Innovation News

BTO Solutions launches “Social Media is a Party!”

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January 27, 2011

Sola Obayan didn't plan on staying in Detroit when the Wayne State University graduate returned home from Washington, D.C., last year. That move turned one more member of Generation Y back into a Metro Detroiter and created one more new company, BTO Solutions."I really missed being home," says Obayan, principal of BTO Solutions. "I wanted to reconnect with family and friends, and when I connected with them I decided to stay."BTO Solutions focuses on online marketing, websites and social media. It has two employees and two interns in West Bloomfield. Obayan is also using it as the launch pad of Social Media is a Party!, a new platform to teach people about social media.Social Media is a Party! combines an educational session about the ins and outs of social media, with a mixer at the end. Obayan says the idea is unique because there is a dearth of good mixers out there for business professionals who want to connect both on- and offline."What really brings people together is the connection they make at the mixer," Obayan says.BTO Solutions is working with PeopleMovers, Pain & Rehab Pain Specialists, and Cabresto Tequila to get the idea off the ground. Obayan also hopes to hire a new local college graduate this year when Social Media is a Party! begins to gain some traction.Source: Sola Obayan, principal of BTO SolutionsWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

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Visual Components prepares for North American push this year

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Arts and Culture

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January 27, 2011

Visual Components was founded by a combination of Europeans and Americans, and the manufacturing software provider has been taking on those markets in that order.The Finland-based company, with North American operations in Orion, provides digital manufacturing software solutions for manufacturers in everything from the aerospace to automotive segments. It spent the first few years of its life penetrating the European and Asian markets, holding off on North America when its manufacturing base was shrinking. Now the company is taking aim at the U.S. markets as they recover this year."There will be an opening once an awareness is established in the Big 5," says Robert Axtman, executive director of North American business development for Visual Components. "I am including Toyota and Honda there."Visual Components technology allows manufacturers to handle large, complex data files when creating simulations of how line work should progress. Traditional software often shows just one line of a factory floor. Visual Components software allows a manufacturer to simulate what goes on in an entire factory."This is a way to prevent as many errors as possible, producing up-front cost savings," says Axtman, who is running the Orion office with Scott Walter. The office currently employs three of the company's 20 staffers, but hopes to hire another 5-10 people this year as it enters the North American market.Source: Robert Axtman, executive director of North American business development for Visual ComponentsWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Altair Engineering acquires ACUSIM Software, grows solidThinking subsidiary

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Arts and Culture

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January 20, 2011

Altair Engineering has got an idea or two about how it wants to grow in 2011, and the simulator-technology firm is already acting on them.The Troy-based company acquired ACUSIM Software last week, a brand-name developer of high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics solver solutions. The acquisition brings on the technology and expertise for a niche section of the simulation technology industry. "That allows us to simulate fluid and air flow around objects," says Michael Kidder, vice president of corporate marketing for Altair Engineering. That sort of technology, he adds, has a number of uses, such as increasing passenger comfort in the automotive sector.Altair Engineering now employs a little over 1,400 people worldwide, including about 500 in Metro Detroit. The ACUSIM Software acquisition brings about 10 people with expertise and industry leadership in their respective domains.The firm is also growing its solidThinking subsidiary, which specializes in global concept design and styling software. The division has been steadily growing its industrial design software market, recently announcing the addition of a dozen new customers.SolidThinking is capitalizing on its NURBS-based software, which focuses on design manufacturing and engineering. The software encourages improved computer-aided design collaboration and productivity between industrial designers and engineers during the product development cycle."It's probably one of our more exciting technologies," Kidder says. "It's at the front end of the design process."Source: Michael Kidder, vice president of corporate marketing for Altair EngineeringWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Venture Michigan Fund II has $120M potential for Metro Detroit VC firms

