Farmington - Partner City

Specs Howard adds 39 jobs via digital media expansion

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March 3, 2011

Specs Howard School of Media Arts continues to grow with the expanding media landscape that shapes its curriculum, hiring 39 new people in 2010 thanks mostly to its digital media arts classes.The 41-year-old school has traditionally created careers in broadcast industries, such as radio and TV. It expanded to graphic design in 2008 and the digital media arts (Internet, video, film) last year."We think these are the up-and-coming areas," says Lisa Zahodne, president of Specs Howard School of Media Arts. "That's where we saw the growth and continue to see the growth."The Southfield-based school plans to continue to expand its curriculum in the digital media arts this year. It has boosted its enrollment to more than 1,000 students this year, up 300-400 people from just a few years ago. The school is on track to add another 10-11 jobs this year to keep up with its rising enrollment.A new satellite campus opened in Farmington Hills last year. There are plans to expand facilities by a few thousand square feet at both locations, and potentially even beyond Metro Detroit soon."We are looking at branches on the west side of the state or possibly another state," Zahodne says. "We haven't decided yet."Source: Lisa Zahodne, president of Specs Howard School of Media ArtsWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Virtual 8 Mile shows sky-high views of the 3D street-level

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Arts & Culture

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February 24, 2011

Technology and marketing are converging in a push to promote business, transportation, and commercial development along 8 Mile.If Virtual 8 Mile, an application developed by the Eight Mile Boulevard Association and Plymouth-based Luna Tech Designs, goes as planned the 27-mile corridor can be viewed on a 3D virtual interface using Google Earth.Ideally, visitors to the site can zoom in on member businesses, which also will get Google priority listings during searches for businesses of their type. The $5,000 in funding for the application came from the Michigan Dept of Transportation.Virtual 8 Mile will also show visitors development possibilities and real estate opportunities, including details and photos of available land and property, along the stretch of road that cuts through Wayne and Oakland counties.In addition, the site shows improvement projects, including facade renovations and median gardens, and public transportation routes and other information that can make patronizing a business or starting one easier.For a business such as the Belmont Shopping Center, which now is viewable by visitors, "it is another way to promote an existing tenant mix and is also a business attraction tool for vacancies," says Tami Salisbury, executive director of the 8 Mile Boulevard Association.The 13 communities bordering the Eight Mile corridor, which spans Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties, stand to gain from increased exposure, Salisbury says."It really is a snapshot of 8 Mile, what's going on there and the potential that is there," Salisbury says.In a larger sense, she says, the project helps the association in its mission to change the reputation, accurate or not, that 8 Mile Road is a has-been. "It's equally as important to change the mental landscape as it is to change the physical landscape," Salisbury says. "We are changing mental perceptions people have of 8 Mile by showing them these physical transformations."Source: Tami Salisbury, executive director, Eight Mile Boulevard AssociationWriter: Kim North Shine

Oakland County surfs for new ideas via crowdsourcing site

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Arts & Culture

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February 24, 2011

Lots of politicians pay lip service to listening to their constituents' ideas and even implementing a few here and there. Oakland County is looking to take that a step further with its new online crowdsourcing initiative.Excerpt:Every city, county and state these days is faced with hard decisions about budget cuts and reorganization — and even harsher feedback from residents after the cuts are made. Oakland County, Mich., has found a way to use technology to spark that citizen-to-government communication during the decision-making process. County officials launched an online public forum so residents can be an integral part of making tough budget decisions. The website, http://oakgov.ideascale.com, gives citizens the opportunity to respond to questions, make suggestions and post comments. Citizens can also rank the county's proposals by voting for the ideas they like best on every issue, from technology to parks and recreation."Since we are using social media in so many different ways here, we thought … what is the next wave of how we engage our citizens in the process?" said Phil Bertolini, Oakland County's deputy county executive and CIO. "In a focus group, you put 20 people in a room, you ask the idea and you get 20 opinions. If you use crowdsourcing, you put out an idea and you get thousands of opinions. More minds and more ideas make for a better product."Read the rest of the story here.

