Innovation & Job News

Brothers Ty and LeRoy Zeigler set aside orchestra careers to run a water-powered grist feed mill near Gettysburg in 1935. Today the third-generation Zeigler Bros. is still growing, bolstered by its highly successful export business. So successful, in fact, that the company, which specializes in the formulation and manufacture of specialty feeds, has been named the U.S. Small Business Administration’s National Exporter of the Year.
 
Tim Zeigler, vice president for sales and marketing, says Zeigler began exporting in the 1970s, when it moved from producing commodity feeds to exploring niche markets. “One of these markets, aquaculture, has grown exponentially over the last 30 years, primarily outside of the U.S. Our franchise program was introduced in 1986 in Panama to provide nutrition and processing technologies to local aquaculture markets. From that point on, we developed a host of innovative new products and technologies to support an industry, which today represents a substantial portion of the world’s seafood and overall food supply.”
 
Exports helped Zeigler recover from a devastating plant fire in 2007. In the last three years, Zeigler says, sales have increased over 65% with exports a key factor. Today Zeigler exports to over 40 countries in Latin America, West Africa and Southeast Asia. Its franchise program has active operations at two locations in Mexico and a third plant in Ecuador is scheduled for startup later this year.

Zeigler advises small and mid-sized companies, who often think that international markets are too complicated, to go for it. “Our local Kutztown Small Business Development Center was a vital component in steering us through the many mazes of doing business internationally. It also takes persistence, patience, and people who [aren’t] hesitant to reach out to visit and understand global markets.”
 
Zeigler also supports an active R&D program for new product development. “Just this year,” Zeigler reports, “we have installed a new, state-of-the-art extruder system for the manufacture of custom feeds for a variety of animals.”
 
Zeigler, based in Gardners, employs  64 full-timers and expects to add 6 or 7 new positions by year’s end.
 
Source: Tim Zeigler, Zeigler Bros.
Writer: Elise Vider

A growing global population, economic and environmental challenges, and an escalating domestic demand local, high-quality food – never has the climate been more conducive to entrepreneurism and innovation in agriculture, says Mark Gagnon.
 
Gagnon leads Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences’ Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program, which just got a big boost with a $200,000 gift from donors Earl and Kay Harbaugh.
 
Started in 2006, mostly to support agricultural extension projects, the program has grown to support research, development and commercialization of projects by students and faculty, says Gagnon.
 
The program consists of entrepreneurship-focused classes, competitions including the Ag Business Springboard student competition, the Harbaugh Entrepreneurship Forum, which brings entrepreneurial leaders to campus to inspire students and faculty, mentoring and more.
 
Undergrads are actively developing innovative products and services, often working across disciplines. At the most recent Ag Springboard in November 2012, a student team won $5,000 to continue work on a mobile aquaponic greenhouse suitable for restaurant kitchens. The second place team won $1,000 for its work on a new type of poultry feeder, soon to be tested on live birds.
 
Other student work includes specialized greenhouses for microgreens and new food products (including one being worked on in Brazil this summer). A faculty team is at work on a new approach to feeding cover crops, used to build more organic content in the soil.
 
Looking ahead, Gagnon sees continued growth for the program; “There is such a demand for what we do in ag science. We have the challenge of feeding the world and boosting living standards.”
 
Source: Mark Gagnon, Harbaugh Entrepreneurship Scholar, College of Agricultural Sciences’ Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program, Penn State
Writer: Elise Vider
 
 
 
 
 
 

The 50th annual National Small Business Week starts Monday and a group of Pennsylvania businesses, businesspeople and development centers are being cited for their contributions to the Commonwealth’s economy and their commitment to their local community and region.  
 
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) National Small Business Week Awards recognize small businesses on a variety of levels including growth of employees, increase in sales, sound financial performance, response to adversity and community contributions.
 
The big enchilada is Zeigler Bros of Gardners, which was named national exporter of the year, the top SBA award for exports. (See accompanying story.)
 
