Birmingham : Innovation & Job News

Harold Decker, Miller Canfield principal, said Michigan is still a good investment for life sciences companies.

"I'm very interested in the recrudescence of this state," said Decker. "I want to see it grow and prosper as I knew it as a child. And I think that because of some of the resources that we have here in the state of Michigan that we're ideally suited to do that."

At last week's Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress, the 35,000 engineers in attendance focused on the conference theme of "Engineering for Global Sustainable Mobility—It’s Up To Us."

Mike Milliken's Worldchanging.com column, The Week in Sustainable Mobility, delves into the focus the brains of the automotive industry is putting on fuel efficiency and emissions reduction.

Excerpt:

"To say that the industry is aware of the need to address the two issues of greenhouse gas emissions and energy availability is an understatement. Presentation after presentation (and there were 1,500 technical papers presented) defined the framework for the research and development projects underway in terms of those two overriding factors. In a series of higher-level symposia hosted by powertrain engineering companies AVL and FEV, top engineering executives began their discussions of trends and possible outcomes practically with the same set of slides: climate change and energy availability."

Read the entire article here.

Two local entrepreneurs, Gene Gizzarelli and Mike Fisher, have launched a website, NeedHelpers.com, to connect local small businesses to potential clients. Gizzarelli explains their motivation: "We wanted to develop a site to address the economy, and what's happening in this state. With big business going under and causing a lot unemployment, more and more people are starting up their own operations as entrepreneurs and they need an avenue to help to expand their businesses."

The pair, who also own an IT company, hit upon the idea after asking themselves, "How do we expand our business in a cost-effective way?" Noting that many small businesses don't have the resources to hire sales staff or run print, radio or television ads, they launched NeedHelpers.com to help service-providers such as lawyers, doctors, electricians, landscapers and plumbers establish a web presence. 

NeedHelpers.com charges an annual fee to list service providers, but is free for anyone on the hunt for one. Gizzarelli points out that other similar sites charge users an annual fee to find service providers or are industry-specific such as Lawyers.com. The site also allows users to rate services they receive in order to help guide future browsers.

NeedHelpers.com went live the last week in March and Gizzarelli says, "It is growing on a day-to-day basis. We've gotten a really good response." The site is being advertised on billboards and buses. "We're spending money to advertise so our service providers don't need to."

Source: Gene Gizzarelli, NeedHelpers.com

Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

The Detroit Regional Chamber and Detroit Renaissance have formed a panel of business executives to develop a set of recommendations for improving and growing Southeast Michigan's medical education and research capabilities as well as boosting collaboration between the region's medical institutions.

Chaired by former United States Congressman and Michigan State Senator Joe Schwarz, M.D. the panel will:

• Identify steps to increase graduate medical education to meet the region's needs for more doctors across specialty areas
• Identify short and long-term recommendations for substantially growing the region's medical education and research cluster
• Develop models for increasing collaboration throughout the region among healthcare providers, systems and education and research facilities to ensure access to quality care to all citizens of the region and the growth of the region's medical community.

"Business leaders are concerned that there continues to be inadequate collaboration among the region's medical institutions which could threaten access to quality care and the ability to maximize the growth potential of this industry, said Detroit Regional Chamber President and CEO Richard E. Blouse, Jr. "Dr. Schwarz brings a knowledge of the industry and a history of collaboration that will move the dialogue forward."

Dr. Schwarz recently served on a Congressional Panel tasked with investigating care at Walter Reed Hospital and is acknowledged as one of Michigan's most experienced leaders in health care policy.

Other panel members include:

Randolph Agley, Chairman and CEO of The Talon Group
Jon Barfield, Chairman and President of The Bartech Group
Alfred Glancy, Chairman, Unico Investment Company
Richard M. Gabrys, Retired Vice Chairman of Deloitte and Dean of the School of Business Administration of Wayne State University
Daniel J. Loepp, President and CEO of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan
Florine Mark, President & CEO of the WW Group
Leslie Murphy, Group Managing Partner of Plante Moran
Cynthia J. Pasky, President, CEO & Founder of Strategic Staffing Solutions
Daniel F. Ponder, CEO of Franco Public Relations Group
Richard Russell, CEO of Amerisure Insurance Company.
 
"The business community believes medical education and research can play a major role in driving economic growth in the region and that a long-term strategy is needed to achieve this goal, said Detroit Renaissance President Doug Rothwell.  

The panel is expected to complete their work by August.

Source: Detroit Renaissance

"I believe that Michigan is on the verge of becoming an entrepreneurial state," Alami says. "We have some ways to go - but with our wealth of great talent, what we really need is a change of attitude at the state and local levels."

Read the entire article here.

Ypsilanti-based Clean Energy Coalition (CEC), along with the energy offices from Ann Arbor and the State of Michigan, are holding a contest from which 28 Michigan residents will win up to $10,000 in energy improvements to their homes.

