entrepreneurship : Innovation + Job News

The local-government focus on fostering innovation and entrepreneurs echoes a larger effort underway at the federal level, such as the Obama administration's Startup America program, which made its stop in the Twin Cities earlier this month.

Federal officials from the Commerce Department,Patent and Trademark Office, Small Business Administration, and Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs led a number of "Reducing Barriers" roundtable discussions with local small businesses and large corporations to gauge what changes might be made to improve the environment for entrepreneurship and innovation.

Medronic hosted the event at its Fridley headquarters.

Officials intend to take the ideas that come out of the roundtable tour of eight U.S. cities back to Washington "to streamline and simplify unnecessary barriers," according to a description of the April 6 event. President Obama has given an executive order for federal agencies to "identify and take steps to eliminate or reduce regulations that are outdated or overly burdensome to entrepreneurs."

Ideas are also being collected online, where a list of strategies is growing daily.

Specifics from the Twin Cities roundtables were not yet available, but Nancy Libersky, district director of the Minnesota office of the SBA, says the ideas similarly ran the gamut-- "anything from small-government to big-government to non-government questions," says Libersky.

Likewise, changes implemented could range from the congressional level to local fixes, she said.

In similar news, the SBA held the first class this week for its e200 Emerging Leaders Program, through which selected small businesses receive training, mentoring, and other resources. As with Startup America, the Twin Cities is one of a select group to take part in the program.

"I think that Minnesota is really on the forefront of being highlighted, and I'm really hoping that this continues," says Libersky of the momentum of the programs.

Libersky sees both as part of a larger, necessary collaboration to improve the economic atmosphere for entrepreneurs.

"I think that everybody needs to work together," she says. "I think we have a huge gap that the entrepreneurs really need to fill, and the only way that they're going to be stronger is to help them. It's these types of programs that are really helping these entrepreneurs grow."

Source: Nancy Libersky, Minnesota Office of the Small Business Administration
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

"The only way that someone can come and license [technology or intellectual property] is if they know that it's there," says Darren Cox, founder and chief evangelist of Commerce and Search for Technology Transfer (CaSTT).

CaSTT is an online licensing tool that Cox developed to solve that problem for the University of Minnesota's Office for Technology Commercialization. It's working; In the past 12 months, Cox reports, the university executed more licenses online for a single item than all the other Big Ten schools did for all of their technologies combined during the year 2008.

"We built it just for our own office; we never intended any one else to use it," says Cox.

Seeing an opportunity, he spun CaSTT out of the university and hired a development team to write a new version of the software, which will debut later this month.

Cox and the U of M finalized a licensing agreement last week for the CaSTT trademark, says Cox. The U of M will receive a free license and will continue to use the upgraded software service, he said.

The commercial version facilitates licensing similarly to the original version--fully online, in some cases--but goes further into marketing, primarily through search engine optimization of technology descriptions.

Research-level communication, for example, is often very technical, "and they don't actually ever say what the thing does, and what you get when you license it," says Cox. "Part of our process is training people on how to figure out what it is people are actually searching for, and then our software takes that information and mechanically optimizes it in such a way that it is very, very easy for search engines to index that information and drive it to the top of search results."

Cox hopes the tool will expand tech transfer beyond its traditional arena to "the other seven-and-a-half billion people in the world.

"There are literally millions of pieces of intellectual property sitting on shelves at universities, national labs, research hospitals, and corporations all over the world that no one knows are available," says Cox.

A subscription to the software-as-a-service platform is $500 per month.

Cox was not able to divulge his list of potential clients, but CaSTT was close to signing a major local corporation in early April, and he said other companies and 150 universities are waiting for the debut of the new software.

Cox expects to close an equity round in June, at which time CaSTT will have been backed by $700,000 in post-university investment, for which Cox credits his connections and colleagues at tech accelerator Project Skyway.

Virteva CEO and Project Skyway mentor Tom Keiffer was CaSTT's first investor and now chairs its board. Virteva has provided development, hosting, and other infrastructure to the project, says Cox. Joy Lindsay, president and co-founder of StarTec Investments, is also an investor.

Source: Darren Cox, CaSTT
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

Minnesota's first tech accelerator, Project Skyway, is accepting applications through May 1 for its first three-month program, beginning in August.