Elsewhere in the SBA’s Philadelphia district, the Widener University SBDC  in Chester won accolades for excellence and innovation, also picking up a regional award covering Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC and West Virginia. Gresham's Chophouse  in Hawley was named Eastern PA’s family business of the year and David Wise II, owner of G.S. Madison  (owner two 1-800-GOT-Junk? franchises) and BOXAROO  in Reading was named small businessperson of the year.
 
Across the state, Pittsburgh SBA district winners were: Clarion University SBDC, Guy Chemical Company of Somerset, exporter of the year, and Jonathan Miller of Dimples LLC in Ashville, which makes software to save printer ink and toner, as young entrepreneur of the year.
 
The Widener SBDC and Zeigler Brothers will be in Washington DC on June 21 to receive their awards. 
 
Source: Pennsylvania SBDC 
Writer: Elise Vider     
 
 
 

Fans of raw foods, sports, coupon savings and more, rejoice. Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/SEP), celebrating its 30th anniversary, recently approved $1,550,000 in funding for nine early-stage companies.
 
They are:
AgileSwitch, LLC,  Philadelphia, $250,000 (Ben Franklin previously invested $300,000)
AgileSwitch develops power converter technology to produce useful energy from renewable energy technologies, including solar panels and wind turbines. AgileSwitch's products can be fully customized to meet the needs and demands of virtually any customer application, and are better able to monitor and prevent problems such as overheating.
 
Brad's Raw Foods, Pipersville, $100,000 (Ben Franklin previously invested $100,000) 
Brad's Raw Foods, manufactured with an advanced dehydration technology, offers a line of healthy, crunchy snacks made from dehydrated raw, healthy foods such as fresh vegetables, nuts and seeds. The company is developing other raw food products, including dog treats, onion rings, and zucchini sticks.
 
Cocurrent BioEnergy,  Doylestown, $250,000
Cocurrent BioEnergy is creating alternative solutions to landfills that produce renewable energy at competitive rates. The company's plan is to develop and operate renewable energy assets (which repurpose solid waste into sources of fuel) throughout North America over the next 20-30 years.
 
OneTwoSee (Mobile Reactor, LLC),Philadelphia, $75,000 (Ben Franklin previously invested $300,000)
The OneTwoSee platform is a state-of-the-art suite of technologies that augments sports fans' experiences through any screen. The business-to-business platform is licensed to television broadcasters, online publishers, sports arena owners and smart TV manufactures, allowing them to deliver a rich interactive experience to their audience via their connected devices.
 
Real Food Works, Philadelphia, $175,000
Real Food Works provides customers with a subscription plan of meals that are cooked by local partners, restaurants, caterers and personal chefs and delivered fresh. The meals are mostly plant-based and are targeted to those who want to lose weight, enhance their energy levels or improve their overall health or have special dietary restrictions.
 
Smart Structures, Southampton,$150,000 (Ben Franklin previously invested $230,000)
Smart Structures has developed a system that tests and monitors the health of the nation's physical infrastructure, such as highways, bridges, tunnels and buildings. Its technology can also dramatically alter the cost and time dynamics of traditional evaluation programs, by enabling real-time testing of all foundation elements.
 
SnipSnap App, LLC,  Philadelphia, $100,000 (Ben Franklin previously invested $100,000)
SnipSnap is a mobile phone app for scanning, saving and redeeming printed coupons. The technology allows users to more efficiently and effectively organize their coupons, maximize their savings, and be reminded to use their coupons before expiration dates. They are also able to share their coupons both within their own social networks and with all other SnipSnap users.
 
Telefactor Corp., West Conshohocken, $400,000 (Ben Franklin previously invested $230,450)
An offshoot of Chatten Associates, Telefactor is continuing its growth in explosive ordnance disposal, the process of rendering explosive devices safe. Telefactor is procuring the next-generation advanced robotic systems for the Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology division.
 
TicketLeap, Inc., Philadelphia, $50,000 (Ben Franklin previously invested $525,000)
TicketLeap is an e-commerce, do-it-yourself system for ticketing and registration that enables event organizers to sell tickets to their events online. Services include event registration, event promotion, virtual box office software, and social network integration. The company also provides barcode scanning, instant credit card swiping, customized ticket design and ticket tracking services.
 