One grand prize winner will win $10,000 in energy-related home improvements as well as access to the Environmental Protection Agency's Home Energy Rating System (HERS)  and the Energy Star program. This will assist the homeowner in maximizing the impact of their improvements.

Four first prize winners will receive energy analyses of their homes along with specific recommendations on how to lower their utility costs, and 23 second prize winners will receive $25 Home Depot gift cards.

In the contest announcement, CEC Executive Director Sean Reed said, “Our goal with this contest is to show how a one-time investment in energy efficiency improvements can save homeowner’s money every month for as long as they own their home. Given the fact that the cost of energy has been increasing most every year, it doesn’t take too long for this to add up to big savings.”

To enter, go to www.cec-mi.org/contest, where you will be asked to enter your utility usage over the last 12 months, by May 11.

Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

Does your workplace have groovy couches, an endless supply of soft drinks and hi-tech nap rooms?

Or maybe your boss is a saint disguised as a senior project manager.

Crain's Detroit Business is looking for the coolest places to work in Southeast Michigan. Teamed up with Southfield-based American Society of Employers, the business publication is looking or employers that have created work environments that attract and retain quality workers, especially younger workers.

The competition is dubbed "Cool Places to Work."

Anyone may nominate a company or nonprofit organization for the competition. Online nomination forms can be found at www.crainsdetroit.com, under the "Forms and Surveys" headline in the left hand column on the home page.

The deadline for nominations is May 1. Winning companies will be recognized in the Sept. 3 issue of Crain's.

Only companies located in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston and Washtenaw counties are eligible.

For more information contact Shawn Selby, Crain's Business Lives editor at sselby@crain.com or visit www.crainsdetroit.com

The Detroit Regional Economic Partnership, part of the Detroit Regional Chamber, recently teamed up with Oakland County to visit India in order to attract new businesses to Southeast Michigan.

Headed by Partnership Executive Director John Carroll, the ten-person delegation included representatives from the Detroit Regional Economic Partnership, Oakland County, Global Services Resources, LLC, Acro Service Corp. and Stonebridge Business Partners, a company that now has offices in two cities in India, Pune and Delhi, following the 2006 trip. 

The late March/early April visit was an aimed at building build on the success of the Partnership's 2006 mission to India. The group spoke with newspapers, held cocktail parties, hosted seminars and spoke to companies and people on a one-on-one basis through four cities.

Carroll said that having a high Indian population in Detroit was an advantage, and that many in India became interested in what they were doing and offered their assistance with the trip.

"We aimed to improve upon Detroit’s image, " said Carroll, who added the company has what he calls "28 good leads," which is what he refers to as businesses interested, as well as two "prospects, " which he calls companies that could potentially be moving offices to the East Michigan area within the next year or so. Although he could not give specifics, he did mention that one company was looking to bring around thirty new engineering jobs to the area. 

"The most important part of all of this is the end result, the ultimate deals, " said Carroll, who added the Partnership, which has created nearly 8,000 new jobs in the Metro Detroit area in the last decade, will continue talks with the Indian market, as well as local groups such as the Indo American Chamber of Commerce, in the hopes of securing these deals.

Source: John Carroll, The Detroit Regional Economic Partnership

If you're at all like me, gardening is a warm-weather activity that brings you great satisfaction. I am always looking for ways to improve my vegetable garden's output, but I'm not willing to kill myself over it. I use bagged manure for fertilizer, and that's kind of the end of it.

I've been thinking it might be time to start a compost pile for a couple of reasons. First, to help my garden grow, but also as a useful waste-reducer. I will admit, though, I've always been a bit scared of the smell and of pests.

To alleviate my fears and help me get started, I spent some time talking with Leah Retherford, an Americorps member working with the Greening of Detroit in their education and urban farming programs. She maintains compost piles in her backyard and one at the lower Cass Corridor community garden for which she volunteers, and she teaches students at Our Lady of Guadalupe Middle School for Girls in Southwest Detroit about gardening and ecology. I figured, if she can teach junior high kids, she'll be able to break down (no pun intended) the compost concept to me.

What it all comes down to, Retherford says, is recycling and replenishing. "For me, it started as a way to recycle. But now it is more. If you don't build your soil, you are just depleting it. 

A basic, and the least labor-intensive, method is a passive pile. Retherford recommends first picking a good spot in your yard—she chose a rear corner. Stake in some wooden posts and wrap them in chicken wire to create a fence to keep the pile contained and relatively pest-free. Put yard waste like grass clipping, leaves and weeds into the pile along with kitchen waste like coffee grounds, peels and cuttings from vegetables and fruits and even tea bags.

Avoid meat, fish, cheese, bones and anything greasy or cooked. This draws the pests. In urban areas, Retherford advises an additional caution again pests: always covering any food product with a layer of yard waste, just to be safe.

With a passive pile, all you do is wait—and your compost will be ready in about one year. 

An active pile can be ready in six-eight weeks, but they take more thought and effort. You start it just the same as a passive one, but sprinkle water on the pile every foot or so. After a few days, the pile will begin to get hot. After it cools down in a week or two, you mix everything up, encouraging it to warm up again. When it no longer heats up after mixing, the compost is ready.

