trains to run along the interstate National Gateway rail lines. CSX began constructing the facility in the third quarter of 2009. It opened for business in February and held a public open house in late June.

The $175-million North Baltimore Intermodal yard is the latest CSX operation in Ohio. CSX operates intermodal terminals in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Marion; TRANSFLO terminals in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo, major rails yards throughout the state; and automotive distribution centers in Cleveland, Warren and Walbridge.

The Ohio Rail Development Commission cites the new development as a sign of Ohio's continued growth as a central shipping corridor in the Midwest. The North Baltimore intermodal yard will service CSX's National Gateway Project. The National Gateway Project is a double-stack train corridor initiative between CSX, the Ohio Rail Development Commission and the Federal Highway Administration Eastern Federal Lands Division, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The public-private partnership will require clearance creation on 40 bridges, tunnels and tracks, will increase shipping through the state while reducing the carbon emissions as it decreases tractor-trailer logistics.

In keeping with the eco-friendly qualities of the National Gateway Project, the North Baltimore facility is equipped for sustainable productivity. Eco-friendly features include Hans Kuenz GmbH cranes designed to reduce energy consumption and reduce emissions.

High-sodium bulbs light the terminal and the yard will utilize recycled NARSTCO steel ties. CSX emphasizes the eco-friendly qualities of the North Baltimore facility as well as the overall benefits of the benefits of the National Gateway Project. Ultra-efficient cranes installed by Hans Kuenz GmbH will reduce energy consumption, improve efficiency and significantly reduce emissions.

Sources: National Gateway, CSX
Writer: Kitty McConnell

Eluminator LLP started in 2002 to help a law-enforcement sales company develop a high-intensity LED light. When the sales company ran into financial difficulty, Eluminator decided to go it alone. 

Since then the Mansfield-based company has forged ahead with a product designed to improve safety on school buses and other vehicles. 

The light, which went to market in 2003, was originally used on speed trailers. Sold to law enforcement, it was shown to reduce the number of rear-end collisions and so-called "pass-bys" when used as an auxiliary stop light on school buses.

"Most pass-bys are caused by people not paying attention. You can see this white light miles away when it's flashing. In testing, in Alabama, the light reduced passbys from the front of the bus by 52 percent," says Cliff Broeder, company president.

"Ninety percent of the light's energy is concentrated in only 15 degrees, seven and a half degrees on either side of the center point," Broeder explains.

Other applications for the device include golf carts and railroad signals (where limited battery drain, extended use and extreme brightness are required), industrial and building lighting, and others. The company also makes brake lights and directional signal lights.

Eluminator, LLP is a Braintree Incubator tenant.

Source: Cliff Broeder, President, Eluminator, LLP
Writer: Patrick G. Mahoney

Scientists have long recognized nitric oxide as an important building block of human life. Arguably as critical as oxygen, the blood-born compound is critical in transmitting information between cells within our bodies. It's key to vasoregulation, as well as the immune system and neurological processes. But because it's hard to isolate from blood, all of its functions aren't fully understood.

An Ohio company, Accord Biosciences Inc., hopes to change that.

The three-year-old company, based in Sylvania, is advancing the field of study to develop practical sensor systems to measure nitric oxide. Using a proprietary membrane and stabilization techniques allows them to separate nitric oxide from its protein carriers, giving researchers its best look yet at the compound.

"Up until now, it's been very difficult to study nitric oxide and its carriers because we haven't had the right tools," says Accord president Kristyn Aalto. "Based on that need and the criticality for better tools, out reception has been overwhelming."

Last year, the company roped in $3.8 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Cleveland Clinic and venture capitalists. While currently focused primarily on the research applications of their work, Aalto says Accord's work will eventually find its way to clinical use, leading to earlier diagnosis and treatment for a range of hyper- and hypotensive diseases, such as pulmonary hypertension, preeclampsia in pregnant women and sepsis. It could also head to market as a hand-held, glucose meter-type self-diagnostic tool.

"There's unlimited potential," Aalto adds.

Incorporated in 2008, Accord spun out from research conducted at the University of Michigan.  Late last year, the company moved its administrative headquarters to Sylvania in northwest Ohio to take advantage of new partnerships and opportunities, but also took an office in Cleveland's Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center, home to a technology commercialization consortium of 20 emerging cardiovascular companies.

