Innovation + Job News

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

It's a good way to feed your head, 21st-century-style: through the rapid-fire delivery of ideas that will be Solutions Vol. 4.

Since its first gathering in 2007, Solutions Twin Cities has been packing houses (local theaters, to be precise) with audiences eager to hear about the work of "solutionists" from a broad range of disciplines, but with a common goal: to improve the world and the lives of the people who live in and on it.

The evening will include video, music, performance, and conversation on a broad range of ideas in a fast-paced, digestible format: "20 images x 20 seconds each = 6 minutes, 40 seconds."

Solutions Twin Cities is now a project of Works Progress, a West-Bank based "network of creative collaborators" that is behind a growing list of past and ongoing projects.

The event will take place on Friday, March 18 at 7 p.m. at the Capri Theater, 2027 W. Broadway Ave., in Minneapolis. A social hour follows at 9 p.m. Tickets are $8�16 ("pay what you can").

Organizations and individuals may also sponsor some of the 50�100 tickets that Works Progress has set aside for adults and teens in the community through the Northside Residents Redevelopment Council (NRRC), says co-founder Colin Kloecker.

This is Solutions' first foray into North Minneapolis. NRRC member Ariah Fine, whom Solutions Twin Cities co-founder Troy Gallas had met at a separate Works Progress event, was instrumental in bringing the forum to the North Side.

"The more we learned about him, and about the council, it just seemed like a natural fit to work with them," says Kloecker.

While this fourth volume is the first in two years, Kloecker says Works Progress would "like this to happen twice a year, all over the city, and in a new place every time." They hope to direct the content, as much as possible, toward the community into which it is held, he says.

Among the local presenters, for instance, Vol. 4 will feature North Minneapolis resident, educator, artist, organizer, and writer Amoke Kubat, author of Mothering Mothers and founder of the Yo Mama Institute.

Other "solutonists" will include:

Daniel Klein, producer, host and chef of The Perennial Plate, an online video series about "socially responsible and adventurous eating."

Laura Zabel, director of Springboard for the Arts, an economic development organization located in Lowertown St. Paul that connects independent artists "with the skills, information and services they need to make a living and a life."

Joseph Adamji and his students from the Kitty Anderson Youth Science Center, at the Science Museum of Minnesota, that "empowers young people to change their world through science."

Mirelle Zacharis, artist and co-curator of No Assumption, "a collaborative art exhibition that took place inside a foreclosed home in Northeast Minneapolis."

Matt Olson, co-founder of rosenlof/lucus, ro/lu, (ROLU), an independent design and art studio focusing on "landscape work, furniture design, relational architectural projects, urban planning and innovative collaborative public art."

Virajita Singh, senior research fellow at the Center for Sustainable Building Research, who is "working to raise funds for communities that need sustainable design services."

Hamilton Bell, project director of the Wilder Foundation's Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood, a "cradle-to-career" community-wide effort to ensure that children in St.Paul's Summit-University and Frogtown neighborhoods "succeed in school and life."

Scotty Reynolds, founder of Mixed Precipitation, a performance group that produces short-form projects "highlighting social engagement, and encouraging the exploration of public and private spaces, as well as collaboration across disciplines."

Source: Colin Kloecker, Works Progress
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

While Kroll Ontrack bills itself as the largest data recovery provider in the world, the Eden Prairie-based company's new Ontrack Data Recovery Partner Program is focused locally: at the level of the storefront, small business, and home.

The online certification program aims to better equip smaller IT equipment and services providers to handle data recovery and data destruction for small- and medium-sized businesses and home users, says Ken Gibson, Ontrack Data Recovery partnership channel manager.

Since the U.S. launch in December, more than 1,000 companies have completed the certification training, including about 50 in the Twin Cities, says Gibson.

The training process is simple and easy by design, he says. Organizations watch at least four of five free podcasts, available online. Topics include the basics of data recovery, how to present and sell data recovery services, data recovery in virtual environments, data destruction, and data management for Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Office SharePoint servers.

Certified organizations are ramping up existing services or adding a new aspect to their businesses in an attempt to differentiate themselves from competitors, says Gibson.

Kroll Ontrack hopes to do the same with the program; while "lots of other partner programs exist," admits Gibson, he believes Kroll Ontrack "provides more value than extending a discount."

The training is designed to improve organizations' handling of data recovery needs--whether that involves performing the service themselves or knowing when and how to pass the work on to Kroll Ontrack.

The program also strengthens a partnership that obviously benefits both Kroll Ontrack and the organization. Certified partners receive promotions and discounts on software, as well as a 10 percent commission for pass-through referrals to Kroll.

Gibson notes specifically the training in data destruction--a growing concern and need as consumers and companies "churn through" hardware at an increasing pace.

"What do you do with that old [laptop]?" asks Gibson rhetorically. "What happens to the data? You need to include data destruction with any data plan," he says, "because you really are protecting the lifeblood of your company."

Source: Ken Gibson, Kroll Ontrack
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

Emily Goodman has given the subject some thought.

While earning degrees in geography and psychology at Macalester College, she wrote an honors thesis titled The Green Cities: an Exploration into the Twin Concepts of Urban Sustainability and Conservation Psychology.

In January, after nearly three years working on transportation and bike/walk issues in St. Paul's Department of Planning and Economic Development, Goodman began putting her knowledge and experience to work as the city's first sustainable transportation planner.

The position is a new spoke in the city's larger Sustainable St. Paul strategy. A key part of her work so far has been conducting a survey of bicycle projects in anticipation of a citywide bike plan, which she calls "much-needed and exciting."

Goodman will work to establish a "bicycle priority network"--areas and routes in which the city will support biking with aspects like signage, road treatments, traffic calming, bump-outs, bike boulevards, and off-street trails.

That too supports a larger effort: to create a balanced transportation plan in line with the city's adopted "Complete Streets" policy.

"It acknowledges that the system should serve all users," says Goodman. Cars, bikes, buses, light rail, and pedestrians all have their place. Goodman's position "will focus on types of transportation that�will need a little bit of extra love," she says.

Another part of her role is to partner with other organizations and municipalities--"anybody who is doing good work in the Twin Cities region," she says. St. Paul is currently working on an effort to establish regional way-finding guidelines with nearby counties, the Minnesota Department of Transportation, and, of course, that twin city across the river.

While she does feel a bit overshadowed by the country's number-one bike city, St. Paul's relationship with Minneapolis is "friendly and collaborative," says Goodman, who calls Minneapolis "a great asset."

St. Paul has received some funding, for instance, as a rider on Minneapolis' participation in the federal Non-motorized Transportation Pilot Program, administered through St. Paul-based Transit for Livable Communities.

And Goodman agrees that Minneapolis' lauded bike culture is bolstered at least a bit by its metropolitan neighbors.

"St. Paul has done amazing things," Goodman says. "I'm excited to improve on those, but also to improve on telling the story of what we're already doing."

Source: Emily Goodman, St. Paul's Department of Planning and Economic Development
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

We haven't seen a lineup like this since the last Ozzfest.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke will headline a group of senior administration officials for a day of trade talk Feb. 17 as the U.S. Department of Commerce kicks off its multi-city National Export Initiative Small Business Tour in Minneapolis. Local opening acts Governor Mark Dayton and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak will also speak.

The tour is designed to further the Obama Administration's "New Markets, New Jobs" outreach, part of the National Export Initiative launched last year. Its goal: to create millions of new jobs by doubling exports in the next five years.

The conference will address export challenges specific to small and medium-sized businesses, which generated 20 percent of Minnesota's total exports of merchandise in 2008. Challenges include foreign competition and access to information, market research, and financing.

The daylong conference will feature panels on topics like federal resources and "lessons learned" from area businesses that have succeeded in expanding into overseas markets.

Asked to comment specifically on opportunities, resources and strategies for Twin Cities businesses, Department of Commerce officials pointed to the most recent statistics on exports, jobs, and foreign investment in Minnesota.

Some key statistics include:

� Almost 20 percent of manufacturing workers in Minnesota depended on exports for their jobs in 2008, during which 6,814 companies exported goods from Minnesota. The vast majority (88 percent) were businesses with fewer than 500 employees.

� That year, foreign-controlled companies employed 97,200 Minnesota workers � 4.1 percent of the state's total private-industry employment.

� In 2009, Minnesota's merchandise exports shipments totaled $15.5 billion. Of that, $4.1 billion (26 percent) went to Canada, our largest foreign market. Computers and electronics accounted for $3.4 billion of that total (22 percent), followed by machinery manufactures ($2.4 billion), miscellaneous manufactures ($1.9 billion), and transportation equipment ($1.7 billion).

� The Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington statistical area (11 metro counties and two in Wisconsin) exported $9.3 billion in the first half of 2009 alone.

