Innovation + Job News

The Minneapolis health department is helping ten corner stores try to boost the sale of fresh produce.

The state-funded initiative is part of a broader effort to combat obesity and chronic disease by improving access to healthy, fresh foods, especially in certain underserved neighborhoods.

North Minneapolis, for example, has only two full-service grocery stores and limited transit options for getting to and from them, which leaves many residents dependent on corner stores for groceries.

Health officials realized those corner stores could be a key partner in improving food options, so they decided to design a pilot program based on similar ones in New York, New Orleans and Philadelphia. The city asked for applications from 90 corner stores, mostly on the North Side and in the Phillips neighborhood. About 15 responded and 10 were selected for the initial trial, which started this month.

"We have so many corner stores in Minneapolis, it was just a natural fit," says project specialist Aliyah Ali.

The city helped coordinate with a wholesaler, Bix Produce, to distribute fresh produce to the participating stores. It set up training for store owners on how to properly handle produce to maximize shelf life. And it came up with a specific action plan for each store involving signs, displays and store layout changes aimed at making fresh produce more visible, attractive and affordable to customers.

What makes Minneapolis' initiative unique is that the city has a ordinance to back up the program's goals. In 2008, the City Council approved the Minneapolis Staple Foods Ordinance, which requires all stores with a grocery license to carry a certain variety of fruits, vegetables, meat or protein, dairy and bread or cereal. The Healthy Corner Store Program is helping store owners comply with those rules, says Ali.

A recent review of 35 corner stores found that most were not in compliance with the ordinance and that more than a third didn't carry any fresh produce.

The city plans to track produce sales at the participating corner stores through June 2011 to see if the program boosts sales as it hopes. If it works, officials hope to expand it city wide.

Stores participating in the Healthy Corner Store Program are: Vitalife Pharmacy Rx (4151 Fremont Ave N), Lowry Food Market (628 Lowry Ave. N), One Stop Station (1604 W. Broadway), Northside Food Market (3559 Lyndale Ave. N), Glenwood Market (1501 Glenwood Ave. N), Cedar Food & Grill (2600 Cedar Ave. S), Neighborhood Grocery (814 East Franklin Ave), Shabelle Grocery (2325 E. Franklin), West Bank Grocery (417 Cedar Ave. S), and Flag Foods (2820 East 42nd St).

Source: Aliyah Ali, City of Minneapolis
Writer: Dan Haugen

Medical outcomes vary too much for every doctor or surgeon to be able to claim they're doing the best job.

That idea was one of the premises behind a recent study of bowel surgery data by a team at UnitedHealthcare, says Dr. Ed Dasso, the company's medical director for clinical improvement and analytics.

The company sifted through health care claim data from its network and looked at how outcomes varied for surgeons in similar cases, markets, and specialties. Where it found a wide spectrum of results, it took a closer look at what factors or decisions, such as length of hospitalization, were most often associated with a quick and complete recovery for the patient.

The result was a set of data and a list of evidence-based best practices for preventing bowel surgery complications, both of which UnitedHealthcare shared with gastrointestinal surgeons.

"The approach we took here was no penalties, no promises. We just did a good-faith effort of sharing information with these surgeons," says Dasso. "We said, 'Here are your results compared to your peers'... and then, 'by the way, if you are interested, here are the most current evidence-based treatment guidelines that could help reduce that variance. What you choose to do with that information is totally up to you.'"

"That was one of the premises we wanted to test with this: is just the sharing of this type of information going to result in some sort of action and potentially impact practice patterns? And, fortunately, it did."

Over the next 18 months, the health insurer observed a 50 percent decrease in avoidable hospital days and a decrease in surgery-related readmissions. The changes also produced inpatient cost savings of approximately $7.4 million during that time period. Dasso says cost savings wasn't the motivation, but that they're learning that better care and reduced costs often come hand-in-hand.

The work recently earned the company an innovation and leadership in health care award from Milliman Care Guidelines, a company that develops evidence-based clinical guidelines.

Source: Ed Dasso, UnitedHealthcare
Writer: Dan Haugen

A Minneapolis imaging company is hoping its MRI technology can become a magnet for investors.

