Buzz

Think "young entrepreneur" and you might imagine a college student starting a technology company in his dorm room. You probably don't think of a loan processor quitting a bank job to start a rock hauling service.

Krystal Vierkant, founder of Rock On, is one of eight young entrepreneurs spotlighted in The Business Journal's 2010 Young Entrepreneurs section. Candidates had to be under 35 and a founder or controlling shareholder at a company with more than $1 million in annual revenue.

This year's honorees were: Dirk Bak of Corporate Facilities Management, Steve Whinnery of eCapital Advisors, Krystal Vierkant of Rock On Cos., Collin Kaas of Kaas Wilson Architects, Justin Kaufenberg of TST Media, Nick Beste of ManCave, Matt Meents of Reside, and Brentone Hayden of Renters Warehouse. (Warning: the section is behind the Business Journal's paywall.)

Read The Business Journal's full summary here.

GreenMark, a Minneapolis sports-marketing firm (which we wrote about last month), is quoted in an Associated Press story about sports organizations going green.

Mark Andrew, GreenMark's founder, tells the AP that industry will only change if there's money to be made, but that he believes there is.

"Sports has lagged behind the rest of the private sector in implementing truly green practices and operations," Andrew said. "However, they're catching up and sports as an industry is doing a much better job than they were."

Read the entire Associated Press article here.

The Hill reports on testimony by Sen. Al Franken, in which he urged Congress to create incentives for medical device companies to pursue solutions to rare diseases.

"I'm concerned that we still don't have equivalent incentives for devices as we have for drugs," Franken said during a Senate health committee hearing.

Medical device companies say they need government incentives to pursue treatments for rare diseases for which the market is too small to turn a profit.

Read the entire report from The Hill here.

One of the nation's most active venture capital firms is also very active in Minnesota.

The Business Journal's Katharine Grayson notes on her In Private blog that New Enterprise Associates, which ranks second on a new ranking of the most active venture capital firms, is a major backer of med-tech companies in the Twin Cities.

NEA doesn't have an office in Minnesota, but one of its partners is a former president of Guidant's cardiac rhythm management group.

Read the entire Business Journal post here.

A recent court ruling favoring the Canadian Pacific Railway ended St. Paul's dream of building an extension of the successful Midtown Greenway bicycle-pedestrian route. But advocates tell the Twin Cities Daily Planet that the federal funds that would have gone to that project will likely be used to beef up the local bicycle infrastructure elsewhere:

"In August of last year, the city tried to use eminent domain to gain the right of way--but Judge Franks' June 17 decision shot down the attempt.

"The city could pursue other legal avenues, but it's not likely to do that, [Ward 4 Council Member Russ] Stark said. A second ruling in favor of the railroad could set an unhappy precedent for other municipalities pursuing similar 'rails-to-trails' projects. That's not a risk, Stark said, that St. Paul wants to take.

"Now the city has to forfeit millions of dollars in federal transportation funds, making the total amount of money awarded to and lost by the project nearly $7.5 million.  But on a brighter note, Stark added, the returned money will likely be funneled into other regional biking or walking infrastructure projects."

Read the full article here.

With the recent addition of dedicated express-bus lanes on formerly choked freeways, the Twin Cities have joined Seattle as one of the two leading cities offering innovative alternatives to time-wasting freeway commuting, according to USA Today:

"Getting people...to choose public transit, carpools, biking, telecommuting or other alternatives to driving to work solo is a major part of a campaign to relieve congestion on I-35W and other roads here. The state is spending $500 million, including $133 million in federal money granted to cities running innovative projects, on a broad effort to ease logjams on I-35W....

"The congestion-easing efforts have helped make the Twin Cities, along with Seattle, a national leader among cities working to keep traffic moving, says Tim Lomax, a congestion specialist at the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University....

"'Those two are at the forefront of what's going on,' says Lomax, co-author of the annual Urban Mobility Report, which ranks congestion trends in 90 cities. 'The things that stand out in my mind are the use of information, very detailed information that drives their decisions about day-to-day operations and long-term projects. They are not only thought leaders but action leaders.'"

Read the full article here.

Advertising Age magazine has named Minneapolis-based Mono its "Agency of the Year" in the 11-to-75 employee category.

We wrote about Mono's recent growth last month. The firm produces in-store displays and other graphics for Apple. It's clients also include Macy's, Rolaids, Herman Miller, General Mills, Sesame Street, and Mrs. Meyers Clean Day.

AdAge said it's recognizing Mono "for believing that simpler is better":

"Its belief in no department heads, no hierarchy or separation between strategy and creative, design and advertising, or between traditional and digital media has led to great work for clients such as Mrs. Meyers Clean Day, EMD Serono and Blu Dot."

Read the entire AdAge article here.

Minnesota companies attracted $45.4 million in venture capital investments in the second quarter, more than double the previous quarter's amount, the Star Tribune reports.

However, that amount still leaves the state on pace for the lowest annual total of venture capital investments since PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association started tracking the figures.

"If we finish out the year at this pace, we're well below the lows of 1995 when the survey started," Jay Hare, a partner at the Minneapolis office of PricewaterhouseCoopers, told the newspaper. "We are still so heavily concentrated in one industry [medical devices] that it's hurting us when we're seeing the national [venture capital numbers] rebound."

Read the entire Star Tribune article here.

