Innovation + Job News

For 26 years, Nanofilm has been creating formulas for cleaning products and optical coatings in Valley View. Similarly, SDG Inc. in the Cleveland Clinic's Innovation Center has spent the last 16 years developing nanotechnologies in the medical and healthcare fields.

Until recently, the two were unaware of the each other's existence. Then, at a nanotechnologies networking meeting run by Polymer Ohio, Nanofilm's president and CEO Scott Rickert and SDG co-founder and senior vice president Robert Geho crossed paths. The meeting was the beginning of partnership in which each company brings their talents to the table to develop new products.

In early May Nanofilm and SDG Inc. signed a comprehensive joint development and licensing agreement to develop and commercialize nano-formulas that combine the two companies' technologies. Among the planned projects is development of technology to control the release and toxicity of bio-active agents at the nano-scale. Potential applications include longer lasting anti-bacterial surface treatments.

"I'm very excited about this," says Rickert. "Up until this point we have not had any way to do anything unique in the medicine and healthcare markets. We both have experience in the technology, but didn't know the other one's areas. This will allow us to take polymer films and make bioactive products that make our lives better and safer."

Rickert sees huge growth potential in the partnership. "It's going to be huge," he says. "Every time we come out with a new product announcement I see us hiring 20 more people." Rickert says they hope to announce their first new product development sometime this year.

Source: Scott Rickert
Writer: Karin Connelly

This story originally appeared in hiVelocity's sister publication, Fresh Water Cleveland

IT Martini was created three years ago when the opportunities for IT professionals to connect in central Ohio were few and far between, says John Bishop.

Today, thanks to Bishop and co-founder Aladin Gohar, IT Martini -- a social and professional gathering for the tech-oriented -- not only has helped build a more robust network around the Columbus area, but has caught on in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Indianapolis, with more cities on the way.

"If you go back to 2008, it was a different kind of environment for professionals and for technology professionals beyond that," Bishop says. "And what I noticed in conjunction with Aladin Gohar was that there weren't a lot of opportunities for technology professionals to meet each other and engage one another as an industry."

That summer, Bishop and Gohar held the very first IT Martini. Two hundred people showed up to hear a speaker, socialize and connect. This month, IT Martini is celebrating its third year with a May 26 event expected to draw 1,000.

The format for an IT Martini event is straightforward, Bishop says.

"We try to stay as interactive as possible," he explains. "So we put on panel discussions and we tend to have panel discussions run concurrently with the social aspect of the event in a separate, segregated space. That way, people who want to be social can participate in the social aspect of the event, and if they want to participate in a little bit more of a discussion, presentation, industry-best-practice type of activity we have that for our attendees as well."

As IT Martini began to catch on locally, a sponsor in 2009 asked that an event be held in Cincinnati, Bishop says.

"And then last year we started to do not just Columbus and Cincinnati, but Cleveland and Indianapolis."

An IT Martini in Nashville is in the works, and there also seems to be interest in West Virginia, Michigan and Wisconsin, Bishop says.

Source: John Bishop, IT Martini
Writer: Gene Monteith

FlyMuch plans to role out a new service next month that will let travelers plan their next trip with the help of knowledgeable Facebook users.

The Dublin-based startup, which began working on a mobile app for travel in 2009, aims to fill a void, says Brian Zuercher, head of product and co-founder.

"There had been no service that had created a great user experience in terms of planning travel. At the heart of it was the consumer who says 'I'm getting e-mails from Travelocity and Orbitz and Hilton everyday for things I'm never going to do.'"

That resulted in an idea for an application that would aggregate the best travel deals and tailor them to individual users through a browser add-on. Zuercher and Jim Kamnikar, CEO and co-founder, "spent almost two years, both prototyping and iterating on the product with a parallel path of fundraising."

FlyMuch will offer a scaled down version of that vision in its first phase, Zuercher says.

