cleveland/northeast ohio : Innovation + Job News

Recent Case Western Reserve University mechanical engineering graduates Austin Schmidt and Solomon Alkhasov won the 2011 Idea Competition, sponsored by LaunchHouse and CSU's Accelerated MBA program at Nance College of Business. They created a company called Affinity Algorithms, which develops proprietary computer arbitrage software to facilitate transactions between buyers and sellers in various online marketplaces. The software provides greater liquidity and price transparency in the marketplaces.

"We are developing a suite of online software that helps the seller in fragmented marketplaces better manage inventory," explains Schmidt. Although Schmidt and Alkhasov came up with the idea from their experiences buying and selling textbooks in college, they say it can be applied to many online marketplaces.

The idea for Affinity Algorithms came about in January, they set up shop in March, and landed at LaunchHouse this month. They plan to roll out a full build of the software in September.

Students from all Northeast Ohio colleges and universities were invited to pitch a business concept to a panel of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, CSU faculty and LaunchHouse staff. The contest primarily focused on students who had innovative ideas in the fields of software and internet technology, low-tech medical devices and clean energy.

The second winner is Ronny Shalev, also a student at Case. Shalev created a product known as an autonomous intravenous (IV) insertion tool that will be the most effective replacement for the current procedure of manual vein localization and needle insertion. Shalev's tool will completely replace the need for trained medical staff.

Contest winners were each awarded a $2,500 scholarship to the Global AMBA program along with a prize basket of support services from LaunchHouse, "Additionally, we received a $500 check from LaunchHouse, along with a bunch of services that include legal services, accounting, and free space for three months," says Schmidt. "All in all, a very comprehensive package with everything needed to get a business off the ground."

The winners will also have the opportunity to compete for up to $5000 in follow on funding.

Source: Austin Schmidt, Affinity Algorithms
Writer: Karin Connelly

This story originally appeared in hiVelocity's sister publication Fresh Water Cleveland.

The words petroleum and green are seldom mentioned in the same sentence.

But an industrial recycling company near Cleveland is working to change that perception by inventing processes that allow the refining industry to re-use some of its chemical by-products, saving both money and the environment.

Metaloy or Metal Alloy Reclaimers Inc., recycles non-hazardous equilibrium catalyst material, a by-product of the oil refining process that is necessary for turning crude oil into useful fuels. The catalyst contains chemicals needed by other manufacturers, such as the steel, abrasives and cement industries, making it valuable as a commodity that Metaloy can market.

Recycling the material, which is about the consistency of fine sand, saves money for the refineries by lowering their costs of disposing of the catalyst, and for Metaloy customers, by allowing them to use a recycled substance rather than a virgin material, says Metaloy CEO Claude Kennard. It also prevents thousands of tons of the stuff from ending up in landfills throughout the U.S.

"It's really a win-win situation," he says. "The real value proposition for our customers is that they are getting a recycled material at about 50 percent of the cost of a virgin material."

Metaloy was founded in 1983 by the late Aaron Berlin. The company has seen steady growth recently due to increased interest in recycled manufacturing materials. Kennard says he expects sales to be roughly $2 million this year, up from $1.4 million last year. This trend could continue as Metaloy finds more markets for its recycling, he estimates.

In addition, Metaloy has spun off two new companies that show significant potential in similar marketplaces, MAR Systems, an industrial water purification company, and MCAT Services, a catalyst separation technology. Both enterprises have received significant early stage funding and show strong growth potential, says Kennard, who is a founding principal in both.

Kennard says he expects to hire three to four new employees in both technical and clerical positions at Metaloy this year. He is currently the only employee as several former workers left to join the spin off ventures.

Source: Claude Kennard, Metaloy
Writer: Val Prevish

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have invented a polymer coating that can repair itself. Stuart Rowan, CWRU professor of macromolecular science and engineering, along with his team and researchers from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland and the Army Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, has spent the last three years developing a rubber-like protective coating that heals itself when an ultraviolet light is shined on it for just a few seconds.

