The Novel Devices Laboratory at the University of Cincinnati, Gamma Dynamics, DuPont, and Sun Chemicals have developed new technology for LCD screens to produce bright screens with little battery power. The e-Design LCD's can be manufactured easily with readily available equipment and will be available within the next three years. Read the full story here.
hiVelocity tells the story of the new economy in Ohio. It's a narrative of creative people and businesses and what they are doing to create jobs for today and tomorrow. It's the story of a state on the move.Every other Thursday, hiVelocity will present original stories, video and photography to tell that story, from Cleveland to Cincinnati, Marietta to Maumee and parts in betweenRead more about Ohio innovation in hiVelocity..
Surrounded each day by one of the top-ranked genealogy collections in the country, Patricia Van Skaik has a deep appreciation for the significance of the past in shaping our future, as well as the role the future plays in preserving that past. In her 26 years as manager of Cincinnati Public Library's Genealogy and Local History Department, Van Skaik has devoted herself to the preservation of Cincinnati's history and has embraced the advanced technologies that have enabled her passionate efforts. It was a combination of advanced technologies and passions spanning two centuries that Van Skaik credits with the eventual rescue and full revelation of "the Public Library's most valuable treasure," a priceless image from the 19th century considered to be the oldest surviving photograph of an American city. The photo, an 1848 panorama of the Cincinnati Riverfront, "is considered to be one of the finest examples of daguerrean photography," says Van Skaik, who gives primary credit for the quality of the image to the passion, skill and advanced technology employed by its19th Century photographers.Those Victorian-era cameramen would no doubt return the compliment, as it was the dedication of Van Skaik coupled with the sophisticated technologies of the present which ultimately saved the daguerreotype from potential demise. Six years ago, in an effort to safeguard the image, the urban history specialist began researching the most advanced methods of photographic preservation and in 2006, the Library made arrangements for the priceless panorama to be transported to the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York to begin stabilization and conservation work. It was there, explains Van Skaik, "that state-of-the-art microscopy equipment exposed previously undetected damage to the image" - information critical for the preservation specialists. The digital microscope also revealed an exciting surprise for the Cincinnati librarian. Due to the impressive quality of the 19th century daguerreotype, the digital microscope was able to provide an undistorted 30x magnification of the photo- an enlargement revealing unprecedented historic detail of Cincinnati's past.It was this exciting outcome, and Van Skaik's recognition that "both technology and passion have been interwoven every step of the way" that the urban historian will present as one of the notable speakers at the TEDxCincy event being held Oct. 7 at the Aronoff Center for the Arts. The local program is an offshoot of the west coast-based TED conference, an annual event devoted to "Ideas Worth Spreading" in the technology, entertainment and design sectors. Just as the Eastman microscope provided a close-up view of yesteryear along the Queen City riverfront, Van Skaik's devotion to enabling and improving access to historic information through the use of technology continues to open many doors to Cincinnati's past. TEDxCincy is a full day event, beginning at 9:30 am (check-in begins at 8:30 am) on October 7th, at the Procter & Gamble Hall in the Aronoff Center for the Arts. General admission is $55 and student admission (with ID) is $35. Registration for the event is online.Source: Patricia Van Skaik- manager of Cincinnati Public Library's Genealogy and Local History DepartmentWriter: Alyce Vilines
Judges for this year's Cincinnati Innovates competition plowed through 301 entries for new company and product ideas to award $80,000 in prizes to 10 Greater Cincinnati entrepreneurs.The First Place winner was Jocelyn Cates, of Burlington, Ky., who created an online event venue booking website application called Venue Agent. Cates won a $25,000 prize. Soapbox profiled Venue Agent in a recent issue as a Featured Growth Company.Cates explained the company this way: “Many brides don't know that booking on a Thursday or Friday could save them 50% on their venue - and many venues have a tough time selling off-season dates. VenueAgent is like the Hotels.com of event venues."Cates said the funding will help fund a site redesign and formal public launch."We have much work to do in order to get ready for a formal launch to the public. We will use the money and the mentorship from CincyTech to gear the site to be even more of a venue "deal" website, offering venues the opportunity to fill vacancies at their facility while making it possible for brides and event planners take advantage of great savings," she said. The second place winner was Mason resident Suprasanna Mishra, of Mason, who created the Facebook application "ConcertEverytime." The app, which also has a downloadable counterpart, crawls your electronic music library (ex. iTunes) finding your favorite bands based on playlists and other factors. The app then geolocates those bands and find concert dates for your favorite artists."I'll be using the grant from Cincytech to develop and brand both the downloadable application as well as the online facebook counterpart. It'll help