For the inaugural round, Project Skyway will select ten software-as-a-service (SaaS) or mobile startups to receive mentorship, co-working space, $6,000 (per founder), two developers, and a connection to key players in Minnesota's emerging startup scene. In June, 25 semi-finalists will participate in a tech accelerator "boot camp," after which the ten finalists will be chosen.

Project Skyway is seeking founders of companies that are beyond the idea stage, preferably with some sort of online presence, according to FAQs posted online.

"We want you to have done some market validation," says Project Skyway mentor Darren Cox. "Go out and talk to your potential customers � do some research, at the very least."

It wouldn't hurt to be in the revenue stage, either.

"We're no different than any other investor, in that folks with revenue actually have something to point to that folks without revenue can't," says Cox.

That said, Project Skyway has "some pretty strong differentiators" from other accelerators, says Cox. "We don't believe that you must be a coder to be a successful technology entrepreneur." Thus the access to two full-time developers per funded company.

The $6,000 per founder amounts to living expenses, explains Cox. "The money is there to allow you to focus 100 percent of your time on building your company."

The greatest value of the accelerator program to the chosen "Skywalkers" will be the mentorship, resources and connections, says Cox.

"That's how you build a company--you build a groundswell of support for the idea and for the people who are shepherding that idea," he says.

The first round is focused on SaaS and mobile "because we really want to dial into the type of startups that we know we can provide the most help to right away," according to the FAQ page. Future accelerator rounds might venture into hardware, cleantech, social ventures, and other types of startups.

In exchange for the program, Project Skyway receives 6�9 percent "founders shares" of common stock from participating (and successful, assuming) startups.

Source: Darren Cox, Project Skyway
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

Hey entrepreneurs: how does $50,000 sound? Good?

Well how about $30 million?

The first amount is the take-away for the winner of the 2011 Minnesota Cup competition, through which entrepreneurs pit their best ideas and business endeavors against one another in six categories.

The higher number is the amount of capital raised by companies that were Minnesota Cup finalists in 2009 and 2010.

Through May 20, the seventh annual Minnesota Cup is open for entries in six award divisions--High Tech, BioSciences, Clean Tech and Renewable Energy, Social Entrepreneurship, General, and Student--through a short online form.
 
Later, judges will select 8�10 semi-finalists from each division who will prepare full business plans and be paired with an industry-specific entrepreneurial mentor.

Division winners are awarded as much as $25,000 and the chance at the grand prize--another $25,000--in September.

While 50 grand and the exposure of winning is nothing to sneeze at, Minnesota Cup Co-founder Dan Mallin notes that the goal is really to "help 30 businesses get started in each category," whether a given business is just a good idea or an existing startup.

"Another good outcome is they might find out it really isn't a good idea," says Mallin.

Participants also benefit from mentorship and resources--far more of which exist in general for the state's entrepreneurs since the advent of the Cup six years ago, notes Mallin.

Two of those resources are the new 2011 partners Minnesota Angel Network and tech accelerator Project Skyway, which will offer the winner of the High Tech division a spot in its startup "boot camp."

Mallin says he sees momentum in the startup scene.

"The Cup is an attempt to be a conduit amongst the players and resources behind that momentum," he says.

That said, Mallin also sees a lot of room for improvement in state's entrepreneurial efforts. "We're being outspent by 30 other states in innovation," he says.

Source: Dan Mallin, Minnesota Cup
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

The search to "find, fund and foster" entrepreneurs with big ideas in cleantech kicked off last week in the North Central region: the 2011 Cleantech Open.

The second annual business competition is a year-long program through which budding companies receive mentorship and training from local experts and gain exposure to investors. Participants compete in six cleantech categories: renewable energy, transportation, smart power and energy storage, energy efficiency, green building, and air/water/waste.

There are prizes for the regional winners, including the chance to compete in the national Cleantech Open for more than $250,000 in cash and services. The North Central region covers Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Illinois, new to the region for the 2011 competition.

Last year, the North Central region contestants outnumbered all other regions but California, with more than 30 collaborations and 200 contributing professionals.

All four 2010 semi-finalists received funding, notes Justin Kaster, Cleantech Open North Central regional director. They included Minnesota startups New Water and EarthClean Corporation, whose innovative and environmentally responsible fire suppression earned them the 2010 Minnesota Cup title, as well.

The competition helps "drive innovation, create jobs, foster early-stage investment, and teach a more sustainable way of doing business," says Kaster in a press release.