"The idea was to develop a coating that, if it was damaged in any way, we could repair just by shining a light on it," says Rowan. "A lot of my research is creating stimulating response materials."

The science behind the technology involves taking a long chain of polymers and reducing it to small chains. When the UV light -- much like the light used in dentist offices -- shines on them, the polymers become temporarily unglued. They reassemble when the light is shut off, thus repairing the scratches.

"It works perfectly for coating penetrations," says Rowan.

The scientists envision that self-healing polymers like theirs could be used in automotive paints, varnishes for floors and furniture, and many other applications. "The material could be used in potentially any paint or coating use," says Rowan.

Their findings were published in the April 21 issue of the journal Nature.

The team is currently in talks with companies to see if there is an interest in commercializing the material.


Source: Stuart Rowan, Case Western Reserve University
Writer: Karen Connelly

This story originally appeared in hiVelocity's sister publication, Fresh Water Cleveland.

Tremco has built a successful business by providing solutions to clients looking for more efficient buildings. Now it can point to one of its own buildings as a showcase of sustainability.

The Cleveland-based company will open its newly renovated headquarters to the public on June 17 to demonstrate a myriad of green building technologies, many of which come from its own product lines or those of sister companies.

"We've been in our headquarters building for 20 some years," explains Randy Korach, president of the RPM Building Solutions Group -- Tremco's parent company. "The building was built for single tenant in 1969 or 1970, and like many buildings of that era, it was built with a different level of technology, and many of the components were beyond their useful life. Though we were providing these products and service solutions for our clients, we weren't eating the dog food, so to speak."

Last October, Tremco began a $5-million renovation to incorporate more energy efficient roofing, fa�ade, windows and building controls, Korach says. Today, the building is a model of sustainability and is working toward LEED Gold certification.

"There are lots of extraordinary features and components," Korach says. "A truly high- performance and integrated fa�ade, new modern building controls, and fantastic sustainable and green elements, including four different roofing systems."

One of those roofing systems is a vegetative roof with 14,000 plantings and several climate zones. While not part of the building, the company also installed a 1.8 kilowatt-rated wind turbine and solar arrays on its parking canopy. For employees who decide to buy electric cars, Tremco has supplied three charging stations.

"We're going to consume about 84 percent less gas and realize a 43 percent electricity reduction. The renewables will lead significantly to that. As far as total electricity consumption we expect maybe about 12 percent can be provided by our solar and wind energy that's being co-generated here on site."

Those who attend the company's open house -- and visitors or employees any time -- will be able to learn more about the green components of the renovated building.

"We've made it a learning environment, so we've got interpretive slides throughout the property so our neighbors and employees can very quickly and easily see what features are incorporated and what they're doing and much interactive information," Korach explains.

Source: Randy Korach, Tremco
Writer: Gene Monteith

Multiple sclerosis results when axons -- an extension of brain cells -- lose an essential coating called myelin, which allows neurons to communicate with each other and other parts of the body. While there are drugs available to slow the progression of the disease -- which eventually leaves a person unable to move � there is nothing on the market that can reverse the disease by restoring cells that produce the myelin.

If a Cleveland biomedical company has its way, there soon will be. Renovo Neural, a spinoff of the Cleveland Clinic, is currently helping pharmaceutical companies test new MS drugs by providing exclusive and innovative assays that analyze the potency of promising new drugs to reverse the MS process.

The company was formed in 2008 after the Cleveland Clinic received a $3-million Ohio Third Frontier grant to commercialize Renovo Neural's innovative assays. The technology is based on discoveries by Renovo Founder Bruce Trapp, chairman of the Clinic's Department of Neurosciences, and Wendy Macklin, former staff member at the Clinic's Department of Neurosciences and now professor and chair of cell and developmental biology at the University of Colorado. Trapp is now the company's chief science officer and heads its Scientific Advisory Board.

"We have two existing parts of the company," explains Satish Medicetty, Renovo's president. "In the service part of the company, we have very highly specialized assays to test new drugs for multiple sclerosis. This is the part of the company which is receiving a lot of interest in the industry right now because those are the kind of assays that are exclusively provided by our company."

