Cleveland/Northeast Ohio : Innovation + Job News

Every culture starts with a story about its creation. The story of Hyland Software's culture started in 1991 with a determined, young Packy Hyland Jr. who refused to fail.

Hyland visited a bank in Wisconsin in 1991 to learn about what kind of records-management technology the bank was looking for. The bank's president asked his opinion of a competitor's product.

"I could write it better and cheaper," Hyland told the president while the competitor looked on. The president (not knowing that Hyland had never written a line of computer code) gave Packy two weeks to come up with what he promised � a better and cheaper solution.
Hyland deilvered.

Today, Cleveland-based Hyland Software enables a broad spectrum of organizations to become operationally more efficient and effective, using OnBase, the company's award-winning enterprise content management. Customers include the Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve University, Antares Management Solutions (subsidiary of Medical Mutual of Ohio) and the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Revenues keep growing, and Westlake-based company recently received a NorTech business expansion award.

Hyland has since retired. His younger brothers, A.J. Hyland (who is now the CEO) and Chris Hyland (now the CFO) have taken over the company's operations.

In Oct. 2009, Hyland Software moved into a new $5 million, 28,000-sqare-foot facility across the street from the company's headquarters. The company also has offices in Lincoln, Neb.; Irvine, Calif.; S�o Paulo; London; and Tokyo.

The company employs almost 1,000 around the world � 750 of them are in Northeast Ohio, says company spokeswoman Kaitlin Maurer. She adds that with the company's (the Hyland family's) roots, there are no plans to move.

"It makes sense for us to stay in Northeast Ohio," she says. "That's something that's important to the founders of the company."

Source: Kaitlin Maurer, Hyland Software
Writer: Colin McEwen

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

That is, until now.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Motorcycle enthusiast/aspiring entrepreneur Gary Green � who has worked in manufacturing for 35 years � combined his love of bikes and ambitions for business when Access-O-Ride Technology, opened in Tallmadge recently.

Green had developed a way to manufacture durable fiberglass parts, but needed help to launch his business. He found it last fall when, after hearing a talk at a library, he learned about JumpStart, a Cleveland-based non-profit organization that provides resources to promising early-stage companies.

Darrin Redus, president of JumpStart Inclusion Advisors, which focuses on minority and women-owned businesses, and Entrepreneur-in-Residence Johnny Hutton, helped Green get involved with The JumpStart Launch100 Initiative, a collaboration of their group and the Ohio Department of Development Minority Business Enterprise Division. Launch100 is a statewide program to create a pipeline of 100 high potential minority and inner-city based businesses in Ohio over the next five years.

Redus found that AORT "has a patented, scalable product and a team with the right background and know-how to lead it through the growth process." He and Hutton helped Green develop an investor plan and funding strategy that enabled him to enter the market he'd identified.

Green said his JumpStart mentors helped him "round the rough edges" of plans and presentations to get better results. He said AORT and JumpStart learned "to trust each other's judgment."

AORT has begun making saddlebags and fenders already with six employees. Green hopes to hire up to 50 and eventually move into the automotive and marine segments.

Source: JumpStart
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs

Today's insurers are sticklers for making sure medical providers don't prescribe costly medications or treatments that could be substituted by generics or lower cost alternatives.

The result is "prior authorization," a set of rules and procedures that can make for a complicated and paper-intensive process for doctors, pharmacists and other professionals who must deal with a large number of insurers and a large number of forms.

CoverMyMeds has set its sites on eliminating hard-copy paperwork related to prior authorization of pharmaceuticals. The year-old company, based in Twinsburg with operations in Columbus, rolled out its solution last April. Sam Rajan, one of the company's founders, says since then thousands of clients all over the country have embraced the new online procedure that reduces time on task by as much as 75 percent.

Until now, prior authorization has been "a very manual paper process," Rajan says. "Any time there's paper involved, the work flow is disrupted and work stops. There are a couple of studies out there that show patients -- a good number of them -- can go without therapy if these prior authorizations aren't completed. That's primarily due to the provider not knowing where to go to look for the proper forms, the rules and how to get the ball rolling."

CoverMyMeds allows a provider to go online, find the right form, share it with another healthcare professional, fill it out and e-fax it to the insurer -- all in under five minutes, compared the traditional 15 to 25 minutes.

The firm has caught the attention of JumpStart, which recently invested $250,000 in the company. The funds will be used for additional technology infrastructure and personnel as the company further develops its capabilities, Rajan says.

