Innovation + Job News

While working in marketing and product development for various area start-ups, John Atkinson found himself most often on the road. He found it hard to keep up with the day's news as a result.

"I traveled all the time, and never could keep up with news," says Atkinson, also a partner in QI Healthcare. "I didn't want to drag newspapers around.

"Trying to read four-point font (on a phone) while driving was insane. My business partner Roy Georgia had been in tech for years, and we said, 'There has to be a way to solve this problem.' "

That was the beginning of BuzzVoice, a mobile application that pulls from 1,700 news sources, converting text-based news you choose into audio.

"We've created a real-time news engine that scours these sources based on your preferences," Atkinson says, calling it the Pandora Internet Radio of news.

"It automatically collects stories from the web's top news sites and blogs, and transforms them into audio. You can listen to them while you get things done," says Atkinson, of Mason. "It's a safe way to get news; and it's just a fun product."

Through BuzzVoice, you can chose the publications you're most interested in; they're organized into 59 categories, ranging from technology to gossip.

Launched nearly four years ago, the BuzzVoice app costs $3.99. It's available for most smart phones including Android and iPhone, Ipod Touch, and MP3 players. There's also a desktop application.

Living up to its name, BuzzVoice has generated plenty of buzz. It's been featured in top technology and innovation publications including Mashable, MacWorld, Forbes and Fast Company. It's also been a featured app in the Apple, Amazon and Verizon app stores.

The growing prevalence of smart phones (they make up 50 percent of all new phones sold), and emergence of voice activated apps like the iPhones ubiquitous Siri makes apps like BuzzVoice a more natural choice, Atkinson says.

"We're definitely at a tipping point," he says. "There is a lot going on in the mobile space; voice is the killer app for mobile."

By Feoshia Henderson
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Fueled by a US EPA grant, University of Cincinnati faculty and students are leading an effort to transform cooking grease into biodiesel on a regional scale.

This project is a collaboration among UC, the Cincinnati Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) and Bluegrass Biodiesel of Falmouth, Ky. The partners will test three methods to extract oil from the grease, including one the University is planning to patent.

Longer term plans are that this oil could be used in a biodiesel mixture to power diesel equipment and vehicles.

Grease hauling is an industry vital to restaurants, which pay haulers to dispose of used cooking grease. But the grease has to disposed of, usually in landfills.

"MSD receives grease from haulers," says project leader Mingming Lu, UC associate professor of Environmental Engineering. "The grease -- a mix of solid and liquid -- are from restaurant grease traps. MSD also has grease from the waste water it receives. The two kinds of grease are mixed, skimmed and condensed. This is called trap grease. It's stored in a pond and then sent to a landfill."

The EPA awarded the biodiesel effort an $87,000 grant during the the 8th Annual National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. in May. The project was chosen from among 300 presented by college and university innovators across the country.

Up to seven UC students will be involved in the effort, Lu says. It's set to start in September and should last two years. It will include pilot demonstrations and a 100-gallon pilot treatment facility in collaboration with MSD.

"This is technology verification. We will try several technologies and see which one is the most effective for MSD," Lu says.

By Feoshia Henderson
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Birdhouse Studios’ Nesl won the William McShane Fund Kickstarter project competition, taking home $25,000 and the opportunity to have the Nesl sold in Brookstone stores across the country. Nesl, which is a flexible rubber nine-fingered desk organizer with suction cups to hold it where ever you stick it, beat out two other projects in the finals.
 
“It’s been very exciting,” says Josh Dryden, who created the Nesl with partners and fellow recent Cleveland Institute of Art graduates Sam Li and Pete Whitworth. “The biggest part is being in nationwide stores at Brookstone.”
 
The contest was sponsored by Brookstone and Buckyballs. Voters could vote once a day on the contest site.
 
Birdhouse Studios recently raised $30,000 in pledges through a Kickstarter campaign before going on to win the McShane contest. The team met with their manufacturer last week and presented updated CAD files for the Nesl. “We want to start manufacturing as soon as possible,” says Dryden.
 