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Arts and Culture

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January 20, 2011

A second Venture Michigan Fund, Venture Michigan Fund II, is being deployed this year, and the $120 million that comes with it has big implications for Metro Detroit.The first Venture Michigan Fund, formed in 2006, made $96 million worth of commitments to 11 venture capital firms. All but one of those is either based in or has an office in southeast Michigan. Nine of those firms have Ann Arbor ties. About one third of that money has been invested in 15 Michigan-based start-ups, the vast majority of which are located in Ann Arbor.The Venture Michigan Fund was created to help grow Michigan's fledgling venture capital industry. A Thomson Reuters study shows that there were 26 VC investments in Michigan in 2006, representing $117.3 million. Those numbers went up to 44 deals worth $231.1 million in 2010, the year the U.S. officially emerged from a recession. Bob Payne, who manages the Venture Michigan Funds on behalf of Credit Suisse, credits Michigan's emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem for that growth."One thing that Michigan has is a wealth of ideas and a number of companies being formed around those ideas," Payne says.State vouchers are providing the capital for the Venture Michigan Funds. That money supported the creation of 200 new jobs and has leveraged $186 million from other investors.Source: Bob Payne, manager of Venture Michigan FundWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

AutoHarvest to connect local IP with auto industry

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Community Development

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January 20, 2011

Metro Detroit is sometimes referred to as its own worst enemy when it comes to building businesses and creating jobs. A new non-profit called AutoHarvest is ready to make the region its own best asset by capitalizing on its plethora of intellectual property."We think of the auto industry as low-tech and behind," says David Cole, chairman and co-founder of AutoHarvest. "It's not that at all. This is the most complicated industry in the world."AutoHarvest plans to help connect the automotive industry and Metro Detroit's entrepreneurial ecosystem with the immense amount of intellectual property in the region. The idea is that making these connections will accelerate the deal flow and job creation in both the local auto industry and other emerging sectors. Cole points out that there are six major automakers with operations in the region and another 350 auto suppliers. Pair those with its two research universities, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University, and its handful of business accelerators and there are not only enough sources of intellectual property but players who can use it. It's only a matter of connecting one to the other."This is a marketplace to facilitating collaboration around intellectual property," Cole says. "We think it's going to work."AutoHarvest is working with each of the Big 3, the Michigan Economic Development Corp, local foundations and business accelerators, and creating a peer group of 50 organizations to draw support from. The non-profit is headquartered in Ann Arbor SPARK's central offices but is also keeping offices in Detroit's TechTown and the University of Michigan's North Campus Research Complex.Source: David Cole, chairman and co-founder of AutoHarvestWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Gongos adds 37 jobs; plans 14% growth in 2011

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January 20, 2011

For Gongos Research, strategic, steady growth means dozens of new hires in 2010. The consumer research firm has expanded its staff to 111 people, about 90 percent of whom work from its Auburn Hills headquarters. "We have experienced quite a bit of growth over the last year," says Camille Nicita, COO of Gongos Research. "Between 2010 and now we have hired 37 people. Of those, 30-35 are new hires."Gongos Research regularly plans for 10 percent growth and has consistently beat those projections. It plans to hit 14 percent growth in 2011 and to continue hiring at the same level. The firm is regularly interviewing people for new positions, and if it comes across a good candidate but doesn't have a position at the time, it puts that candidate on its virtual bench. The idea is that person knows a job is waiting when one opens up."We don't have a goal to be big, but to be great," Nicita says. "We have a philosophy of only hiring great people."Nicita says Gongos Research is able to do that because it takes a long-range, strategic planning approach to its business model. That consists of nurturing and growing its existing clients, a policy that allowed the company to keep many of its customers through the recent downturn.Source: Camille Nicita, COO of Gongos ResearchWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Breadcrumb tackles GPS technology for Alzheimer patients

