Innovation + Job News

Born-and-bred Ohioans need no explanation of what cornhole is. Canadian censors, on the other hand, have apparently never heard of the bean bag game.

The founders of Columbus-based JUFTi learned that the hard way last August when they launched Cornhole All-Stars, "the first and only true 3D cornhole game for your iPhone or iPod touch."

While the app was published on Apple's App Store worldwide, the Canadian App Store would only list it as "C******e All-Stars."

"We sent a formal letter of inquiry to the Canadian government demanding to know why our title was censored. And we sent one to Apple," says JUFTi co-founder Jon Myers, who says he believes his is "the first app to be censored by a government."

Myers also contact the Wall Street Journal (which wrote wrote about snafu) and staged a high-profile meet-up in Toronto. The censorship was mysteriously lifted.

While Canadian downloads remain "a blip," Myers says the game is catching on among others, with about 60,000 downloads to date.

"We do get downloads from all over, and the other thing too, is we have about a thousand Facebook fans."

Formed a year and a half ago, the 10-employee company recently entered into a licensing agreement for a Garfield the Cat game for iPhone, iPod and Facebook, which Myers hopes to launch this summer.

While the company so far has been self-financed, Myers says efforts continue to find new ways to raise revenues.

"One of them is a marketplace for brand integration into apps � for example, we have the bean bags inside our (cornhole) game. If Donato's wanted to put their graphic on our bag, they would be able to access our platform and find in the marketplace that advertising opportunity and buy it."

Source: Jon Myers, JUFTi
Writer: Gene Monteith

Is there a sustainable fuel alternative in our transportation future? If so, what will it look like and who will lead the way? Can alternative energy cars save the U.S. automotive industry? And what is "clean" energy and how should it best be used in our transportation systems?

Those and other questions will be discussed May 2-4 at "Moving Ahead 2010: Sustainable Transportation Solutions for the 21st Century."

The national conference, to be held at Ohio State University's Ohio Union Conference Center in Columbus, is expected to draw nearly 1,000 people, including "more than 500 industry leaders; federal, state and local policymakers; researchers; investors; students; and media representatives to join the event." The conference is designed to advance federal, state and local policies that will help reduce our dependence on petroleum for transportation and promote economic development.

Speakers and panelists will look at how new innovations impact jobs, the environment and national security and include headliner Carol Browner, assistant to the President for energy and climate change and former director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Clinton.

Among the dozens of other confirmed speakers are: John Viera, director of sustainable business strategies at Ford Motor Company; Jolene Molitoris, director of the Ohio Department of Transportation; Tom Murphy, senior resident fellow at the Urban Land Institute; and Robert E. Martinez, vice president for business development at Norfolk Southern Corp.

For more information or to register, go here:

Source: Melinda T. Swan, Associate Vice President, Ohio State University Office of Communications
Writer: Gene Monteith

Imagine a material that conducts electricity at 100 times the speed of silicon -- the standard material used in computer circuits. Now, THAT would be a fast machine, wouldn't it?

However, the substance -- known as graphene -- has uses beyond the computer world. Dayton-based Nanotek Instruments, whose researchers patented the material in 2002, says nano-graphene platelets (NGPs) show special promise in such applications as batteries, fuel cells, supercapacitors, composites -- even as a shield against lightning strikes.

Bor Jang, co-founder of Nanotek Instruments and its production subsidiary Angstron Materials, says Angstron is the largest producer of NGPs in the world. He says the future looks bright: Experts say graphene has the potential to replace nano carbon tubes in many applications because it has the highest intrinsic strength and highest thermal conductivity of any known material. Depending on how material using NGPs is made, it can serve as a conductor or an insulator -- and It can also be mass-produced cost-effectively when compared to carbon nano-tubes.

While Angstron continues to mass-produce NGPs for a variety of customers, including composite compounders (those who combine engineered resins to meet specific applications) and specialty fabric or fiber producers, Jang sees some of the highest potential as a material used in advanced and alternative energy. Nanotek received a $350,000 commercialization grant last year from the Ohio Third Frontier to develop NGP electrodes for lithium ion batteries and other energy storage applications. If successful, the project will help get electric vehicle manufacturers over an important technical hurdle -- giving an electric vehicle the burst of power it needs for rapid acceleration.

Nanotek moved to the Dayton area five years ago from North Dakota with two employees. Today, the company has 16.

Source: Bor Jang, Nanotek
Writer: Gene Monteith

Athens-based Sunpower soon could see its super-efficient engine technology blast into the heavens though a partnership with NASA.