While the Nesl’s popularity in the voting varied over the voting period -- at one time it was in third place on the last day -- Dryden credits everyone at CIA with helping to secure the win. “We talked to everyone we could at CIA,” he says.
 
The team heads to New York this week to meet with Brookstone.

 
Source: Josh Dryden
Writer: Karin Connelly

It’s a good time for doing business in Ohio’s Mahoning Valley. In 2010, the Brookings Institute said the Youngstown Metro area ranked No. 1 in export growth, with manufacturing representing 38% of regional exports. $12.1 billion worth of goods and materials were exported in 2010.
 
Now businesses in the Mahoning Valley region will have the recently launched International Trade Assistance Center (ITAC) to aid in the continual growth of international exports.
 
Created in May of 2012 thanks to a grant from the Small Business Development Center at Youngstown State University, ITAC will assist companies with export readiness, market research, export compliance, export documentation, export financing assistance and trade mission preparation. The man behind these free services is Mousa Kassis, who will serve as International Trade Advisor after 16 years as an adjunct faculty member in YSU’s economics department. Suffice it to say, he knows the landscape and business of international exports.
 
“The Valley is coming back,” proclaims Kassis. “Business sentiment is very high,” he adds, citing the discovery of shale gas in the region as a catalyst for renewed interest in Mahoning Valley.
 
V&M Star, North America's leading producer of seamless tubular products dedicated to oil and gas applications, has invested in a $650 million facility in Youngstown, sustaining hundreds of construction jobs. The mill’s operation is estimated to bring in 350 more jobs by the end of 2012.
 
The ITAC, explains Kassis, is part of a national effort to double U.S. exports by 2012. “Skilled and productive labor and YSU’s Center of Excellence in International Business are bringing together government, academia and the business sector."


Source: Mousa Kassis
Writer: Lee Chilcote

The Center for Innovative Food Technology (CIFT) is on a mission to enhance Ohio’s agricultural future and has been for nearly two decades.
 
CIFT planted roots in Toledo in 1995, acknowledging Northwest Ohio’s “rich history of food manufacturing and agricultural production, which provides a framework for many of the initiatives,” explains Vice President and Director of Agricultural Programs, Rebecca Singer. Since then, CIFT has continually expanded its services as a member of the Ohio Edison Centers.
 
“The Center for Innovative Food Technology has provided technical innovations and solutions to the food processing, agribusiness and agricultural sectors,” says Singer. “These services are designed to enhance the economic performance of the food processing and agricultural sectors and create new jobs within the industry.”

Examples of CIFT’s success in the industry include Sandridge foods in Medina and Jones-Hamilton in Walbridge. CIFT went to Sandridge and provided technical assistance, which led to their decision to purchase a High-Pressure Processing system, enhancing their products, increasing shelf life and adding new flavor components. Elsewhere, CIFT transformed Jones-Hamilton to the dairy, meat and poultry, and beverage industries. This has led to relationships with industry leaders, including Gatorade, Hershey’s and Ohio’s own grocery giant, Kroger.
 
In order to continue creating jobs within the industry, networking and strategic partnerships with industry organizations is a must. “For example, the Center for Innovative Food Technology has an agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service,” Singer details. “The agreement provides Ohio’s agricultural sector with direct access to the expertise, capabilities, and intellectual property of the agency and its 2,100 agricultural scientists throughout the nation, which in turn can greatly enhance economic development and global competitiveness for the agricultural economy.”
 
But CIFT’s future isn’t without obstacles. Like any non-profit, the organization continually faces the challenge of maintaining operational stability. Singer insists the answer to maintaining said stability lies in their strategy to enhance economic development – identify and solicit strategic partnerships.
 
“Continued diversification in services, identification of new opportunities for engagement and continued awareness of industry needs facilitates valuable programs and support,” says Singer.

After 22 years as a surgeon at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Wayne Poll, M.D., turned in his surgical scrubs to become an inventor and entrepreneur. 

The former urologist, who did mostly laparoscopic surgeries, wanted to tackle an equipment problem that he – and his fellow surgeons – repeatedly encountered with laparoscopes.

“Hospitals pay millions of dollars for high-definition video systems, but surgeons don’t get the clear image they need,” he explains. “Fat, blood and water particles settle on the lens. Surgeons have to pull the laparoscope out of the patient and manually clean the lens about ten times every hour.”

Poll knew there had to be a better way, and he set out to create it. He established Minimally Invasive Devices, Inc. in 2007 with two employees. “For ten years, I tried going to companies with my ideas,” he recalls. He was constantly frustrated. Things started to happen when he won a business plan competition sponsored by Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business.

He subsequently received help from TechColumbus, a technology business incubator serving a 15-county area in Central Ohio. Dr. Poll raised $200,000 in start-up capital and also received $2.4 million in angel funds, a portion of which came from funds supported by the Ohio Third Frontier program.

His invention – FloShield – received FDA approval, and about 600 of the devices were sold. The FloShield has air flowing around the end of the scope to blow away debris and provide a clear image of the surgical site. Surgeries can be performed more safely and in less time, he notes, which benefits patients, surgeons and hospitals.

Dr. Poll subsequently created FloShield PLUS.  “It uses the same invisible air curtain to protect the lens from floating debris, but it also has a saline solution that flushes fat off the lens.”

Approximately 30 facilities are using FloShield PLUS, which is manufactured and assembled in Franklin, Ohio. The company has 14 employees.


Source:  Wayne Poll
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

The Ohio STEM Learning Network (OSLN) recently received a $50,000 grant from the Walmart Foundation.  STEM refers to the teaching of science, technology, engineering and math. In addition to supporting overall OSLN operations, the funding will be used to facilitate the launch of new STEM schools in rural Ohio, including an academy that focuses on biosciences. Battelle, a global research and development organization in Columbus, supports and manages the OSLN.

According to Courtney Howard Hodapp, program manager of education and STEM learning at Battelle, Senator Chris Widener of Springfield and his staff have been working closely with Battelle, the OSLN and The Ohio State University to develop a bioscience high school to be located in or around Springfield.

“The school will work in partnership with Ohio State, much like the Metro Early College High School in Columbus, to provide learning opportunities, such as research, internships and classes, for students,” she explains. The school is still in the early planning stages.

“This grant from Walmart will allow the OSLN to continue to support the development of high-quality STEM schools across the state of Ohio,” Hodapp states. “We are able to assist with planning and curriculum development, not only for the Springfield biosciences school, but for other schools around the state in the start-up phase.”

Metro Early College High School was established in 2006 as a partnership among Battelle, The Ohio State University and the Education Council, which represents Franklin County’s 16 school districts.

“Metro’s first class of seniors graduated in 2010,” Hodapp says. “One hundred percent of seniors graduate and are accepted into college.” Metro was the first STEM school, both in Ohio and nationwide, and has become a model for STEM schools in Ohio and the United States.

The Ohio STEM Learning Network was developed by Battelle and the Ohio Business Roundtable -- with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the State of Ohio and other partners and stakeholders -- as the nation’s first-ever statewide network for STEM education.
 

Source: Courtney Howard Hodapp
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

Nine Northeast Ohio minority-owned companies were recognized on May 22 at the JumpStart offices as inaugural members of the Charter One Launch100 Leadership Circle. The Circle recognizes diverse entrepreneurs committed to turning their business ideas into some of the region’s most impactful minority-owned or led companies. 
 
“It was a really wonderful event,” says Gloria Ware, JumpStart senior advisor. “It was a really good example of companies that are willing to grow jobs and keep moving forward.”
 
Minorities account for 40 percent of the entrepreneurial community, yet many of the companies have only one or two employees. These nine companies are on track to have an average of 50 employees in the next three to five years.
 
“We would like to highlight these entrepreneurs who are mentors or role models to other minority entrepreneurs in the community,” says Ware.  “Entrepreneurs in general can feel very overwhelmed and alone in their business. I think this was a good event for them to move forward.”
 
The nine companies are: Algae Producers of America, CFRC Water & Energy Solutions; MET Innovations; OPTIMA Lender Services; Queen Ann Inc.; RKN Corporation; Simply Southern Sides; Wellness Integrated Network; and Zuga Medical.
 
Ware says the event was also beneficial for the Charter One bankers in attendance. “They got to hear some of the entrepreneur’s struggles,” she says. “It was a win-win for everyone.”

 
Source: Gloria Ware
Writer: Karin Connelly

Games are serious business for Cincinnati-based GamiGen, a startup founded on gaming-inspired 3D training software designed for the health, oil and gas, mining, academic, manufacturing and public safety industries.

"What we do is take gaming engine technology to create training simulation technology and make efficient safe, cost-effective training programs," says company founder Brett Canter. "That is our goal: we want to simulate complex or dangerous simulations,"

The company, previously known as 7 Moose Games, is developing "games" to help companies train large groups of employees. One of the first is a fire extinguisher training simulation that users manipulate online.

"We give them the task of putting out virtual fires," Canter says. "They have to use a sweeping motion to spray and point the extinguisher in the right place," giving employees a more real-life experience than watching a video or just examining a fire extinguisher.

This form of training can be less expensive and more detailed than traditional employee training sessions, Canter says. Companies with between 5,000 and 10,000 employees can benefit from this type of training technology, he says.

"Our main customers are companies that maintain OSHA compliancy, and have the need for some kind of recurring training," Canter says.

The company plan to make its games compatible with motion sensor gaming systems like the Nintendo Wii and the Xbox Kinnect.


Source: Brett Canter
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

Online contests allow businesses and brands to find new customers, increase awareness and engage with followers through social media.

"This is a really a fast-growing space used to create media exposure to engagement," says Cincinnati entrepreneur Elizabeth Edwards, founder of the Cincinnati Innovates business competition.

But paying someone to create a custom contest can get pricey, and there's not much guarantee you'll get the results you want. So Edwards launched a new web product, CrowdSpark, designed to make contest creation more effective and accessible for businesses on tight budgets.

"A custom-designed platform and a management platform could cost $15,000 to create," she says. "Instead of paying a web developer to create a contest, for as little as $250 you could create your own."

Developers can also use CrowdSpark so that they can spend less time on code, and more time on creating a great contest, Edwards adds.

"We make it easy and economical to create and run those contests," she says.

Edwards is using CrowdSpark, now in Beta, to run the ongoing Cincinnati Innovates Contest, which wraps up July 15.

"I've learned a lot in the last four years of running Cincinnati Innovates, which has become of the most successful regional online contests in the world," she says. "But one of the things I learned not to do is spend a lot of money to get the results you want."

CrowdSpark offers social media plug-ins, analytics, contest entry forms, custom legal rules, tech support and options to create a custom domain and accept paid entries. There will also be a best practices guide focusing on creating and managing contests.

It costs between $250 and $2,000 to start using CrowdSpark, depending on the options it includes. Hosting fees range from $100 to $200 each month the contest runs.

By Feoshia Henderson
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CellBank Technologies offers a way for surgery patients to plan for future surgeries. The startup company allows patients undergoing knee and hip replacement surgeries to store their own stem cells for possible future procedures. CellBank recently received $25,000 from the Innovation Fund.
 
“We offer a way to harvest and store stem cells without requiring a second surgical procedure,” explains Rachel Uram, CellBank founder and president. “There are one million hip or knee replacement surgeries each year, and surgeons go in and throw out a lot of stem cell-rich tissue. In 2005, five percent of replacement patients had a second surgery that required a bone graft.”
 