Source: BFTP/SEP
Writer: Elise Vider
 
 

 
Next time you feel the urge to head into the wilderness,  pack a grill – not the propane-powered monster in your backyard, but an ultralight, folding grill, a new product by Lewisurg’s Vargo Outdoor Products. 
 
The Fire Box Grill is a spinoff of Vargo’s most popular item, the Hexagon Wood Stove, and like all of Vargo’s products -- stoves, pots, mugs, campware, water bottles, and lifestyle products -- it is made of titanium, which is light, strong and durable.  Brian Vargo, the company’s founder, says his line of gear is not mass market, but rather serves a niche market of serious outdoors people. “They are designed and intended for people who are into backpacking and hiking and recognize the value of products that weigh practically nothing,” he says.
 
The new grill weights only 4.1 ounces, folds up to a compact eight-by-4.25-inches and safely burns any type of biomass fuel. “We wanted to create a product for those who wanted to cook over an open fire without weighing down their pack, taking up much space or charring the Earth,” says Vargo.
 
Vargo, who founded the company in 2002 in his garage, designs the products and the company owns the molds; the line is manufactured in China. The gear is sold worldwide and Vargo reports that sales, currently at about $1 million, have doubled every three years.
 
Vargo is “pretty aggressively adding new products,” he says, with three in the works for launch within a year. The company has two full time and two part time employees and he foresees adding more part timers as sales continue to grow.
 
Source: Brian Vargo, Vargo Outdoor Products
Writer: Elise Vider

Two Southeast Pennsylvania biopharma companies have announced significant venture capital investments for continued development and, ultimately, commercialization of their cutting-edge drugs.
 
Trevena Inc., founded in 2008 in King of Prussia, has raised $60 million in its Series C financing round, including a $30 million equity investment by Forest Laboratories of New York. Trevena and Forest have entered into a collaborative licensing option agreement for the development of TRV027 to treat acute heart failure.
 
If the drug hits future development and commercial milestones, Forest can exercise its option and will pay up to $430 million, plus royalties, to Trevena.
 
The potential for the drug is enormous. “Acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) is the fourth leading cause of hospitalization in the United States and there has been no material change in the standard of care for patients with ADHF for decades,” said David Solomon of Forest in a statement. “TRV027 has the potential to be a significant new advance in the treatment of ADHF because it addresses the underlying pathophysiology of the disease, which has been demonstrated in the pre-clinical and early clinical work by Trevena.”
 
Meanwhile, nearby in Doylestown, Callidus Biopharma, has earmarked $4.6 million in new investment to accelerate pre-clinical development of drugs for a range of “orphan diseases,” rare and ultra-rare diseases and those traditionally under-served by the pharmaceutical industry.
 
Dr. Hung Do, chief scientific officer and co-founder, said the investment, Callidus’ first external funding, will be used towards initiating clinical studies in 2014 of drugs to treat lysosomal storage disorders, which cause rare genetic diseases.
 
Sources: Trevena Inc. and Callidus Biopharma
Writer: Elise Vider

What happens when you mix saltwater, cotton, dirt and carbon? Pittsburgh's fast-growing Aquion Energy has performed that alchemy to create its Aqueous Hybrid Ion (AHI) batteries, a new way of storing energy. With $35 million in venture capital (from investors including Bill Gates), the young company is gearing up to start manufacturing later this year.
 
Aquion's technology addresses what CEO Scott Pearson calls the "fundamental mismatch" between energy generation and storage. Think of a simple solar system: daytime sunshine generates power, which must be stored for delivery at night. Aquion's AHI batteries can be configured to do just that for an array of applications, everything from a single, solar-powered house to large utility grids. And the batteries, Aquion says, are safe, reliable, cost-effective and environmentally friendly.
 
The company rented 300,000 square feet in the former Sony plant in Mt. Pleasant and expects to start building its first AHI batteries at the plant at the end of the year, with full production and commercial launch in 2014.
 
Pearson wouldn't discuss hiring plans, but did say that the company current employs more than 100 and that, eventually, it expects to hit 1,000.
 