Entries for the Cleantech Open are now being accepted online, and the North Central region is recruiting professional volunteers to assist as mentors, judges, and program committee members.

Source: Cleantech Open
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

The saying "too many cooks in the kitchen" has a more positive connotation for Kitchen in the Market since the chef's collective moved to its new 1,550-square-foot space in Minneapolis' Midtown Global Market in February.

Kitchen in the Market was born in a 400-square-foot space at the Global Market in 2007 out of a need for affordable shared commercial kitchen space, says manager and owner Molly Hermann, who also runs Tastebud Catering.

After two and a half years at capacity with a waiting list and low turnover, Kitchen in the Market was bursting at its seams. The new space is quadruple the size of the old one and allows more than twice the number of chefs to rent; the number grew from nine to 17 with the move, and more are expected.

Midtown Global Market invested over $100,000 in the new space. Hermann says the City of Minneapolis approached her about the low-interest loans that financed about half of the cost, the other half coming from the Neighborhood Development Center.

The move is more than just a physical expansion. Kitchen in the Market incorporated as a business and added a more formalized cooking class space that allows new and more classes and events.

While the expanded space has improved Kitchen in the Market as an entity, its core benefit remains the availability of affordable commercial space for the caterers and chefs that rent there.

"It definitely allows them to grow their businesses," says Hermann, adding that it's a great opportunity for startups with low overhead. The chefs not only share equipment and resources, they use each other as a network.

"I think all of us have benefited in a lot of different ways from being in the same kitchen," Hermann says.

Source: Molly Hermann, Kitchen in the Market
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

Minneapolis is one of the most recent additions to a list of cities hoping to boost growth in its existing small businesses through the Small Business Asministration's (SBA) e200 Emerging Leaders Initiative.

The program, administered locally by the Minnesota office of the SBA, delivers 100 hours of training to selected small businesses, as well as mentoring, networking and connections with other businesses, city leaders and the financial community.

Classes begin April 18 and run bi-weekly through November, says Nancy Libersky, district director of the Minnesota office of the SBA.  Libersky compared the "high-level, very-intense training" to an MBA worth $10,000 per student. Each company selected may send one executive-level employee ("CEO, CFO--one of the Cs," says Libersky).

Space is limited. Libersky did not say how many companies could participate, only that they have received some "excellent candidates." Minneapolis businesses that generate revenues between $400,000 and $10 million, and which have been in business for at least three years, are eligible.

Minneapolis is one of 17 urban-community participants around the country for fiscal year 2011. More than 600 small businesses have been through the program since its inception is 2008, according to an SBA press release.

The class will be led by a specialized trainer hired out of Washington, D.C. who will interview and train to learn the locality and specifics of the Minneapolis program, says Libersky. The SBA has eight local business, organization and municipal partners assisting in the initiative.

Source: Nancy Libersky, Minnesota Office of the Small Business Administration
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

Consider this reality: you're a high school math teacher. One hundred and sixty students cycle through your classroom every a day.

"How would you have any idea which students struggle with certain concepts?" asks Corey Thompson. "What we ask our teachers to do in that realm is not possible."

Thompson is co-founder and chief executive officer of Naiku, a local start-up offering an online education assessment platform that benefits both student and teacher, says Thompson.

Naiku ("teacher" in Lao) gives teachers a "classroom dashboard" that allows both summative assessment--what students know--as well as formative assessment--how they learned it. A formative assessment question might be: "What was the concept that this quiz tested you on?" offers Thompson.

The exercise in "meta-cognition" enriches the students' learning experience, he says. "It helps the students perform better, as well, because it makes them think about what they know and what they don't know."

Teachers can create assessments, share them with other teachers, and customize and organize the student data gathered.

A two-minute video on Naiku's website gives a quick overview of how the platform works.

Naiku was born last fall and is already being used by thousands of students, says Thomspon. In late February, Naiku announced a partnership with Austin, Texas-based Instruction-Driven Measurement Center (IDMC) to market and connect Naiku to more users. Thompson expects to add other partnerships in the near future.

Thompson met co-founder and cognitive psychologist Adisack Nhouyvanisvong while they were earning MBAs at the University of Minnesota. (Both graduated last year.) Kevin Sampers, a third co-founder, is Naiku's COO and VP of sales and marketing.