Using a patient’s own stem cells in a grafting procedure is “the gold standard in grafting,” says Uram. “Ten years ago they would go into the hip and harvest the tissue and use it. There were more patient complications and it was more painful.”
 
CellBank offers a better solution. “We collect specific tissues, process and store them so the patient doesn’t need a second procedure in situations like bone graft surgeries,” says Uram.
 
The family-run business has three founders, and they have brought on four part-time consultants. They are in the process of raising $1.5 million in seed money to complete testing. The Innovation Fund money will help bring CellBank closer to accepting customers.
 
“When we’re up and running we expect to have 15 to 16 employees,” says Uram. “Everybody loves the idea.”

 
Source: Rachel Uram
Writer: Karin Connelly

“The sun is shining, it’s nice, crisp weather and I’m on the right side of the grass – life is good.” Dr. Roy Church’s meteorology report can also describe the forecast for the nations’ startup community after Lorain County Community College received a $1 million grant from the Kauffman Foundation to take their successful Innovation Fund program to the national stage.
 
“When we created our business incubator GLIDE (Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise), we discovered very early on that many of the entrepreneurs that were trying to start new companies were experiencing a financial valley of death,” explains Church, President of Lorain County Community College. “There was clearly a dearth of pre-seed capital to get them started.”
 
The Innovation Fund, launched by the Lorain County Community College Foundation in 2007 to support high-growth technology entrepreneurs in Northeast Ohio, was created to fill the capital gap and help small businesses generate revenue, catching the eyes of much-needed angel investors. Explains Church, “Our foundation came up with the idea of using philanthropic dollars from previously successful entrepreneurs to make those very earliest investments in companies.”
 
Donations to the fund are used to complete essential early tasks, such as presenting a proof of concept, finishing a prototype or creating a launch initiative. “85 companies have received about $5.6 million since 2007. These 85 companies have had a tremendous amount of success, evidenced by the private sector investment since their launch.”
 
Now the successful concept of philanthropic entrepreneurship behind Innovation Fund will be used in a pilot program to impact other regions across the country. “Community colleges are playing a unique role in higher education in that they are intended to be responsive to the unique needs of a local community,” says Church. “And since community colleges serve specific geographical regions, it makes sense to try to roll this model out through other community colleges in other parts of the country.”


Source: Dr. Roy Church
Writer: Joe Baur

More than 50 Ohio companies have received export assistance from the Ohio Department of Development’s International Market Access Grant for Exporters (IMAGE) program.
 
“The Office of Business Assistance leads the initiative to strengthen Ohio’s exporting economy and advance its leadership position in the global marketplace,” says Assistant Deputy Chief of Export Assistance, Wesley Aubihl. “Specifically, export assistance strives to increase international sales of Ohio-made goods and services, creating more and better jobs for Ohioans.”
 
Designed to increase exports and create jobs, IMAGE helps companies promote their products and services in new international markets. Best of all, IMAGE will reimburse companies a maximum of $6,000 or 50 percent on qualifying expenditures up to $12,000 for activities associated with new international marketing initiatives, such as trade shows and foreign marketing material translation.
 
Airstream Inc., developers of lightweight travel trailers in Jackson Center, is just one example of a company that has taken off (no pun intended) thanks to assistance from IMAGE grant funds. Explains Aubihl, “[The funds] offset the costs of participating in a State of Ohio-Council of Great Lakes Governors trade mission to Brazil. The trade mission enabled Airstream to meet potential key customers in the Brazilian market.”

Justin Humphreys, Vice President of Sales at Airstream, has credited the Ohio Department of Development with playing a special role in their ability to meet with key players in Brazil to assess the potential of doing business abroad.
 
Aubihl is hopeful a slew of Ohio businesses will follow in Airstream’s footsteps and experience similar international success. “Since the program began in January, the Ohio Department of Development has awarded 15 trade mission stipends, supported 37 international trade shows, 10 U.S. Commercial Service projects, 20 translations of websites or printed materials, and three export education activities,” he explains. “The participating companies have reported more than $5 million in actual export sales, with additional sales expected over the next 12 months."


