Ben Franklin Talent Connect Partners with Swarthmore Future Entrepreneurs Program

May 15, 2012

Pennsylvania (www.sep.benfranklin.org, www.swarthmore.edu) – Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania and Swarthmore College have partnered to provide Swarthmore College students with entrepreneurial internship opportunities at emerging technology growth enterprises in the Greater Philadelphia region.

Ben Franklin Talent Connect provides interns with real-world entrepreneurial experience at growing Ben Franklin portfolio companies.  Our companies benefit from dynamic young talent.

Swarthmore College students eager to learn more about entrepreneurship have a new opportunity to explore this challenging and exciting career path. In response to growing interest, and with the financial assistance of an anonymous alumnus donor, the College’s Career Services Office launched the Swarthmore Future Entrepreneurs program. The program provides funding to students who complete internships with start-up companies. Through these internships, students will receive hands-on experience within a start-up, and work closely with experienced entrepreneurs to learn how businesses are created and managed.

“This partnership between our Ben Franklin Talent Connect and Swarthmore’s Future Entrepreneurs internship programs is a win-win for Swarthmore students and our portfolio companies,” said RoseAnn B. Rosenthal, President & CEO of Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

As Nancy Burkett, Swarthmore’s Director of Career Services notes, “We believe Swarthmore provides the ideal learning environment to foster the creativity and innovation that are hallmarks of successful entrepreneurs. Our goal is to provide students with the experiences, education and resources necessary to explore sustainable business and social enterprises so they can envision the impact they will make in the world.”

Seven Swarthmore students will participate in the Swarthmore Future Entrepreneurs program in this inaugural year. Each will hold a summer internship with a Ben Franklin portfolio company.  The students will serve the companies in a variety of capacities, including work in the investment, marketing, engineering, and social media/communication realms. The goal is to expand the program in the years to come.

About Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania

Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania is a national, award winning organization for Stimulating Entrepreneurial Potential, through entrepreneurship, technology and innovation.  For thirty years, Ben Franklin has provided the Capital, Knowledge and Networks that help innovative enterprises compete in the global marketplace, generating wealth and supporting regional economic growth.  Ben Franklin has invested more than $155 million to grow more than 1,750 regional enterprises, across all areas of technology.  It has launched university/industry partnerships that accelerate scientific discoveries to commercialization. Ben Franklin is part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Ben Franklin Technology Partnership.

For additional information, please visit www.sep.benfranklin.org, Facebook, LinkedIn & Twitter.

BFTP/SEP Contact:

Jaron J. Rhodes
(215) 972-6700, ext. 3214
jaron@sep.benfranklin.org

About Swarthmore College

Swarthmore College is a highly selective college of liberal arts and engineering. Since its founding in 1864, Swarthmore has given students the knowledge, insight, skills, and experience to become leaders for the common good. A student/faculty ratio of 8:1 ensures that students have meaningful engagement with their professors, preparing them to translate the skills and understanding gained at Swarthmore into the mark they want to make on the world. The College’s Honors program features small groups of students working closely with faculty and peers; an emphasis on independent learning; and a final examination by outside scholars. Swarthmore’s 425-acre arboretum campus is located 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia.

Contact the Swarthmore College Communications Office at news@swarthmore.edu (610) 328-8533, or learn more about the College at www.swarthmore.edu.

Mike Armstrong, May 14, 2012

Six young tech companies received a total of $675,000 in investment from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Zonoff Inc. of Malvern received the largest amount — $200,000 — as it develops a “home-automation system” that would automatically perform household tasks, such as turning off lights at night or adjusting the thermostat at various times of the day. (My request to automate: Taking out the garbage.)

To the state-funded Ben Franklin organization, which has been investing in companies like this since the early ’80s, Zonoff is a known commodity. It was founded by Mike Harris, who began AnySource Media — also funded by Ben Franklin — which was acquired by DivX Inc. for $15 million in 2009. And Zonoff itself is a spin-off of BuLogics, which received $150,000 from the economic-development agency in November 2009.

GroupAppz Inc. and PeopleLinx L.L.C. each received $150,000. Started in 2010, GroupAppz in Fort Washington developed an app called GameOnz to help coaches, young players, and their parents coordinate practices and games. CEO Stephen Layne is a serial entrepreneur who ran LaxPower.com, a West Chester online lacrosse site that was acquired by the Active Network Inc. in 2007.