Naiku works in all major browsers and on all personal devices, Thompson says, including iPhone, iPod Touch, android, iPad and laptop.

Thompson sees schools embracing the use of personal devices more and more. He envisions that, in the near future, students will use their own devices, with subsidies for students that don't own devices, similar to free- and reduced-priced lunch.

"In the next year or two, it's all going to tip," says Thompson. "Student devices will be welcomed."

Source: Corey Thompson, Naiku
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

After four months of private-site testing, the online education site Sophia went live on March 7.

The response was overwhelming: In the first 48 hours, people logged on from 69 different countries. Not bad, considering Sophia had spent nothing on advertising.

"That was really just based on educational blogs and people spreading the word on Twitter and Facebook," says Sophia founder and CEO Don Smithmier, whom we recently profiled. "It's just the most incredible example of the power of the social web that I've ever seen."

It's exactly that power Smithmier and his team hope to tap with Sophia--a sort-of social media for academia that crowd-sources educational instruction for free, public dissemination.

While the minimum registration age is 13, Sophia's core audience is grades 11�14, says Smithmier, "the last two years of high school and first two years of college, when people are working on general education curriculum � topics that are a gateways to college where a lot of people struggle."

That said, anyone can view Sophia's "learning packets," which registered users create on any subject, with instruction in text, video, graphics and more. (A quick perusal finds topics ranging from graphing rational functions to Chaucer.)

Packet creators may offer their instruction to the whole World Wide Web or create and manage private groups for work amongst students and peers.

Sophia packets are rated for "trustability" in two ways: through a five-star user rating, and by a more rigorous expert review. Though still crowd-sourced, subject experts need to be a teacher or hold a master's degree or higher in the field. Academically sound packets must be vetted by three such experts.

Sophia is one of four companies under entrepreneur Smithmier's Matter Worldwide umbrella. Based in the Warehouse District in Downtown Minneapolis, Sophia began last November.

Before the public beta launch in March, 1,600 academics from 200 institutions tested the site. Those educators used it in ways the Sophia team didn't expect. "One high school teacher used it as an assessment tool," says Smithmier. "Instead of creating learning packets, he assigned [his algebra students] to create a learning packet � to demonstrate that they understood the concept."

It's an example of how the crowd-sourced, social education site will grow organically.

"I'm a believer that there are a ton of very creative, very innovative educators out there," says Smithmier. "I think Sophia can give them a tool that's out in the cloud, not a cumbersome software package, but something that's very intuitive, very easy to use and consistent with the web's most popular systems like Facebook, Wikipedia, and YouTube."

Sophia is in no hurry to move out of beta; with tongue in cheek, Smithmier cites Google mail's seven-year test period as a benchmark. The company does intend to roll out licensable versions offering more space, functionality, and administrative control later this year.

Minneapolis-based Capella University is one of the owners of Sophia, along with Matter Worldwide. The Sophia leadership team has a strong local strain, as well--a fact that Smithmier believes reflects the city's strong standing in educational technology.

"I'm personally dedicated to � making people more aware of that fact," he says. "There's tremendous brain power here when it comes to educational technology."

Source: Don Smithmier, Sophia
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

The results are in for the state's Angel Investor Tax Credit program, passed last April and launched in July of 2010.

The Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) delivered its report to the legislature on March 15. (The 16-page report and some of its contents are linked at the bottom of this page.)

In the last six months of the year, the program drew in $28 million in investment to 67 Minnesota small businesses (those not more than 10 years old and with fewer than 25 employees, among other qualification requirements).

Eleven separate businesses received $1 million or more through the program, including Cachet Financial Solutions, the only company to bring in more than $2 million.

The investments came from 258 certified individuals, who received approximately $7 million in Small Business Investment Tax Credits.

That amount is $4 million shy of the $11 million available for 2010--a remainder that will roll into 2011, totaling $16 million for the current year, according to DEED's Jeff Nelson.

Nelson said that activity accelerated toward the end of the last year, as the program picked up speed. That momentum is expected to continue, aided in part by the new Minnesota Angel Network, launched earlier this year.

No surprise: medical devices and equipment, software, and biotechnology accounted for more than half of the industries and businesses receiving investments, with clean technology close behind. In terms of total investment amount, biotech barely led the field:

Biotech: $5,683,000
Medical devices and equipment: $5,362,484
Software: $5,320,753
Clean tech: $4,281,002

Only six of the 67 businesses receiving investment were outside the Twin Cities metro area, a point of concern noted and addressed in the report.