"The product as it's going to stand when we release it is all about getting and giving recommendations for travel things like hotels, dining and activities for your trip," he says. "What we're able to do is see inside your social network of who's relevant to ask about a destination. Maybe they live there or have been there. And then you can solicit any of those people, and we create your own unique page for your trip. Those people can come in and make recommendations, and the bonus feature is that you get access to all those things on your iPhone."

Zuercher says FlyMuch will build on that simple platform as it engages with people and builds trust. Eventually, features that tailor deals for individual users and other bells and whistles will be added, he says.

The initial mobile app will be limited to iPhone, but "pretty quickly be available for DROID and other platforms," he says.

The firm is closing in on a $1 million series A investment round, about half of which has been funded by Ohio TechAngels, Zuercher says. That has allowed FlyMuch to hire eight full-time employees with the goal of employing around 20 in the next couple of years.

Source: Brian Zuercher, FlyMuch
Writer: Gene Monteith

Algae Producers set up shop in 2007 with the idea of developing algae products for the biodiesel market.

It soon became apparent that the more immediate opportunity was in other applications like nutriceuticals, aquaculture, pharmaceuticals,  and other areas.

Since then, the company hasn't looked back. Late last year the company, whose technical and sales teams are based in Madison and which plans to eventually locate the bulk of its operations in the Cleveland area, entered the marketplace with two primary products: a substance that can be used as a fish food in acquaculture, and an astaxanthin product with the same body-cleansing and antitoxin properties attributed to green tea.

"It's kind of a green tea on steroids," says Stan Robinson, the company's CFO.

Algae Producers has developed 10 exclusive partnerships and agreements for manufacture and distribution of its algae products and continues to research new ways of making algae profitable. Robinson says the company expects to book around $250,000 in revenue by the end of the second quarter. Along the way, it has shared in a $3-million Ohio Third Frontier grant with Ohio University and a number of other Ohio partners to further commercialize algae.

While the company currently has three full-time employees, Robinson says the company hopes to increase that number to eight by the end of the year and more as new products hit the marketplace. Primarily self-funded to date, the company is now raising a $2-million second round that will allow it to expand capacity, research and development, employment and a facility in the Cleveland area.

Source: Stan Robinson, Algae Producers
Writer: Gene Monteith

Lorain County Community College in Elyria is helping cement Ohio's reputation as the home of sensor technology innovation.

The school recently established the SMART (Sensor/Microsystems Advanced packaging and Reliability Testing) Center to help device developers accomplish critical tasks they usually have performed out of state: advanced packaging, reliability testing and advanced life simulation. It received a $5.5 million grant from the Wright Center for Sensor Systems Engineering at Cleveland State University for equipment and technical support for the center.

Four entities are SMART Center partners already: Acense LLC in Twinsburg, which is developing a sensor focused on early fault warning for oil-immersed electrical equipment; R.W. Beckett Corp. in North Ridgeville, which makes commercial and residential oil and gas burners; GreenField Solar in Oberlin, maker of scalable solar power products capable of simultaneously generating electric power and heat; and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Jack W. Harley, founder and president of Acense, says he is enthusiastic about the SMART Center and sees it "being very valuable to us." The center currently is testing packaging concepts for an Acense sensor; later it will test that sensor's long-term characteristics. Harley says that sensor is part of what will be a whole line of products and he expects to use the center for each one.

Harley's not the only executive predicting long-term benefits of the center.

"The SMART Center offers companies affordable access to important services," Kevin Beckett, president of R.W. Beckett Corp., says. Plus, "it raises the visibility of sensor technology overall, which is likely to spark innovation in Northeastern Ohio."

Beckett calls the SMART Center "a huge, huge plus for the area."

Sources: Tracy Green, Lorain County Community College; Kevin Beckett, R. W. Beckett Corp.; Jack W. Harley, Acense
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs

Cleveland's Sharie Renee is passionate about unused magazines, annual reports and brochures.  The founder and CEO of Cosmic Bobbins uses them to do something positive for people, the planet and profits.

Renee gets old publications from companies and organizations. "I then 'upcycle' the paper by getting it transformed into one-of-a-kind accessories with parts of the organization's logo and design appearing on them," she explains.