With seven employees split between Sylvania and the lab back in Ann Arbor, Aalto says major growth is expected for the company over the next 18 months. By the end of this year, its lab will move to Ohio. By the end of 2012, Accord's staff is expected to double, as they continue their work, she says.

"We've already had a very positive response from the research community," she explains. "It's not too hard to anticipate just as positive a response from the clinical community, too."

Source: Kristyn Aalto, Accord Biosciences
Writer: Dave Malaska

Any sober driver knows you can see better in dark places with your headlights on. Akron based LifeSaving Medical Solutions is applying the same principle to tricky emergency and surgical intubations. And their device was new-tech enough to land on a 2009 episode of NBC's ER.

Developed by physician Noam Gavriely and manufactured in Israel in response to the sometimes difficult intubations of wounded military personnel, ETView's Tracheoscopic Ventilation Tube incorporates a video camera and lighted tip to allow medical personnel to see, on any connected monitor, the pathway the device is traveling -- making certain the tube arrives in the appropriate place. Once ETView is in place, the system allows ongoing visual monitoring of the airway, which, it turns out, is very important.

Ventilator Associated Pneumonia (VAP) can occur when excess excretions build up in airways. In addition to making patients very ill, VAP creates millions of dollars each year in additional hospital costs. ETView's ongoing airway visualization allows hospital staff to determine when removal of secretions is needed to avoid this complication.

LifeSaving Medical Solutions CEO, Eric Cooper, says growth of the company, since it's founding in 2009 has been slow -- about 2 percent per year -- as the sales force works its way through hospital purchasing committees. But several current studies -- and the fact that the company has been able to reduce the core cost of the device by nearly 50 percent -- should begin to spur growth in the near future.

"We're the only one with this technology," Cooper says, "and several doctors want to get involved with us and champion its use."

Source: Eric Cooper, LifeSaving Medical Solutions
Writer: Dana Griffith

#TAGS is no secret to Columbus metro residents. Columbusites (at least the 444 confirmed TAGS followers) have been playing Tweet and Go Seek since 2009. Tweet and Go Seek has been featured on every major Capital City news outlet -- TV, print and digital.

Yet the Columbus-based art-startup may come as a revelation to artists, entrepreneurs and marketing professionals beyond Central Ohio.

@Tweetandgoseek leaves a digital trail and Twitpic for Twitter followers to physically follow to a recognizable destination in the Columbus metro area. The first one there collects the "TAGS prize" -- a piece of original artwork redeemable as a gift certificate at a local caf� or boutique, restaurant or hotel.

In 140 words or less, @tweetandgoseek describes itself as "collectible artworks left around a city. partnering brands add a value to each one. photo/location/value tweeted. Followers chase it down to get the goods!" in its Twitter profile. Tweet and Go Seek creator Matthew Barnes has hidden "600+ pieces of @misterbarnes art hidden all over the city to date!" he said in a recent interview with @hiVelocity via Twitter.

Barnes launched the project during Columbus' 2009 avant garde art fair, Art Basel.

"TAGS is the inaugural campaign in a boutique arsenal of initiatives aimed at creating more active, direct engagement with consumers and greater ROI for brands with an included twist of collectible art while balancing itself between the social/virtual and physical worlds. I like to call it Art-vertising!" says Barnes.

Tweet and Go Seek vendor values average an 85 percent redemption rate with 180 percent spent over the value of the brand giveaway. Barnes charges vendors a nominal fee for each piece left for a TAGS seeker, with labor, design, social media marketing and the hiding factored in. Each participating business provides something of decent value, i.e. $10, $20, $100 off so that "people will feel obligated to compete."

Barnes' start-up has been successful enough that he hires people to hide TAGs pieces. "TAGS serves three purposes: a) To actively engage consumers and offer them an immediate value as well as something they may be inclined to collect which may increase in value over time�b) To offer brands a unique way to engage with existing and potential customers with immediately measurable ROI while combining their social reach with ours. And c), For people to �become familiar with an aspect of a particular artists work," says Barnes.

Source: Matthew Barnes, TAGS
Writer: Kitty McConnell

Znode, a Columbus-based leader in multi-store ecommerce, has been acquired by the Yell Group plc.

Yell Group, based in Reading, UK, announced in a July 11 news release that Znode will continue its Ohio operations and serve "as the development base for Yell's ecommerce capabilities."

Founder Vish Vishwanathan will serve as executive VP and general manager of Yell Connect while co-founder David Chu will serve as senior VP of technology. 

