Innovation & Job News

To many, Lancaster evokes Amish buggies and verdant farmland. But an emerging community of tech startups expects to declare itself next month with the city's first Startup Weekend.  
 
Organizer Ben Donahower, a Lancaster native and Internet marketer, sees the event, set for February 22-24 on the Franklin & Marshall campus, as a way to "build the Lancaster startup ecosystem."
 
After attending a Startup Weekend in Philadelphia a few years ago, Donahower approached Charlie Crystle, who he describes as the "Godfather of Lancaster startups" with the notion of conducting an event. With Crystle as mentor (and a coach and judge at the weekend) and a team of volunteers, Donahower is working tirelessly to attract sponsors and attendees.
 
The purse is attractive: more than $10,000 in prizes include a full year of the Listrak e-commerce platform, coworking space at Lancaster's Candy Factory and Internet marketing, coaching, design, development from the city's Web Talent Marketing. 
 
Equally important to participants is the opportunity to brainstorm and develop ideas, business models, coding, marketing and more. Besides Crystle, the judges are Chuck Russell, co-founder of Harrisburg's Collective Intelligence ; Kyle Sollenberger, a co-founder of San Francisco's Seesaw and Pam Martin, South Central PA Regional Portfolio Manager for Ben Franklin Technology Partners and the executive director of the Ben Franklin TechCelerator Incubator@Carlisle.  
 
"Lancaster is a sleeping giant when it comes to the tech community," says Donahower. "It's a great place to work and play at a fraction of the [overhead costs]. Even being in a rural area, from the tech standpoint, Lancaster is a far more bustling city than people give credit to."
 
Source: Ben Donahower, Lancaster Startup Weekend
Writer: Elise Vider
 
 

When you look at digital advertising, you may understand  it. But it doesn't understand you.
 
That is the goal of SiliconScapes, a State College startup that last month won the $10,000 top prize at the TechCelerator@State College 8-Week Boot Camp for budding tech entrepreneurs. 
 
Kevin Irick, a recent Penn State Ph.D. in computer science and engineering, is developing SmartView, a smart-camera technology that can be attached to retail displays and advertising and is capable of detecting shopper posture, attention and gaze, as well as interactions with the product. With data on shoppers' impressions, ads and displays can be made more effective.
 
"We bring to in-store retail what online sales channels have inherently: the ability to measure a shopper's impression to digital advertisements and proactively display the most impactful content," says Irick.
 
SmartView measures advertising effectiveness by determining customer demographics, impressions and sales. For example, SmartView can show that five people spent more than 10 seconds each looking at an in-store digital display, says Irick. It can determine that those five break down into two men, ages 30 to 40, and three women, ages 20 to 35. It can study their facial expressions and reactions. And it can correlate to sales of the item advertised.
 
Irick, who founded his company in 2011, is in bootstrap mode, working on developing SmartView with several interns in hopes of a commercial launch next year. He has an unnamed Pennsylvania retail partner who has agreed to test SmartView.
 
The TechCelerator win was a major vote of confidence, he says. "It takes you from day dreaming to putting you in motion."
 
Source: Kevin Irick, SiliconScapes
Writer: Elise Vider
 
 
 

For the legions of back pain sufferers, ActivAided Orthotics offers a different approach, a therapeutic garment that corrects posture and bad habits to allow the body to heal.
 
Now the young Pittsburgh firm is growing, with a total of $150,000 in new investments from Innovation Works  and Carnegie Mellon's Open Field Entrepreneurs Fund, promising data from more than 100 test subjects with almost 90% reporting relief  and a new manufacturing approach.
 
"Originally [our product] was completely custom-made," says founder and CEO Kelly Collier. "Then we started to get a little more clever. Now we're making it more adjustable so one product can fit most people." A manufacturer in Minnesota is ramping up for production, she adds.
 
A 2011 Carnegie Mellon biomechanical engineering graduate, Collier was a competitive swimmer. Most coaches, she and her friends found, approached injuries with advice to suck it up, ice it or quit their sport. "We definitely recognized there was something wrong with this picture," she says. As part of a team class project, she approached Dr. Gary Chimes, a sports medicine physician who is today chief medical advisor to ActivAided.
 
The new funding will go primarily for sales and marketing, Collier says, with an emphasis on medical trade shows and conferences, as well as direct Internet sales.The company today employs three full-timers; Collier hopes to add sales and marketing positions and to eventually create a "suite of products based on retraining motor patterns and muscle memory" for shoulders, knees and other aching joints.
 
