December 03, 2008
Student built SAE vehicles hang overhead at UM Dearborn I.A.V.S bldg | Marvin Shaouni
Innovation & Job News
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Pound & Mooney Casting gets speaking role in state's new film economy
Source: metromode, 11/20/2008
For years, Kathy Mooney made it a point to find a place in any movie filmed in Michigan, making her a local expert at the extra and role-actor field.

Her phone started ringing off the hook when the state passed its generous film incentives earlier this year. Same thing with her
long-time friend Janet Pound who is also an expert in that field.

That turned on the CFL over their heads, inspiring them to turn their passion into a full-fledged casting company this past April -- Mooney & Pound Casting.

"We both had been working in this business for many years," Mooney says. "We have known each other for a long time, too."

The Madison Heights-based firm helps major film companies find local actors. Those actors try out for small parts in the movies. They usually consist of walk-ons and small speaking roles. Pound & Mooney Casting has put local actors in major films like Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino and made-for-TV movies like Prayers for Bobby.

Right now the company only employs the founders, however, it gives work to about half a dozen independent contractors and an occasional intern. But Mooney sees a bright future for the company as the film industry continues to grow in Michigan.

"We only expect it to grow," Mooney says. "We hear there are a lot of movies coming to Michigan next year."

Source: Kathy Mooney, partner with Pound & Mooney Casting
Writer: Jon Zemke
Basso Design Group looks to double staff within a year
Source: metromode, 11/20/2008
Most people are inspired to start their own business by the success of others. Gregory Basso and Dan Santonocito were inspired by the failed efforts of others.

The two worked for a dotcom start-up in the early 2000s that crashed and burned spectacularly despite $8 million in funding. Then they witnessed endless examples of shoddy marketing and branding on the Internet and knew they had to do something better.

"We basically saw how not to run a business," Basso says.

Thus Basso Design Group was formed five years ago. The Troy-based marketing firm has since skyrocketed in growth. It went from just its two co-founders to a staff of 10, two interns and a couple of independent contractors today. Six of those employees were added within the last year.

Basso has doubled its revenue each year in the last few years. The last two years have been the company's strongest and it expects to continue that success in the near future. Basso expects to hire another 10 people within the next year.

"We want to make sure anything that walked out of our doors is top quality," Basso says.

It can do this by lassoing a variety of diverse firms. They range from KraftMaid (the cabinetmaker) to the Detroit Historical Society. Basso Design Group specializes in helping firms that want to upgrade their image, usually through new economy mediums like the Internet and interactive media presentations.

Source: Gregory Basso, president of Basso Design Group
Writer: Jon Zemke
New Horizons in Livonia takes over Cleveland, Chicago markets
Source: metromode, 11/20/2008
In 1992, the first franchise of the New Horizons Computer Learning Center started in Metro Detroit. Today the Livonia-based firm controls the Michigan, Cleveland and Chicago markets.

Buying the Chicago and Cleveland franchises allowed the company (technically called New Horizons Great Lakes Holding) to bring another 60 people under its wing. The firm already had a very successful business in Michigan, so its leaders thought it could work the same magic in Chicago and Cleveland.

"Our staff in Michigan is pretty tenured and felt it could stretch a little," says Mark McManus, CEO of New Horizons Computer Learning Center of Michigan. "The timing was right and the opportunity was there."

The company is planning for moderate growth in the next year, but McManus says it could add another 10-20 people to its staff of 250 by the end of next year.

New Horizons Computer Learning Center provides learning solutions for information technology, PC desktop applications, project management and business skills training. It has nine facilities in Livonia, Troy, East Lansing, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Flint in Michigan. The other three are in Chicago, Rosemont, Illinois, and Cleveland.

Source: Mark McManus, CEO of New Horizons Computer Learning Center and Tom Pelon, vice president of sales & operations for New Horizons Computer Learning Center
Writer: Jon Zemke
MDOT accelerates smart car research in Oakland County
Source: metromode, 11/20/2008
The birthplace for the next generation of smart car is in Oakland County, along Telegraph Road to be exact.

That's where the Michigan Department of Transportation will test out new technologies of next-generation vehicle safety and mobility applications. MDOT will activate between 20 and 30 wireless radios to broadcast basic traffic signal information.

The brains behind this experiment want to use the radios to develop inter-connected smart-car technologies that could one day prevent crashes, improve mobility and fuel efficiency. The plan is to allow future smart cars to 'talk' to radio stations on the road and even other vehicles.