CoverMyMeds has 11 employees and expects near-term growth to push that number up by about 50 percent.

Source: Sam Rajan, CoverMyMeds
Writer: Gene Monteith

A lunch meat business started from the trunk of Vincent Sandridge's car in 1960 has grown into one of the nation's leading fresh food providers.

Today, Sandridge Food Corp., with both food service and retail operations, is continuing to grow -- it added 64 jobs in the last year and 35 jobs since May -- and employment now stands at 469, says Mary Vaccaro, senior marketing manager for the Medina-based company.

The company's most recent job additions are at least partly due to Sandridge's first-in-industry application of a technology called high pressure processing -- a heatless technique that eliminates pathogens from Sandridge's salads, soups and other packaged foods.

Here's how it works. Food is packaged in a flexible container and loaded into a high-pressure chamber filled with cold water. The chamber is pressurized to between 58,000 and 87,000 pounds per square inch. Because the pressure is transmitted evenly, the food keeps its shape -- and because no heat is used, the flavor and other characteristics of the food are maintained while destroying harmful bacteria.

"High pressure processing is not a new technology, but it's new in our arena," Vaccaro says. "We have found that although food safety is number one, there are these residual benefits that come out of high pressure processing in our industry. It really intensifies flavors. And it extends the usable shelf life for many of our products, and that's also an advantage to our customers."

Sandridge remains a family-run business. While Vincent Sandridge is no longer alive, his sons Mark and Michael serve as CEO and senior director of food service sales, respectively, Vaccaro says. Mark Sandridge's sons Jordan and Dane also work for the company, she notes.

Source: Mary Vaccaro, Sandridge Foods
Writer: Gene Monteith

A person's body sends countless silent messages that health care professionals need to know for optimal diagnosis and treatment. A Cleveland company creates high-tech ways to capture those messages.

Cleveland Medical Devices, or CleveMed, specializes in miniaturized wireless telemetry, physiological monitoring and rehabilitation devices. Its products are designed to help people with sleep disorders and movement disorders; they also are used in research and academic settings.

Hallmarks of CleveMed products are accuracy, portability and ease of use, which the company says makes them particularly useful in homes, hospital rooms, private practices and the like all over the world. The company holds 15 patents.

The company says it is close to launching "clinically deployable" monitors that record movement, restore control and enhance function for disorders such as Parkinson's disease, stroke and cerebral palsy.

Earlier this year CleveMed finalized a license agreement with a spinoff company, NeuroWave Systems Inc., transferring anesthesia monitoring and seizure detection technologies. NeuroWave is the only company selected by both the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense to develop seizure detection devices to monitor patients exposed to chemical warfare agents.

"The spin-off and license is a testament to the maturity of our products and success of our businesses," Robert N. Schmidt, chairman of both CleveMed and NeuroWave, says.

CleveMed was founded in 1990 and has one other spinoff to its name: Flocel Inc., a maker of in-vitro blood brain barrier testing equipment.

The company, which has 40 employees, is expanding its sales force around the U.S. to increase sales of its new home sleep apnea testing device, the SleepView. This new device and web portal will allow primary care physicians to conduct sleep tests where the patient can sleep in their own bed.

Source: Carole Nittskoff, CleveMed
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs

Communication errors have long been a problem in the healthcare industry, contributing to an unacceptable number of unfavorable patient outcomes. Now, a five-year-old Ohio company is stepping up with a range of critical test result management products to ensure patients get timely care while offering healthcare professionals an affordable way to close the communication loop.

RADAR Medical Systems is ramping up commercialization of a series of products that offer interactive communication to doctors everywhere, from high-end integrated systems for hospitals to a monthly subscription service tailored for single-practice doctor's offices.

"There have been companies doing this in the field of radiology for a few years. What we've done is taken that concept and expanded it dramatically," says RADAR CEO Jack Cornell.

Through three levels of its primary service, RADAR offers doctor-to-doctor instant messaging, an alert system that requires acknowledgment of important information and automatic logging of patient information for risk management. Another product does many of the same things for much less cost through a RADAR-housed monthly subscription service.

Most importantly, all of RADAR's systems seamlessly work with computer systems hospitals already have in place, meaning healthcare facilities can earn Joint Commission accreditation with very low up-front costs.

The end result is better care for patients, says Cornell.

RADAR, now based in Chagrin Falls, graduated from the Regional Growth Partnership in April, using a $50,000 grant from the organization to put the final touches on its software, test it within a wide range of computer systems and start marketing in earnest. In March, RADAR also got a $400,000 vote of confidence from Rocket Ventures.