Source: Kelly Collier, ActivAided Orthotics
Writer: Elise Vider
 

Philadelphia may be anchored by "eds and meds," but our small businesses -- web design firms, equipment manufacturers, eateries and shops -- help keep us afloat. According to the Sustainable Business Network's Taking Care of Business 2011 report, of the city's 90,000 businesses, 98 percent report less than 50 employees.

Some of those businesses will soon be getting a boost: Philadelphia was recently chosen for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Business Initiative which will provide up to $10 million in small business loans administered through the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC).
 
PIDC can serve a broader lending market than a traditional bank. According to Anne Nevins, Senior Vice President of Market Development for PIDC, promising businesses are sometimes held back by issues with credit or collateral. They may also be changing direction and appear risky to financial institutions. "We want to serve those businesses that are established and ready for a growth plan but for whatever reason can’t access the capital," says Nevins.
 
PIDC expects to serve several businesses in the manufacturing and professional service sectors needing $50,000 to $750,000 for new equipment, property, and working capital. They also identify restaurants, retail stores and revenue-earning nonprofits as potential benefactors. Nevins expects many applicants to be referred to PIDC from partner banks.
 
In total, PIDC expects to underwrite approximately fifty loans averaging $200,000, giving priority to businesses located in low to moderate income neighborhoods or those that employ lower to moderate income residents. Lancaster-based Community First Fund will provide up to $5 million in similar loans to 13 counties in southeastern Pennsylvania. Goldman Sachs is also funding financial and operational education offered by Philadelphia Community College and support services through partner community groups for loan recipients. 
 
Since launching in Spring 2010, over 1,000 businesses in eleven cities have completed the program. Roughly 70 percent report increased revenues and 50 percent have created new jobs. 

Source: Anne Nevins, Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation 
Writer: Dana Henry

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One of the biggest hurdles any company faces when it moves into the global marketplace is language.
 
Corporate communication, both digital and print, must be reinvented in many tongues if a company and its mission is to be understood. Squirrel Hill-based Safaba is a rising star in the field of machine translation, using software to translate vast amounts of text from one natural language into another. It's a feat that has taken years of development.
 
The startup was launched by Carnegie Mellon associate research professor Alon Lavie and co-founder Bob Olszewki in 2009.  While the company quietly operated under the radar for several years, developing custom and affordable solutions for commercial clients, it's now ready for primetime, says Udi Hershkovich, vice president of Business Development.
 
Companies like Google and Microsoft translate text between multiple languages, but there are limitations to their platforms, Hershkovich says. Enterprises today need more powerful solutions to tackle the corporate collateral, tackling vast amounts of textual material including online marketing, websites, technical documentation, manuals and support documentation.
 
Global ecommerce company PayPal signed on with Safaba as a client in 2011, using it for its ecommerce in the Nordic languages. The solution proved superior to the system they had been using. In 2012, Safaba began working with global computer giant Dell and its Dell.com ecommerce division.
 
The escalating need for language translation designed for mobile enterprises is also driving business. The Squirrel Hill office is currently at 11. Hershkovich anticipates aggressive growth in 2013.
 
Machine translation is poised for explosive growth as the technology improves, requiring less post-editing and becoming more commercially viable, he adds.
 
“Companies today all need a more personalized experience and communication in real time, in today’s online world. To allow companies to be successful in the home market, they need to transition into other languages.”
 
Source: Udi Hershkovich, Safaba
Writer: Deb Smit

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Movie robots – R2D2, Wall-E – are adorably empathetic to humans. Real robots, however, may be whizzes on the assembly line, but not so great around the water cooler.
 
Now a Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute team is investigating how to make robots more socially intuitive. "The way we interact with machines and computers is as tools – the way we interact with a hammer," says Yaser Sheikh, a CMU  professor.
 
Sheikh, Hyun Soo Park, a Ph.D. student  in mechanical engineering and Eakta Jain, a recent robotics doctorate, gathered data from head-mounted video cameras on groups of people and developed algorithms to detect precisely where their gazes converged. What individuals in a group are looking at typically identifies something of interest or helps delineate social groups – insights that could someday allow vision-aided robots designed to interact with humans to evaluate a variety of social cues, such as facial expressions or body language.
 
The team expects that its research could have applications in the study of social behavior, such as group dynamics and gender interactions, and research and diagnosis of behavioral disorders such as autism – "imaging" behaviors in much the way that x-rays and MRIs image the physical body. Other potential applications could include search-and-rescue operations, surgical teams and even sports. (If team members all wore head-mounted cameras, it might be possible to reconstruct a game from their collective point-of-view.)
 