The other part of the business -- the drug development arm -- is currently taking a back seat to the services side.

"We do have some intellectual property on the drug development side, so we are either looking for some licensing opportunities or partnering opportunities, or perhaps in the future if we get more funding from the state we will pursue that on a separate level as well," Medicetty says.

Renovo has just completed its first contract with a major client in tests designed to evaluate the process of generating new myelin in an animal model. 

"The client was very happy with the study and they came back to us to exend the study," Medicetty says.  Medicetty says the animail model -- which looks at MS-like brain lesions in animals -- is unique to Renovo.

The company has grown to seven full-time and two part-time employees from its initial two. Medicetty says because of interest shown by additional pharmaceutical companies, he expects that number to grow. 

Source: Statish Medicetty, Renovo Neural
Writer: Gene Monteith

As much as modern medicine understands about movement disorders, there's still so much science has yet to unravel about diseases that rob the body of control of over its movement, like Huntington's Disease and Parkinson's Disease.

Great Lakes NeuroTech, a new Cleveland-based spinoff from Cleveland Medical Devices Inc. (CMDI), is hoping to help change that with products that will help researchers unlock the remaining mysteries of the diseases and maybe, someday, help point the way to a cure.

The company, still based at Cleveland Medical's Euclid Avenue campus, was formed with a mandate to market and manufacture the parent company's already burgeoning clinical motor assessment and therapy systems, while focusing on the research and development of the next generation of systems.

"The way Cleveland Medical was set up, there were three divisions -- one for sleep disorder monitoring systems, one for movement disorders and another for research," says Maureen Phillips, sales and marketing manager for NeuroTech. "There were so many disciplines, it was hard for us to concentrate on any one. Being spun off allows us to focus on the work being done on movement disorders, and make an impact there."

The new company's first target is Parkinson's Disease, the degenerative disorder of the central nervous systems that results in uncontrollable tremors and, in extreme cases, tremors so prevalent its victims are unable to move at all. Already, NeuroTech products such as KinetiSense, Kinesia and Kinesia HomeView are in use at leading national research centers and clinics, helping researchers and doctors monitor signals sent from the brain to the body, and the body's reaction to those signals.

NeuroTech products, including portable and wireless monitors, allows doctors to monitor patients both in clinical settings and at home, 24 hours a day.

"They can give doctors the total picture of what patients experience on a day-to-day basis," says Phillips, adding that it also helps current treatments. "Using that information, we're not only learning more about the disease, we're able to change medications, change dosage or change when current patients take medications, depending on how their body reacts to different treatments. The ultimate goal is better and more accurate information, which will allow us to improve the quality of life, even though they're living with this disease."

Source: Maureen Phillips, Sales and Marketing Manager
Writer: Dave Malaska

For 26 years, Nanofilm has been creating formulas for cleaning products and optical coatings in Valley View. Similarly, SDG Inc. in the Cleveland Clinic's Innovation Center has spent the last 16 years developing nanotechnologies in the medical and healthcare fields.

Until recently, the two were unaware of the each other's existence. Then, at a nanotechnologies networking meeting run by Polymer Ohio, Nanofilm's president and CEO Scott Rickert and SDG co-founder and senior vice president Robert Geho crossed paths. The meeting was the beginning of partnership in which each company brings their talents to the table to develop new products.

In early May Nanofilm and SDG Inc. signed a comprehensive joint development and licensing agreement to develop and commercialize nano-formulas that combine the two companies' technologies. Among the planned projects is development of technology to control the release and toxicity of bio-active agents at the nano-scale. Potential applications include longer lasting anti-bacterial surface treatments.

"I'm very excited about this," says Rickert. "Up until this point we have not had any way to do anything unique in the medicine and healthcare markets. We both have experience in the technology, but didn't know the other one's areas. This will allow us to take polymer films and make bioactive products that make our lives better and safer."

