The "Pure Michigan" campaign seems to have worked quite well as it went national for the first time. According to a new study, out-of-state tourists have increased by 73 percent.

Excerpt:

The industry is seeking the funds to continue the state's successful Pure Michigan campaign, which for the first time went national this year with ads on cable TV.

"It's pretty clear the 'Pure Michigan' ads are helping draw visitors from other states to Michigan," said Steve Yencich, president and CEO of the lodging and tourism association, in a news release.

"Nearly every member who has experience higher traffic from other states says that guests routinely mention they have seen the ads and how great they are."

The association surveyed businesses last week and got feedback on the Memorial Day-to-Labor Day period. More than half of respondents reported increases of 25 percent to 76 percent, or more.

Read the entire article here.

You've probably already heard of Time Inc.'s project or experiment or whatever you'd like to refer to it as. The big media company has bought a house in West Village and has committed itself, its resources, and reporters to the city and surrounding areas for one year. And, now, the content has started.

Pick up the coverage here and a video page can be found here.

Metro Detroit isn't the first one-industry region to be hit with decline. Pittsburgh and the nearby steel towns went through the same hardships. The city's post-steel revival success did not come from continuing the status quo, but by shifting gears to field a more diverse economy. Right now the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, not steel, is its biggest employer. A lesson can be found in that little bit of info.

Excerpt:

In its report, the Economist magazine said that Pittsburgh’s post-steel revival was "part organic and part good long-term planning. State and local officials provided investment, while universities and community and corporate leaders came together to develop economic and business strategies for the region. Pittsburgh's employment has, over the ensuing three decades, diversified quite well."

Key words there? How about "came together."

Business Week, while noting that the city's job growth has slowed, also said, "Pittsburgh offers lessons for other communities. Its leaders didn't spend a lot of energy trying to save troubled steel companies, suggesting it may be more valuable to look at new opportunities than old standbys. The city's experience also shows that persistence with new ventures is critical."

Read the entire article here.

Whether it's collapsible, stackable cars, or urban farming, or meat houses (yes, meat houses), a sustainable city will be the future for us all.

Excerpt:

By 2050, some 70% of us will live in urban settings, and it will ultimately be well-managed urban environments, with smart, energy-efficient buildings, power systems, transport and planning, that will save us from ourselves. Seeking better ways to do precisely that, a constellation of designers, architects and academics gathered at a conference on "ecological urbanism" at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design earlier this year.

Mitchell Joachim, who teaches architecture and design at Columbia University and was selected by Wired magazine as one of 15 people Obama should listen to, presented his vision for a collapsible and stackable electric city car, which would hang at public recharging stations, available for shared use.

He also explained "meat tectonics". Aiming to use meat proteins developed in a lab as building material, Joachim presented a digital rendering of an armadillo-shaped, kidney-coloured home. "It's very ugly, we know that," he said. "We're not sure what a meat house is supposed to look like."

Dorothee Imbert, associate professor in landscape architecture at Harvard, pointed to urban farming, a trend that has taken root in Detroit, New York, Milwaukee, and a handful of international cities. Imbert mentioned her own student-assisted organic farms in Boston, yet acknowledged that adequate food supplies for future cities "would require rethinking of landscape in the building process".

Read the entire article here.

OK so Dubuque isn't in Southeast Michigan, it's in Iowa. But this small town, or smallish town, could serve a model for our smallish towns here in Southeast Michigan. To compete economically, Dubuque decided that it'd have to be smart and that meant putting together 11 principles for sustainability. The key to Dubuque is that its smallish size makes its population manageable. It is small enough that these points can be acted upon and a change physically noticed. Listen up cities -- you don't have to be large to be in charge.

Excerpt:

Dubuque is hoping that some of the things that it learns will serve as a model for other cities with fewer than 200,000 population. It has tapped IBM to help with some of its technology needs. The first phase of this partnership will focus on technology for smarter energy consumption and for water management, with the aim of reducing costs associated with both and with managing the overall carbon footprint of the city's power usage. IBM is building out a "Platform for Real-time Integrated Sustainability Monitoring" to handle this management task. Incidentally, here is a report outlining the technology company's vision for Smart Cities.

Read the entire article here.

Students and cops are getting together to talk about medical marijuana. The keynote presentation will be on the law regarding medical marijuana and, additionally, there will be a panel of experts -- in which Cheech and Chong do not participate -- to discuss the legal, medical, and civic issues of the topic.