Dragun Corp opens Windsor, Toronto offices

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Arts & Culture

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February 24, 2011

Dragun Corp, an environmental services company in Metro Detroit, is making its presence known in Ontario.The Farmington Hills-based firm has added a few new staff members to its Windsor office over the last few years. It also recently opened a Toronto office to supplement its new work in Canada."That market has been strong and helped us diversify away from the Michigan economy," says Alan Hahn, business development manager for Dragun Corp.The 23-year-old company specializes in services such as brownfield and wellhead protection services for municipalities. Its namesake is James Dragun, the famous soil chemist who still serves as the company's president. The staff of 20 has been able to expand the company's niche services, such as legal expertise and environmental forensics, and will be offering them both abroad and at home this year."We are anticipating good things coming," Hahn says. "We're seeing more activity out there. We have seen more activity over the last eight weeks than we have seen in a long time."Source: Alan Hahn, business development manager for Dragun CorpWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

AllerDine.com becomes a resource for those with food allergies

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Arts & Culture

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February 24, 2011

Steve Rose thinks people who are food sensitive, i.e. have food allergies, should be able to eat out at new places and not fear a resulting trip to the hospital. His solution is his new business, AllerDine.The Farmington Hills-based website offers a list of restaurants and eateries that are both friendly and unfriendly to those with allergies. That includes whether the establishments offer peanut-free or gluten-free options."This is about saving lives," says Rose, president & founder of AllerDine. "This is about people who could die by eating out. We are trying to bridge the fear between food sensitive people and new restaurants."Rose was inspired to create AllerDine a few years ago when he just learned his young children had food allergies and was about to take his family on a vacation to Orlando. He came up with his own spreadsheet of restaurants that either met or didn't meet his family's eating needs, and then the CFL went off over his head.Today the two-year-old company is run by a team of five people. It has compiled a growing list of 1,700 restaurants in 20 cities that are at various levels of accommodation for food aversions. Rose is looking to add another position now so he can expand that list to 3,000 places by 2012."We're building an asset," Rose says.Source: Steve Rose, president & founder of AllerDineWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Farmington Hills’ CSquared Innovations wins Clean Energy Prize

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Education

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February 24, 2011

Many of the most promising start-ups spinning out of the Great Lakes State have two things in common. They're based in Ann Arbor and come from the University of Michigan. CSquared Innovations has one of those traits -- sort of.The Farmington Hills-based start-up first discovered its lithium-ion battery technology at the University of Michiagan-Dearborn and is utilizing the services of the Office of Technology Transfer at U-M in Ann Arbor to commercialize the research. This was instrumental in helping the start-up to win the top $50,000 award at last weekend's Clean Energy Prize, and will enable it to really come into its own in 2011."We plan to scale up our staff and create 10 new positions this year," says Nick Moroz, vice president of engineering & development for CSquared Innovations.CSquared Innovations is developing a faster, cheaper, laser-based method of making nano-structured materials and coatings for lithium-ion battery electrodes, solar cells, and industrial coatings. The technology could make the manufacturing process much less expensive. The 1-year-old firm currently has four employees and hopes to land a Small Business Innovation Research grant this year so it can begin selling its technology in 2012."The ultimate goal of our business is to supply flexible and capable manufacturing equipment for the lithium-ion battery industry," Moroz says.Source: Nick Moroz, vice president of engineering & development for CSquared InnovationsWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Beringea records profitable exit with acquisition of Saffron Digital

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Arts & Culture

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February 10, 2011

Beringea recorded its first exit of the year with the acquisition of Saffron Digital, capping a flurry of exit activity in Metro Detroit over the last week.University of Michigan spin-off Cielo MedSolutions was acquired last Friday, and fellow U-M-bred start-up Accuri Cytometers went on Monday, creating even more happy entrepreneurs and investors in Ann Arbor. Two days later, Farmington Hills-based Beringea, Michigan's largest venture capital firm, announced one of its portfolio firms has been acquired in a multi-million dollar deal."It's clearly a sign that market conditions have improved," says Charlie Rothstein, co-founder and senior managing director of Beringea.Beringea invested $1.8 million in Saffron Digital, a developer of video delivery platforms. Its acquisition by HTC valued the company at $48 million, generating a 65 percent internal rate of return. Rothstein says the recent string of exits in southeast Michigan is helping local venture capitalists prove their business models and generate more investment. He believes it's a promising sign for the local economy."There is really a lot of life that has been pumped into the region, and a lot of that has to do with the capital that has been invested in it," Rothstein says.Source: Charlie Rothstein, co-founder and senior managing director of BeringeaWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Federated Service Solutions looks to double sales, add up to 15 technical jobs