Rickert sees huge growth potential in the partnership. "It's going to be huge," he says. "Every time we come out with a new product announcement I see us hiring 20 more people." Rickert says they hope to announce their first new product development sometime this year.

Source: Scott Rickert
Writer: Karin Connelly

This story originally appeared in hiVelocity's sister publication, Fresh Water Cleveland

IT Martini was created three years ago when the opportunities for IT professionals to connect in central Ohio were few and far between, says John Bishop.

Today, thanks to Bishop and co-founder Aladin Gohar, IT Martini -- a social and professional gathering for the tech-oriented -- not only has helped build a more robust network around the Columbus area, but has caught on in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Indianapolis, with more cities on the way.

"If you go back to 2008, it was a different kind of environment for professionals and for technology professionals beyond that," Bishop says. "And what I noticed in conjunction with Aladin Gohar was that there weren't a lot of opportunities for technology professionals to meet each other and engage one another as an industry."

That summer, Bishop and Gohar held the very first IT Martini. Two hundred people showed up to hear a speaker, socialize and connect. This month, IT Martini is celebrating its third year with a May 26 event expected to draw 1,000.

The format for an IT Martini event is straightforward, Bishop says.

"We try to stay as interactive as possible," he explains. "So we put on panel discussions and we tend to have panel discussions run concurrently with the social aspect of the event in a separate, segregated space. That way, people who want to be social can participate in the social aspect of the event, and if they want to participate in a little bit more of a discussion, presentation, industry-best-practice type of activity we have that for our attendees as well."

As IT Martini began to catch on locally, a sponsor in 2009 asked that an event be held in Cincinnati, Bishop says.

"And then last year we started to do not just Columbus and Cincinnati, but Cleveland and Indianapolis."

An IT Martini in Nashville is in the works, and there also seems to be interest in West Virginia, Michigan and Wisconsin, Bishop says.

Source: John Bishop, IT Martini
Writer: Gene Monteith

Algae Producers set up shop in 2007 with the idea of developing algae products for the biodiesel market.

It soon became apparent that the more immediate opportunity was in other applications like nutriceuticals, aquaculture, pharmaceuticals,  and other areas.

Since then, the company hasn't looked back. Late last year the company, whose technical and sales teams are based in Madison and which plans to eventually locate the bulk of its operations in the Cleveland area, entered the marketplace with two primary products: a substance that can be used as a fish food in acquaculture, and an astaxanthin product with the same body-cleansing and antitoxin properties attributed to green tea.

"It's kind of a green tea on steroids," says Stan Robinson, the company's CFO.

Algae Producers has developed 10 exclusive partnerships and agreements for manufacture and distribution of its algae products and continues to research new ways of making algae profitable. Robinson says the company expects to book around $250,000 in revenue by the end of the second quarter. Along the way, it has shared in a $3-million Ohio Third Frontier grant with Ohio University and a number of other Ohio partners to further commercialize algae.

While the company currently has three full-time employees, Robinson says the company hopes to increase that number to eight by the end of the year and more as new products hit the marketplace. Primarily self-funded to date, the company is now raising a $2-million second round that will allow it to expand capacity, research and development, employment and a facility in the Cleveland area.

Source: Stan Robinson, Algae Producers
Writer: Gene Monteith

Lorain County Community College in Elyria is helping cement Ohio's reputation as the home of sensor technology innovation.

The school recently established the SMART (Sensor/Microsystems Advanced packaging and Reliability Testing) Center to help device developers accomplish critical tasks they usually have performed out of state: advanced packaging, reliability testing and advanced life simulation. It received a $5.5 million grant from the Wright Center for Sensor Systems Engineering at Cleveland State University for equipment and technical support for the center.

Four entities are SMART Center partners already: Acense LLC in Twinsburg, which is developing a sensor focused on early fault warning for oil-immersed electrical equipment; R.W. Beckett Corp. in North Ridgeville, which makes commercial and residential oil and gas burners; GreenField Solar in Oberlin, maker of scalable solar power products capable of simultaneously generating electric power and heat; and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Jack W. Harley, founder and president of Acense, says he is enthusiastic about the SMART Center and sees it "being very valuable to us." The center currently is testing packaging concepts for an Acense sensor; later it will test that sensor's long-term characteristics. Harley says that sensor is part of what will be a whole line of products and he expects to use the center for each one.

Harley's not the only executive predicting long-term benefits of the center.

"The SMART Center offers companies affordable access to important services," Kevin Beckett, president of R.W. Beckett Corp., says. Plus, "it raises the visibility of sensor technology overall, which is likely to spark innovation in Northeastern Ohio."

Beckett calls the SMART Center "a huge, huge plus for the area."

Sources: Tracy Green, Lorain County Community College; Kevin Beckett, R. W. Beckett Corp.; Jack W. Harley, Acense
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs

Thanks to an innovative effort by a firm spun off from the Cleveland Clinic in 2009, hospitals can now track their best practices, determine their most efficient use of research dollars and program funding, and monitor best patient outcomes by tapping into trend-spotting software that has long been used by other industries.

Population Explorer, a product of Cleveland-based Explorys Inc., uses data-crunching software similar to the kind of technology used by large, fast search engines such as Yahoo! and Googlem thereby giving healthcare systems a new perspective on the mountains of information accumulated on patient care.

"In almost every other industry, this kind of technology has been in use for a long time," explains Explorys President and Chief Technology Officer Charlie Lougheed. "It allows them to see trends and correlations that you can use to make a difference in patient's lives. It lets hospitals become more efficient, offer better care and in most cases, do it less expensively."

Explorys doesn't examine individual patient information, instead looking at the outcomes of care and how hospitals arrived at decisions that resulted in the best outcomes for patients. The result is a roadmap to improved, efficient care.

Born from a smaller prototype that the Cleveland Clinic started building five years ago, Population Explorer took off when the hospital brought in two "big data" veterans in early 2009. Lougheed and Stephen McHale (now Explorys' CEO) had founded Everstream Inc., a data analytics company focused on media trends, in 1999, later selling it to a Georgia company for $15 million. When the duo took over the new project, they immediately started expanding the scope of the clinic's software. Months later, Explorys was spun off to commercialize the system. Since then, its growth has been explosive.

It now mines trend information from not only the Cleveland Clinic, but University Hospitals and MetroHealth hospitals in Cleveland, Akron-based Summa Health System, as well as MedStar Health in Columbia, Md. Other national health care providers are due to come online soon as well, reports Lougheed.

Others have taken notice, too. Gartner Inc., a leading information technology research and advisory company based in Connecticut, recently named Explorys as one of five of its "Cool Vendors in Life Sciences" winners for 2011.

After starting with 10 employees and a modest budget, Explorys has already expanded to 25 employees. Lougheed expects the company to double its staff again by the end of the year, with further growth planned for next year.

Source: Charlie Lougheed, President & CTO
Writer: Dave Malaska

In the fall of 2009, CSI - Las Vegas aired an episode called "Death and the Maiden," in which Akron-based NicheVision's SpermFinder had a role. Vic Meles, one of the company's owners, says the filming took more than 4 hours, but the microscope, which is the most important component, appeared in only a few scenes.

"We found out during taping that many of the props on the show are hollow shells, but we can certify this part was the absolute real deal," says Meles.

Meles' company develops software and integrated solutions that automate tedious, time-consuming laboratory tasks so they can be accomplished faster, with less stress and greater accuracy.

Company founder Luigi Armogida, a former microscope salesman with a background in microbiology, started the business in 2006. While working on a project at the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations Armogida saw people hunched over microscopes, spending hours looking at slides for rape kits. Workers would spend hours looking for as few as one or two cells. Armogida thought: Why not computerize the task? His employer at the time was not interested in developing his idea so he started his own company.

SpermFinder comprises a microscope, computer and software that identifies the cells. Another product, "Armed Expert," which creates a profile of the person whose cells have been identified, was developed by the U.S. Army and commercialized by NicheVision. A third product, currently in development, called "DNA Express" will remove the sought-after cell from the slide.

"Our customers are crime labs anywhere in the world," says Meles. Surprisingly, the company has only four employees.

Source: Vic Meles, NicheVision, Inc.
Writer: Patrick G. Mahoney

Imagine an ultra-thin film that's invisible to the human eye. In fact, it's 2,000 times thinner than the plastic wrap you use to store leftovers.

Now imagine that film is embedded with performance properties to make it scratch resistant, anti-static, stain resistant, anti-reflective, non-stick, or water and soil resistant. Finally, imagine coating a commercial product with that film.

Scott Rickert, Ph.D., president and CEO of Nanofilm, refers to the process as "nano-izing," and it's what his Valley View company does every day in its labs.

"We develop coating formulas, embed them with the characteristics our customers want, and create the processes that enable them to apply the coating to their product," he explains.

Nanofilm specializes in coatings for glass, plastics, metals, concrete, fabric and wood for several worldwide markets, including electronics, architecture, transportation, and optical and consumer products.

When LensCrafters introduced non-glare plastic lenses for its eye glasses, they came to Nanofilm to create a coating to protect the non-glare surface. Cleveland company Ferro turned to Nanofilm to create a scratch-resistant film for a line of porcelain restaurant dinner ware.

Nanofilm developed an effective, long-lasting auto glass coating that's water resistant and provides "a huge advantage in heavy rain and snow," Rickert says. "It's Rain-X on steroids." The product's name is "Defender," and it's available through Amazon.com.

According to Rickert, with nanotechnology, less is more. "For example, if you make a surface coating super slippery, it requires less frequent and less aggressive cleaning. That means fewer harsh cleaning chemicals, like phosphates and ammonias, so it's better for the environment and costs less to clean."

Nanotechnology also has applications in the medical field, Rickert notes.

"Work is under way to make surfaces of body implants, like joints or heart stents, more biocompatible."

Future advances in nanotechnology may lead to more efficient solar energy and smaller, more powerful computers as well, he adds.

Source: Scott Rickert, Nanofilm
Writer: Lynne Meyer

Your body depends on trillions of little bacteria to help you digest your food and keep your immune system ticking along. Trouble is, stress, illness and diet can reduce the numbers of those bacteria and throw your body out of whack.

Consequently, a whole new industry called probiotics has sprung up to restore the bacterial balance of your body. And Mayfield Heights-based Ganeden Biotech has emerged as a leader.

Formed in 1997, Ganeden sprang from research that identified a new family of bacterial strains with unique properties, says Mike Bush, the company's VP of business development.

In 2001, the company moved its headquarters from La Jolla, Calif., to northeastern Ohio. By 2003, Ganeden had launched a number of over-the-counter products and in 2006 began licensing its bacteria to other firms.

Today, Ganeden's Digestive Advantage and Sustenex products are sold in 55,000 stores around the country, making the firm the largest or second largest seller of over the counter probiotics at any given time, Bush says. Not only will you find Ganeden's products at your neighborhood grocery, but its patented flagship strain -- GanedenBC³⁰ -- is being used in everything from dairy products to oatmeal � even your tea and muffins.

How can bacteria survive the heat required to bake a muffin? Bush says the GanedenBC³⁰ strain is introduced into consumables as spores, which are heat resistant and more stable than cultured bacteria like that in yogurt.

"It germinates once it gets into the human body," Bush explains.

Ganedan recently announced a partnership with the Agostoni Chocolate, of Italy, to market a probiotics chocolate disk.

Meanwhile, the company continues to grow within a market that Bush says could become a $19-billion industry by 2015. He says the company's over-the-counter sales are growing at 30 percent a year and its licensing operations are moving at a 100 percent annual clip.

The company has 30 employees, 25 of whom are located in the Cleveland area. It also operates an R&D facility in Miami, Fla.

Source: Mike Bush, Ganeden Biotech
Writer: Gene Monteith