The company was established in 2008 at Carnegie Mellon when Dr. Jay Whitacre produced the first functioning AHI battery with long-term-cycle stability. The following year, the company outgrew the CMU labs and located to the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh, where it is still headquartered.
 
Source: Scott Pearson, Aquion Energy
Writer: Elise Vider
 
 
 
 

Ten or 15 years ago, market forces and tech innovation made it possible for software companies to readily establish themselves. Now, says Ilana Diamond, director of Pittsburgh’s new AlphaLab Gear, it’s hardware’s turn.
 
The new hardware and robotics startup accelerator, one of only a few in the country, is aimed at providing physical product companies (“something you can touch and feel,” says Diamond) with investment, equipment, mentoring and more, all in service of boosting manufacturing, ideally in or around Pittsburgh.
 
Part of the impetus for AlphaLab Gear comes from the changing forces that make it possible, for example, to produce a prototype, which used to take thousands of dollars and months, for pennies and in minutes using a 3D printer. Add access to high-tech equipment in shared workspaces like Pittsburgh’s Tech Shop and crowdfunding, and the potential for hardware startups is significantly altered.
 
AlphaLab Gear will work on the same model at its parent startup accelerator, Innovation Works’ AlphaLab. Companies can choose to receive $25,000 or $50,000 in investment in exchange for 5% or 9%  equity. And AlphaLab Gear companies with a robotics focus will receive investment and help from Startbot, an investment firm specializing in early-stage robotics companies. “Their participation is a recognition that private capital thinks this is a successful model,” says Diamond.
 
AlphaLab Gear is accepting applications for its first cycle and is hearing interest from a wide range of companies that make everything, Diamond says, from medical devices to consumer products to sensors to games.
 
Source: AlphaLab Gear, Ilana Diamond
Writer: Elise Vider

A Northwest Pennsylvania company tonight will be named winner of Ben Franklin’s BIG IDEA Business Plan Contest. 

The six finalists are:
 
* Direct Allergy, which provides a turnkey service to primary-care doctors for testing, diagnosis, and treatment of patients, especially those in underserved rural areas, who suffer from allergies.

* Adaptmicrosys LLC,  a leading-edge, adaptive semiconductor company that provides higher energy savings, more efficiency, and greatly increased performance in a variety of smart-connected devices.

* reCAP Mason Jars, The Erie-based manufacturer and Amazon top seller of high-quality plastic caps for Mason jars, will develop an app that caters to those interested in using mason jars for creative uses. reCAP was the 2011 winner of the InnovationErieDesign Competition.

* MedicalOpinionCenter.com LLC of Erie, which has developed a unique model that provides the expertise of three medical specialists to be offered as an online medical service.

* Advanced Power Control Solutions LLC, which has developed an innovative coal/natural gas hybrid burner technology that allows compliance with EPA requirements and increases power output from existing coal fired power generation facilities prevalent in Pennsylvania.

* CNG One Source, an Erie maker of natural gas engines for diesel trucks and installs conversions for gas powered fleet vehicles.
  
As you read this, the finalists are participating in a day of entrepreneurial training at the Erie Technology Incubator (ETI) located on the campus of Gannon University.
 
The winner gets $35,000, and six months of residence at ETI, one year free tuition for classes/seminars offered by the eMarketing Learning Center and a free, five-hour consult on intellectual property (IP) from Attorney Jonathan D’Silva with the Erie Law Firm, MacDonald, Illig, Jones, & Britton.
 
Source: Ben Franklin Technology Partners/CNP
Writer: Elise Vider
 
 

It is a paradox that volunteers can be expensive and time consuming for the schools, nonprofits and businesses that use them. GiveGab is a social network for volunteers (think LinkedIn for unpaid workers) with features aimed at both those that manage volunteers and volunteers themselves.
 
Volunteer managers use GiveGab to create and manage events, promote their programs, recruit volunteers, track hours and report on all the good they're doing to funders, alumni and other interested parties.
 
Founder Charlie Mulligan offers this example. Marywood University in Scranton strongly encourages volunteerism. Last year, students donated 71,000 hours with each student filling out and submitting written documentation. "At the end of the year, they had 71,000 hours of paperwork," says Mulligan, and, without GiveGab's technology, it took two nuns an entire summer to enter the results into the school's database.
 