With four full-time employees currently, the company is poised to jobs in the near future, Cornell says.

Source: Jack Cornell, RADAR Medical Systems
Writer: Dave Malaska

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"The only reason we're here is to create jobs, create new enterprises, and hopefully become a center of excellence in the area of sensors," says Dennis Cocco, co-director of Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise (GLIDE).

Thanks in no small part to a $75,000 Ohio Department of Development Edison Technology grant, the incubator on the campus of Lorain County Community College will be one step closer to becoming that "center of excellence" in the high-tech world of sensors. The money is being used to transform unused building space into labs suitable for sensor start-ups to perform prototype development work.

GLIDE already serves as an incubator for 20 on- and 40 off-site companies, offering a wide range of consulting and mentoring assistance such as preparing business plans and securing human and financial resources.

Long term plans to build more ambitious lab space that can handle harsh environmental testing will help GLIDE and Lorain County attract more sensor-based start-ups. Lorain County Community College also intends to build an educational program around the field to prepare students for work in that industry.

"We see a lot of need for companies in the sensor field," says Cocco. "The instrument, controls and sensor area is a technology that cuts across a lot of platforms, including biomedical, manufacturing, and transportation."

Source: Dennis Cocco, GLIDE
Writer: Douglas Trattner

Innovative Medical Device Solutions in Vandalia takes high-tech medical devices from the drawing board to the market place, creating jobs in the process.

IMDS has evolved over the decades, beginning life as AF Leis, a company that designed dedicated machines for the automotive industry in 1950. The company dove into the medical devices industry in the 1980s, says company board chairman and Chief Business Development Officer Harold Linville.

The contract manufacturer and supplier now specializes in product sourcing, co-innovation, and discovery research. IMDS acquired additional companies between 2006 and 2009, and expanded its mission beyond engineering into full-service medical device development, testing and manufacturing.

The company works with international companies like Johnson and Johnson and X-Spine in Miamisburg to develop intricate medical implants like spinal implants and joint replacement materials. The company also works with individuals surgeons who have ideas they want to bring into the medical marketplace.

Though IMDS's main offices and manufacturing facility is on Vandalia, the company also has facilities Oregon and Utah.

IMDS employs 475 and has hired 32 employees and four interns in the past year. The company has 15 open positions currently.

The Ohio Department of Development has also awarded IMDS a $1 million direct loan which it plans expand its Vandalia manufacturing facility.

Source: Harold Linville, IMDS
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

LifeServe Innovations -- a student-run, ground-stage medical device company -- is bridging the gap between academia and medicine. And its founders hope to save some lives along the way.

Richard Arlow and Zachary Bloom formed LifeServe Innovations after completing undergraduate research at Lehigh University. While the company is incorporated in Pennsylvania, the two are in the process of moving LifeServe permanently to Ohio, where they are getting plenty of attention.

Arlow, a second-year medical student at Case Western Reserve University, says it was his work as an EMT where he began to realize needs in the medical field. "We started talking to emergency physicians and EMTs about what problems they had and we decided to hone in on the airway field," he says.

LifeServe's two products, Cobra Tracheostomy and Viper Cricothyrotomy, are both geared (using a snake's fang design) to open airways in the neck during last-resort emergencies for the delivery of oxygen.

"It was really shocking to see the tools that people are currently using," Arlow says. "A lot of these devices are horrible and can be extremely complicated � it can be even worse in battlefield situations."

So far LifeServe has raised $100,000 in funding, including $25,000 for taking first place at the Akron-based LaunchTown Entrepreneurship Awards last month. The company also won Goldstein Caldwell and Associates Pitch Day Competition in Cleveland in April. Arlow says the company is applying for additional grants from the government and the military.

LifeServe is still in the pre-clinical testing phase, but Arlow says the company will soon begin testing cadavers and a product on the market within one year � adding as many as five positions.

Source: Richard Arlow, LifeServe
Writer: Colin McEwen

Despite the fact that only about three quarters of patients who undergo spinal-fusion procedures receive appreciable benefits, nearly 400,000 of the operations are performed annually. The odds are even grimmer for those hoping for complete recovery, with only half of the patients reporting total pain relief.

Companies like Cleveland-based AxioMed Spine Corporation will soon offer a new solution with more promising outcomes: total disk replacement.