Sunpower founder William Beale, a former Ohio University professor, developed Sunpower's signature Stirling engine � a free-piston Stirling engine that will run for 100,000 hours without stopping � that's been the basis for the company's cryo-coolers, engines and compressors. Beale developed the technology in the 1970s, but it's been refined over decades.

Sunpower's cryocoolers have long cooled down highly sensitive sensors, including medical devices, nuclear material detection devices and their engines have been developed for solar, biomass, diesel, and natural gas generators. But recently the company has set its sights higher, into space to be exact, through a partnership with NASA that will launch Sunpower technology into deep space.

"When we started, this technology had just been invented, now we have commercial cryocoolers products and engines designed for space applications," company CEO and president Mark Schweizer said. "Our engineering services today are all around NASA. Going forward we're developing engines for terrestrial applications (solar power generation and critical remote power) for commercial customers."

Under the joint sponsorship of NASA and the Department of Energy, Sunpower is helping developed a high-efficiency Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (or ASRG) for future NASA Space Science and Exploration missions.

Sunpower is developing two Advanced Stirling Convertors (ASCs), operating at a hot-end temperature of 650 degrees Celsius for the ASRG. It's a joint project, along with Lockheed Martin and the NASA Glenn Research Center  of Cleveland.

The company's work with NASA has fueled expansion. Sunpower has grown 32 percent in the last two years, and now employs 71. Many of the employees are engineers and technicians, many who have been recruited from Ohio University and nearby Hocking College respectively.

Source: Mark Schweizer, Sunpower
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

It almost sounds too good to be true: Transform old tires, carpet, and other polymeric trash destined for the landfill into readily useable fuel. This trash-to-treasure tale is no fantasy; it is precisely what three modern companies already are doing on a daily basis.

Vadxx, an eight-person firm headquartered in Cleveland, has perfected a technique that transforms discarded tires and waste oil into synthetic crude and natural gas. The oil is sold to energy marketers while the gas is reserved to fuel future processes. The company has multiple letters of intent to build large-scale units, including one from the Portage County Solid Waste Management District.

"This is one advanced energy concept that if we achieve our objectives the marketplace will overwhelm it because the capital costs are so small," explains CEO James Garrett.

Joseph Hensel, chairman of Akron-based Polyflow, says that what distinguishes his company from the others is the range of waste that the Polyflow process can utilize. "This is a stunning process designed to handle a truly mixed range of polymer waste," Hensel explains. Tires, carpet, PVC pipes and plastic children's toys that would otherwise clog up a landfill are broken down to oil that is sold to local blenders. For every ton of waste processed, the system yields .7 tons of fuel.

Polyflow is currently scaling up its pilot program to a unit that can handle two and half tons of waste per hour. "I'm hoping that you'll soon see this in every major municipality," adds Hensel.

Princeton Environmental uses a different technology to turn trash into fuel. Sorted solid waste is converted to synthetic gas in a process called gasification. That highly efficient gas is then burned in a turbine to generate electricity. The New Jersey-based company has plans to build its first U.S. power plant in Cleveland.

All three of these processes eliminate or greatly reduce the production of noxious emissions and carbon dioxide, making them far greener than the trash-burning power plants of yesterday.

Sources: James Garrett, Vadxx, and Joseph Hensel, Polyflow
Writer: Douglas Trattner

If today's climate favors wind energy, WebCore Technologies may be the barometer.

The Miamisburg company, formed in 1991, went commercial in late 2004 and 2005 with its innovative TYCOR material, says Rob Banerjee, the company's vice president of business development.

TYCOR, a fiber reinforced composite core, is used in a variety of industries. One of WebCore's largest customers builds a cargo ship for the Navy -- using components made of TYCOR. Other military applications include military shelters, in which WebCore materials have been used for several years. And the company is working with the Air Force to develop a portable runway that would allow a plane to land where no official runway exists.

But wind turbine blades is where WebCore sees the real growth potential.

Most wind turbine blades to date have been built with balsa wood or PVC foam core, Banerjee says. "Our business has been to replace balsa wood or PVC foam with TYCOR. It's a better product, lighter weight, lower cost, makes a stronger blade, more reliable supply, so that's our primary focus."

In 2008, when it received its first wind-related order, WebCore quadrupled its capacity and ran 22 hours a day, six days a week. Like a lot of companies, WebCore's business fell off during the 2009 economic downturn, but Banerjee says things are looking better for 2010.

