September 2008: Midland’s Dow Corning demonstrates a new production process to speed up the production rate of solar panels… Michigan launches email alerts for food recalls… Detroit CIOs plan strong fourth quarter hiring… Manpower, however, predicts a bleak hiring outlook overall… Both the University of Michigan and Wayne State University tout supporting roles in the new Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland… Schoolcraft College opens its $12.7 million Biomedical Technology Center… Meijer to test online buying and personal shopping at its Knapp’s Corners store in Grand Rapids… The National Association of Seed and Venture Funds holds its annual convention in Detroit for the first time… Orion Township based Scate Technologies makes its media mashup software Scate Ignite 4 free to Michigan students… Michigan’s University Research Corridor partners — Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University — generated 69,285 jobs, educated more students than any of the nation’s best comparable R&D clusters, and produced $13.3 billion in economic impact in 2007, according to a new report… Michigan Technological University and the city of Houghton get a $3 million federal grant for a fourth business incubator in the Keweenaw region… General Motors will spend $370 million on a new engine plant in Flint that will build the power plant for the Chevrolet Volt and other models… Michigan Tech gets a $25 million state appropriation for a new Great Lakes water resources research center…
October 2008: GLITR’s second annual Fall Tech Tour gets under way once again at the WiMax World conference in Chicago. After that, the tour checks out university research tech spinoffs at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant, Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan State University in East Lansing and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor … A study shows that Michigan has enough wind power potential to power the entire Upper Midwest… Kearsarge-based Pasty.net plans to offer wireless Web in several remote areas of the Upper Peninsula… Covisint to set up a health information exchange in the Detroit area… Stock in Compuware Corp. plunges 17.7 percent after the Detroit software and IT services giant said its financial results for its second fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30 would miss expectations… New York City-based Sharper Image Monday announced the signing of a $540 million, five-year licensing agreement with Commerce Township-based HoMedics for health products… Ann Arbor’s Health Media, a developer of wellness media, is acquired by Johnson & Johnson… Grand Rapids-based Cascade Engineering begins sales of a small rooftop wind turbine system that generates 1.5 kilowatts… Compuware lays off 300…
November 2008: Universities and stem cell research groups hail the passage of Proposal 2, authorizing embryonic stem cell research in Michigan… Strategic Staffing Solutions expands to the west coast with the purchase of the IT Services division of National Technical Systems, which includes 180 employees and locations in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Calif.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Columbia, S.C. and Troy…. Ann Arbor’s Adaptive Materials and the University of Michigan set a record for fuel cell powered flight of a drone, more than 10 hours… Gibbs Technologies opens its engineering center for its amphibious car in Auburn Hills with 80 staffers… About 500 attend the MichBio Expo, back in the Detroit area for the first time in four years…. A 50-kilowatt wind turbine will rise on the campus of Kalamazoo Valley Community College… A Rochester Hills company, Maylong Group, introduces a hand-held GPS device that breaks the $100 price point…
December 2008: The Livonia Web site Buy Michigan Now releases a holiday gift guide… Keith Cooley is named the new CEO of NextEnergy… A new Lansing-based Web site, GiftZip, offers a direct link to instant gift cards… Altair Engineering will offer free technology training courses and licenses for advanced software to displaced engineers in Michigan… Innovative economic activity in Michigan fell slightly during the second quarter of 2008, according to an “innovation index” developed by scholars at the University of Michigan-Dearborn School of Management… Three more Michigan start-up companies recently received investment commitments through the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund… Hemlock Semiconductor announces another $1 billion investment in Michigan… An Adrian biodiesel plant now owned by a New York City company, GreenShift Corp., signed agreements to receive a $38 million investment to produce 20 million gallons a year of biodiesel from corn oil…
January 2009: Ferndale-based Myine Electronics (today known as Livio Radio) shows off its Internet radios at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas… Pontiac’s GuidePoint Systems also offer a sneak preview of an integrated Bluetooth and GPS device at CES… Southfield-based TechTeam Global Inc. said its recent market success has created the need for 65 new employees in Michigan… Ford CEO Alan Mulally talks up the automaker’s Sync system at CES… This year’s North American International Auto Show is all about environmental sustainability… The State of Michigan and IBM, in partnership with Michigan State University, announced the creation of a Global Delivery Center for Application Services to be located on the MSU campus in East Lansing… Online Technologies posts its fifth straight year of 30 percent growth… Azure Dynamics, the Oak Park hybrid truck powertrain developer, lays off 25 percent of its staff… Nearly 500 software developers attend a Microsoft Developer Conference at the Marriott Renaissance Center Detroit…
February 2009: TechNow09, a new tech conference, is being organized by a youthful group of entrepreneurs… The Upper Peninsula’s Pasty Cam marks its 4,000th straight day of a new picture from the UP… The Detroit Science Center offers a chance at a ‘Star Trek’ Wedding to mark its Star Trek exhibit… An overflow crowd of more than 400 packs the Alternative Energy Summit at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn… Compuware lays off 250 services employees… Three more Michigan start-up companies received investment commitments in January through the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund… Kalamazoo Valley Community College establishes a national training center for technicians who will work on utility-sized wind turbines…
March 2009: The Detroit-based New Economy Initiative announced a first wave of $11 million in grants to organizations driving economic change in southeast Michigan… Around 1,300 people gathered at Detroit’s Cobo Center for the opening day of the Michigan Wind Energy Conference, sponsored by the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association… DTE Energy files proposals to produce more renewable energy… The University of Michigan announces a consortium to create new embryonic stem cell lines that will aid the search for disease treatments and cures… Ford celebrates the sale of its 100,000th Escape Hybrid… The Michigan Innovation Index declines 1.8 percent… Energy Conversion Devices lays off 70 and freezes plans for a new plant amid slumping solar demand… EXT Life Sciences, a biotechnology start-up company spun off from Wayne State University, announced a treatment that stops hair from graying… The Michigan Public Service Commission establishes a statewide net metering program… Michigan Technological University enjoyed its best finish in five years over the weekend at the SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge, earning second place on its home turf…
April 2009: Plymouth’s Stardock passes the one-million-download mark… OnStar files for its 500th patent application… A coalition of teams from Pontiac Northern, Milford and Utica high schools won the FIRST Robotics state championship at Eastern Michigan University… University of Michigan spinoff company Lycera Corp. has closed on $36 million of venture capital… ACD.net cuts the ribbon for a wireless Internet network for the small West Michigan city of Springfield… Pfizer dedicates a renovated, 780,000-square-foot laboratory and office complex in downtown Kalamazoo… The Covisint subsidiary of Detroit-based Compuware Corp. has been selected to digitally connect 240,000 of the nation’s doctors through the American Medical Association… Wayne State University opens the newest home for technology innovation, the $28 million, 82,500-square-foot Marvin I. Danto Engineering Development Center.
