September 2007: Dow Corning Corp. expands its solar energy component product offerings…. DTE Energy’s GreenCurrents program, in which customers can voluntarily pay 2 cents a kilowatt hour more for green electricity, hits 4,000 customers…Michigan.com is the nation’s top state tourism Web site for the fifth straight months, with more than nine million visitors… Security appliance maker Barracuda Networks is hiring in Ann Arbor… The University Research Corridor — the research consortium of Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University — released an independent analysis showing the UMC helped create 68,803 Michigan jobs in 2006, with a net economic benefit of $12.8 billion… CIOs plan heavy hiring of tech pros in the fourth quarter… The city of Detroit puts Tiger Stadium’s pieces up for sale online… A number of high-tech touches grace the completely rehabilitated Detroit Institute of Arts, including video screens showing how historic utensils were used around the home… The hybrid truck powertrain company Azure Dynamics moves its headquarters from Toronto, Ontario to Oak Park…
October 2007: The first-ever GLITR Fall Tech Tour begins in Chicago for the WiMax World conference on this emerging wireless technology, then heads for the Upper Peninsula the ‘back way’ through Wisconsin and visits Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant, Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan State University in East Lansing, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and Wayne State University in Detroit… the Royal Oak Music Theatre begins offering tickets via cell phone… Wall Street Journal tech guru Walter Mossberg visits Detroit, and predicts increasingly ubiquitous high-speed wireless technology and the evolution of the cell phone into a true pocket computer, and begs Detroit to put more tech magic into cars… Ann Arbor-based Merit Network completes a fiber optic path that spans Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and the Mackinac Bridge, allowing merit to offer gigabit service to its members in the northern Lower Peninsula and the UP. Merit previously served the UP through a connection that ran through Chicago…. The Michigan Economic Development Corp. rolls out new state tourism Web sites… General Motors begins production of hybrid engines for its Tahoe and Yukon SUVs…
November 2007: Michigan Tech begins work on an ice-fighting pavement that holds anti-icing compounds for future use… Around 20,000 students attend Michigan Tech’s YES Expo, a celebration of science and technology, at Ford Field… Wayne State is studying a faster test for the MRSA virus… Consumers Energy begins pilot projects of smart electric meters… Quicken Loans formally announces it’s moving its headquarters and 4,000 jobs to downtown Detroit… The push begins to require Michigan utilities to get 10 percent of their power from green sources by 2015…University of Michigan economists predict more job losses in 2008 but recovery in 2009… Michigan gets $21 million from the federal government to speed up Web access to rural hospitals… A Commerce Township inventor wins a $140 million patent infringement judgment against Microsoft… The Grand Rapids chapter of Glima, the Automation Alley-owned association for tech professionals, declares its independence as aimWest… the city of Grand Rapids begins powering its operations with 100 percent green power from Consumers Power…
December 2007: GE Aviation adds 50 jobs in Houghton… Detroit CIOs report strong hiring plans for the first quarter… Michigan State plans to take over Pfizer’s Holland pharmaceutical research center… Verizon expands high-speed wireless into northern Michigan.. the Michigan Health & Hospital Association puts Michigan hospital price and quality data online…
January 2008: At the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Ford and Microsoft announce an expansion of Sync, Ford’s hands-free telephone and music player interface… And Michigan companies continue to shine at CES…GM’s Rick Wagoner becomes the first auto industry CEO to keynote a CES in the event’s 41-year history… the Upper Peninsula’s Pasty.net marks its 10-year anniversary… Compuware announces its earnings will fall short of expectations and hires the voluble Jason Vines to its public relations staff… The Venture Michigan fund invests in RPM Ventures of Ann Arbor and Kentucky’s Chrysalis, both of which will invest the money in Michigan companies… University of Michigan research funding hits $800 million for the first time…Arbor Networks to hire more than 100 in Michigan… AT&T makes its U-verse Voice service available in Michigan… Uni-Solar sells 25 megawatts of solar panels… The Plymouth ice sculpture show adds new Web sites…
February 2008: The University of Michigan-Dearborn’s new Innovation Index shows an uptick for Michigan…Compuware buys Monroe-based Hilgraeve Inc., adding a physician practice component to its Covisint secure collaboration business… Michigan has the tools it needs to boost entrepreneurship and create new jobs, a report says, but could do a much better job of using them, according to the fourth annual Michigan Entrepreneurship Score Card from the Small Business Foundation of Michigan… GLITR’S Web site is folded into its parent, www.wwj.com… Compuware has named a new No. 2 and heir apparent to CEO and co-founder Peter Karmanos Jr. — Robert C. Paul, who leads Compuware’s fast-growing Covisint business unit… Citing the iffy economy, TechSmith decides against building a new headquarters in Lansing… Researchers begin testing using deep rock formations under Michigan to sequester carbon dioxide… Grosse Pointe-based Clean Emission Fluids installs a custom biodiesel blending station at NextEnergy in Detroit…