take ConcertEverytime from concept to completion and basically act as the founding seed money for my idea," Mishra said.The awards were announced Sept. 22 at the Underground Railroad Freedom Center along the Cincinnati riverfront. The second annual competition was open to anyone now or originally from the 15-county area of Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana. It had a broad reach and included innovative products, devices, business processes and more. The top prize of $25,000 was sponsored by CincyTech. The contest's aim is to identify and support a wide diversity of high-potential entrepreneurs. Nearly 34 percent of entrants were women, and 17 self-identified ethnic groups were represented."We've been very pleased with the kinds of participants Cincinnati Innovates is attracting. We are looking for strong startups in which to invest, and we’ve seen many good ideas coming out of this competition," Said Bob Coy, president of CincyTech.The other award winners were:Northern Kentucky Commercialization Award: $10,000. Winner: Alex Frommeyer, Alex Curry, Daniel Dykes, and Joseph Schab, all Northern Kentucky residents, Intellidontic Endodontic File - a safer endodontic file that protects patients from nerve damage during root canals. (Award sponsored by Northern Kentucky eZone, Vision 2015, Northern Kentucky Tri-Ed, and bioLogic)Legal & Patent Awards sponsored by Taft Law FirmFirst Prize, $10,000: Winner: Amit Bhattacharya and David Ralph, OsteoDynamics - a device that enables painless and non-invasive diagnosis of osteoporosis. Second Prize, $5,000: Winner: Georg Weber, MetaMol Marker for Breast Cancer Aggressiveness - diagnostic tools to predict whether a breast tumor will spread.LPK Design and Branding Award: $10,000 (applied toward design and branding, sponsored by LPK)Winner: Sally Pipkin, Patients at Play -- Clothing and IV covers designed to put a smile on parents and kids faces in the hospital - and safely secure needle sites for young patients undergoing treatment.CoStrategix Web Development Award: $5,000 (applied toward web application, sponsored by CoStrategix)Winner: Darcy Crociata, FunBooks - an app that lets you grab status updates, comments and photos from Facebook and click them into a hardcover snapshot of your life stream. Cooney, Faulkner & Stevens Get Started Award: $2,500 (applied toward business accounting and advisory, sponsored by Cooney, Faulkner & Stevens)Winner: Keara Schwartz, ShareSomeSugar -- an eBorrowing community where you can find someone in your neighborhood or social network who is willing to lend you something that you need.HYPE! Community Choice Award: $2,000Winner: Dan Calhoun, of Northern Kentucky, RooRoo - In-flight games for airline passengers.Student Innovator Award: $1,000Winner: Carly Hagins, Compostable Portable Restroom -- a greener alternative to current porta-potty designs. Writer: Feoshia HendersonSource: Elizabeth Edwards, Cincinnati Innovates founderYou can follow Feoshia on twitter @feoshiawrites
The Hamilton County Business Center and BioStart incubators have teamed up to bring the world renowned Kauffman FastTrac TechVenture Program to Southwest Ohio's tech-focused entrepreneurs.Sponsored by the The Kauffman Foundation, TechVenture is a hands-on business development program geared toward scientists, inventors, engineers and IT developers. Through this program southwest Ohio innovators who want to commercialize a new technology or grow an existing tech business can get the specialized help they need. More than 300,000 entrepreneurs across the globe have participated in FastTrac. The 8-week TechVenture program is open to 10 people. "Our new program combines elements of all our programming, including business incubation, to allow us to assist the start up of an additional 10 innovative ventures here in southwest Ohio. By providing a quality hands-on, interactive business planning process with the connectivity provided by HCBC and BioStart, the participants will receive the attention to detail needed to launch a successful venture," said Patrick Longo, HCBC Director. At the program's end entrepreneurs will have a chance to win one of three early-stage funding prizes of $5,000, $3,000 or $1,000 through a business plan competition."The Program believes that the participants will need to show their mettle by competing with each other to win one of the 3 cash prizes. The Program's business plan competition will allow the clients to receive quality constructive feedback from a variety of capital and service providers in the area," Longo said. .It costs $250 to participate, down from the usual $895 price due to a State of Ohio Edison Technology Supplemental Grant awarded to BioStart and HCBC. The program starts Oct. 19, and classes are from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.Each week local subject experts will discuss business development and management topics, including: Entering and Capturing the Market Financial Considerations Entrepreneurship and Building Your Team Protecting Your Intellectual Property Identifying Funding and Working With Investors Cash Management and OperationsProfessional business coaches and mentors will also work one-one with each company to develop the topics in the company’s business plan. Interested? Apply here.Writer: Feoshia HendersonSource: Patrick Longo, HCBC Director You can follow Feoshia on twitter @feoshiawrites
Learn about one of Cincinnati's most devoted conservationists, support the UC Bearcats with a rally on Fountain Square, expand your knowledge of the digital world, rock out during the MidPoint Music Festival and get outside to enjoy our boundless parks and their unique activities during the Great Outdoor Weekend.