Info:

The student chapters of the National Lawyers Guild and the American Civil Liberties Union, joined by Police Officers for Drug Law Reform, will host the Michigan Medical Marijuana Symposium on Saturday, October 3, 2009, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Wayne State University Law School. The symposium features leading experts to help clarify Michigan's new Medical Marijuana Act.

Read the entire post here.

How could Michigan be a better place? Have any ideas? Ever had the thought that if the state just did this or that or this other thing it'd be a better place for living and working and doing business? Well, it's time to tell 'em what you think. The Michigan Chamber of Commerce wants to hear from you and is launching a campaign in order for you, yes you, to share your ideas.

Excerpt:

The foundation of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce is launching a statewide campaign to encourage employers, workers and Michigan citizens to share ideas about ways to make Michigan a better place to do business, work and live.

The Michigan Chamber Foundation's "Great Ideas for Michigan" program will collect and publish the ideas online, said chamber President and CEO Rich Studley, announcing the program at the chamber's Future Forum public policy conference on Tuesday.

The effort will focus on six categories: Rebuilding communities and transportation; enjoying Michigan's resources; achieving a healthy Michigan; revitalizing Michigan's economy; improving educational attainment; and modernizing all levels of government.

Read the entire article here.

Maybe it's sort of fitting that something like this is happening to the old Ford Wixom assembly plant. After two years of sitting idle, two renewable energy companies are joining forces to put $725 million into the 4.7 million square-foot plant and thus become a showcase for renewable technology in Michigan. As one industry's lights dim, it seems as if another industry's light is turned a bit brighter.

Excerpt:

Ford's Wixom plant northwest of Detroit has sat idle since 2007, a testament to the drastic changes in the automotive manufacturing business in the United States. But the 4.7 million square-foot factory space where millions of Lincoln Continentals and other cars once rolled off its lines and generations of workers earned a good living now has a legitimate shot at becoming a world-class showcase for renewable energy technologies—offering a chance to reinvent a relic of the Rust Belt and turn it into an iconic symbol of the Greentech Revolution.

With the help of generous tax incentives from the state of Michigan and expected U.S. Federal government loans and credits, Ford's active role, and the visionary participation of energy-storage innovator Xtreme Power and Clairvoyant Energy (and turnkey partner Oerlikon) on the solar side, the now-dormant assembly line may soon provide thousands of jobs as it reverberates with the sounds of advanced energy-storage, thin-film PV, and possibly other cleantech production lines within a few years.

Read the entire article here.

Growing the green job sector is the goal. But that won't happen without the training and retaining of workers, attracting companies (through a trained and retrained workforce), and, of course, sacks of cash. Currently, a lot of Michigan businesses are working toward that goal, along with public and private universities and community colleges.

Excerpt:

So, Michigan is spending about $6 million aimed at not only retraining workers for all those green jobs, but it will attempt to quickly play matchmaker between companies that need certain skills and the retrained workers who have them.

But if you ask Marcia S. Black-Watson, a deputy director at the Michigan Bureau of Workforce Transformation, the value is much more than $6 million.

"Schools are dedicating their facilities, employers are offering their facilities, equipment," she said in a recent interview. "Everybody has a stake in the game. The $6 million is purely what the state has set aside to help with this effort. But that by no means equates with the value."

Read the entire article here.

Michigan has the potential to be a destination for a lot of things these days, from fisherman to urban farmers to IT nerds. No, no, no... Just kidding about the nerds comment. But, all jokes aside, Michigan is launching an initiative to boost up the growth of IT jobs. By bringing together different programs, organizations, and efforts, the hopes are to grow the sector here in the state and bring back the offshore jobs.

Excerpt:

The state is launching a new initiative to attract and retain jobs and investment in information, communications and technology industries.

The New Economy Partnerships collaboration brings together, in some ways, disparate programs, organizations and efforts throughout the state, with the goal of making Michigan a destination for industry firms and services, said Ken Theis, director of the Michigan Department of Information Technology, or DIT.

He said the state hopes to capitalize on growth in the IT sector, a push to bring IT services back into the United States from offshore, and major federal investments under way in areas like broadband and health information technology.

Read the entire article here.

We all know air pollution was bad... but heart attack causing, yikes!

Excerpt:

Inhaling air pollution over just two hours caused a significant increase in diastolic blood pressure, the lower number on blood pressure readings, according to new UM research.