Funding from the Ohio Third Frontier -- a $1-million advanced energy grant last year to further develop its wind-related capabilities and participation another Third Frontier-funded project to develop a composite tower for wind turbines -- has helped put the company in the thick of things.

The company employs 32.

Source: Rob Banerjee, WebCore
Writer: Gene Monteith

Starting this summer you may see them zip past you on the road, glide up to parking meters and idle at the corner stop sign. But one place you never will see certain owners take their Chevrolet Equinox, Saturn Sky or Pontiac Solstice is the gas station.

Three-year-old Amp Electric Vehicles of Blue Ash has begun taking orders for conversion of those cars' platforms from traditional gas to emission-free electric power. The first deliveries are expected this June � ahead of its retail competitors, according to the company.

Amp will demonstrate its converted cars at the New York Auto Show next month.

"In the conversion process we remove all of the combustion engine related components. We then replace (them) with two direct drive electric motors and our battery array. In placing the 100 percent electric drive train, we place it so the weight distribution is within 1 percent of the original combustion engine weight. In that way we are able to maintain the original handling characteristics and safety features," Amp executive J.D. Staley says.

The Equinox � which can be seen in the Amp showroom in suburban Cincinnati � will reach a top speed of 90 miles an hour, and will go from zero to 60 miles per hour in approximately eight seconds, with a charge voltage of either 110V or 220V. It will travel up to 150 miles on a single charge. Cost is about $50,000, after government incentives.

Staley says Amp had a 312 percent increase in employees year over year in 2009. "We are continuing to grow a bit so far this year. As we ramp up to full production we will be in need of additional skilled and unskilled labor."

Source: J.D. Staley, Amp Electric
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs

Energy Technologies is working to take its fuel cell technology from the laboratory to the battlefield. And the Mansfield-based company hopes to add a few jobs along the way.

Since 1992, the company has been producing portable power sources for the most rugged conditions, with Department of Defense as its most interested customer.

Now, the company has its sights set on fuel cell technology � a device that could be employed as a portable power plant at a temporary, military tactical facility.

"Our big claim to fame is that there is no platinum in our fuel cells, so our costs are way down," says Energy Technologies Vice President Tim Lowe. "This program (uses) technology that pulls out that noise and stink of a diesel engine and replaces them with fuel cells."

Lowe also touts the company's product as small, lightweight, low-cost and quiet � but it is the stack's smooth transition that separates Energy Technologies product apart from a run-of-the-mill generator at the hardware store.

The Ohio Third Frontier has taken notice. In the last three years, Energy Technologies has been awarded three $1-million grants for its work. Lowe says the company is making arrangements with the Department of Defense for field-testing. And he adds long-term goals include adding as many as 200 jobs to a current staff of 72.

More good news: The company also plans to continue to manufacture the mini-power plants at its Mansfield location. Lowe proudly points out that the company recently installed the hardware for welding the stacks.

"When Governor Strickland came here, he said this must be one of the better kept secrets in Ohio," Lowe recalls.

Source: Tim Lowe
Writer: Colin McEwen

Banking on a homegrown, high-tech solar cell system, Ohio's GreenField Solar Corp. is positioned for a fast-paced growth that kicked off this month with the grand opening of its new corporate headquarters in Oberlin.

GreenField, founded in 2008, is the convergence of two earlier companies: PhotoVolt and Greenfield Steam and Electric.

"We develop and manufacture the solar cells and the PV systems," said Mico Perales, GreenField Solar's director of business development.

The company also has facilities in North Ridgeville, Ohio, and at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The Oberlin location will serve as corporate HQ and the primary fabrication center.

Founder Bernie Sater, a former NASA Glenn Researcher Center scientist, invented the solar cell technology behind the company's StarGen Concentrated PV system. This heavy-duty, innovative system captures the sun's rays to produce electricity and thermal energy for high use customers including utilities and other large, commercial companies.

Among the company's clients are Duke Energy, American Electric Power, and the City of Lanier.

GreenField Solar aims to drive down the cost of its product and installation to make its technology affordable without using subsidies.
 
"In addition, the company seeks to leverage the experience and expertise of the state's Edison Centers," Perales said.

The company has 20 employees, but is planning big gains through increased commercialization of its product over the next five years.

"With the opening of our Oberlin facility, which includes laboratory and clean-room environments, we are taking a significant step towards hiring over 200 additional employees over the next five years within Ohio," said Jim Latham, GreenField Solar Director of Operations.