The transformation is done for Cosmic Bobbins by residents of a small, low-income town in Mexico, using an indigenous technique of folding and weaving decorative paper. Renee first learned of the traditional craft while visiting Mexico.

She has had the residents create pencil holders for University Circle from its old annual reports and make scissors cases for Paul Mitchell hair stylists using the company's old brochures. The Cleveland Botanical Gardens sells Cosmic Bobbins' purses -- made from the organization's old newsletters -- in its gift shop.

"We're giving organizations back their paper waste remade into something beautiful and desirable," Renee explains.

Cosmic Bobbins isn't just about upcycling paper into colorful accessories, however.

"We're giving back to the world one magazine at a time," she explains.

Renee does so by paying the Mexican artisans a fair wage for their work. She also employs up to 38 clients of United Cerebral Palsy of Cleveland, who sort the paper by color or size in a sheltered work environment. By providing fair wages to both groups, she's helping relieve poverty and create jobs.

Renee has a clear vision for Cosmic Bobbins. "We're committed to creating a global community with a focus on sustainability and social good, where people are meaningfully employed and there's a spirit of hope," she explains.

Source: Sharie Renee, Cosmic Bobbins
Writer: Lynne Meyer

Thanks to an innovative effort by a firm spun off from the Cleveland Clinic in 2009, hospitals can now track their best practices, determine their most efficient use of research dollars and program funding, and monitor best patient outcomes by tapping into trend-spotting software that has long been used by other industries.

Population Explorer, a product of Cleveland-based Explorys Inc., uses data-crunching software similar to the kind of technology used by large, fast search engines such as Yahoo! and Googlem thereby giving healthcare systems a new perspective on the mountains of information accumulated on patient care.

"In almost every other industry, this kind of technology has been in use for a long time," explains Explorys President and Chief Technology Officer Charlie Lougheed. "It allows them to see trends and correlations that you can use to make a difference in patient's lives. It lets hospitals become more efficient, offer better care and in most cases, do it less expensively."

Explorys doesn't examine individual patient information, instead looking at the outcomes of care and how hospitals arrived at decisions that resulted in the best outcomes for patients. The result is a roadmap to improved, efficient care.

Born from a smaller prototype that the Cleveland Clinic started building five years ago, Population Explorer took off when the hospital brought in two "big data" veterans in early 2009. Lougheed and Stephen McHale (now Explorys' CEO) had founded Everstream Inc., a data analytics company focused on media trends, in 1999, later selling it to a Georgia company for $15 million. When the duo took over the new project, they immediately started expanding the scope of the clinic's software. Months later, Explorys was spun off to commercialize the system. Since then, its growth has been explosive.

It now mines trend information from not only the Cleveland Clinic, but University Hospitals and MetroHealth hospitals in Cleveland, Akron-based Summa Health System, as well as MedStar Health in Columbia, Md. Other national health care providers are due to come online soon as well, reports Lougheed.

Others have taken notice, too. Gartner Inc., a leading information technology research and advisory company based in Connecticut, recently named Explorys as one of five of its "Cool Vendors in Life Sciences" winners for 2011.

After starting with 10 employees and a modest budget, Explorys has already expanded to 25 employees. Lougheed expects the company to double its staff again by the end of the year, with further growth planned for next year.

Source: Charlie Lougheed, President & CTO
Writer: Dave Malaska

In the 1990s, Geoff and Michelle Greenfield decided to build a new home off the electric grid outside of Athens. To accomplish that goal, Geoff Greenfield designed and built a number of systems to power the Greenfield's new home -- including a photovoltaic solar array.

Today, Geoff and Michelle Greenfield are president and CEO, respectively, of Third Sun Solar, an Athens-based solar integrator that has made the Inc. 500 two years in a row.

Gerald Kelly, the company's communications director, says the company began small after word of mouth spread about the solar system Geoff Greenfield had designed and built for his own home.

"As people heard about that and as people saw the home and saw what he had done there, he started getting lots of requests from people to do it for them," Kelly explains.

In 2000, the Greenfields established Third Sun Solar and Wind Power Ltd., including wind in their advanced and alternative energy services. But as the business matured, "we found that our core business really is in photovoltaic solar," Kelly says.

Today Third Sun has grown to become a major solar systems integrator, operating from the Innovation Center at Ohio University while growing to 30 employees, Kelley says.

"Up until a couple of years ago, we had six employees," Kelley notes. In addition to its Athens operations, Third Sun has added sales staff in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus.

Third Sun projects have shifted from mostly residential in the beginning to mostly large commercial today, Kelley says. Part of that is a changing regulatory environment that provides more financial incentives to larger customers.

Kelley says the company plans to continue adding jobs but that "all the companies that do what we do are in the same sort of boat -- we are seeing this transition from the sweet spot being from 70 kilowatts (a small business or home) to more the megawatt scale."

As projects become larger, they also become more complex � both for Third Sun and for the customer, he says.

Source: Gerald Kelley, Third Sun Solar
Writer: Gene Monteith

Since 2007, Thermedx, LLC has added 15 new jobs in Ohio and is hoping to double that number in the next few years.

So far, the success of its first product has it going in the right direction.

The Solon-based comapny develops medical devices used by hospitals and surgery centers for fluid management and patient warming. Thermedx' first product, a surgical irrigation fluid management system, has applications in gynecology, urology and general surgery.

Called "the 375," the device combines five functions into one device. The fluid-warming function helps surgical patients maintain normal body temperature of 37�C, which is targeted by Medicare's Surgical Care Improvement Project. Launched in January, Thermedx is now phasing into national expansion.

"The patent pending 375 is the only FDA 510(k) cleared fluid management device capable of fluid pressure or flow control, on-demand fluid warming, and fluid deficit monitoring," says Executive VP Michael Haritakis.

Since 2007, Thermedx has added 15 new jobs, completed product engineering and development of its first product, obtained FDA approval, raised about $5.2 million in equity and $2 million in debt, including $1.275 million from the Ohio Department of Development Innovation Fund.

"We appreciate the financial support provided by the State of Ohio's Technology Investment Tax Credit Program and Ohio Innovation Fund Loan Program, and we hope to receive a Third Frontier biomedical grant, which would help us to add jobs," says Haritakis.

By 2013, Thermedx plans to add about 30 jobs in engineering, sales, marketing and manufacturing.

Royal Pains on the USA Network, Greys Anatomy and Private Practice have expressed an interest in showcasing the company's 37-5 Fluid Management System.

Source: Michael Haritakis; Exec. VP, Thermedx, LLC
Writer: Patrick G. Mahoney

The couponing craze is boosting the bottom line for one local company that has just moved into a new space and adding 20 employees to its ranks.

LocalGreatDeals.com, an online coupon site, works with media partners and local businesses to offer Internet-based coupons for small- and medium-sized local business in Cincinnati and in 34 other cities across the country.

Based in Loveland, LocalGreatDeals.com, is growing along with the couponing and saving renaissance.

"Industry wide the coupon industry continues to grow as the economy evolves into what is today. People are interested in finding a deal and getting the most bang for their buck," said company Vice President of Sales Ryan Minton.

In Cincinnati, the company works with network affiliates websites to offer hundreds of coupons for local businesses. The site also uses web keyword search techniques to help make their coupons easier to find online.

"We're different from the deals of the day sites where you get a discount when you purchase a deal. Users that go to our site don't have to pay for anything," Minton said.

Founded in 2009, the company has just moved from downtown Loveland to a nearby office park at 424 Wards Corner in Loveland. The company has 40 employees and is in the process of adding 20 more inside sales associates.

The company is also expanding its services and moving rapidly into new cities. It expects to be live in 100 cities by year's end. The company also isn't entirely averse to daily deal methods, and recently launched Dealsthatgiveback.com. It's a twist on the deal-of-the-day site where 10 percent of each purchase goes to a charity of the buyer's choice.


Source: LocalGreatDeals.com
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

You can follow Feoshia on Twitter @feoshiawrites

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

 Three entrepreneurial minded doctors, along with their tech partners, are building on the health IT explosion with a new tool designed to cut down on both surgical and billing errors.

eMerge Health Solutions is the latest CincyTech portfolio company, formed in 2006 by three Cincinnati area gastroenterologists, a healthcare provider and IT specialist. Their first product is a voice-driven tool that allows surgeons to make documentation and notes during operations and other medical procedures. The software creates a database from those notes that a doctor can refer to and cross-reference with similar procedures.

The software is designed to improve patient outcomes through more accurate procedure documentation.

"We will be offering a first-of-its-kind-product, the ability to document during a procedure using voice command and control," said eMerge CEO Alex Vidas. "This allows the clinician to gain productivity benefits without taking focus away from the patient's care."

The company was created through collaboration of its founders Dr. Alan Safdi, Dr. Michael Safdi, Dr. Pradeep Bekal and Dan Walker of the Ohio GI & Liver Institute, and Bharat Saini, a former GE Aviation technology manager.

The patent-pending technology has been thoroughly tested in 30,000 procedures since its development. It's now being used in three ambulatory surgery centers and at The Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati. The product is initially targeted for self-contained GI units within ambulatory surgical centers and hospitals.

"We are calculating that gastroenterology represents a $250 million-$300 million market and the total addressable market is $500 million-$700 million across all medical specialty areas. This is a tremendous opportunity," said CincyTech executive-in-residence and eMerge board member Phil Huff.

Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Source: CincyTech

You can follow Feoshia on Twitter @feoshiawrites

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

You're sitting in an airport and your flight has been delayed. You've plowed through your concession stand copy of Newsweek and are bored stiff.

So, you do what any normal person would do. You start to people-watch. And some of what you see is, well, a little freaky. That guy in the camouflage hot pants, for example. If only your friends could see THAT.

Well, now they can, if you have an iPhone and download a mobile app from FreakJet.com that allows you to upload photos to the company's website.

"The problem we're solving is a consumer problem," says Mike Figliuolo, one of FreakJet's founders. "Which is boredom and nothing to do at the airport."

Launched two months ago, FreakJet is like People of Walmart -- with wings. While he acknowledges there's a fine line between posting a funny picture and being mean, Figliuolo says the site is not intended to hurt anyone.

"Nothing hateful, no folks with disabilities, no kids," he says. "If you post those, we'll take it down. And if your picture ends up on the site and you don't like it, just send us an e-mail and we'll take it down immediately."

Figliuolo says users have downloaded some 500 copies of the app so far, with about 100 pictures posted from airports all over the country.

Based in Dublin, FreakJet.com is about fun, but it's not just for fun, Figliuolo says. The company fully intends to realize a financial return. Right now, that's coming in the way of advertising, he says.

"But eventually you can do paid apps -- there's a gaming aspect of it that will be in version two, version three -- so there are big revenue pieces associated with it that are down the road.

Source: Mike Figliuolo, FreakJet.com
Writer: Gene Monteith

Event promoters hate unsold tickets. In Columbus, TiXiT has stepped in to help promoters solve that problem while offering buyers discounted prices.

The startup, with investment by the weBuild tech accelerator, "has sold tens of thousands of dollars worth of tickets " so far, says CEO Mike Figliuolo (also a principal at weBuild).

While the member base is currently small, he's encouraged by the conversion rate of those who buy tickets after opening an e-mail promoting an event.

"In traditional e-mail campaigns, for folks who sign up for membership sites and actually want to get that e-mail, you'll get a five percent open rate, you'll get a five percent click-through rate, and you'll get a five percent conversion to purchase rate," Figliuolo says. "We get a 30 percent open rate. On that 30 percent, we'll get 20 to 40 percent click-through. Of that 20 to 40 percent we'll get 20 to 30 percent to go into the shopping cart, and of that we're converting 10 to 30 percent to sales."

Members register for free to receive notifications of deals on various events. Alerts are sent by e-mail, text message, tweet -- however customers want them. 

"The value for consumers is it's free, and I can now go to one place to discover new events, buy things that I want to buy and get great deals, instead of having to go out and get a coke can for this discount, a copy of the newspaper for that discount, another site for that one," Figliuolo says. "Here are all the events in your geographic area."

TiXiT takes a percentage of every ticket sold, he says, noting that the company has done work with organizations like the Columbus Blue Jackets, CAPA, BalletMet, Jazzarts, and the Columbus Crew.

Figliuolo says the company is still in the pilot phase, launching formally only last year. As TiXiT learns what works and what doesn't, it plans to expand to other geographic regions.

Source: Mike Figliuolo, TiXiT
Writer: Gene Monteith

In the fall of 2009, CSI - Las Vegas aired an episode called "Death and the Maiden," in which Akron-based NicheVision's SpermFinder had a role. Vic Meles, one of the company's owners, says the filming took more than 4 hours, but the microscope, which is the most important component, appeared in only a few scenes.

"We found out during taping that many of the props on the show are hollow shells, but we can certify this part was the absolute real deal," says Meles.

Meles' company develops software and integrated solutions that automate tedious, time-consuming laboratory tasks so they can be accomplished faster, with less stress and greater accuracy.

Company founder Luigi Armogida, a former microscope salesman with a background in microbiology, started the business in 2006. While working on a project at the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations Armogida saw people hunched over microscopes, spending hours looking at slides for rape kits. Workers would spend hours looking for as few as one or two cells. Armogida thought: Why not computerize the task? His employer at the time was not interested in developing his idea so he started his own company.

SpermFinder comprises a microscope, computer and software that identifies the cells. Another product, "Armed Expert," which creates a profile of the person whose cells have been identified, was developed by the U.S. Army and commercialized by NicheVision. A third product, currently in development, called "DNA Express" will remove the sought-after cell from the slide.

"Our customers are crime labs anywhere in the world," says Meles. Surprisingly, the company has only four employees.

Source: Vic Meles, NicheVision, Inc.
Writer: Patrick G. Mahoney

Imagine an ultra-thin film that's invisible to the human eye. In fact, it's 2,000 times thinner than the plastic wrap you use to store leftovers.

Now imagine that film is embedded with performance properties to make it scratch resistant, anti-static, stain resistant, anti-reflective, non-stick, or water and soil resistant. Finally, imagine coating a commercial product with that film.

Scott Rickert, Ph.D., president and CEO of Nanofilm, refers to the process as "nano-izing," and it's what his Valley View company does every day in its labs.

"We develop coating formulas, embed them with the characteristics our customers want, and create the processes that enable them to apply the coating to their product," he explains.

Nanofilm specializes in coatings for glass, plastics, metals, concrete, fabric and wood for several worldwide markets, including electronics, architecture, transportation, and optical and consumer products.

When LensCrafters introduced non-glare plastic lenses for its eye glasses, they came to Nanofilm to create a coating to protect the non-glare surface. Cleveland company Ferro turned to Nanofilm to create a scratch-resistant film for a line of porcelain restaurant dinner ware.

Nanofilm developed an effective, long-lasting auto glass coating that's water resistant and provides "a huge advantage in heavy rain and snow," Rickert says. "It's Rain-X on steroids." The product's name is "Defender," and it's available through Amazon.com.

According to Rickert, with nanotechnology, less is more. "For example, if you make a surface coating super slippery, it requires less frequent and less aggressive cleaning. That means fewer harsh cleaning chemicals, like phosphates and ammonias, so it's better for the environment and costs less to clean."

Nanotechnology also has applications in the medical field, Rickert notes.

"Work is under way to make surfaces of body implants, like joints or heart stents, more biocompatible."

Future advances in nanotechnology may lead to more efficient solar energy and smaller, more powerful computers as well, he adds.

Source: Scott Rickert, Nanofilm
Writer: Lynne Meyer