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Arts & Culture

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February 10, 2011

When retail rebounded in 2010, Federated Service Solutions bounced with it.The Farmington Hills-based company helps retailers deploy technology across the U.S. After taking a hit from the recession, the 7-year-old company grew its client list, revenue, and staff last year, and expects that to continue in 2011."This year was a really exciting year," says Jennifer Ferris, president of Federated Service Solutions. "It was our best profit year in our history. It was a big jump."That jump allowed the company to raise its revenues by $500,000 and create five new jobs in 2010, rounding out its staff to 55 people and the occasional intern. The firm is currently looking to hire a variety of employees now, including 11-15 technical staff. It expects to create 17 jobs this year as it looks to double its revenue growth.Ferris says the driving force comes from national retailers making the leap from the red to the black last year. She expects a spending freeze to continue to thaw, allowing other firms like hers to grow.Source: Jennifer Ferris, president of Federated Service SolutionsWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Wi-Fi firm RF Connect doubles revenue, opens offices in Texas, Ohio, and Florida

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Arts & Culture

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February 7, 2011

RF Connect is clocking big growth gains today, but that's not the way it started for the Wi-Fi firm from Farmington Hills. Six years ago it was just four people trying to make their small business go."It takes a while to get some momentum going with a start-up," says Jeff Hipchen, one of the co-founders of RF Connect. "You cast a big net at the beginning and refine your business from there."Today RF Connect employs about 30 people, plus another 10-20 independent contractors and interns. Staffing climbed by 50 percent in 2010 and Hipchen expects his company's employment numbers to go up at a similar rate this year. The company has watched its revenue increase by triple digits over the last couple of years, landing some marquee customers such as the Nationwide Insurance and The Cleveland Clinic. That has allowed it to open new offices in Texas, Ohio, and Florida.RF Connect is mainly selling its wireless network expertise, which ranges from Wi-Fi to helping increase cell phone reception. One of its rapidly growing segments is a distributed antenna system that improves cell phone reception. "For a small business in 5,000 square feet or less, it's a great solution," Hipchen says.Source: Jeff Hipchen, one of the co-founders of RF ConnectWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Venture capital gains traction in Metro Detroit

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Arts & Culture

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February 3, 2011

Venture capital is starting to gain some momentum in Metro Detroit. A couple of stories, both local and national, are talking about how local VC funds are gaining more and more investors. Could the VC ground hog finally overcome the fear of its shadow and help thaw the financial markets for local start-ups? Some prominent people are starting to think so.Excerpt:"Leading the cleantech revolution," or "Leveraging the intellectual property of our major research universities" -- such hopeful and visionary statements are just a sampling of various mantras that have echoed the chambers of Midwestern capitals and filled the pages of local newspapers for the past several years. In the face of the recent economic despair that has besieged the regional economy, numerous Midwestern politicians, economic developers and regional venture capitalists have been, somewhat counter-intuitively, touting the notion that Midwest states like Michigan actually present excellent, yet overlooked, venture capital investment opportunities (including yours truly, as I did in "America's Midwest: Cashless Chasm or The Valley of Opportunity?").Skeptics (which predominantly include frustrated Midwesterners, some business journalists and dismissive coastal venture capitalists) have generally disregarded such optimistic economic proclamations as desperate political hand-waving and hopeful, yet hollow hype to win votes, mollify the economically depressed and justify their own existence. I can understand why one would be doubtful -- it is easy to be negative these days. But today, I write to tell you that the skeptics and defeatists look to be wrong, and we have some early evidence to prove it. Read the rest of the story here and a Crain's Detroit Business story about how investing in local venture capital firms is trending upward here.