Those jobs will be in solar cell and system production, engineering, finance, sales and marketing.

Source: Mico Perales and Jim Latham, GreenField Solar
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

Remember the Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia in 2006? The mine collapsed and a dozen people died when rescuers could not locate them in time.

The folks at InSeT Systems remember the incident well; and their goal is to make sure that never happens again.

The Akron-based company is fine-tuning its Inertial Sensor Tracking System, which uses inertial technology to provide the most accurate location data available underground. The device will also work any other places GPS can't reach (think outerspace and underwater).

The mining industry got a push toward additional safety standards in 2006 with the passage of the MINER Act, requiring mining companies to wirelessly track where all of their employees are at all times.

Jay Breeding, InSeT's chief operations officer, says the founders of the company knew that no such technology existed on the market.

They got a $400,000 loan from JumpStart and began the work. InSeT later received loans from the state and a grant from the Ohio Coal Development Office for $330,000.

With a product developed, InSeT will now begin large-scale testing. What better place to test than the largest underground mine in Ohio?

"We're very optimistic about this test," Breeding says.

He adds there are plans to add as many as 50 jobs by the end of 2012 -- not including subcontractors. Four people, including Breeding, are currently employed with InSeT.

"We had to start from scratch but we know we've got superior technology," he says, adding that the company recently took home a 2010 NorTech Innovation Award. "We'll hang the gold star on our door when someone gets to go home who otherwise wouldn't have."

Source: Jay Breeding, InSeT Systems
Writer: Colin McEwen

JumpStart will lead the way on a new Ohio program to give minority-owned, women-owned and inner city businesses the technical and financial assistance they need to create jobs.

The Cleveland-based not-for-profit venture development organization today will formally unveil Launch100, a five-year program in collaboration with the Ohio Department of Development and 15 state-funded business assistance organizations. Scheduled attendees at the kickoff include Gov.Ted Strickland and State Rep. Sandra Williams.

Darrin Redus, chief economic inclusion officer for JumpStart and president of JumpStart Inclusion Advisors, says his organization will lead a 12- to 18-month pilot aimed at proving the effectiveness of such a program in advance of a statewide roll-out. He says the program will extend JumpStart's reach beyond its traditional technology-based portfolio.

"We were coming across high-potential opportunities led by women and minorities that may or may not be in some of those core emerging technologies but still represented very high growth potential businesses," Redus says. "So . . . we began to have conversation with the state around wouldn't it be great to try to position Ohio as a leader in growing minority firms?"

Participating companies must meet a number of initial criteria, including potential for sales growth, job-creation and market potential. They must be minority-owned, women-owned or operate in the inner city. Assisting promising inner-city business, regardless of ownership, is key, JumpStart says, noting a report by The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City that found growing inner city firms hire inner city residents at almost twice the rate of other inner city firms -- and six times the rate regionally.

JumpStart, which serves a 21-county area, hopes to engage 12 to 15 companies over the course of the pilot; the eventual goal statewide is 100.

Sources: Darrin Redus and Cathy Belk, JumpStart
Writer: Gene Monteith

There might come a day when you can leave the doctor's office and have your check up without returning. The doctor could simply turn on a computer and monitor your progress online.

Sound super futuristic? It may come sooner than you think.

The folks at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland are working on a radio frequency system for implantable biosensors � ones that could go inside a person.

Rainee Simons, branch chief at the NASA Glenn Research Center, says the Radio Frequency Telemetry System for Implantable Bio-MEMS Sensors -- or BioMems for short -- were originally planned for astronauts, but the space suits complicated things.

The research center teamed up with Endotronix in Peoria, Ill., for the product's newfound focus on heart patients.

But Rainee says there's no limit to the Bio-MEMs' success. NASA Glenn Research Center was recently contacted by a company in Texas, inquiring about the device's possible use in spinal monitoring.

"The advantage of our system is that the device is extremely small (1mm x 1mm) and it is does not require batteries and there are no wires," Simons says. "And it's is non-invasive; therefore it prevents any toxicity."

Without batteries, the device works through a real-time inductive system, meaning it is charged from the outside of the body.

Not surprisingly, the Bio-MEMs has gotten some attention. The system was awarded a 2010 NorTech Innovation Award. Also in 2009, the device was runner-up for best invention by the Wall Street Journal.

The device is currently undergoing trials, and there is no timetable set for market entry, Rainee says. But, he adds that Endotronix is considering a move to Cleveland � which could create countless jobs in Northeast Ohio.