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
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

The phrase "Fill 'er up!" is taking on new meaning--albeit it slowly--with the introduction of electric vehicles. Since the beginning of the year, the Twin Cities has stations for the filling--in Downtown St. Paul and on the 3M campus in Maplewood.

The first of Coulomb Technologies' ChargePoint Network stations was installed in early January in the public parking ramp at St. Paul's First National Bank Building, 332 North Minnesota Street. Located near the Central Corridor light rail line, the station will use 100 percent wind energy as part of Xcel Energy's WindSource program.

Meanwhile, 3M installed a ChargePoint station in the visitors' parking lot at 3M Center, its company headquarters in Maplewood, on Feb. 10. 3M will install a second station in the spring.

Jean Sweeney, vice president of environmental, health, and safety operations, called the addition of the stations "a great way to align our culture with a continued commitment to reduce impact on the environment and underline the connection between 3M values and sustainability."

Last year, 3M's energy savings programs prevented the use of nearly 8 million KWH of electricity and 585,940 Therms of natural gas, according to a press release.

An interactive map on the ChargePoint Network website shows dozens, if not hundreds, of stations across the country, but only three in Minnesota. Another is located in Rochester.

Electric car owners can search for Charge Point Network stations online or find them using an iPhone app.

Sources: Coloumb Technologies, 3M
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

When he took the call last December from Ellen Prosser of Fort Lucas Farm in Massachusetts, Dan Ellsworth could sense the sincerity and concern in her voice.

Hundreds of llamas were starving and in need of rescue at the defunct Montana Large Animal Sanctuary.

"It was a simple answer," says Ellsworth, vice president of marketing for Destron Fearing, a South St. Paul company specializing in animal identification solutions. The company donated 600 of its LifeChip microchips and four microchip readers to aid in the effort.

The chips and readers saved the rescue effort "thousands of dollars," says Gary Kaufman, spokesperson for the Camelid Rescue Coalition, made up of several regional llama rescue organizations from around the country. The chips were used to "provide a permanent form of non-invasive identification of the animals, similar to what people use on their dogs and cats," says Kaufman.

By the first week of February, "well in excess of 500" llamas had been rescued and shipped to recovery areas in at least eight states, according to Kaufman. (Not all the llamas survived; Kaufman estimates the original number was 700.)

Kaufmann had little information about why the rescue was necessary, except that the animal sanctuary "no longer had money for the llamas." It will take months to nurse the animals back to health, he says. Those interested in donating to the effort may contact Northeast Llama Rescue.

Founded in 1945, Destron Fearing was the first animal identification company in the country, according to Ellsworth. Their radio frequency identification (RFID) systems are used to identify livestock, wildlife,  fish, pets, and companion animals.

Destron Fearing has 150 employees globally, about three-quarters of them at their headquarters a few miles downriver from downtown St. Paul.

Sources: Dan Ellsworth, Destron Fearing; Gary Kaufman, Camelid Rescue Coalition.

Writer: Jeremy Stratton

In the course of its 25-year history, the Minnesota Technical Assistance Program (MnTAP) at the University of Minnesota has helped companies reduce more than 383 million pounds of waste and emissions, with related cost savings of over $29 million.
 
In 2009, MnTAP responded to more than 1,000 requests from manufacturers in the industries in which it specializes.
 
But it was the calls from companies outside of its wheelhouse that led MnTAP to launch the new "Greening Your Business" section of its website.
 
While MnTAP's expertise lies mainly in manufacturing, healthcare, and hospitality, the web resource offers a more general starting place for the many other industries who came calling, says Assistant Director Krysta Larson.

The section consists of three main pages: Energy Efficiency, Water Conservation, and 12 "Tips for Going Green." Each page includes specific strategies and acts as a portal to case studies, related news, and other organizations and resources.
 
The 12 "tip" topics span the spectrum of environmental sustainability, including source and waste reduction, reuse/recycling, lean, green, LEED, and engaging in community environmental education.
 
Larson says the website is intended as a first step for inquiring companies. She ran through examples of some simple solutions, starting with the front-end practice of source reduction.
 
"While many environmental strategies focus on waste management once it has been generated," she says, source reduction addresses pollution prevention "by stopping the waste from actually being generated in the first place, so it doesn't have to be managed."

Source: Krysta Larson, MnTAP
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

News of the first round of Enterprise Minnesota's Pathways to Business Growth program in late January highlighted the numbers: a $515,000 federal grant (out of a pool of more than $9 million) aimed at improving manufacturing companies.
 