Steady State Imaging recently disclosed that it's seeking to raise $4 million to continue refining and commercializing its technology, which enables MRI machines to image both soft and hard tissues. The fundraising round kicked off in October with the sale of $250,000 in equity, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The technology is a software platform called SWIFT (short for SWeep Imaging with Fourier Transformation), which was developed by Dr. Michael Garwood at the University of Minnesota's Center for Magnetic Resonance Research and can be installed on existing MRI machines, much like a firmware update can upgrade a cell phone or video game console.

Currently, MRI machines are good at imaging soft tissue in the body, such as your brain or muscles, but it's not the best option for imaging hard tissue like bone or cartilage. X-rays are still the most common method for imaging those harder tissues, despite the risks from ionizing (x-ray) radiation.

"Dr. Garwood's technique really broadens the applicability of MRI. It allows for really good imaging of hard and soft tissues," says Steady State Imaging CEO Danny Cunagin. "You can kind of think about his invention as combining an X-ray machine and an MRI machine in one device, without the ionizing radiation of X-rays."

Another benefit of the software is that it allows MRI machines to run much quieter than most do today, which makes it more patient-friendly, says Cunagin. It's currently for sale for in the pre-clinical market, and Cunagin says they expect to announce a clinical partner within the next three to four months.

Steady State Imaging was incorporated in 2005 and relaunched in 2008 under new leadership. It employs about half a dozen people at its office just west of downtown Minneapolis. Cunagin says the latest round of fundraising will allow the company to refine the software based on feedback from existing users, as well as prepare for commercialization in the clinical market.

Source: Danny Cunagin, Steady State Imaging
Writer: Dan Haugen

Deluxe Corp. is writing a check for renewable energy.

The Shoreview check printer and business services company recently turned up at No. 3 on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's list of top green power purchasers in the printing industry.

In the 12 months ending Oct. 5, Deluxe Corp. bought wind energy certificates to cover 25.5 million kilowatt hours, or about 41 percent of its total electricity usage. Put another way, the green power purchase covers the electricity used to produce nearly all of its checks for financial institution customers, says Pete Godich, vice president of fulfillment for Deluxe Corp.

The credits were purchased through ConEdison Solutions and Renewable Choice Energy, which are similar to  Xcel Energy's WindSource program in Minnesota. Godich says purchasing renewable energy credits is the second piece of its two-pronged green energy strategy. The first was simply reducing energy consumption at its various facilities around the country.

 It's paying a little extra to buy electricity generated by wind farms, but its electricity bill is still shrinking because of energy conservation efforts. "Our investments in reducing our overall consumption across the enterprise far outweighs whatever nominal premium we pay for renewable energy," says Godich.

On one hand, it's just the right thing to do, says Godich. But there are also financial benefits to reducing energy use, and supporting renewable energy is something many employees and customers want.

"It's good for the community. It's good for Deluxe, in terms of our profit, and it's good for consumers and our employees as well," says Godich. "It's not often that we can find win on top of win on top of win, but that's what happened."

Source: Pete Godich, Deluxe Corp.
Writer: Dan Haugen

BioMedix Vascular Solutions has outgrown its space in the suburbs and is preparing to move to downtown St. Paul in the spring.

The health care technology company makes a suite of hardware, software, and online services to assist physicians in diagnosing vascular disease.

It's currently headquartered in an 8,000-square-foot office space in White Bear Lake, but spokeswoman Meg Heim says the location can no longer accommodate the company's growth.

BioMedix's new home will be at 178 E. Ninth St., a three-story, 24,000-square-foot building that's currently boarded up and is slated for renovation before the move-in date, likely to be sometime in March. The company will lease two and a half floors of the building -- all but half of the first floor--for its approximately 75 local employees. (The company employs about 150, but half are traveling or remote salespeople.)

"We are looking forward to the energy and the atmosphere that downtown St. Paul offers," Heim said in an e-mail earlier this week.

She said preparations for the move are well underway, and that they're looking forward to seeing the building when the renovation is complete.

The growth that prompted the move has come across several product categories, including its medical hardware and health IT software, Heim said. The new space will help accommodate the growth the company expects to see in 2011, as well as help support its existing, and expanding, client base, she said.