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January 20, 2011

Managing Alzheimer patients and keeping tabs on their whereabouts has become an issue of growing importance as the population ages and extends its life cycle. It's an issue a local start-up, Breadcrumb, is capitalizing on.The Royal Oak-based firm has created GPS technology to help families and caretakers keep track of Alzheimer patients. People suffering from the disease are known to wander away without telling anyone where they are going.Breadcrumb has been developing the software for the last two years and has just launched its pilot program with the Alzheimer Foundation of America. Its technology uses GPS trackers strapped to Alzheimer patients' ankles or in their cars to find them if they wander away. The company also sees market possibilities beyond people who are suffering from the disease."This is a very large market," says Mark Ratliff, president of Breadcrumb. "Location-based services are a very substantial market for both people and pets."The nearly 2-year-old start-up now has a team of 10 people (mostly independent contractors) working on the technology now. It hopes to reach $5 million in sales by the end of the year and have a staff of a dozen employees.Source: Mark Ratliff, president of BreadcrumbWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Mom turns super hero capes biz into flyaway success

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January 20, 2011

Boil down the description of the SuperCapes.com business to one word, and what comes to mind is "serendipitous". The Livonia-based business got its start four years ago at a birthday party for Holly Bartman's son's fourth birthday. The special education teacher made her son and all of his guests superhero capes. The gift turned into such a hit at the party that one of the mothers suggested that Bartman sell them.Bartman took the bait and began selling the superhero capes on eBay and Etsy, an e-commerce site for handmade or vintage items, art and supplies. Demand soon dictated that Bartman move from her home operation to a small studio at the old Winery building in Farmington Hills, where she deployed a few commercial sewing machines and hired her first employee.Justin Draplin, owner of a social media and signage firm called CityDrip, happened to be next door. Soon he was designing a website for Bartman's superhero capes and wholesaling them. Now he is a managing partner of SuperCapes.com, a company that employs eight people (mostly mothers on a part-time basis) and has a goal of reaching $1 million in revenue this year."The next thing I know I am in the superhero cape business," Draplin says. "I never thought I would be in this business or that it would take off. We have been growing exponentially month over month."SuperCapes.com plans to buy its own building this year to accommodate its growth. Draplin expects its staff to hit 12-15 people by the end of the year as it continues to sell simple, non-branded capes made for budding superheroes. It's also looking to expand its product offering to tutus.Source: Justin Draplin, managing partner of SuperCapes.comWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Macprofessionals to create 119 jobs over 5 years

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January 20, 2011

Macprofessionals is continuing its fast march of job creation in Michigan, this week signing a tax break deal with the Michigan Economic Development Corp to create another 119 jobs in Michigan over the next five years.That would practically double the Novi-based firm's existing workforce of 122 employees. Macprofessionals plans to invest $2.2 million toward expanding its Novi base with the help of a $568,578 tax credit over five years. The 10-year-old company plans to hire 20-25 people each year to fulfill its hiring goal."We plan to grow our mobility division, which is our software team," says Kris Westman, a spokeswoman for Macprofessionals.The company specializes in everything Apple, ranging from iMacs to iPads and all of the cool gadgets that can be taken to a Genius Bar near you. It resells Apple products at its northern Michigan location, far away from the nearest Apple store, and teaches people about the line and how to integrate it. It also teaches hospitality businesses the ins and outs of Apple products.Macprofessionals recently opened up a retail location in Bay Harbor (near Petoskey) and a service office in Windsor. It's also in the process of moving from its 17,000-square-foot space to one that measures in at 40,000 square feet.Source: Kris Westman, spokeswoman for MacprofessionalsWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Changan sets up $7M R&D center in Plymouth; to add up to 161 jobs

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Community Development

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January 20, 2011

Changan Automobile, one of China's largest automakers, plans to establish its U.S. research and development center in Plymouth, a $7 million investment that should lead to 161 new jobs.The new facility will focus on conducting analysis, testing, simulation and verification activities for the auto industry. Changan's U.S. arm also considered setting up the R&D facility in Ohio, California, and China. A $1.7 million tax credit over seven years helped convince the company to stake its claim in Metro Detroit.Changan is owned by China's Central Government. The automaker has four major production bases across China, including 11 complete vehicle plants and 2 engine plans. It also has production bases in Asia, America, Africa, and Europe, and research and development facilities in China, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Changan works in both the passenger and commercial vehicle industries and has established partnerships with Ford and Volvo, among others.Source: Michigan Economic Development CorpWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.