The study findings appear in the current issue of Hypertension, a publication of the American Heart Association.

Nearly one in three Americans suffer from hypertension, a significant health problem that can lead to heart attack, heart failure, stroke, and other life-threatening problems.

"Although this increase in diastolic blood pressure may pose little health risk to healthy people, in people with underlying coronary artery disease this small increase may actually be able to a trigger heart attack or stroke," says Robert D. Brook, M.D., lead author and vascular medicine physician at the UM Cardiovascular Center.

Read the entire article here.

It's the future. No need to get out of the car to scout land for development when 3-D models are being created. And that's what Plymouth-based Lun Tech Designs have done for Woodward. All we need now are flying cars.

Excerpt:

Plymouth-based Luna Tech Designs has partnered with the Woodward Avenue Action Association (WA3) to provide an online three-dimensional virtual globe application, using Google Earth, to help promote development, existing businesses and amenities along the entire 21 mile stretch of Woodward Avenue from Detroit to Pontiac.

The virtual globe application, or LunaGlobe, will take visitors on the WA3 Web site along a 3-D virtual tour of Woodward Avenue, giving them interactive opportunities to explore the rich heritage of this designated National Scenic Byway, as well as locate shops and restaurants along the way.

Read the entire article here.

Developing new lightweight batteries for electric cars in Van Buren Township.

Excerpt:

Ricardo, Inc., the US subsidiary of Ricardo plc, the leading independent provider of technology, product innovation and engineering solutions to the world's automotive, defense, transport and new energy industries, has announced that the award of $2.1 million (GBP1.3m) of funding has been made by the UK Technology Strategy Board to a consortium led by advanced battery manufacturer Axeon and including Ricardo, which will develop a new lightweight battery for use in electric small city cars, improving their performance, functionality and range. The aim of the project is to develop an innovative high energy density battery system for an emission-free electric small city car. The battery, which will use new cell chemistry that offers higher energy density, will be lighter, smaller and therefore more efficient than those currently available, and will offer faster charging and a higher range.

Read the entire article here.

Ricardo and Force Protection Europe release Ocelot, a new light protected patrol vehicle that heightens standards of occupant protection and operational flexibility.

Excerpt:

Ricardo, Inc., the US subsidiary of Ricardo plc, the leading independent provider of technology, product innovation and engineering solutions to the world's automotive, defense, transport and new energy industries, has announced the launch of the Ocelot, a unique collaboration between Ricardo and Force Protection Europe. This revolutionary new light protected patrol vehicle (LPPV) concept offers the potential for much higher standards of occupant protection and operational flexibility than today's defense light vehicle products.

Read the entire article here.

Ricardo and Force Protection Europe release Ocelot, a new light protected patrol vehicle that heightens standards of occupant protection and operational flexibility.

Excerpt:

Ricardo, Inc., the US subsidiary of Ricardo plc, the leading independent provider of technology, product innovation and engineering solutions to the world's automotive, defense, transport and new energy industries, has announced the launch of the Ocelot, a unique collaboration between Ricardo and Force Protection Europe. This revolutionary new light protected patrol vehicle (LPPV) concept offers the potential for much higher standards of occupant protection and operational flexibility than today's defense light vehicle products.

Read the entire article here.

Though some in and out of Detroit think of the city as a walled island, it is not. Just as the brain can't exist without the heart, and the heart without the lungs, Detroit can't exist without the suburbs and vice-versa. Detroit Mayor Bing realizes that and reached out to regional leaders in a way that has been void in Detroit politics for some time.

Excerpt:

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing reached out to Oakland County leaders tonight. He said southeast Michigan needs to work together to move forward.

"Detroit needs Oakland County," Bing said, as he addressed the Oakland County Board of Commissioners. "Detroit needs Macomb. Detroit needs Wayne County."

Bing's visit to the county commission was the first from a Detroit mayor since Kwame Kilpatrick visited five years ago. Bing's showed none of Kilpatrick's swagger and didn't sugarcoat Detroit's problems.

Read the entire article here.

Michigan is a car state. Always has been, always will be. Er, well, maybe not "always will be." As the auto industry struggles, a new form of business is securing a foothold here. In fact, movie production is filling some of the factories vacated by the auto industry.