May 2009: GLITR’s Spring Tech Tour checks out tech-based economic development in Kalamazoo, South Haven, Holland, Grand Haven, Muskegon, Manistee, Traverse City, Marquette, Gaylord, Saginaw, Midland, Flint and Lansing. Whew!… The University of Michigan announces that it will take ownership of the 174-acre former Pfizer Inc. research campus in northeast Ann Arbor “within weeks”… Pasty.net, the wireless Internet service provider serving some of the most remote areas of the Upper Peninsula, celebrates its 10th birthday… Jackson-based Consumers Energy, Detroit-based DTE Energy and 12 other utilities teamed up with Ford Motor Co. and 14 other utilities on a proposal for a national pilot project to promote the use of electric vehicles….As Michigan was losing a quarter of its manufacturing jobs, Michigan’s University Research Corridor partners helped the state become a national life sciences leader, boosting the number of jobs 10.7 percent as average wages jumped 29 percent, according to a new survey released Thursday…
June 2009: Gov. Jennifer Granholm outlines her renewable energy plan during the opening session of the Detroit Regional Chamber Mackinac Policy Conference at Mackinac Island’s Grand Hotel… A panel of experts advocates the electrification of the American vehicle fleet at the conference… The public relations firm Tanner Friedman sues an anonymous “John Doe” in federal court over false Twitter posts purporting to come from the company… A couple of hundred CIOs, people who want to be CIOs and people who serve CIOs gather in Detroit for the annual Midwest Technology Leaders conference at the MGM Grand in Detroit… Michigan Technological University finishes second in an SAE ultramileage competition at Eaton Corp.’s Galesburg providing ground with a vehicle that got 1,140 mpg… The National Summit, the Detroit Economic Club’s effort to convene a national gathering on improving America’s economic competitiveness, kicks off… A crowd of about 60 got the word on promoting their businesses with social media for the second in WWJ’s Laptop Lunch series at Mr. B’s in Royal Oak… GLITR attends the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association’s fourth annual Michigan Energy Fair at the Manistee County Fairgrounds…
July 2009: A new business incubator, the North Woodward Tech Incubator, plans to open in Troy… Detroit’s Caraco Pharmaceutical Labs is raided by U.S. Marshals over quality problems alleged by the FDA, the company lays off 350 and mothballs its Detroit plant and locations in Farmington Hills and Wixom… Rave Computer moves to a larger headquarters in Sterling Heights… Ann Arbor’s Linux Box celebrates its 10th anniversary… Ann Arbor’s NanoBio raises $10 million in venture capital… More than 1,300 attend the CBS Radio Michigan Makes Movies Expo at the Rock Financial Showplace… Ann Arbor-based Accuri Cytometers raises $4 million in venture capital… Quicken Loans announces its move to downtown Detroit will be as a tenant, in the Compuware building… The Michigan Strategic Fund invests $1.8 million in Venomix, the Kalamazoo company developing new insecticides from spider venom… Azure Dynamics gets new patents for its hybrid truck powertrain… The launch of Ann Arbor.com, the replacement for the Ann Arbor News, is delayed… Guardian Industries is developing new glass for solar energy projects… A new Oakland University business incubator opens in Sterling Heights… Ann Arbor’s Online Tech sells its Web hosting business to Clarkston-based IGD Solutions…
August 2009: Community partners leading the effort to market the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University debut a new Web site to assist in marketing the region to prospective FRIB employees and their families… Michigan gets more than $1 billion of $2.4 billion in federal grants to create an advanced battery industry in the United States… University of Michigan scientists and engineers have been awarded 159 federal stimulus-package research grants to date, totaling $61.1 million… The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan raises $3 million in just 5 1/2 hours in an online event… Researchers at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie are turning grass seed into usable fuel… Northern Michigan University in Marquette fire up a WiMax wireless network… Jackson-based Consumers Energy asks the Michigan Public Service Commission to approve power supply contracts with six new Michigan-based renewable energy projects totaling 9.6 megawatts…
Friday: September 2009 – August 2010