Monte Hanson, DEED spokesperson, noted that more than a quarter of investors were from out of state--an aspect that differs from other states' angel-investment programs. Non-Minnesota investors receive a direct refundable credit from the state--an opportunity that encourages out-of-state participation, says Hanson.

Sources: Jeff Nelson and Monte Hanson, Department of Employment and Economic Development
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

Joe Tracy has a new paradigm for an old medium: television.

The name of his St. Paul startup MIDART is an acronym for the key elements of the company's strategic platform: mobile, internet, digital, authentication, retransmission and timing.

MIDART's goal is to acquire and operate "under-valued or over-leveraged" television stations around the country and capitalize on new technology, media, and revenue streams.

Tracy, a 25-year veteran of broadcast sales and management, left CW Twin Cities (WUCW) last September to devote himself full-time to MIDART. By mid-February, MIDART had raised more than a third of its $750,000-round equity goal, according to an SEC filing.

"It's a really, really interesting time to be in broadcasting," says Tracy. "Some guys are either shaking their head and getting out, or they're being squeezed out."

Instead, Tracy sees opportunity. While the past couple of years have been "some of the worst years broadcasting has had," he says, "behind that there is this new wave of technology that, in my opinion, represents the next wave of broadcasting growth."

MIDART's "three-screen" approach involves extending traditional broadcasting (and related revenue streams) to newer media models like mobile broadcasting and customized, interactive websites. As general manager at the local CW station, Tracy grew a successful mobile-texting strategy and instituted cross-media collaborations, with the online Star-Tribune, for example.

Tracy also hopes to maximize broadcast capacity with local programming on secondary channels (as in channel 11.2 or channel 2.4) and to capitalize on authentication and retransmission fees from cable companies or web-content providers, for example.

Add to Tracy's own experience MIDART's impressive list of collaborators, which includes meteorologist Paul Douglas and Digital River co-founder Todd Frostad, who have partnered to create Weather Nation and Singular Logic. Like other MIDART team members, the pair's expertise in technology and entrepreneurship fit nicely into key aspects of MIDART's business plan.

While MIDART aims to "streamline operations and content delivery," Tracy doesn't imagine a media-behemoth ownership model--a model that he says has played a part in broadcasting's recent decline.

"We need to buy a bunch of stations to create that economy of scale," he says, "but at the same time, you have to provide local programming that's relevant. If you're too macro, and you're just treating it as a business, then you're not a broadcaster anymore."

MIDART's next step is a big one: to start acquiring stations. Tracy expects to "close a deal or two" in the next few months.

Source: Joe Tracy, MIDART
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

Agitators, innovators, evangelists and maybe even some angels (as in investors) gathered Feb. 23 for a MOJO Minnesota-hosted conversation on technology transfer.

At issue: how to bridge the gap between inventors and entrepreneurs and smooth the runway for the commercialization of innovations and intellectual property produced by Minnesota researchers.

The event took place on the U of M's West Bank campus. The panel of six, which was moderated by MOJO "agitator" Rick Brimacomb, represented the university (and Mayo Clinic) research side, the entrepreneur side, and someone in between:  recent U of M graduate-turned entrepreneur Alex Johansson, co-founder and CTO of the startup NewWater, LLC,

Jay Schrankler, executive director of the U of M's Office of Technology Commercialization, offered some statistics about the university's improving track record of "spinning off" companies--and ones that stay in Minnesota.

From 2001�2006, said Schrankler, 14 companies spun out of the university, of which four still exist. Of the147 jobs those companies created, 111 are in California now--an example of the tech-and-talent drain that was a key topic of the MOJO conversation.

By contrast, 23 companies have come out of the U of M since 2006, he said, 21 of which are still around. They account for 50 jobs, all of which are in Minnesota, according to Schrankler.

Early conversation addressed the success or failure of tech-transfer attempts.

"Success is a deal that doesn't fall through," said Jeff Carpenter, senior portfolio manager for Development Capital Networks. He outlined mistakes he sees companies making in the process of bringing research to market.

"The companies tend to � overestimate the stage of development, and they underestimate the cost and the time to get something to market."

Lee Jones, CEO in residence at the university's Venture Center, stressed the importance of similar expectations on the parts of the researchers and entrepreneurs.

"When I hear people say 'it's hard to get technology out of [the university],' what I really hear is that they, a) don't know how to access it, or b) they have expectations that they are getting more than [the concept of the technology].

"There's expectation that the development process has already taken place, or that the inventor is going to willingly hand over all of his information," she said.

Schrankler laid out the four elements necessary for a successful start-up company: the right technology, a good market for that technology, a good management team, and, of course, capital.

Johansson hit on a key point with his advice for entrepreneurs looking to license technology from the university.

"[The university's] one concern is the revenue that's going to get generated by this technology," he said, "and by licensing it to you, they are preventing anyone else from generating revenue with [that] technology."

Schrankler followed with a breakdown of revenue return: one-third rightly goes to the inventor, he said, and the rest goes back into research.

Later, conversation turned to the potential for technology to flee the state. While the university is strong in biotech research, "If you have a biotech invention, and you want to spin off a company, where is it going to end up?" asked Carpenter. "San Francisco or Boston."

Johansson noted that, of 40 recent, top-of-their-class graduates he knows, all have jobs, and only four are in this state.

Schrankler assured potential entrepreneurs that the university is trying to not send technology out of state--despite opportunities to do so--and he asked them to be patient.

"We have more potential companies in our pipeline right now than the system can handle," said Schrankler. "Have patience with us. The longer we can keep that company inside the university and work the problem so that it can stay here�"

An audience member asked why so much emphasis was put on biotech research at the university when the Twin Cities has stronger markets for other technology.

"We are the Silicon Valley of medical devices," said the audience member.

The argument was also made that the region's concentration of med-tech chokes off the potential for growth in other areas.

To this point, Carpenter advised entrepreneurs to diversify their interests in technologies.

"There's more here than just med-tech," he said. "Maintain what you've got with med-tech, but support all the other innovations out there."

"God bless you!" responded Darren Cox, founder and "chief evangelist" of Commerce and Search for Tech Transfer (CaSTT).

Earlier on, he had given prospective entrepreneurs some simple advice:

"Be curious � and figure out what it is that you're interested in that is going on at the U. It's a huge place, and they are some of the most amazing things that I've ever seen coming out of research.

"There are gold mines here, trust me," said Cox. "There are cash machines, and entrepreneurs who ignore the university's innovations are doing themselves a great disservice."

Source: MOJO Minnesota tech transfer conversation, Feb. 23
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

We often hear the University of Minnesota described as the "economic engine" of the state. From bioscience to information technology to agriculture, the U is indeed a source and driving factor behind many of Minnesota's successful economic endeavors and sectors.

Earlier this month, the university's Office of the Vice President for Research hosted an event to recognize the innovators at the very beginning of the continuum from research to commercial application.

"It's a key part of what we do as a university, and we want to acknowledge the folks who play a vital role in [the innovation] process," says John Merritt, director of communications for the Office of the Vice President for Research. "They are really the source of the intellectual property and technology that emanates from this place."

In the past two years (fiscal years 2990�2010), 161 inventors from 10 colleges generated 106 patents and 84 license agreements--contributing to the nearly $390 million in revenue over the last five years.

That dollar amount reflects the economic importance of innovation to the state and the nation, and it is a very necessary return on investment that supports additional research at the university. Merritt stresses how critical innovation revenue is to research funding--especially right now.

"As public support declines, as the support of the state in particular declines," says Merritt, "we're looking towards [technology commercialization] revenue to help fill some of that gap."

The university has seen an upward trend in a couple of key measures, says Merritt. The number of disclosures of inventions by faculty increased from 217 in FY2008 to 255 in FY2009. Likewise, the number of patent filings rose from 52 to 66 in that same period.

"We're seeing a nice growth of revenue here that comes from products," says Merritt, even above and beyond the U of M's revenue "home run"--innovation drug Ziagen, licensed to Glaxo Smith Kline (but set to roll off patent in 2013).

Inventors of recently applied research honored at the Feb. 10 event include:

-- Dr. Erik Cressman of the Medical School, whose discovery of a novel treatment for chronic venous insufficience resulted in the formation of the device startup XO Thermix Medical;

-- biochemistry professor Gary Nelsestuen, who licensed technology in 2008 using modified vitamin K as an anti-coagulant or pro-coagulant;

-- Kevin Groenke, coordinator for the College of Design, whose desk for architecture students has been licensed to three companies since 2009;

-- Vipin Kumar, head of the Computer Science and Engineering department, who developed software that allows researchers to track the growth and degradation of forests worldwide;

-- and Tom Levar, forestry and horticulture specialist at U of M Duluth's Natural Resources Research Institute, whose technology to protect plants from browsing by deer and mice was licensed to Repellex, which will release the product this spring.