Unlike the first generation of artificial disks that utilized ball-and-socket articulating bearings, the latest "next-gen" devices better replicate the natural function of the native disk. AxioMed's patented polymeric core, along with the device's unique design, provides three-dimensional motion that reduces pain and increases mobility.

Following a successful European clinical study, the company's Freedom Lumbar Disc received CE Mark approval, signifying that the product meets European Union consumer safety standards.

"The Freedom Lumbar Disc is the only elastomeric lumbar total disk replacement device to receive CE Mark approval based on a rigorous multi-center clinical study conducted in the European Union," explains Patrick McBrayer, AxioMed's president and CEO. "We are particularly pleased to be able to provide surgeons in Europe with the Freedom technology that has been shown to provide patients pain relief, reduced disability and improved lifestyle."

The company recently completed the first part of its third financing round. An unnamed venture capital firm that participates in the Ohio Capital Fund has invested $6.4 million toward a Series C goal of $18.5 million. The lumbar disk is still a few years away from approval for a U.S. launch, McBrayer says.

Source: Patrick McBrayer, AxioMed
Writer: Douglas Trattner

By working with customers ranging in size from large pharmaceutical companies to small biotech startups, WIL Research has managed to weather many of the economic problems faced by its competitors.

Able to serve the contract research needs of a wider market, WIL has grown to nearly 700 employees since its 1976 launch.

Headquartered on a 78-acre campus in Ashland, Ohio, the company provides product safety assessment research and services to a wide range of industries, including pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agriculture, food additive and veterinary medicine.

The interdisciplinary staff includes experts in toxicology, pharmacology, neuroscience, pathology and animal medicine.

A recent expansion added 52,000 square feet of lab space to the already massive facility.

In addition to working with clients in all parts of the United States, WIL is poised to increase its European presence following the acquisition of Notox, a contract research firm in the Netherlands.

Source: WIL Research
Writer: Douglas Trattner

Based on what's happening in the Gulf of Mexico, corn ethanol production is beginning to look more and more attractive. And thanks to research done by Arisdyne Chief Technology Officer Dr. Oleg Kozyuk, that process is poised to become even more efficient.

Kozyuk's patented hydrodynamic cavitation process significantly increases ethanol yield, thus improving a producer's profitability. It does so by increasing the amount of starch that is released during processing without increasing the system's demand for energy.

"This is an incredibly simplistic, small-footprinted, energy-efficient system that significantly increases ethanol yield," explains Arisdyne VP Fred Clarke.

With some 200 or so ethanol producers scattered about this nation's Corn Belt, Clarke sees nothing but growth in the coming months. "We are on the precipice of announcing our first sale," he notes. "Getting past the first adopter problem will be our biggest hurdle."

The Cleveland-based company licenses the technology and maintains equipment. Or, as Clarke explains it, "Just like Xerox was in business of selling copies not copiers, we license the capability to enhance ethanol yield rather than sell equipment."

Since receiving in 2007 a $1 million alternative fuels grant from Ohio's Third Frontier, Arisdyne has jumped from three to 12 employees. As new agreements are reached with ethanol producers, that figure is expected to climb, says Clarke.

Source: Fred Clarke, Arisdyne
Writer: Douglas Trattner

The idea for Embrace Pet Insurance began as the result of Laura Bennett and Alex Krooglik's project for the Wharton Business Plan Competition in 2003.

The two MBA students won, beating out a passel of bio-technology and technology ideas along the way. When both Bennett's husband and Krooglik moved to Cleveland to work for Progressive Insurance, so did Embrace Pet Insurance.

The Mayfield Village-based company started small, but proved it could compete with the big dogs right away. One advantage Embrace has over its competitors is that hereditary conditions are covered � expensive conditions such as hip dysplasia and cherry eye.

"A good claims experience is key to pet insurance," says Bennett, who also sits on the board of the North American Pet Health Insurance Association. "People get what they expect out of the product."

Business doubled in the last year. So did the staff � from 10 to 20 employees. Bennett says the company is growing at rapid pace. And the staff may double again.

Bennett who is originally from the U.K., says pet insurance is much more common across the pond than in the U.S. "Less than half of cats and dogs are insured here. The market as a whole is growing at 20 percent per year � that's in the down years of the economy."

That has attracted the interest of a host private investments and venture capital groups. JumpStart alone has invested $800,000 in Embrace.

"We are employing people with good and interesting jobs and we hope to continue to be a part of this exciting success story," she said, adding that the company is staying put. "I love Cleveland. I believe in this area."

Source: Laura Bennett, Embrace Pet Insurance
Writer: Colin McEwen