Source: Meg Heim, BioMedix Vascular Solutions
Writer: Dan Haugen

Kindred Kitchen wants to help food entrepreneurs avoid getting stuck with a half-baked business plan.

The North Side food business incubator celebrates its grand opening this week on West Broadway. The nonprofit will provide affordable, licensed commercial kitchen rental, as well as a series of classes and workshops covering everything from ordering ingredients to refining a menu.

Kitchen Operations Manager Terese Hill says the area is full of "hidden food entrepreneurs"--bakers, caterers and others who either work out of their homes or rent odd hours in church basements or restaurant kitchens. Those arrangements can be illegal or inconvenient and often don't allow businesses to get to the next level.

"You see a lot of churches that rent out their kitchen space, but they may not be licensed and they may not have state-of-the-art commercial equipment," says Hill.

The Twin Cities is home to only a small handful of licensed commercial kitchens for rent, says Hill, and Kindred Kitchen will make this type of space more accessible in the neighborhood. The facility will also offer a three-to-four-month curriculum on operating a food business.

The classes and workshops are open to anyone, with scholarships available for low-income North Side residents. The topics range from food industry essentials such as ordering ingredients, managing inventory, and proper handling and preparation to business basics like planning, marketing, and financials.

The kitchen already has five caterers who are using the facility. Hill says they have space for between 30 and 40 users per month. Rental rates are $25 per hour with a 10-hour-per-month commitment, or $35 per hour with no monthly commitment.

Kindred Kitchen celebrates its grand opening 4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11, at 1210 West Broadway Ave. N.

Source: Terese Hill, Kindred Kitchen
Writer: Dan Haugen

 

As the nation recovers from a recession, it's still a depression for teenage job-seekers. The unemployment rate for teenagers was a staggering 27.1 percent last month, nearly three times the overall rate.

The recession appears to have been particularly damaging to teenagers' employment prospects, as laid-off adults trade down to jobs traditionally held by students. A new Minneapolis web startup is aiming to help put some cash in kids' pockets by connecting them with odd jobs around their neighborhood.

Rock Your Block is the brainchild of Sarah Young, who took the idea to last month's Startup Weekend event in Minneapolis, which we covered in a video. The web app will be a place where kids can search for work and advertise their services for things like raking, shoveling or babysitting.

"I wanted to provide a quick, easy, simple way for teens to find odd jobs within their neighborhoods" and avoid the hassle of putting up fliers or knocking on strangers' doors, says Young, whose income as a kid included pay for things like babysitting and dog walking. There is no Monster.com for these kind of chores, and that's what Rock Your Block wants to be.

Young and her team are in the process of working out safety and security issues. Before a child can set up an account, they need to get an adult to vouch for them and pay a sponsorship fee and for an optional background check. When they complete a job, customers can post feedback about their work, which will appear on the teenager's job history.

The company is self-funded for now. They hope to roll out a test version of the site this year with a wider beta launch in 2011.

Source: Sarah Young, Rock Your Block
Writer: Dan Haugen

Could the clothing we wear someday help us monitor our heart rate, track our performance, or even recover from injuries?

That's the future Lucy Dunne is exploring as an assistant professor in the University of Minnesota's apparel design program

Dunne studies wearable technologies, sometimes referred to as "smart clothing." The term describes to clothing or accessories that incorporate come sort of electronic component.

It's an emerging field with a lot of interest but few products on the shelf so far. One example would be Nike shoes that can send information to an iPod or iPhone. Then there are tackier, or should we say more novel, applications, like the mp3 player jacket or light-up T-shirts.

More serious applications, though, revolve around sports and medicine. One challenge with integrating body monitoring technology into clothing, says Dunne, is that in order to pick up a quality signal, such as a heartbeat, most sensors need to be tightly affixed to the body, often with a strap or a patch.

"I was originally a clothing designer, and in clothing design you can't ask the consumer to make those kinds of compromises, where they're uncomfortable or they feel like they look weird," says Dunne. "So my interest is in translating those sensing techniques into everyday clothing."

Dunne recently received a garment-tech innovation award for her work studying how signal quality is affected by looser fitting clothing (or "Joint Sensing in Everyday Clothing: Analysis of Garment Ease and Signal Noise in a Garment-Integrated Optical Bend Sensor.")