In the life of business start-ups, the great idea is only the first small step. So five lucky start-ups are getting the chance to learn from Cincinnati's master brand strategists and market research gurus as they take part in the first ever 12-week program at The Brandery, a new business accelerator that is luring promising young companies to Southwest Ohio.
P&G wants to reach the goal of being "the most technology-enabled company in the world" in order to improve performance levels all around. The company also strives to trim costs and create flexibility by building brands that last for decades.Read the full story here.
Covington's TiER1, a custom software management solutions company, has recently received a Small Business Innovation Research grant from the Department of Homeland Security.This grant will allow TiER1 to help the DHS improve its training programs and the usability of its airport screening systems. TiER1 has received nearly $2MM in funding for similar types of work with grants from NASA, Air Force Research Laboratories, and the National Science Foundation."In this kind of high-end research we are looking at adaptive learning environments, reducing the time of training for individuals and making (training) more effective and accessible when they need it," said Normand Desmarais, TiER1 founding partner and chairman of the board.TiER1, founded in 2002, is a provider of end-to-end online learning and knowledge management solutions. The company works to drive efficiencies and performance in five key areas: People, Process, Sales, Leadership and Structure. "This win continues to expand TiER1's research capability and the results from this research is used to benefit our commercial and government clients," said Dr. Kevin Moore, TiER1 Co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer. "This is a big win for TiER1 and the DHS."Clients include commercial, non-profit and government entities including Dell, FedEx, Fidelity Investments, Kraft, Wendy's and Procter & Gamble. Last year the company won a $750,000 research contract from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to develop a training system to detect and prevent insider cyber security threats. The company's Performance1 software platform provides a single, integrated resource for user assessment, training delivery, usability evaluation, reporting, and tracking. The research and products that come from TiER1's government work also has applications in the private sector, which the company has used to spur growth and competitiveness."What this has done for our company in Kentucky puts us on the radar for think tanks and prominent organizations," Desmarais said. "It's given us a lot of credibility and the ability to grow our business."TiER1 employs 60 people. The bulk of their web-based software development work takes place in Covington, but the company does have a few workers in Dayton and Colorado Springs. TiER1 has a highly specialized workforce, and has hired workers from across the country, but also right here in Northern Kentucky.Northern Kentucky University's new Informatics program is providing the type of workers the company seeks out, Desmarais said.Writer: Feoshia HendersonSource: Desmarais, TiER1 founding partner and chairman of the boardYou can follow Feoshia on twitter @feoshiawrites
Let a thousand Teds bloom. Well, actually, that should be TEDs, as in Technology, Education and Design - and it's the name of a vastly influential non-profit that in 1984 started having conferences in California devoted to offering "Ideas Worth Spreading" in those and related fields. So successful has it been that in 2009 it started a spin-off, TEDx, which has allowed 669 local communities to organize and host their own independent events. The first one in Cincinnati is October 7 and promises some fascinating speakers addressing the theme of "Passion -- the Energy Behind Life's Most Fearless Pursuits."
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