In Ann Arbor a buyout doesn't always mean a sellout. Even though innovative startups like Fry, Healthmedia, and T/J Technologies have been snapped up by larger out-of-state companies, they have decided to stay in the city that birthed them.
You don't have to go to New York City or Chicago to get top-of-the-world views. Urban professionals are rethinking the traditional big house, big yard template of living, and moving into downtown high rises. From Royal Oak to Birmingham to Ann Arbor, Metromode gives you a sense of what it means to be "movin' on up" in Metro Detroit.
Metro area community colleges have been remarkably adept at meeting the needs of Michigan's developing knowledge-based economy. From green building to biotechnology to the state's burgeoning film industry, these formerly maligned schools are delivering a timely education at an affordable price. And given their growing enrollment numbers, students are catching on.
New York style sandwiches in your backyard? Yeah, yes please. The Bronx Deli, opened in August 2007, has been supply Pontiac and the surrounding areas with some top notch corned beef from their digs on Telegraph. They just recently moved to a bigger location and still seem just as busy.
Fifty percent of the start-ups in Silicon Valley were founded by foreign-born entrepreneurs. Though it's the third rail for most political and community leaders, a new view of immigration may be exactly what Michigan needs to reinvent its economy.
Infrastructure. It's not exactly a sexy word, but with the Obama administration's focus on rebuilding our nation's roads and bridges, innovation is in demand. Enter Lawrence Technological University, where new infrastructure inventions are an everyday way of life.
Barack Obama's presidency was due, in no small part, to an energized youth movement. And those same post-college professionals are taking their passion and ideas into local governments, earning seats on local boards and commissions.
Smoky bars are nothing new in SE Michigan but ones that smell like apple and peach? Hookah culture is becoming more and more popular with young Metro Detroiters, and Dearborn, with its large Middle Eastern population, is ground zero.
Nearly everyone involved in "American Virgin," from hair and makeup to catering and security to the unpaid extras, uses their hand as a map to show someone where they're from. This mitten-made movie is making it clear that Michigan is ready for its Hollywood close up.
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