The hope is that her work will one day lead to everyday smart clothing that does more than light up or play music.

Source: Lucy Dunne, University of Minnesota
Writer: Dan Haugen

When it comes to boosting participation in health and wellness programs, employees respond to goals and rewards � especially when the message isn't coming from their employer or health insurer.

That's the conclusion of a national health engagement survey commissioned by Minneapolis-based RedBrick Health.

RedBrick Health is a health technology company that partners with employers on health and wellness programs. Chief Marketing Officer Eric Zimmerman says they commissioned the survey to get a better sense of what employers are doing and what's working when it comes to employee health engagement.

Employers spend significant money on health and wellness programs, which can lower health insurance costs and increase productivity. But many of these initiatives suffer from anemic participation levels, often preaching to the health-conscious choir and reaching only around 10 percent of employees, says Zimmerman.

The survey results show, however, that engagement is not universally low, and patterns emerge among the programs that are seeing higher participation rates. Programs that involved setting goals saw 63 percent higher engagement levels, while programs that rewarded meeting those goals with incentives saw 107 percent greater engagement.

Another characteristic associated with success: having a program administered by a third-party other than the company's health insurance provider. Zimmerman speculated that it could be a trust issue, or it could be a matter of specialization, and that having a company like RedBrick that focuses on engagement can deliver better results because it's all they do.

Another finding in the survey was that many employers plan to increase their spending on health and wellness programs, despite the mixed results. Says Zimmerman:

"There's a terrific sense of urgency to address the cost issue and a terrific appetite for a different approach."

Source: Eric Zimmerman, RedBrick Health
Writer: Dan Haugen

When you hear Toro Company and cutting edge, the first thing that comes to mind is probably hedge trimming, not innovation.

But the company has been tinkering now for nearly a decade on next-generation fuel cell vehicles at its Bloomington R&D facility.

Jack Gust, Toro's chief research and development engineer, says there's a growing demand from customers for electric vehicles. The types of turf vehicles it manufactures have to be light, and so several years ago they set out to find electric sources with the most energy-per-pound. Hydrogen-powered fuel cells are among the best potential sources by that measure, along with hybrid and lithium batteries.

The company started visiting fuel cell suppliers and attending conferences to learn about the technology early last decade, and then built its first hydrogen-powered prototype vehicle in 2004. After showing off the vehicle at trade shows, the company got a request from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to build four more, which are used at Niagara Falls State Park.

The Toro Company announced its third hydrogen fuel-cell project last month, a collaboration with Eden Prairie aerospace and defense firm ATK on two mid-duty utility vehicles for the military.

Gust says they've concluded that fuel cell technology is technically viable--"it works," he says--but it still costs too much today to mass-produce hydrogen-powered vehicles. The goal is to learn the technology now so that if and when prices improve the company can be ready to enter the market.

"We're kind of dabbling," says Gust. "Each time we do it, we're trying to just grow our knowledge on what we learned from the prior attempt. Each time we'll assess the technology a little more."

Source: Jack Gust, The Toro Company
Writer: Dan Haugen

A local software shop is experiencing some healthy growth.

PowerObjects helps companies configure and customize Microsoft Dynamics relationship management software, which helps organizations keep track of information about their clients, customers or sales leads.

The company was Microsoft's fastest-growing partner in its last fiscal year. COO Jim Sheehan says revenues are on track to be 40 percent over last year. In June, PowerObjects announced an expansion of its office in the SO|HO building in downtown Minneapolis, where it employs 32 people.

Sheehan credits the company's growth to its "laser focus" on Microsoft Dynamics software. Until three years ago the company was much less specialized and did a variety of custom software projects for customers.

"It was pretty scary for us. We had a few million dollars in business in other software lines, and we said: Nope, we're going to get rid of it all," Sheehan said, and focus exclusively on implementing Microsoft Dynamics software.

As a result, they're known at Microsoft, and that's resulted in some major business referrals.

It also has an expertise in software for health care and life sciences--"pretty much anything that relates to or could touch a patient," says Sheehan.

The company also has about 15 employees in Texas at offices in Dallas and San Antonio.