Individuals interested in volunteering use GiveGab to find opportunities, log their hours, create a resume and connect with others.
 
GiveGab was founded in 2011 and already has 122 universities (including Ivy League and other big-name schools), about 1,800 nonprofits and more than 10,000 users. Now the company has raised $1.6 million in venture capital and is launching a premium service that will offer more robust reporting, communications and tracking tools. GiveGab is targeting universities as its prime market for the new, subscription service because with their vast number of students and relationships with nonprofits, "each university is its own ecosystem," says Mulligan.
 
The company is headquartered in Ithaca, NY, where it employs 11, and maintains a four-person office in Dunmore. With a  $35,000 loan from Ben Franklin Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania  to boost sales and marketing of the new premium service, GiveGab expects to add about three more to its sales team, likely in Pennsylvania.
 
Source: Charlie Mulligan, GiveGab
Writer: Elise Vider

The Scranton Lackawanna Industrial Building Company (SLIBCO) cut the ribbon earlier this month at the state's newest technology incubator, the $8.3 million TekRidge Center, located at the Jessup Small Business Center.
 
The new facility will house technology-related companies and provide incubator space to startup and expanding small business ventures in northeastern Pennsylvania.
 
Bedrock Technology, an IT consulting firm, is the first signed tenant and SLIBCO is in negotiations with a biotech company, says Kathryn McDermott of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce. Altogether, the 45,000-square-foot building can house 11 startups in its incubator space and up to eight anchor tenants.
 
"TekRidge Center is a testament to our commitment to investing in projects that support and foster entrepreneurism," said SLIBCO vice president Andy Skrip in a statement.
 
Besides locating to the brand-new, glass-and-steel building, designed by Hemmler & Camayd of Scranton, tenants are eligible for Keystone Opportunity Expansion Zone (KOEZ) and Keystone Innovation Zone (KIZ) tax benefits through 2020, McDermott says.
 
Source: Kathryn McDermott, Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce
Writer: Elise Vider
 

With its emphasis on technological innovation, it seems most fitting that Ben Franklin TechVentures 2, the 2011 expansion of the business technology incubator/post incubator, has won a coveted gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). LEED provides third-party verification of sustainability in building design, construction and operation.
 
The $17 million, 47,000-square-foot building expansion, located on the Lehigh University campus in Bethlehem, saves 28% more energy than is required by building code, says Christa Duelberg-Kraftician of Spillman Farmer Architects of Bethlehem. Among its green features: recycled building and interior materials, solar panels, day lit rooms and a system of glazing and shades to augment heating and cooling. Coopersburg-based Lutron Electronics supplied the photovoltaic solar array on the rooftop and other energy-management and light-harvesting technologies in the building.
 
The goal, the architect says, was to boost productivity and comfort by creating a healthy work environment for the startups housed at the expansion, which includes offices, wet labs and meeting rooms.
 
“Ben Franklin TechVentures combines award-winning, technology-based business incubation with energy conservation and environmental design,” says R. Chadwick Paul, Jr., president and CEO of the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania, which owns and operates TechVentures. “We are delighted that our job creation factory is now a LEED Gold-recognized model of green building.”
 
Sources: Christa Duelberg-Kraftician, Frederick Allerton, Christie Jephson, Spillman Farmer Architects; R. Chadwick Paul, BFTP/NEP
Writer: Elise Vider

Hear that buzz? It's news about robotics and engineering innovation in Pennsylvania.
 
In recent weeks:
 
A robotic paint-stripping system, being developed for the Air Force by Carnegie Mellon University's National Robotics Engineering Center  and Concurrent Technologies Corporation of Johnstown, was named gold winner in the material science category of the 2013 Edison Awards. The system uses high-powered lasers mounted on mobile robotic platforms to remove paint and coatings from aircraft.
 
