February: Emerging Biz In Oakland County
Oakland County saw $64 million of investment, 1052 jobs created, and 108 jobs retained from the county's Emerging Sectors Program in the month of February.
Southfield
MEDC tax breaks equal $804M of new investment in Michigan
Metro Detroit continues to take more than its fair share of state tax credits to help grow local businesses. Southeast Michigan companies have taken in $25 million worth of state tax credits awarded through the Michigan Economic Development Corp to leverage $107.4 million worth of investment. That means an expectation of creating 1,594 jobs locally. The whole announcement means 5,749 jobs and more than $804 million in new investment in Michigan.The pick of the local litter is the wooing of Techno SemiChem to move its headquarters to Northville instead of South Korea. That $31.1 million investment will mean that 279 people will be conducting research and development and pilot production efforts to produce electrolyte for advanced lithium ion battery cells. The state gave $3.2 million in tax breaks over seven years to broker the deal.Another new economy coup is to convince CIBER to spend $8 million to establish a development center in Southfield instead of in Florida. The IT firm plans to service its clients in the government, finance, and manufacturing sectors with 700 new jobs. The state is giving $10.1 million in tax credits over seven years, and Southfield is chipping in another $1.2 million in tax abatements.This latest announcement also includes deals for some of the region's old economy manufacturing sectors. Advanced Integrated Tooling Solutions is investing $13.3 million to manufacture equipment for commercial, retail, and military aircraft in Chesterfield Township. It's a move that will create 275 jobs from a tax credit valued at $3.2 million. ALTe, an automotive supplier of battery powertrain systems, will spend $51.3 million to open an assembly facility in Auburn Hills, creating 305 jobs thanks to an $8.4 million tax credit over eight years. Katcon USA, an automotive supplier of catalytic converters and exhaust systems, will also sink $3.7 million into a new technical center in Auburn Hills. That means 35 new jobs from a $534,633 tax credit.Source: Michigan Economic Development CorpWriter: Jon Zemke
Michigan Future secures $13M for Detroit schools
Michigan Future is bringing a 21st Century education to more high school students in Metro Detroit with its new Michigan Future Schools initiative.The Ann Arbor-based think tank has lined up $13 million in grants from four local foundations to get the initiative off the ground. The principal goal of the new initiative is to "figure out how to connect urban high school students to the economy of the future," according to a blog post written by Michigan Future's president and co-founder Lou Glazer.The effort will target creating new, small high schools in the city of Detroit and its surrounding suburbs. Previous local priorities of who runs the schools and where they're located will take a back seat to establishing schools that provide a high-quality education."It's al about the kids," Glazer says. "What matters to me, and I assume everybody else, is the quality of the school not the form of governance."Michigan Future Schools has made a commitment to its funders that revolves around the number 85. That means Michigan Future is aiming for at least an 85 percent high school graduation rate, with 85 percent of those graduates enrolling in college and 85 percent of those enrollees earning a college degree. The students targeted are both economically disadvantaged and minority students in the central city and its inner-ring suburbs. Each new school, which must take students from the city of Detroit, is expected to handle up to 500 students. So far seven new schools have been funded. The goal is to create 35 new high schools in eight years. That means the effort could reach 17,500 kids annually. "It's a big number," Glazer says. "The whole purpose is to do this on a big enough scale that it changes the system."Source: Lou Glazer, president and co-founder of Michigan FutureWriter: Jon Zemke
Green businesses spring up in Oakland County
Running a truly green business in Metro Detroit doesn't necessarily require big-ticket items like solar panels, wind turbines, and geothermal heating systems. Sometimes it just requires the right attitude and making a lot of the right little decisions to maximize sustainability.Here are a couple of firms that are doing the little things to make a big impact on the local environment:- Passage to Yoga built out its space in Southfield with features like low-VOC paints, bamboo flooring, energy-efficient lighting, recycled building and design materials, soy-based carpeting, low-flow water fixtures, an air filtration system, natural lighting via skylights, and recycling options. The firm also made a pledge not to use plastic products and sells yoga mats that aren't made of PVC.Matthew Darling, director and owner of Passage to Yoga, says it's about making a series of the right decisions to conform to a sustainability ethos, which he says complements the principals of yoga. To be "not fanatical but responsible.""As much as we could do, we have," Darling says. "It's not like we put these things in and said that's it."- Don Thomas Sporthaus in Birmingham was constructed largely with recycled or renewable materials, such as entryway tiles composed of 98 percent recycled glass and concrete and industrial-grade bamboo. It was painted with low-VOC paints and has carpets made of recycled yarn. Several of the store's product displays were constructed out of natural wood, and all-natural grass cloth wall covering was used throughout. LED signs were installed on the building's exterior. Inside, light sensors were installed to turn lights off when rooms are not in use.Source: Don Thomas Sporthaus and Matthew Darling, director and owner of Passage to YogaWriter: Jon Zemke
The Ways to Stabilize a Community: Prosper Q&A with Karry Rieth
Block grants, home improvement grants, home-buying programs, foreclosure prevention and counseling programs. All these things are facilitated by the Oakland County Community & Home Improvement Division. It's a department of our local government that is focused on maintaining the community, the neighborhood, and the home. Prosper dives in to find out a little about Director Karry Rieth's branch.