Source: Wesley Aubihl
Writer: Joe Baur

Polymers are big business in Ohio. According to Wayne Earley, CEO of PolymerOhio,  “Ohio is definitely a leader in the production and use of polymers.” According to its website, PolymerOhio is an Ohio Edison Technology Center focused on “enhancing the Ohio polymer industry company's global competitiveness and growth.”

Earley’s comments came on the eve of the two-day Ohio Polymer Summit, which was held June 6-7 in Columbus and attended by more than 150 people from throughout Ohio. This was the Ninth Annual Biennial Ohio Polymer Summit.

A presentation on innovation engineering leadership was one of the summit highlights, according to Earley. There was also a segment on shale gas and its impact on Ohio’s polymer industry. “Shale gas is very significant to our industry here in Ohio by lowering energy costs and also lowering the cost of basic polymer materials,” he explains.

Another important session was the introduction of the new computational methods program. “Small- and medium-size companies can’t afford to acquire the software needed for such things as mold design and extruder simulation,” Earley says. “With the assistance of a federal grant, Polymer Ohio is now making these tools available to smaller companies.” 

The polymer industry is Ohio’s largest manufacturing industry, he states. “More than 130,000 people are employed in Ohio’s polymer industry. It’s a growing industry here.

There’s high growth in several specific segments, including conductive and electronic polymer materials, polymer nanocomposites, biomaterials and feed stocks and recyclable polymers.”

Earley points out that polymers aren’t just plastic. “They’re also in adhesives, sealants, paints, coatings and composites of other materials.”

He says that Ohio is the world leader in compounding of polymers – combining different materials to achieve a set of specifications. PolyOne in Avon Lake is the state’s largest compounder, according to Earley. “They’re successful because they have the technology and the capabilities to develop materials and compounds that are specific to certain important applications. They’re also very innovative,” he adds.

Source:  Wayne Earley, PolymerOhio, Inc.
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

The founders of Commuter Advertising – wife Katie Hill and husband Russell Gottesman --  came up with the idea for their company while going home from a White Sox game on the “L” train in Chicago.

“We were approaching the stop for Chinatown and thought it would be a good idea to have a 10- or 20-second audio message there to get people into the restaurants,” recalls Hill.

Hill was with an ad agency and Gottesman worked at a company that sells traffic reports to radio stations. “He was familiar with short, quick audio segments, and I was in advertising, so coming up with the concept was a blend of both our backgrounds,” she notes.

Commuter Advertising produces audio announcements over bus and train sound systems. The announcements advertise products, services and sales of companies located near the bus or train stops. That means advertising messages can be timed to match the location of advertisers, and special promotions can be tailored to passengers.

Hill and Gottesman landed their first contract in 2008 with the Greater Dayton RTA. “They had a request for proposals out at the time,” Hill says. “It was for traditional print advertising, but they were open to other ideas.” 

The couple moved from Chicago to Dayton and have several patents for their concept. They’ve  expanded their market share to reach 100 million riders per year in Toledo, Ohio; Chicago and Champaign, Illinois; Seattle, Washington; Kansas City, Missouri; Rockland County, New York; and Jacksonville, Florida.

According to Hill, the ads cost $250 to $300 per location per month. “That’s typically about 4,000 plays a month of 10- to 20-second audio messages and a scrolling ticker at the front of the vehicle,” she says. “We professionally produce all the ads, and they can contain music, special effects, a variety of voices and languages.”

Very importantly, the transit authorities share in the profits and receive much-needed revenue. “Passengers benefit because this helps keep the cost of fares stable,” Hill notes.

Commuter Advertising has received financial assistance from the Ohio Third Frontier. They’ve expanded from a staff of two to 22 and plan to hire more employees by the end of the year.


Source: Katie Hill, Commuter Advertising
Writer: Lynne Meyer