The work, Sheikh says, ties into that of CMU professor Takeo Kanabe and the anticipated release of Google's computerized eyeglasses. Several companies have shown interest in commercializing the research, which has so far been supported by Samsung Global Research Outreach Program, Intel and the National Science Foundation.
 
Sources: Yaser Sheikh and Hyun Soo Park, CMU Robotics Institute
Writer: Elise Vider

RPA Engineering rang in the New Year at a new Wyomissing headquarters after outgrowing its old building nearby. The new quarters, a 12,000-square-foot, converted carpet showroom and warehouse, offer the growing firm more functional space and a convenient location, says CEO Richard Aulenbach.
 
RPA covers all of the major engineering disciplines and is experiencing increased demand in the pharmaceutical, industrial, energy and health care sectors that it serves.  "We've been on a track of continued growth," says Aulenbach, who founded the firm in 1989. RPA employs more than 100 and Aulenbach anticipates adding 10 or more new positions in the next six to nine months.
 
Much of the growth potential comes from health care, a relatively new market for the firm. Aulenbach sees tremendous opportunities with clients such as The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. RPA is also expanding with national clients based outside Pennsylvania, such as a current prospect in Houston. "This is a new level we are rising to," Aulenbach says.
 
The company is also growing its portfolio of services. It is developing a management tool for health care facilities that would optimize decision-making by incorporating certain facility investments into business operations. And RPA recently launched a major initiative to expand its commissioning and qualification (C&Q) services. C&Q services are tools used by companies to ensure project success and regulatory compliance during the building design and construction phase.
 
"We are deepening our knowledge and honing the skills necessary to ensure that our engineers are equipped to deliver buildings and building systems that meet today’s commissioning and qualification requirements, while expanding our range of commissioning and qualification services,” Aulenbach explained in a July statement.
 
Source: Richard Aulenbach, RPA Engineering
Writer: Elise Vider
 

With Pennsylvania on the fast track to being the second leading natural gas producing state, the push is on for innovation. Now the Ben Franklin Shale Gas Innovation and Commercialization Center is offering a total of $75,000 in cash prizes for three gas-related innovations, new product ideas or service concepts that are either in development or recently launched.
 
"Innovations result in decreased costs, increased efficiencies and greater environmental protection.  As Pennsylvania continues to be a leader in shale gas production, we will continue on a path to be the 'state of innovation' as well," says Bill Hall, the center's director.
 
For the 2013 Shale Gas Innovation Contest "any idea related to the shale gas space is eligible," Hall says. Examples include vehicle conversion, natural gas utilization products/services, remote site monitoring, natural gas or NGL conversion technologies and water remediation for fracking operations. "The contest is a unique vehicle for getting emerging technologies exposure to a wide range of industry providers/customers," he adds.
 
Meanwhile, the 2012 contest winners are moving steadily ahead, Hall reports. The Larson Transportation Institute at Penn State has nearly completed testing and development of a dual fuel NG conversion technology for heavy-duty large diesel engines. And State College's Polymics is almost ready to test a prototype of its lightweight, reusable, leak-proof system intended to contain mud and fluids during pad construction. Hall says that several energy companies are interested in a demonstration project at a drilling site. 
 
The application deadline for the 2013 contest is February 1.
 
Source: Bill Hall, Shale Gas Innovation & Commercialization Center
Writer: Elise Vider

Everyone who has ever hung up on a dinner-interrupting phone-athon or torn up direct mail from their alma mater knows that the fundraising tactics traditionally employed by colleges and universities aren't always successful.
 
"Colleges recognize that their approach is flawed and not working," says entrepreneur Jake Huber and he and partner Greg Horn offer statistics to prove it. Participation by alumni under 35 is dropping, they report. Overall, 21% of alumni donate to their alma mater, but that number drops to only 9% for 35-and-unders.
 
The two have a solution and, as of last month, $10,000 as first-prize winner in Lehigh University's  EUREKA! Competition  with which to launch it. Gigawatt  is an online crowdfunding platform aimed at changing how colleges approach fundraising and how young alumni donate.
 
Using Gigawatt, a school targets specific projects that are obtainable and of interest to young alumni – a new scholarship, an internship program, a new track or an international student trip, for example. The platform then turns "active donors into marketers," says Horn, by creating a unique web link for each donor who can promote the cause via his or her social networks. Donors whose social media contacts donate climb up a leader board, receiving recognition and potential incentives in the form of tickets, giveaways, etc.
 
With $5,000 in prize money and $5,000 in in-kind services – including new digs at Ben Franklin Tech Ventures – Horn and Huber expect to test a beta version of Gigawatt this spring with an intern team of web developers, engineers, market research and brand strategists that they are currently seeking.
 