Many gardeners have turned to composting machines to do the mixing for them. Retherford says the machines make it a lot easier to do the mixing that active compost piles require. Plus, there is the added bonus of keeping the compost completely unreachable to pests.

Currently, Greening of Detroit has a limited number of Earth Machine composters available for $35, a discounted rate from the normal retail price of about $85. Anyone interested in purchasing an Earth Machine should contact Ashley Atkinson at 313.237.8736.

Rubbermaid also makes a composting machine that is typically available at Home Depot and Ace Hardware stores. Composters.com carries dozens of brands and styles of compost bins, machines and accessories.

Because there are many things one can do to improve their compost, there are tons of tricks and tips on what to add and what not to add, when to add a particular ingredient, how to best mix the pile, and so on. Detroit's Garden Resource Program offers opportunities for serious gardeners to fine-tune their composting techniques. On July 26, there is a "Cover Crops and Organic Fertilizers" course that will discuss composting and on September 27, there will be a program on advanced composting. Greening's Compost Workgroup also hosts meetings quarterly. Course schedules and descriptions are available from the GRP website.

Once she has good compost, Rutherford adds it to her garden prior to the first planting of the season. "I put a layer on top of the dirt, break it up a little bit, then just plant right into it." The only time she puts more into her garden is if she is doing a succession planting—planting a second crop after an early one is harvested—or if a crop looks "dried out."

Sounds pretty easy. I just ordered my Earth Machine.

Source: Leah Retherford, Greening of Detroit

Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

Three local brothers—Sander DeVries, Tim Pfannes and Shane Pfannes—have turned their distaste for junk mail into a growing business. 41pounds.org, so named for the weight of the average amount of junk mail the average adult receives per year, offers customers a one-stop shop to stop each and every piece of junk mail and unwanted catalog from arriving in their mail box for five years—for just $41 per household.

DevRies explains that the business arose from their determination to shrink their own pile of unwanted mail growing on the dining room table. "We decided to so some research to see what we could do to stop this." It took some time and some digging, but their persistence worked.

They shared the information they gathered—who to call, mail and email to get off of every junk mailing list—with family and friends. Although people were interested in the concept, it was just too much work for the average person to tackle. DeVries remembers, "They all said, 'This is really cool.' But no one went through and did it."

Thus, in July 2006, 41pounds.org was born. Their task is to contact the junk mailers—an average of 20-25 of them—to remove their customers from their mailing lists. They will also tackle additional catalogs if asked. 
The 2,000 people who are signed up have already made an impact, DeVries points out. "That's over 2,400 trees saved, 1.4 million gallons of water saved and 920,000 pounds of carbon dioxide not released into the atmosphere."

41pounds.org is a national service: "We have tested the list at different houses in different areas," states DeVries, and they are finding that California residents are utilizing the service in high numbers. The brothers plan to launch a marketing campaign in late April to coincide with Earth Day, and hope to recruit more Michigan residents to the service at that time. 

41pounds.org also offers a unique fund-raising opportunity for non-profit organizations and schools: they get to keep $15 of the $41 fee for any new customer they recruit to the service. "People are sick of candy bars and wrapping paper fund-raisers. And it's easy. You just have to get people to sign up on a website and you're raising money," explains DeVries.

Local organizations already on-board include Judson Center, Roeper Schools and Bloomfield Hills Optimist Club.

The brothers also run a computer network maintenance company. DeVries says, "That was our main company and this was a side project, but it has turned into such a huge project." 41pounds.org is currently Ferndale-based and, despite its national appeal, he says the brothers have no plans to relocate. "We're gonna be here forever."

Source: Sander DeVries, 41pounds.org

Writer Kelli B. Kavanaugh

Using the plastic—and even paper—bags that stores provide is easy. But we all know it is inherently wasteful. Here are some local alternatives.

Ornj Bags by Conjoin design are actually made out of orange construction fencing, taking the whole recycling thing to the next level. Available at Pure Detroit.

IKEA is no longer providing free plastic bags, instead charging 59 cents for their reusable Big Blue Bag. You can then use them anytime you shop.  

Likewise, Trader Joe's sells its canvas bags for $2.99 and bags made from recycled plastic for 99 cents. Plus, use 'em and they'll enter you in a monthly drawing to win store prizes.

A bit higher-end, the Detroit Institute of Arts offers a black canvas bag screen-printed with The Thinker for $20. For the same price, Eastern Market mainstay R. Hirt Jr. sells a popular one that will show off your gourmet tendencies.

The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum sells a green tote with red straps for $11.99—maybe kicking the bag habit will be a lesson passed on to your kids?

If you do have a plethora at plastic bags at home, don’t throw them away. Recycle Ann Arbor and Recycle Detroit take them at their drop-off sites.  Or, if all else fails, offer them to someone with a dog, they might as well pull double doodie ...er... duty.

Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh