Economic Development

Danotek Motion Technologies’ shift to wind turbines generates 25 hires

A year and a half ago, Danotek Motion Technologies made the shift to wind turbine technology and hasn't looked back.Since then it has moved from Ann Arbor to a bigger facility in Canton and gone on a hiring spree. The 50-person company has doubled its staff in the last 18 months and expects to hire more. Don Naab, president & CEO of Danotek Motion Technologies, says his company is on "the cusp of significant growth.""We're in a hiring mode," Naab says. "I have something like 15 positions I need to fill this year." Those positions are mostly engineering jobs. Naab expects to add another 15-20 people in 2011.Danotek Motion Technologies got its start in the automotive industry in 2001, but switched to wind turbines after a significant infusion of venture capital from the likes of Silicon Valley-based Khosla Ventures and San Francisco-based CMEA. Today the company makes the larger generators for the big wind turbines. Its current operations are designed to produce 4,000 of those generators annually. Source: Don Naab, president & CEO of Danotek Motion TechnologiesWriter: Jon Zemke

Design Systems software firm adds 30 positions, broadens market base

For a long time, most Design Systems work revolved around the automotive industry. However, the Farmington Hills-based company is crediting a lot of its recent growth toward its efforts to broaden its customer base."We've been diversifying," Schneider says. "That's been our big push."The 27-year-old company provides and manages engineering and integration software for a number of industrial customers. Five years ago, a vast majority of those were automotive-based. Since then, especially in the last couple of years, the company has been targeting more defense, heavy equipment, and aerospace customers. They now make up about 10-15 percent of Design Systems' client base.Diversification and increased business from automotive clients has allowed Design Systems to make 30 hires in the last year. It now employs 150 people and a few independent contractors and co-op students. More hires are expected.Source: John Schneider, manager of business development for Design SystemsWriter: Jon Zemke

Altair purchases Troy building for expansion of Ilumysis LED lights

Altair Engineering took a major step forward with its plans to grow Ilumisys this week with the purchase of a 136,000-square-foot building in Troy that will become the new headquarters for the LED lights subsidiary.Altair Engineering employs about 1,400 people worldwide, including 500 at its Troy world headquarters. Of those, seven work directly at Ilumisys, but Altair Engineering expects to grow staffing to 200 within the next three years. The new building is expected to facilitate all of Illumisys' operations and growth and then some."The facility is much larger than we intended to purchase," says Mike Kidder, vice president of corporate marketing for Altair Engineering. "But it's in an ideal location for us."The new facility is on Indusco Court and sits on nearly nine acres. Altair Engineering expects to renovate it over the next year so it can house Ilumisys' headquarters, R&D, and manufacturing operations. There will be some space left over when all of the work is said and done."We're still brainstorming what we want to do with the extra space," Kidder says.Source: Mike Kidder, vice president of corporate marketing for Altair EngineeringWriter: Jon Zemke

University Research Corridor, Business Leaders for MI form strategic alliance

The University Research Corridor, a partnership between the state's three research universities, has formed an alliance with the Business Leaders for Michigan called Accelerate Michigan to help push forward economic development in Michigan.The new partnership will connect the top minds and innovations from the cream of the crop of Michigan's universities with the biggest corporations in the state. The idea is to use those synergies to make Michigan a Top 10 state for economic growth."This is one of the keys to successfully transforming and strengthening our economy," says Jeff Mason, executive director of the University Research Corridor.Accelerate Michigan was developed over the past year based on benchmarking industry-university partnerships in other states, conducted by McKinsey & Company, and identifying the most critical factors that have driven innovation-based growth in places like Silicon Valley, Massachusetts' Route 128, and North Carolina's Research Triangle. Mason says more similar partnerships could develop in the future, but for now local leaders will focus on Accelerate Michigan. "We're always open to looking at strategic alliances and partnerships," Mason says. "This is one of the most important things for us right now."Source: Jeff Mason, executive director of the University Research CorridorWriter: Jon Zemke

Young professionals flock to Detroit, says WWJ

Wall Street Journal casts Motown into Hollywood role

Detroit continues to be known as the place that makes things. Add images to that list. It's been recasting itself as the go-to film set for the Hollywood crowd, and making national press of late.Excerpt:Across the street from a landscape of vacant houses and overgrown front yards, homicide detectives gather to investigate a murder. They analyze clues and debate how best to interrogate the key witnesses. Then, the director yells "Cut!" and everyone heads to a catered lunch of shrimp scampi and beef tenderloin.The set of the gritty cop show "Detroit 1-8-7" is one of more than 100 film and television productions that have flocked to Michigan in the last two years, the result of generous tax rebates. Producers have spent nearly $350 million in the state so far, a figure expected to reach $650 million by year's end, up from $2 million in 2007, according to the Michigan Film Office. About 80% of these shoots take place in and around this iconic but much-maligned city, sprinkling a little stardust, optimism and controversy along the way.Workers who used to build cars are learning to build sets. The entertainment sector is "a lifeboat as the auto industry adapts and restructures," says Wayne County Executive Robert A. Ficano. Read the rest of the story here.

zferral launches out of N Woodward Tech Incubator

Troy's zferral is Metro Detroit, international, and virtual-based, all at the same time. The North Woodward Tech Incubator-housed start-up has founders and programmers here and in Poland who constantly work over Skype to build their new business."We're definitely growing," says Jeff Epstein, co-founder of zferral. "I expect to add some staff here in Michigan soon."zferral allows entrepreneurs to scale their business by crowd-sourcing sales and marketing. The technology allows them to create and manage their custom affiliate and referral programs from a single dashboard. The company launched earlier this summer and has attracted close to 300 customers. Epstein started working on another online advertising project at the North Woodward Tech Incubator earlier this year. That venture went in one direction, and he went in another."I decided to focus on this full-time and it has really paid off," Epstein says.Source: Jeff Epstein, co-founder of zferralWriter: Jon Zemke

Issue Media Group named to Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in the nation

Did you know that one of the nation's most thriving media companies, Issue Media Group, is based right here in Metro Detroit? The start-up parent of this publication is on the higher end (think 1,000s) of Inc. magazine's latest list of the 5000 fastest growing companies. Excerpt:Issue Media Group, number 1,672 on Inc.'s list, has developed many community websites, for places like Detroit and Cincinnati. The sites have original features and contributors' blogs, as well as the neighborhood profiles and event listings you would expect from a community website. The sites' strength is a strong emphasis on photography, as in this profile of Cincinnati musician Baoku Moses.Read the rest of the story here.

The Young & Entrepreneurial: A Q&A with Jon Citrin

Jon Citrin is not your everyday ordinary financial services guy. The 33-year-old entrepreneur has a distinctly next generation view of business that has grown his Birmingham-based office into a firm to watch. Metromode's Jon Zemke gets Citrin's opinions on building a business, creating successful internships, locating downtown, and evaluating Mick Jagger's economic acumen.