March 2008: The local CIO hiring pace is anemic… Ann Arbor-based NanoBio gets $10 million in capital… The University of Michigan adds text and speech warnings to its emergency notification system… Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox slams renewable energy, saying it’s too expensive… Wayne State gets wireless Web access across campus… Verizon Wireless boosts high-speed Internet access across Michigan…Troy-based NuSoft Solutions has been purchased by Pennsauken, N.J.-based RCM Technologies… FIRST Robotics packs 3,000 into the convocation center at Eastern Michigan University for its state final…
April 2008: Thoma Cressey Bravo, a San Francisco private equity firm, buys Portage-based Manatron, a provider of tax software for state and local governments, for $66 million… Portage-based Configuration Solutions, a developer of software for online configuration and selling of complex products, is bought by Indianapolis-based Consona Corp., a provider of enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management software… GM finalizes the design for the Chevrolet Volt… Art Van Furniture begins a national biodiesel test… WWJ and the University Research Corridor attract more than 500 for a ‘Green Michigan’ event…AVL to add 500 jobs in auto tech… The Thunder Chickens of Macomb County are national champions at FIRST Robotics… The Great Lakes IT Report’s 2008 Spring Tech Tour is wrapped around events sponsored by ConnecTech, the association for technology professionals sponsored by Automation Alley, and the Great Lakes Entrepreneurs Quest… tour stops include Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Marquette, Mt. Pleasant and Flint…
May 2008: Pfizer resells Esperion Therapeutics to a Michigan group… Lawrence Tech opens its Center for Innovative Materials Research… the Detroit Public Library opens a new multimedia center for youth that’s 3,884 square feet of video game consoles, big-screen TVs, performance spaces, quiet study areas, CDs, DVDs, free Wi-Fi — and lots and lots of books… Oakwood Hospital adds advanced new video screens with patient information at nurse’s stations… Verizon expands high-speed wireless Internet into the Lansing area… Compuware rolls out ‘Compuware 2.0′ as its earnings top estimates and strong growth is predicted… Ann Arbor’s Adaptive Materials cuts the ribbon on a new headquarters and plant that will manufacture fuel cells, mostly for the military… Ann Arbor’s Online Tech opens its third data center, this one south of Ann Arbor… the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Policy Conference finds the salvation of tomorrow’s Michigan in a more educated work force and in developing both renewable and nuclear energies…
June 2008: United Solar hiring 400 in Greenville… Hemlock Semiconductor begins polycrystalline silicon production in its expanded plant… Liquid Web announces plans for a new $80 million headquarters and data center in Lansing… The search for a new boss of NextEnergy is under way… Two Wayne State University professors formulate a new weight loss pill from corn starch… A new Detroit company, MIST Innovations, offers sophisticated new surveillance technology… Ann Arbor-area software developers schedule the first-ever Give Camp to create free software for nonprofits in July… Energy Conversion Devices raises $405 million in a stock and note offering…
July 2008: Oak Park’s Azure Dynamics gets its first hybrid truck dealer, in Florida… A state business plan competition with up to $30 million to give away draws 112 entries… Ann Arbor’s Accuri Cytometers raises $13 million… Uni-Solar to power a 12-megawatt rooftop system, the world’ largest, on a General Motors plant in Spain… Midland’s Dow Chemical buys rival Rohm and Hass for more than $15 billion in a deal that Dow hopes will fuel its growth in a more lucrative wing of the chemical-making business… Network snags mar the debut of the new iPhone… Beach Communications opens a new data center, Liberty Center One, in Royal Oak… Michigan’s 15 public universities launching a new economic innovation initiative with an aim of raising $75 million to create 200 Michigan startup companies… Gibbs Technologies announces plans to build an amphibious car in Auburn Hills — a vehicle capable of 110 mph on the highway and 45 mph on the water… Compuware profits jump on a 6.9 percent revenue increase…
August 2008: Camden, N.J.-based MyLeaderboards Inc. will provide mobile scoring updates to spectators at this week’s PGA Championship at the Oakland Hills Country Club… Dexter-based phone recycler ReCellular announces a $15 million investment and an expansion… The city of Saline has sued cable TV giant Comcast Corp. for failure to pay $60,000 in support payments for public, educational and government programming as required by state law… Columbia, Md.-based Micros Systems buys Fry Inc., the Ann Arbor e-commerce design, development and managed services provider, for $31.3 million, plus the assumption of $18.4 million in debt… DTE Energy adding 30,000 smart meters in Grosse Ile… Oak Park’s Azure Dynamics sells hybrid trucks to NYC’s Con Ed…
Wednesday: September 2008 – August 2009