PeopleLinx, of Philadelphia, has developed tools to help businesses use social-media technologies more effectively. Its CEO is Nathan Egan, who was an early employee at LinkedIn Corp. in Mountain View, Calif.

Also receiving funding were:

Cross X Platform L.L.C. in Audubon, Montgomery County, a cloud-based software company focused on the professional services sector. It received $100,000.

SnipSnap App L.L.C., which has an app that scans, saves, and redeems printed coupons using a mobile phone. The start-up, which received $50,000, is currently housed at the Project Liberty Digital Incubator in The Inquirer Building at 400 N. Broad St.

Syandus Inc., of Exton, which uses three-dimensional simulations and game technology to help doctors learn to diagnose and manage diseases. It received $25,000. The Ben Franklin program also invested $150,000 in it in 2009.

Read More: http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/mike_armstrong/20120514_SEER_Interactive_is_Phila__rsquo_s_only_Inner_City_100_firm.html#ixzz1urf8zNDT

Peter Key, May 11, 2012

In what could be a sign that fundraising for tech companies is getting a little easier, three of them in the area recently raised $6.6 million in private securities sales.

Virtual Piggy Inc., the Philadelphia-based operator of a website that enables parents to set up accounts from which their children can anonymously make online purchases, raised a little more than $6 million, according to its CEO and co-founder Jo Webber.

CloudMine LLC raised $480,000 in a sale of debt and options, warrants or rights, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing reported by FormDs.com. The Philadelphia company has developed a technology platform that mobile application developers can use for the back end of their apps.

Timesight Systems Inc. raised $115,000 in a private-equity sale, according to a filing it made with the SEC. The Mount Laurel, N.J., company has technology that allows high-definition surveillance systems to be supported on one-tenth of the server and storage space they usually require.

The fundings came after what would have been a slow first quarter for venture-capital funding in the area except for one massive deal — a $71.4 million funding of Exton-based iPipeline, which provides software to the insurance industry.

Without that deal, venture capitalists would only have invested $70.1 million in companies in eastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey and Delaware in the first quarter, according to the MoneyTree Report, which is put out by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Assocation using data from Thomson Reuters. That total would have been the lowest since the first quarter of 2009 when companies in the region raised only $43.8 million, according to the MoneyTree.

Virtual Piggy, which will use the money to try to gain widespread acceptance of its offering, didn’t have a difficult time raising money, Webber said in an email.

The company “has delivered on timelines laid down previously,” she said. “The consumer marketing campaign is a natural next step in the go to market plan.”

Timesight’s funding was connected to a nearly $3.2 million investment the company got in early last year, according to its CEO, Charles Foley. As a result of that investment, New Venture Partners of Murray Hill, N.J., and Contour Venture Partners of New York, which made it, had the right to invest more in Timesight and they did, Foley said.

Venture capitalists are a little more willing to invest in tech companies than they have been recently, but mostly in high-growth areas, such as cloud computing, storage management and information security, he said.

“We’re very fortunate that we’re in a strong area — storage and security — and we have solid, strong investors who want to invest more and grow the company further,” Foley said.

Another indicator that venture money may be getting easier to raise was attendance at the Angel Venture Fair, which was held last month at the Union League of Philadelphia.

The event drew about 400 people, its best attendance ever, according to Marc Kramer, its executive director. One-hundred-seven companies, also the most ever, from 10 states applied to present at it, Kramer said.

“I think with the stock market going up, and the economy … rebounding, there is a higher level of interest at all levels, from people wanting to start their own companies to people wanting to invest in them,” he said.

Read More: http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/print-edition/2012/05/11/virtual-piggy-cloud-mine-timesight.html?page=all

The National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) named Ben Franklin TechVentures®the 2012 Randall M. Whaley National Incubator of the Year on May 8 at NBIA’s International Conference on Business Incubation in Atlanta. Ben Franklin TechVentures also won the Dinah Adkins Incubator of the Year, Technology Focus at the NBIA event. Ben Franklin TechVentures is owned and managed by the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/NEP) on Lehigh University’s Mountaintop Campus in Bethlehem, PA. 

Ben Franklin TechVentures provides a high-energy and professional environment in which to facilitate connections between early-stage technology firms and the funding, people, technology, colleges and universities, and other resources they need to prosper. Since 1983, the program has been fueling economic growth throughout northeastern Pennsylvania and has graduated 55 successful companies. 

Beginning in 1983 with 10,000 square feet of incubator space in a former photography lab on the research campus of Bethlehem Steel, BFTP/NEP converted photo processing rooms into wet labs and offices, becoming one of only a handful of technology incubators in the U.S. at the time. When the final Bethlehem Steel operation, a coatings research facility, closed in 2005 and became part of Lehigh’s campus, BFTP/NEP purchased the 45-year-old facility and converted it into Ben Franklin TechVentures, with 35,000 square feet of rentable space for incubator clients. The $8 million renovation project was completed in 2007, opening with 13 clients. 

Just 18 months later, with the facility nearing its 29-client capacity, the need for an expansion was clear. In October 2011, Ben Franklin TechVentures² was completed, adding 47,000 square feet of space and providing the incubator with room to house up to 40 clients.

Business incubation programs like Ben Franklin TechVentures catalyze the process of starting and growing companies by providing entrepreneurs with the expertise, networks and tools they need to make their ventures successful. NBIA estimates that in 2005 alone, North American incubators assisted more than 27,000 start-up companies that provided full-time employment for more than 100,000 workers and generated annual revenue of more than $17 billion. Approximately 7,000 business incubators operate worldwide. 

The National Business Incubation Association is the world’s leading organization advancing business incubation and entrepreneurship. Each year, the NBIA Incubation Awards honor the business incubation programs, graduates and client companies that exemplify the best of the industry. 

“The judges for NBIA’s Incubation Awards program were unanimous in their selection of Ben Franklin TechVentures for their highest honor, the Randall M. Whaley Incubator of the Year Award,” said Tim King, NBIA International Programs Operations Manager. “Our judges feel that Ben Franklin TechVentures best exemplifies the qualities of an outstanding business incubation program, and serves as a model that other incubators will follow when striving to best serve their client companies.”  

The 2012 Whaley award represents a noteworthy repeat honor. In 2001, the Ben Franklin Business Incubator, predecessor to Ben Franklin TechVentures, won this same top worldwide incubator award.  

The awards were announced locally for the first time at the Ben Franklin i xchange event on Tuesday evening, May 8. 

About the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania

The Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/NEP) links companies with business and technical experts, universities, funding, and other resources to help them prosper through innovation. The organization is a non-profit corporation that is part of a four-center, state-funded economic development initiative. The Ben Franklin program was created by the Commonwealth in 1983 to play a leadership role in strengthening regional economies, building the state’s technology economy, and creating and retaining high-wage, high-skilled jobs.

BFTP/NEP’s strategy encompasses three key areas:

1. Developing early-stage, technology-oriented companies;
2. Helping established manufacturers creatively apply new technology and business practices; and
3. Promoting an innovative community-wide infrastructure that fosters a favorable business environment for high-growth companies. 

Since 1983, the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania has achieved the following results:

• Created 15,479 new jobs
• Retained 21,459 existing jobs
• Started 429 new companies
• Developed 1,127 new products and processes 

The northeastern center is headquartered on the campus of Lehigh University, and also operates, an award-winning incubator/post-incubator facility, on Lehigh’s campus.

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On Tuesday, May 8^th, the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/NEP) hosted its annual i xchange at the Zoellner Arts Center on the campus of Lehigh University in Bethlehem. More than 500 technology entrepreneurs, business people, venture capitalists, economic developers, political leaders, and regional influencers from Ben Franklin’s 21-county service area attended. 

The event began with a video describing the early-stage company support and job creation accomplishments of Ben Franklin TechVentures®, an incubator/post-incubator facility owned and managed by BFTP/NEP. Ben Franklin TechVentures was expanded late last year because of burgeoning market need. Host R. Chadwick Paul, Jr., President and CEO of BFTP/NEP, announced that just hours ago at the National Business Incubation Association’s International Conference in Atlanta, Ben Franklin TechVentures was named the winner of the prestigious Randall M. Whaley National Incubator of the Year Award.   

The i xchange combined the presentation of Ben Franklin’s eighteenth annual Innovation Awards and executive networking sessions with a keynote address by Leonard Brody. Brody is a highly respected entrepreneur, venture capitalist, best-selling author, and two-time Emmy-nominated media visionary. He has helped raise millions of dollars for start-up companies, played a role in one of the largest Internet IPOs in history, and has participated in the building, financing, and/or sale of five companies. 

Brody’s presentation, entitled This Monumental Shift – Exploring the Future of Behavior, Technology, and Innovation, addressed how major technological and behavioral changes over the last 15 years have brought us to what is arguably the most reformative time in human history. Human beings have changed monumentally. Brody examined the evolution and division between our virtual and physical selves and how most businesses completely miss the virtual side. This is critical because we spend so much time interacting through our virtual selves, and people are frequently speaking the wrong language to the wrong people. The result: major and costly failures in marketing, human resources, and sales. 

The 2012 Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania Innovation Awards winners are: 

Entrepreneurial Achievement

Individuals who best exemplify the quintessential entrepreneurial spirit: a combination of ingenuity, hard work, and innovation that has resulted in the creation of a successful and growing business venture.
Patrick Clasen, Justin Lawyer, and Timothy Marks, Founders and Principals
EcoTech Marine, LLC, Bethlehem
Reef aquarium ownership is a sizeable and growing hobby. To properly care for expensive fish and corals within an aquarium ecosystem, adequate water circulation is required. Conventional pumps located within the tank are large and generate considerable heat, which can harm or kill sensitive aquarium inhabitants. EcoTech’s patented VorTech propeller pump provides a gentle, controlled flow, which enhances the aquarium ecosystem. EcoTech also adapted the pump for use in the spa/pedicure market. EcoTech’s new Radion LED lighting unit features 34 energy-efficient LEDs with a five-color spectrum for improving aquarium growth, wider coverage, better energy efficiency, and a customizable spectral output.

 EcoTech’s principals founded the company while still undergraduate students, and built it into a multi-million dollar enterprise with the help of several regional economic development partners. In addition to Ben Franklin, the company received support from the City of Bethlehem; Lehigh University through its Integrated Product Development Program, Small Business Development Center, and Enterprise Systems Center; Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation through its Southside Bethlehem Keystone Innovation Zone; the Manufacturers’ Resource Center; and Northampton County. EcoTech has grown substantially over the past three years and is on track for more than 12 million in revenue for 2012, almost doubling its 2011 sales. Beginning with three founders, the company now employs 30, plans to add 10 more full-time team members this year, and is seeking new space that quadruples its current area. 

Incubator Graduate

The company that has best demonstrated successful Ben Franklin business incubation.  The business has been operated skillfully and confidently, meeting all challenges from the development of the product concept, execution of the business and technical plan, successful start-up and operation, to graduation from the incubator.
Net Driven, Scranton
Elizabeth Clauss, Chief Operating Officer
Seventy eight percent of consumers in the U.S. and Canada have access to the Internet. Yet three years ago, when Net Driven began marketing its service, most tire dealers and auto repair shops had nothing more than a static website, if they had any online presence at all. Despite the growing necessity for Internet marketing in this sector, developing an effective website and internet marketing solution was too costly for most companies and outside of their skill set and expertise. 

A graduate of the Scranton Enterprise Center, Net Driven has become the leading provider of websites and Internet marketing solutions to the automotive industry. In 2007, founders recognized that a growing number of consumers were shopping online for automotive repair, body work, parts, used cars, and tires, but the dealers did not have an effective way to market their products and services on the Internet. Net Driven responds to this niche market need by providing an effective yet economical website and Internet marketing solution to independent automotive dealers. In just three years, this profitable company has increased revenue 800% and added 25 new employees. 

Product Innovation

The company that best demonstrates the commercialization of a unique, innovative product that creatively and effectively meets a market need.
RantNetwork, Inc., Bloomsburg
Kenneth Volet, Chief Executive Officer and Elisa Grandizio, Chief Administrative Officer
RantNetwork’s Communilator™ is the most advanced mobile phone language translation application in the world. It is capable of recognizing and translating foreign text, including books, newspapers, and menus in 44 languages and dialects captured with the host’s mobile phone camera. The application also delivers translations to the host’s mobile phone in 3,000 language pairs, provides high-quality (HQ) voice for translations in 21 foreign languages, offers voice recognition for translation of text input, and seamlessly integrates with the mobile phone’s SMS and email systems. 