NREC is building six autonomous mobile robots, each equipped with a high-power-laser coating remover developed by CTC. As part of a two-year project, the robots will be deployed in teams to remove paint and other coatings from aircraft at Hill Air Force Base in northern Utah. The lasers eliminate the needs for abrasives or chemical paint removers; the robots make it possible to automate and precisely control the stripping process.
 
Carnegie Mellon researchers are also at work on the Lifelong Robotic Object Discovery Process, which helps robots augment their "vision" with other information – an object's location, size, and shape and even whether it can be lifted – to recognize and understand objects. The team enabled a two-armed, mobile robot to use color video, a Kinect depth camera and non-visual information to discover more than 100 objects in a home-like laboratory, such as computer monitors, plants and food items. Eventually the technology could help people accomplish tasks of daily living as part of the Home-Exploring Robot Butler, with the quaint acronym HERB, being developed in conjunction with the University of Pittsburgh.
 
Thirteen Penn State teams took honors in semester-long, industry-sponsored engineering projects. Altogether, 163 projects by engineering undergraduates were judged at the 2013 Student Design Project Showcase. Three teams won first place in the Lockheed Martin Design Awards: "Project Assignment/Algorithm," "Maximum Allowable Gasket Seating Surface Degradation Before Seal Failure" and "Robotic Parallel Bars Walking Device." Six other teams took second and third-place honors. The Boeing Systems Engineering Award went to "Rotor Wake Survey."
 
Sources: Carnegie Mellon; Penn State
Writer: Elise Vider
 
 
 

MRIs, CT scans and the like "don't travel well," notes Adam Simon. So Cerora, the Bethlehem startup he co-founded with David M. Devilbiss in 2011, is developing the first portable, objective, accurate and affordable diagnostic tool to quickly assess and diagnose brain disease or injury.
 
Non-specialists in the field can use Cerora's device to assess an individual through a battery of tests: an electroencephalogram (EEG) verbal tasks, cognitive, balance and stability measures, etc. Data is transmitted via the cloud to be interpreted by a doctor who will generate a report back within, the goal is, 15 to 20 minutes. The system has myriad applications, says Simon, including first responders, gyms, football fields, nursing homes, ski clinics, combat frontlines and even in physicians' and pediatricians' offices for routine physicals and the inevitable bumped heads of childhood.
 
Cerora already has data on the effectiveness of its technology for assessing Alzheimer's Disease and concussions and Simon anticipates broader applications including Parkinson's, sleep disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.  Eight clinical trials are underway with providers including Lehigh University's sports medicine program and Philadelphia's Rothman Institute.
 
Cerora recently received its first external funding, a $50,000 loan from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania and moved operations to Ben Franklin TechVentures at Lehigh University. The company is now actively working to raise $1.25 million through venture or angel investors in order to re-engineer its device. From there, Simon estimates, it's one year to FDA clearance and commercialization, hopefully in 2014.
 
For now the company has two full-timers and five part-timers and Simon hopes to add another two or three part-timers.
 
Source: Adam Simon, Cerora
Writer: Elise Vider
 
 
 
 
 

Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania presented its 19th annual Innovation Awards this month, after hearing a few words from economist Todd Buchholz on how creative competition drives success.
 
With that it mind, the 2013 winners are:
 
CyOptics, Inc., Breinigsville for entrepreneurial achievement. A maker of optoelectronics, the company survived difficult economic times by building intellectual property and market share. It was recently acquired for $400 million.
 
Computer Aid, Inc., Allentown, named most successful BFTP incubator graduate. Founded in the early 1980s, CAI has grown from concept to successful operation as a worldwide leader in IT metrics, process and productivity -- "a classic incubator success story," says BFTP.
 
Micro Interventional Devices in Langhorne, which has developed a device used in heart surgery, was honored for product innovation.
 
East Penn Manufacturing Co., Lyon Station, an old-line company that produces and recycles lead-acid batteries, was honored for manufacturing achievement.
 
The partnership award, made to an individual, went to Edward Thompson, a Clarks Summit CPA and "a seasoned finance and accounting advisor to a number of Ben Franklin early-stage clients, [who] is enormously helpful, supportive, and proficient," BFTP says.
 
Source:  Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania
Writer: Elise Vider