Excerpt:

Linden Nelson, 49, chief executive of Nelson Ventures, a private investment company, has started Michigan Motion Picture Studios, doing business as Raleigh Michigan Studios, for $75.8 million. Mr. Nelson, who will be the chief executive of the studio, has formed partnerships with entities controlled by A. Alfred Taubman, the shopping center executive and former chairman of Sotheby's; Raleigh Studios, a large independent film studio in Los Angeles; Walbridge, a private construction company; and William Morris Endeavor, the powerful talent agency.

After looking at about 100 abandoned buildings, including an airplane hangar, the Pontiac Silverdome (the former home of the Detroit Lions football team) and vacant auto plants, Mr. Nelson and his partners chose a location within a former General Motors complex in Pontiac. The 22-acre site is surrounded by silent parking lots, barren sidewalks and rarely traveled roads.

The three-story, 369,000-square-foot building was built in 1999 for $55 million, and 3,000 G.M. truck and bus engineers once worked there. Raleigh's goal is for a similar number of people to be employed at a range of film industry jobs.

Read the entire article here.

There's a lot of talk these days about high-speed rail throughout the United States. Unfortunately it'll take more than talk -- like a lot of money and a lot of time -- to realize such a network. But with the support of the Obama administration, the U.S. just might be on course to a train travel renaissance.

Excerpt:

Despite the controversy, the president is on board (no pun intended). During a speech back in April, Obama praised high speed rail by saying, "Imagine whisking through towns at speeds over 100 miles an hour, walking only a few steps to public transportation and ending up only blocks from your destination." That does sound idyllic, though in small cities, it might not be that easy.

Thanks to suburban sprawl, many downtowns, especially in upstate NY, don't offer much in the way of public transportation. If the lines do get built, this would be an easy problem to overcome; zipcars or bike rentals are one option. There's also the possibility that the trains would create a resurgence in downtowns, bringing small business, shops, even upscale housing back to smaller cities.

Assuming some of the states who have applied for stimulus money actually receive it and are able to build the high speed lines, it will still be years before they are ready to roll. Guess only time will tell if it will be worth the investment and if we'll, once again, be a country of train-travelers.

Read the entire article here.

When a major Hollywood stylist decides to move to Plymouth, Mich., and open up a hair and makeup studio, well, something is bound to happen... like a pilot for a reality TV show.

Excerpt:

Enter Carl Kendall, a television producer who also lives in Plymouth. Kendall is putting together a reality show featuring Sadler, his business ventures and his life in Plymouth, and says the drama, and humor, Sadler and those around him bring to different situations will make for compelling television.

"Dean was a major stylist in Hollywood," said Kendall, who works with producer partners Bill Hunt and Jerry Taylor at The Idea Mill (they also have separate businesses). "We've got so many elements here. ... He's a superstar wherever he is."

Kendall said his show has drawn interest from two television networks, though he added he couldn't say which ones. He's been taping for about two weeks and should be wrapped with that part of the production in another two, he said.

Sadler is the star, Kendall said, though people who work with him will also be spotlighted. "A lot of fascinating people are drawn to this kind of business," he said.

Read the entire article here.

The entrepreneurial spirit has never been void here in Michigan. From names like Dow and Kellogg and Ford, Michigan has had its fair share of majorly successful entrepreneurs. And it's that spirit that the state is looking to attract/spark/spur/develop -- whatever word works best -- to brighten up this economic dark spot.

Excerpt:

At universities and community colleges, in downtown office spaces and 15 "SmartZone" technology centers designed to spark collaborations between universities and industry, Michigan is working to encourage the creation of new industries to provide the middle-class jobs that made the state a mecca for generations of workers.

There's lots of room for improvement. The state ranked just 27th nationally in the 2008 Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, lagging behind most western states and national leader Georgia in the survey's measure of adults creating businesses each month.

To boost its standing, the state has awarded millions of dollars to high-tech firms through its 21st Century Jobs Fund, and companies are sponsoring contests that reward new "green" technology ideas. Business incubators are sprouting up from the urban streets of Detroit to the snowy streets of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

"You had Henry Ford, you had (Charles Stewart) Mott, you had Herbert Dow, you had W.K. Kellogg - all entrepreneurs with new ideas that created a new economy for Michigan that lasted us pretty much the last century," said William Rustem of Public Sector Consultants, a Lansing think tank. "Now, we've got the same situation. We need that entrepreneurial spirit."

Read the entire article here.