According to TechColumbus, the central Ohio technology business incubator, Znode was founded in 2007 and funded by TechColumbus, the co-Investment Fund, Ohio TechAngel Fund II and North Coast Angel Fund II.

Mike Pocock, Yell Group's CEO, said in the release that "The Znode team and their innovative technology provide Yell with a platform for our digital business and enable us to provide ecommerce solutions to small businesses, connecting them more efficiently with their local consumers. Their talented workforce and technological capabilities are a great addition to Yell as we move forward into new digital marketplace opportunities."

The release notes that Znode's platform enables businesses to "expand their online footprint using innovative multi-store and online franchising strategies."

Yell Group is a provider of print and digital services for consumers and small- to medium-size businesses within the local eMarketplace in the UK, US, Spain and some countries in Latin America.

Sources: TechColumbus, Yell Group

After a career in marketing, Linwood mother Rachel DesRochers decided to stay home full-time after having her second child. Soon, she got the itch to work and create.

"I needed something to do," she says. "When you finally don't have a job, you get bored. You can only clean the house so much."

DesRochers turned to baking last year, specifically graham cookies and snacks. She started sharing them with friends and family and her tasty treats were a hit. That's when she decided to sell them.

"People loved them. So I thought, 'I'm going to do it," she says.

She unveiled Grateful Grahams, home-made, vegan graham snacks, at this year's Earth Day event at Sawyer Point. She developed and perfected the recipes for the snacks. The soft, square snacks currently come in two flavors, cinnamon and sugar, and chocolate. Snack packs retail for $4 and large bags for $6.

"I did research on grahams. I started playing around with ingredients and made a recipe that worked. It was important to me to use simple, green ingredients," she says.

You can find Grateful Grahams at a number of local stores including Picnic and Pantry, Park +Vine, and Joseph Beth and Blue Manatee bookstores. You can also find them at local Whole Foods stores.

DesRochers plans to expand her offerings with a pie crust and a line of holiday flavors.

She bakes in a commercial kitchen that she shares with a local bakery. She recently had a third child, and Grateful Grahams allows her to do something she loves and spend time with her family, she says. Like her grahams, she is grateful.

"I don't want to work 80 hours a week. I want to be a mom, and show my kids that I have something I love do to. It can be hard juggling a family and a business, but I have a network that supports me and really that's from where the company is driven," she says.

Source: Rachel DesRochers, Grateful Grahams
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

You can follow Feoshia on Twitter @feoshiawrites

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

A University of Cincinnati neurobiologist may soon help mental health researchers understand depression at a more effective level than ever before, thanks to an innovative research method and a nearly-quarter-million-dollar grant from the National Institutes of Health.

James Herman, PhD, received a two-year NIH grant worth $248,159 in its first year to fund research into the role that microRNA (miRNA) - molecular-level controllers that help regulate the brain's chemistry -- play in how the brain reacts to stress.

"We're attempting to develop this as a discovery platform to understand what's going on in the brain," Herman says. He explains that this research, in which scientists analyze how miRNA in mice affect the brain's mood-regulating prefrontal cortex, is very early-stage work in the exploration of the molecular process behind depression.

But the ultimate implications of Herman's work could be significant. He explained that miRNA in mice function the same as miRNA in humans: identify a link between mouse miRNA and a brain dysfunction, and there's good reason to look for a similar relationship in the human brain. Beyond this tantalizing fact, though, scientists don't completely understand how miRNA works, or even how many types of miRNA exist in the brain.

Herman's team is tackling this hurdle with a new analysis technique, called deep sequencing, to analyze miRNA at a high level of detail.

"The method is really, really powerful," he says. Processing one set of data from a sample, for example, can keep lab computers running nonstop for a weekend. Thanks to a collaboration with informatics researchers at the University of Michigan, Herman's team can spot relationships and patterns in this sea of data, results that could help scientists link certain miRNA function -- or dysfunction -- to the stress-processing problems underlying depression and mood disorders.

These results could eventually give psychiatrists a new weapon against mood disorders. Rather than giving a patient medicine that floods the brain with mood-altering chemicals - a practice that often comes with severe side effects - physicians could one day provide treatment that fixes the way the brain controls its own chemistry. Medicine has a long way to go to reach that point, but the work Herman's team is undertaking at UC could be a major step in the right direction.

Source: James Herman, University of Cincinnati
Writer: Matt Cunningham

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