Source: Jake Huber and Greg Horn, Gigawatt
Writer: Elise Vider

In 2010, a Cornell University-led research team made a technological breakthrough: Tiny beams of light reached into a microscope slide and grabbed a cellular protein without significantly altering the protein’s environment. Scientists were already capable of grasping a whole cell using optical tweezers, but a protein is up to 5,000 times smaller and in constant rapid motion—it’s also critical to our understanding of physiology and disease.
 
Thanks to Optofluidics, research labs will finally be able to pin down this elusive element. The company, a tenant of the University City Science Center, licenses Cornell’s technology and is currently marketing the "Molecular NanoTweezer." They will launch their product within six months, and are hiring a nanobiotech applications engineer.
 
According to Rob Hart, co-founder and chief technical officer at Optofluidics, commercializing a new technology is a "heck of a lot of work." In the confines of the academic laboratory, a ten percent success rate is considered an achievement. The real world, however, is a far messier place, and a marketable product needs to work consistently.
 
Optofluidics partnered with NextFab Studio on a range of custom parts and developed their system design in conjunction with Horsham-based Avo Photonics. They’ve accumulated $580,000 in private investment from the Ben Franklin Nanotechnology Institute and BioAdvance, along with $1.5 million in federal and foundation grants.
 
Nanotechnology has broad implications for the spectrum of scientific research--it can be used to make new medicines, create more efficient solar panels or build better bike frames. For health sciences, the Molecular NanoTweezer enables the increasingly popular field of single-molecule research. "It sounds advanced because it is," says Hart. "It’s a really cutting edge way of moving things around."
 
According to Hart, pharmaceutical companies and several large universities, including Drexel, Penn, Princeton and Cornell, have expressed interest in purchasing the product upon it’s release.

Source: Rob Hart, Optofluidics
Writer: Dana Henry

Think about your favorite bar or coffee shop. Sure, you enjoy the grub, the décor, even the snarky comments from the hipster behind the counter, but none of this would impress without decent music.

Sevenpop—an Israeli startup with U.S. headquarters in Center City—mines our timeless urge for good tunes, integrating mobile requests into a business' preexisting music player. According to cofounder John Vairo, when patrons influence the sound system, they’re more likely to stay—and spend—giving the business a competitive edge.

Recently, the company closed its first round of financing with a $400,000 investment from JanVest. They’re currently releasing the United States version of Sevenpop across the country.

Cofounders Nuke Goldstein and Eyal Bernstein created the product at a bar in Tel Aviv that later became their alpha test site. When the team asked for a computer to run the system, the bar explained their only apparatus was the music player. "We concluded [Sevenpop] should focus on the music and the product was shaped," says Vairo.

The resulting “Social Jukebox” provides a lean solution for three popular multimedia systems. (The company says they will adapt their software for other systems.) They've landed in bars, cafes and DJ booths, and expect to add grocery chains, gyms and sports arenas to their client base. The company sells added social features, but Vairo says the best way to approach a market segment of this size is to keep the basic software free. “Once [the client] is up and running, the system is theirs for as long as they want it," he says.

Source: John Vairo, Sevenpop
Writer: Dana Henry

Medical technology may have advanced to the 21st century, but the exhaustive documentation required by insurance providers to approve purchase of in-home equipment such as wheelchairs and braces is still stuck in the 1990s, relying largely on paper, ink and faxes.
 
Now Conduit Technology in Girard  has developed software that automates the onerous process. Founder Jim Noland says that while a typical office staffer could complete three orders a day using the old system, the software will boost productivity to 12 orders a day.
 
Conduit plans to launch a beta version of its software in March with a full rollout later in 2013, boosted by a new $150,000 investment from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central and Northern PA.  Earlier this year, BFTP/CNP invested $100,000 in the company to support development of its technology.
 
With a $1.5 billion medical services and equipment market, and individual devices ranging from $3,000 to $40,000 each, the potential is enormous, Noland notes.  The software employs a unique mapping tool that allows clinicians to electronically aggregate, format, fill out and sign potentially dozens of forms required for each purchase.
 
The software is an outgrowth of the billing software that Noland developed for use at his Presque Isle Medical Technologies, a supplier in Erie. 
 
With his extensive contacts in the industry, and the fast-changing landscape for medical insurers, Noland anticipates quick growth. Conduit just made its first fulltime hire and Noland expects to hire three more in the next year, for a fulltime staff of six – all high paying jobs, he adds – within 18 months.
 
Source: Jim Noland, Conduit Technology
Writer: Elise Vider