Roll with the research: Take a ‘Smart Tires’ course at Lawrence Tech
Wait... wait... Smart tires? That's a thing? Looks like it is. It's a thing at Lawrence Technological University. It's actually something that encompasses two elective courses over at LTU.Excerpt:Lawrence Technological University has introduced the nation's first graduate-level course that deals with the use of embedded sensors in tires to improve a vehicle's overall performance. "Intelligent Tire and Vehicle Structure Mechatronics" is an elective course in Lawrence Tech's master's degree program in mechatronics systems engineering. Using VPG and LS-DYNA software, graduate students analyze responses of these tires to various loading and road conditions. This approach is particularly useful in studying the suitability of tire-embedded sensors for possible physical measurement of the tire response. Mechatronics -- the name is a combination of mechanics and electronics -- employs a unique approach that cuts across multiple academic disciplines such as electrical and computing engineering, math and computer science. An engineer skilled in mechatronics can create a seamless and unified system for a specific project that encompasses the principles of the different disciplines while at the same time fulfilling the specific requirements of each.Read the entire article here.
$6.6M in grants for Macomb County and LTU defense industry projects
Macomb and Oakland counties are really raking in the cash to grow their defense industry firms, with Macomb Community College and Lawrence Technological University taking in millions of dollars.Macomb Community College recently received $5 million (mostly from the federal stimulus package) to help grow and develop its defense and homeland security industry. Much of that money will be spent providing technical training to local residents so they can enter the defense industry workforce.This money (and training) will prepare people for knowledge-based jobs, such as logistics, engineering, and advanced technology. It is part of Macomb County's growing defense industry economy and its budding relationship with the U.S. Dept. of Defense's Defense Acquisition University.Lawrence Tech received a $1.6 million federal grant to develop and test stronger and lighter armor made of composite materials for military vehicles. This will be done through Lawrence Tech's Center for Innovative Materials Research and the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center. The funding comes from the 2010 defense appropriations legislation.Source: Macomb Community College and Lawrence Technological UniversityWriter: Jon Zemke
Lawrence Tech creates new green building degree
If green building is part of the evolution of construction, then Lawrence Technological University is adapting its curriculum to flourish in this new habitat.The Southfield-based university is now offering a five-year program that combines the bachelors and masters degrees of architectural engineering. The idea is to give the graduates a better understanding of both worlds so they can incorporate sustainable principles more easily in their work.Graduates will be qualified to become licensed engineers. Architectural engineers are in high demand because they have the ability to analyze a site and take all of the factors into account to build the greenest building possible. Those factors include building orientation, heating design, and analyzing the most efficient water usage.Students of the program will be able to take advantage of the sustainability movement in architecture by designing and building structures with minimal carbon footprint. It's widely believed that these architectural engineers will assume leadership roles in the sustainable building design sector.Source: Lawrence Technological UniversityWriter: Jon Zemke
Oakland County Emerging Sectors program hits $191M in investment
Oakland County's Emerging Sectors program isn't trying to remake the county's economy in the image of Detroit, but more in the image of Pittsburgh and Chicago.The program, the pet project of Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, helped attract $191 million in investment from non-existing automotive-related companies last year and created 3,200 jobs. The idea is to diversify the county's economy so it has several major players, like the current economies of Chicago and Pittsburgh, instead of the dominant automotive sector has been in Michigan for generations."This program won't make Oakland County recession proof, but it will make Oakland County recession resistant," Patterson says.The county started the program in 2004. Since then it has helped attract $1.4 billion in investment and created more than 16,000 jobs. It claims investments from 133 companies, including 33 last year."I always said this program is a 20-25 year commitment to diversifying Oakland County's economy," Patterson says.Source: L. Brooks Patterson, executive of Oakland CountyWriter: Jon Zemke
Specs Howard school expands curriculum, adds staff
This isn't your father's Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts anymore. Today, it's the Specs Howard School of Media Arts, reflecting an expansion of curriculum and staff.The Southfield-based firm has traditionally been the go-to place to get an education for a career in radio or TV. That remains true today, but it is now becoming a place to pursue a career in film and video as the 40-year-old school expands into those emerging fields."There has been a growth in people who want to be re-educated," says Lisa Zahodne, president of Specs Howard School of Media Arts. "The main thing we want people to know is that we're not only broadcast anymore. We're growing beyond that."The school has also opened a satellite campus in Farmington Hills, a 6,500-square-foot space at Grace & Wilds. Zahodne is also looking at opening a Macomb County location. All of that extra space is helping Specs Howard accommodate its growing staff. The school now employs 85 people and 3-4 interns. It recently hired 15 people, including a few former interns."If they do well, they get hired into a position," Zahodne says.Specs Howard currently has eight openings and expects to hire 12-14 people in 2010.Source: Lisa Zahodne, president of Specs Howard School of Media ArtsWriter: Jon Zemke