An unusually candid debate has been playing out on the pages of MedCityNews in recent days about the future of technology transfer at the University of Minnesota. Technology transfer refers to the process of turning basic university research into commercial products.

Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-St. Paul, started the skirmish by telling MedCityNews that if the university doesn't reform its technology transfer office, he'll introduce a bill at the Legislature that will force reform, including possibly privatizing the tech transfer office.

The University of Minnesota's top research official, Tim Mulcahy, then fired back, characterizing Mahoney's criticisms as naive and reckless.

MedCityNews journalist Thomas Lee writes that the feud is actually a sign of progress:

"Yet, believe it or not, the dispute itself reflects real progress. That two fairly important guys would openly argue about something as arcane as technology transfer shows how far we've come... Mahoney has been in the legislature a long time, so why call out the university now? You don't complain about something unless you think someone actually cares about it."

Read the entire MedCityNews summary here.

As expected, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development posted online Monday details and documents related to the state's new angel investor tax credit.

The 25 percent income tax credit is designed to spur investments in technology-based Minnesota startup companies. The program is funded with $11 million this year, and $12 million per year between 2011 and 2014.

The credit will be awarded on a first-come-first-served basis. Before investors can apply, they and the companies they are investing in must apply for certification to verify that they qualify for the program.

View details and applications for the angel tax credit here.

MPR takes note of a study by economists at Ohio State University who closely examined Baldwin, Minn. to measure the health of exurban sprawl in America. Is the phenomenon dead as a doornail at a vacant McMansion? Or just sleeping the deep sleep of an overdeveloped bedroom community? Perhaps a new concept, like agriburbia, will bring it back:

"As the demographics of households in the U.S. continues to shift from those with children--69 percent in 1990 (U.S. census records)--to those without children--60 percent in 2008--the priorities of home-buyers begin to change.

"This analysis of the 2000 census shows a clear shift: over 80% of downtown city populations are composed of non-families and families without children while the same demographic groups make up just over 60 percent of the suburbs. This shift to cities will reduce demand for exurban development.

"However, other factors will continue to increase demand, the researchers found.

"High gas prices have recently slowed exurban development, but improvements in fuel efficiency and public transport, as well as technology improvements that make working remotely possible, will create opportunities for people to live further from cities in the future, the researchers say.

"It is possible that companies will begin to create clusters of suburban or exurban remote work-sites as technology improvements continue."

Read the full article here.

A garage, a "great room," a funeral parlor. They're among the unconventional local venues, often in private homes, where musical and other performances are taking place, writes Jon Bream in the Star Tribune:

"House concerts are a folk tradition that's as old as 'Oh! Susanna.' But nowadays they're the stage for pop performers, too -- everyone from Wilco's revered Jeff Tweedy to Canada's Be Good Tanyas to your neighbor's aspiring singer/songwriter college student. Other arts -- dance, theater and even visual arts -- are being presented in Minnesota houses, apartments and back yards, as well.

"These alternative gigs are less a response to tough economic times than a grass-roots strategy of reaching and building an audience. The Twin Cities blog Cake in 15 has been hosting 35-seat house concerts for indie-rock hipsters. And living-room performances have become special-occasion events for baby boomers who don't see much live music beyond arena concerts by old heroes like Elton John or James Taylor."

Read the full article here.

A key architect of the state's new angel tax credit may tackle tech-transfer legislation next.

Rep. Tim Mahoney (DFL-St. Paul) tells MedCityNews that he's frustrated with the University of Minnesota's efforts to turn basic research into commercial products.

"So unless the university makes significant progress by the end of the year, Mahoney will introduce a bill that either privatizes tech transfer or calls for the university to hire a 'strong entrepreneurial' president that will 'really shake up' the Office for Technology Commercialization (OTC)," MedCity News writes.

Mahoney goes on to say the university's practice of spinning off just a few high-potential companies per year amounts to "screening companies to death."

Read the full MedCityNews report here.

An interesting analysis from MedCityNews and Mass Device:

Despite the frequent complaints about the U.S. Food and Drug Administration taking longer to approve medical devices, the agency actually cleared 13 percent more cardiology devices last year than in 2008.

"If there are industries that have good reason to sweat, it's orthopedics and surgical instruments. 510(k )approvals for orthopedic devices fell nearly 14 percent last year and 10 percent for surgical devices. It took the FDA 21 more days to clear an orthopedic device (120 days vs. 99 days) and six more days to green light a surgical device (118 days vs. 112 days)," MedCityNews writes.

MedCityNews says the FDA has tightened scrutiny of orthopedic devices following a scandal around ReGen Biologics' knee cartilage implants.

Read the entire MedCityNews report here.

Money magazine has named Eden Prairie the nation's Best Place to Live in 2010. (And, hey, if we're all about regionalism these days, that means we can count this as a victory for the entire Twin Cities, right?)

Here's what Money has to say:

"Why is Eden Prairie No. 1 this year? Not only is it family-friendly, it has a dynamite economy too. At 5.1%, its unemployment rate is nearly one percentage point below the county rate and more than four points below the national average. It helps when you've got 50,000 jobs right in town."

The publication notes the city's perfect bond rating, it's miles of trails, and major employers, including C.H. Robinson, Starkey Labs, and the Minnesota Vikings.

Eagan, Plymouth, Woodbury and Apple Valley were also in the Top 25.

Read the entire Money report here.