MDOT is partnering with the Michigan International Speedway in Jackson County to use and market its racetrack to agencies that manufacture and develop these connected vehicle technologies.

MDOT's research into smart-car and smart-road technology is expected to play a key role in creating new jobs locally and a better quality of life for commuters.

Source: Michigan Department of Transportation
Writer: Jon Zemke
U-M Dearborn campaign raises $45 million for improvements
Source: metromode, 11/20/2008
It's not exactly the $3.1 billion that its sister college just raised, but the University of Michigan-Dearborn raised more than $45 million in its most recent capital campaign. That amount is the most any of the university's capital campaigns have ever garnered. To achieve it, U-M Dearborn took in gifts from more than 11,000 donors, including alumni, faculty and staff and other campus supporters since 2004.

The capital campaign will help support student opportunities, strengthen academic programs and enhance the university’s partnerships. About $10 million is designated to provide scholarships to students, including the Alumni Legacy Scholarship which raised more than $500,000.

About 35 percent of $45 million came from corporate donors, such as Ford, DTE Energy and General Motors Foundation. The Ford Motor Company Fund gave more than $750,000.

Source: University of Michigan-Dearborn
Writer: Jon Zemke
RobotParade set to stroll through Lawrence Tech on Saturday
Source: metromode, 11/20/2008
Robots aren't exactly taking over Lawrence Technological University, but they will be parading through the Southfield-based school's campus like they own the place Saturday.

Lawrence Tech will host the third annual Thanksgiving RoboParade between 9:30 a.m. and noon. The parade will consist of robot floats made by middle and high school students from across Michigan, following a mock Woodward Avenue parade route.

Students operating the robots are coming from the likes of University of Detroit Jesuit, the Roeper School, United Christian School in Garden City, ACE in Livonia, Digital Arts and Sciences Academy and Macomb Christian Schools.

The idea behind the event is to help interest a new generation of students in robotics and computer programming. To see what last year's RoboParade looked like, click here.

The free indoor autonomous robot demonstration will take place in the Buell Management Building cafeteria, 21000 West Ten Mile Road.

Source: Lawrence Technological University
Writer: Jon Zemke
GREEN SPACE: Program links local food to local schools
Source: metromode, 11/20/2008
As more and more people embrace the locavore movement, it makes sense to introduce it to a young and impressionable audience -- especially when they are captive.

I'm not talking jailbirds here, but schoolkids.

Which is why the news that the Food System Economic Partnership in Southeast Michigan will receive $40,000 to support the expansion of its Farm to Schools lunch program from the Kellogg Foundation is so great.

Last year was the pilot program for Farm to Schools, and it worked with multiple schools in Chelsea and Ann Arbor as well as one in Dearborn. This year, they will spread more into Wayne County and out to Jackson.

"Farm to Schools is a win-win for students and farmers and the community," says FSEP's executive director, Jennifer Fike. "We are promoting farmers being able to keep farming in this region and allowing them another avenue to sell what they produce; for the students, eating food tends to taste better when it's fresher and it's healthier; and it's cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions."

The pilot year helped the organization work through the challenges -- like outsourced food service providers and working with distributors -- of getting fresh local food into schools, says Fike. She points out that seasonality can also be an issue, but that Michigan products like apple sauce, canned beans and whole grains can be worked into menus in the winter months.

Food to Schools also works on educating students by bringing in local farmers explain to then where their food is coming from. Hint: That banana was not grown in Michigan, Johnny.

Kellogg is funding Food to Schools via its People and Land (PAL) initiative -- part of its efforts to increase regional collaboration and promote Michigan prosperity in the emerging knowledge-based economy.

Source: Jennifer Fike, FSEP
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

NPower turns rise in tech assessments into New Center jobs
Source: Model D, 11/20/2008
One Detroit non-profit is carving out it's own niche by helping to make other non-profits more efficient.

Excerpt:

Npower Michigan is turning new business into a few new hires at its headquarters in the Youthville building in New Center.

The non-profit spun out of Microsoft performs tech assessments for other non-profits. The idea is to find inexpensive ways so these community organizations can work more efficiently. Npower Michigan is sort of the Great Lakes State chapter of the larger Npower non-profit.

Npower Michigan is set to do 114 technology assessments in the later half of this year. That's three times as many assessments it did for Michigan non-profits in 2008 fiscal year.

Read the rest of the story here.
Detroit