Those numbers belie the rigors of the program, particularly the investments in time and money by the ten participating companies, each of which put up $20,000 for what Enterprise Minnesota President and CEO Bob Kill calls a "two-year journey" that he likened to a graduate course.
 
"People tend to think of grants as free money," says Kill. "We find that, with free money, nobody stays the course. There has to be a commitment."
 
On-site Enterprise Minnesota consultants will work with the companies on a variety of growth strategies, including strategic planning, marketing, purchasing, innovation, and leadership and business development.
 
Each company begins with a business assessment, but the program differs for each, based on need and the level of maturity and development, according to Kill.
 
For example, North Minneapolis-based Absolute Quality--the only round-one participant from the state's two largest cities--has "done a lot of work on the inside with management, lean, employee development," says Kill. "They have a good management team, they want to grow, they're committed, [and] they're large enough to put the resources into it," he says.
 
Through the program, Kill says, the company will focus on need areas like middle-level leadership and making a "strong marketing push" to introduce its products and technologies to new markets.
 
Enterprise Minnesota tracks participants' progress twice a year with an independent survey of sales, revenue, and other measures of growth.
 
For their investment, companies receive "significantly more in the amount of services," says Kill. The program boasts an ambitious goal of a 20-to-1 return on investment in the form of "top-line growth or bottom-line savings," he says.

Source: Bob Kill, Enterprise Minnesota
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

Whether the world is flat is open for debate, but there is no denying it is getting smaller as the global economy progresses.
 
Plus Relocation Services helps companies move and manage their employees and operations both in the US and abroad. Since the turn of the century, Plus has seen a steady annual increase in international business. In 2010, the "global side" grew 80 percent, says Chris Pardo, Plus' vice president of global services.
 
In response to the increasing international demand, the company will open a small, service-focused office in London, with 3�5 employees. That number could increase, says Pardo, given existing and expected business, and the interest the European office could generate.
 
Plus has long had activity in the European market, says Pardo, in "bread and butter" cities like London, Zurich, Dublin, Paris, and Munich.
 
"Now we're seeing Prague, Moscow, Poland, Romania starting to have lot of activity," he says. "The Eastern bloc is opening up."
 
Business is also heating up beyond Europe, of course. Of the "BRIC" countries--Brazil, Russia, India, and China --Plus has seen the most activity in the latter two.
 
They are also seeing an increase in country-to-country activity "that doesn't touch the US, and activity within countries," says Pardo.
 
The activity has led to growth stateside for Plus, as well--the company was busy with at least seven new hires in January, bringing its total employment to almost 90 people.
 
Source: Chris Pardo, Plus Relocation Services
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

When Tom Fugleberg joined OLSON, he was one of three employees at the Minneapolis-based ad agency. Thirteen years later, that number has skyrocketed to more than 375--well more than double the company's head count at the beginning of 2010.

Following the acquisitions last year of Denali Marketing and public relations firm Dig Communications (see our coverage here and here), 2011 has begun with a steady stream of new creative directors.

Fugleberg, now executive creative director, downplays growth as a byproduct of success in an industry that has changed dramatically since his early days.

"We were born in age when we thought advertising was going in a very different direction," says Fugleberg. The traditional ad is now just one tool in the box, alongside newer platforms and strategies such as public relations, mobile and social media, customer relations management, and more.

The result is a talent pool working holistically, says Fugleberg--a "protean company" focusing on brand communities, "built to follow wherever they'll be next, however they are going to connect next," he says.

Fugleberg cited OLSON's Bauer Hockey campaign, which began with the "brand anthropology" that is "at the core of every move we make," he says.

"Before we did anything creatively, we lived with hockey-crazy kids everywhere from Minneapolis to Moscow," says Fugleberg, "to understand them and how they interact as a community."

At the heart of that community is not NHL and Olympic superstar Sidney Crosby, he explains, but "the 17-year-old varsity captain" and the hockey moms that know all too well the ubiquitous aroma of hockey equipment celebrated in OLSON's best-selling "smell my bag" t-shirt campaign for Nike/Bauer.

Even in the new ad world, however, traditional measures of success still count. Fugleberg notes the agency's 22 Effies in the past nine years among its accolades. In 2010, OLSON added the Minnesota State Lottery, Boston Scientific-CRV, Discover Boating, Naked Juice, IZZE Sparkling Juice (among other "wins") to the dozens of clients on its roster.

Source: Tom Fugleberg, OLSON
Writer: Jeremy Stratton