Source: Jim Sheehan, PowerObjects
Writer: Dan Haugen

The company that invented the first refrigerated trailer in 1938 is now working on technology to make them more energy-efficient.

Thermo King held an "innovation showcase" last month at its headquarters in Bloomington, where it employs more than 500 people.

The company makes refrigeration systems for the trucking industry, as well as heating and cooling systems for buses and trains.

Most conventional heating and cooling systems draw their power from the same diesel engine that drives the vehicle. Thermo King recently introduced systems that run separate from the primary engine, tapping into an electric battery or a separate diesel engine.

"There's a lot of buzz around these electric systems," said Chris Casazza, president of Thermo King in North America.

According to the company, the new systems are more energy-efficient, less complicated to install and maintain, and less expensive over the lifetime of the system.

Casazza said the company is seeing growing interest from vehicle manufacturers in trying out the new units. Meanwhile, the company's overall revenues for the year are about 20 percent ahead of last year.

Source: Chris Casazza, Thermo King
Writer: Dan Haugen

You may not have heard of Scales Advertising, but if you buy office supplies from 3M, odds are you've seen their work.

The under-the-radar St. Paul agency does design, packaging and advertising for a variety of 3M products. Other clients include Scotch, C.H. Robinson Worldwide and the Minnesota High Tech Association.

Scales recently announced the hiring of a new associate creative director, Peter Winecke, and also a new client, Red Wing-based Capital Safety.

The nearly 40-year-old company touts a focus on "becoming part of our clients' daily operation, knowledge base and potential."

"We're going after business from a more integrated standpoint versus just a project-by-project basis," says marketing director Holli Maines.

And it appears to be working. The company's revenue was around $6.5 million last year, and they expect to improve on that by between $500,000 and $1 million this year.

Maines says what helps set the agency apart is its range of in-house services, which include strategic planning as well as packaging design and production, photography and international file preparation.

Source: Holli Maines, Scales Advertising
Writer: Dan Haugen

An Eden Prairie company has helped build a prototype of futuristic gas-electric hybrid car that gets better than 200 mpg.

Stratasys, which manufactures 3D printers and rapid-prototyping systems, printed all of the exterior components for Urbee, an ultra-green vehicle being developed by a Winnipeg engineer group called Kor Ecologic.

The car is the first to have its entire body created by a 3D printing process. The companies are showing off the prototype in Las Vegas this week at the 2010 SEMA Show, an annual automotive trade show.

Urbee aims to be one of the world's greenest and most fuel-efficient vehicles. The hybrid vehicle reaches better than 200 mpg highway and 100 mpg city. It runs on electricity and either gasoline or ethanol.

Jim Kor, president and chief technology officer for Kor Ecologic, said in a press release that Stratasys' technology made the design and prototyping process more efficient by eliminating tooling and machining steps.

Statasys is a public company with about 360 full-time employees. Its machines are used by designers and engineers in the aerospace, automotive, medical device and consumer product industries.

The company's technology was also used to help create another experimental green car, the T.25 City Car, which was unveiled in July.

Source: Joe Hiemenz, Stratasys
Writer: Dan Haugen

Stacy Becker knows there's already a million online dating sites.

But she also knows too many people--herself included--who are disappointed, disillusioned, and uninterested in them all.

So she banded together with a few like-minded singles to create Plume Blue, a local dating site that attempts to offer something different.

"We're really trying to rethink how online dating is done," says Becker, the site's founder and CEO.

The result: a site that's centered around events and things to do instead of personality profiles. Users post their ideas or plans for a night out (Say, Walker Art Center on Thursday night), and other users can respond and make plans to join if the plans fit their idea of a good time too.

Becker says too many online dating services lead to meetups that begin with an awkward coffee shop "interview" instead of having fun.

The site, which launched Oct. 26, is a side project for Becker, who also works as a public policy consultant. She developed some web experience while working on a social networking project for the Citizens League.

Her first goal is getting usership up to a critical mass. The first 250 people to sign-up receive a free lifetime membership. After that, Becker plans to charge $12 for the first two months and $7 per month after that.

Source: Stacy Becker, Plume Blue.
Writer: Dan Haugen