Source: Rainee Simons, NASA Glenn Research Center
Writer: Colin McEwen

Rich Petrovich describes his company's transformation from an old-school tooling company to a high-flyer in Ohio's advanced materials industry as "quite a paradigm shift for us."

Petrovich is president and chief executive officer of Brooklyn Heights-based North Coast Tool & Mold, founded in 1976, and North Coast Composites, launched in 2003. He says North Coast got involved in high-performance composites about 20 years ago "but as a tool maker."

North Coast took a giant step forward seven years ago when it moved into production of composite parts. North Coast Composites, which manufactures carbon, Kevlar and fiberglass parts, primarily for the aerospace industry, shares 65,000-square-foot building with its sister company -- and the two work hand in hand, Petrovich says.

While Petrovich can point to a number of customers, competitors and suppliers who have gone out of business during the current recession, the Companies of North Coast are growing. In the past year, the company has increased employment between 24 and 27 percent, to 33 employees. 2009 sales were up 75 percent from the year before, and Petrovich expects them to double this year over 2009.

Two years ago, North Coast was included in an Ohio Third Frontier-funded consortium managed by the University of Dayton to develop a new process to include nano-enhanced materials in a composite inlet guide vane for military aircraft. The $5-million grant, of which North Coast received a part as a subcontractor, "has supported our growth in nanocomposites," Petrovich says.

The company is currently negotiating for serial production of a rudder it helped develop for the new Gulfstream G250 aircraft and is producing low-cost, lightweight containment cases for jet engines.

Source: Rich Petrovich, North Coast Companies
Writer: Gene Monteith

Got a crusty customer who doesn't think he should have to pay a late fee? PAKRA, using game technology, will help you train your call center people how to deal with Mr. Congeniality.

Trouble closing phone-based sales? PAKRA says it can simulate the situations your new hires � or current employees � might encounter, through virtual interactions with virtual customers.

The Columbus-based start-up can then provide reports describing the game player's tendencies in reacting to various situations � data that an employer can use to improve training.

Begun in 2008 by Rini Das � she serves as chief executive officer and chief information officer -- and Anne-Claire France and Pamela Schmidt-Cavaliero, both of whom are on PAKRA's board of directors � the company's inspiration was not in IT, but aerospace.

"If you think about flight simulators that pilots use, by immersing themselves and learning by doing -- it was kind of like of an ah-ha moment, like 'why aren't we doing this in the business space, why aren't we improving hiring and training by immersing people in simulations that really let them learn by doing?'" says Michelle Stewart, PAKRA's chief production and marketing officer.

"And not only do that, but let's turn out some data on the back end to give hiring managers, recruiters and trainers information about who they've got coming in, who they've just hired who they've got in their classroom and who they have sitting on the floor taking their phone calls to really give them some information about these simulations."

Stewart says company has benefited from networking and mentoring services from TechColumbus and has six employees, plus a number of Columbus-based contractors. Major clients include Huntington National Bank.

Source: Michelle Stewart, PAKRA
Writer: Gene Monteith

There is little argument that the medical device industry is one of the hottest growth sectors in the U.S. But a niche within that field, says entrepreneur Tim Moran, is being largely ignored. And that doesn't bode well for healthcare's littlest consumers.

"There aren't many players in the pediatric medical device space because there isn't huge cash-out potential," explains Moran, founder of Cleveland-based PediaWorks.

The issue, he notes, is simply a matter of market share. Whereas the adult medical device market caters to patients aged 18 to, well, death, the pediatric market stretches only from birth to 18. "And people in that younger age group are, thankfully, relatively healthy."

The lack of medical devices designed for young patients often leaves practitioners scrambling for suitable off-label replacements. In fact, there are relatively few devices that are FDA-approved for pediatrics. The associated problems can range from pain and discomfort, as in the case of an ill-fitting airway mask, to matters of life and death, illustrated by the absence of pediatric pacemakers.

Working with medical practitioners who design and test products they'd like to see, Moran says that PediaWorks is devising products such as cardiac catheters designed for infants and a brain retractor for use during neurosurgery. The latter of the two, adds Moran, also can crossover to the adult market without any modifications.

Moran, PediaWorks' sole employee, says that he founded the company as a nonprofit in order to accept charitable grants. The intent is to spin off for-profit companies that bring the devices to market.

Moran says that he recently left the field of IT outsourcing in search of a more stable industry. "It doesn't get more stable than the medical industry," he says.

Source: Tim Moran, PediaWorks
Writer: Douglas Trattner