The event also recognized patent and licensing activity from the St. Paul campus, including:

-- Honeycrisp apple trees;
-- La Crescent, Frontenac gris, and Marquette grape varieties;
-- FINPACK software for farm financial planning and analysis;
-- and the technology behind recent startup NewWater.

Even as it celebrated its recent patents and licenses, the university was finalizing an exclusive, worldwide license agreement with Paris-headquartered biotechnology company Cellectis for gene-modification technology, according to a press release.

U of M representatives will take part in a MOJO Minnesota-hosted conversation about the other end of the research continuum--the transfer of technology to the market--on Wednesday, Feb. 23. (More on that next week.)

Source: John Merritt, University of Minnesota Office of the Vice President for Research
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

It's a simple solution to a widespread problem: stormwater sediment.

The new startup Upstream Technologies is delivering the "SAFL Baffle"--a perforated stainless steel barrier that, once installed inside a manhole, traps debris like leaves and gravel while allowing water to flow through.

Developed at the Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL) of the University of Minnesota's College of Science and Engineering, the baffle is a more cost-effective measure because of its simplicity.

"The current devices that are on the market have a lot of features that are generally not needed," says A.J. Schwidder, CEO of Upstream Technologies and an MBA student at the U of M.

Schwidder connected with co-inventor and civil engineering professor John Gulliver last summer at the university's Office of Technology Commercialization and soon after began to look into applications and markets for the new technology.

"The market looked big enough to justify starting a new company," says Schwidder.

Now in its third week since a Feb. 1 launch, Upstream has 20 orders for the $3,500 baffle--including four in Minneapolis and others in Prior Lake, Bloomington, and Blaine.

Schwidder, who has a background and degrees in civil engineering, believes cities are interested in long-term implementation. One is considering putting it into their 5-year sewer maintenance plan, he said, while another will use it to as part of their stormwater infiltration process.

Given the heavy winter, Schwidder expects installation to begin in April. In the meantime, Upstream is raising capital and taking in other orders. The company will focus on selling in the Upper Midwest, says Schwidder (particularly Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa), with plans for nationwide expansion in 2012.

At this time, manufacturing is subcontracted to Custom Fab Solutions. Both companies are based in Chanhassen.

Source: A.J. Schwidder, Upstream Technologies
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

Last winter, when Dan Cleary sought warmer pastures for a bicycle trip, he encountered a huge hassle in a key aspect--bringing his bike.

He could choose from hundreds of dollars in airline charges, days or weeks for shipping and the risk of damage, or a bike shop rental (if he could find one) with a hefty liability premium.

A year later, Velolet was born. The Twin Cities online startup matches local bikes with visiting bikers by facilitating the above transaction, from search to saddling up.

Velolet went live in December in what Cleary calls a soft launch as he builds inventory to fill demand in warmer days and markets.

Icons are sprouting daily on the Google map on Velolet's home page. Most are concentrated in the Twin Cities, which will function as a demo market for his "methodical growth plan" into other cycling cities around the country and even overseas.

Cleary compares his online model to a hotel rental on Orbitz or Expedia. On the supply side, listings have been from individuals early on, but Cleary expects more and more bike shops to get on board.

Demand could come from the single traveler or through references from event promoters, who often field calls from incoming cyclists looking for local bikes. On either side, it's an organic dynamic with the natural potential for scalability.

"All I've done is create a platform for them to make it easy," says Cleary. A huge part of that platform is the handling of liability insurance, which Cleary calls the "secret sauce."

The online venture is also lean on infrastructure, thanks largely to the availability of "cloud space" and online applications and tools.

"You use everything that's available now," says Cleary, who remembers a different era of technology while in San Francisco in the late 1990s. The 20-year competitive cyclist describes himself as a "consummate entrepreneur" with a background in finance and small business with a flair for tech development.

"It allowed us to get off the ground without putting a lot of time and effort into the infrastructure," he says.

Source: Dan Cleary, Velolet
Writer: Jeremy Stratton