Ben Franklin has invested three times in RantNetwork and introduced the company to follow-on funding opportunities. Despite considerable initial setbacks, RantNetwork’s tenacity has paid off with a contract with Etihad-Etisalat (Mobily), the second largest telecom carrier in Saudi Arabia, to launch an Arabic version of the Communilator. The company recently launched its iPhone/iPad, Android, and Blackberry app versions of the product. Communilator combines state-of-the-art technology into a single comprehensive system that is not offered by any current competitor. 

Innovative Application of Technology
The company that best demonstrates a “break the mold” approach to integrating new or existing technology into a manufacturing environment.
AMETEK Specialty Metal Products – Reading Alloys, Robesonia
Dr. Colin McCracken, Director of Product and Market Development
AMETEK Special Metal Products – Reading Alloys produces master and specialty alloys and high-purity powders used in the aerospace and medical industries. Recently, the company has focused on applications in metal powders for the medical industry. Its products can be spray coated onto implants, which are ultimately used in the human body to provide an ideal surface for bone ingrowth. This application will substantially enhance the recovery of patients receiving medical implants.  

AMETEK Special Metal Products – Reading Alloys recently opened a new manufacturing facility to support the growth in the metal powder market. Ben Franklin, with Lehigh University, supported the firm with plant layout studies, materials reviews, and productivity improvements, as well as an introduction to a key resource to manage the new operation. With 140 current employees, up 12% from last year, this company is a significant Greater Reading employer that is well-positioned for growth. 

Manufacturing Achievement

The company that best exemplifies achievement in the manufacturing arena, showing a proven track record of success and an unbending commitment to achieving and maintaining excellence in manufacturing.
Appeeling Fruit, Inc., Reading, PA
Steve Cygan, President and Owner
Tripling revenue and increasing staff from 10 to 100 people over the last two years would be a notable accomplishment at any time, and is even more impressive during an economic recession. Appeeling Fruit is a producer of fresh-sliced apple products for both food service and retail clients. Ben Franklin invested in the company four times to improve production efficiency, support facility planning, and manage manufacturing capacity for sustained growth. Lehigh University’s Enterprise Systems Center and the Greater Berks Development Fund partnered with Ben Franklin to support Appeeling’s improvements. 

Appeeling employs a number of people from the City of Reading, which is particularly impactful because the City has experienced greater than average unemployment difficulties. The new facility adheres to Good Manufacturing Practices and FDA requirements, and is a showcase plant for food processing. Appeeling Fruit is a tremendously successful manufacturer and a valuable business asset to Greater Reading. 

Partnership

An individual whose strong vision, dedication, and commitment have helped the Ben Franklin Technology Partners accomplish its goals. This support demonstrates a sincere desire to see the region thrive.
Tom Garrity, Managing Partner
Compass Point Consulting, LLC, Bethlehem
As Managing Partner of Compass Point Consulting, Tom Garrity provides strategy, execution, and ownership transition services to middle-market family and closely held businesses. Compass Point’s mission is simple:  build high-performance companies that can run without the owner.  Serving meritoriously on the Ben Franklin Solutions Network, Garrity has been a supporter of Ben Franklin clients for many years. He has provided pro bono business plan reviews since 2004, and recently completed his eleventh review. He participated in three company “Tiger Sessions,” also pro bono, during which clients are reviewed comprehensively and constructively criticized to their long-term benefit. He worked with seven Ben Franklin clients to develop their business plans. He taught two classes on strategy and sales for Ben Franklin clients, and followed up with individual client sales coaching. 

Ben Franklin engages Garrity frequently and often without remuneration to provide feedback to in-house staff, assistance to clients, and support to entrepreneurs and businesspeople throughout the region. In addition, Garrity has served on Originate Ventures’ Open Court, critiquing early-stage firms and as a judge for Lehigh University students’ Integrated Business and Engineering program presentations. Garrity’s continuous worthwhile contributions model selfless service and demonstrate his heartfelt desire to give back to the regional economy. 

About the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania

The Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/NEP) links companies with business and technical experts, universities, funding, and other resources to help them prosper through innovation. The organization is a non-profit corporation that is part of a four-center, state-funded economic development initiative. The Ben Franklin program was created by the Commonwealth in 1983 to play a leadership role in strengthening regional economies, building the state’s technology economy, and creating and retaining high-wage, high-skilled jobs.

BFTP/NEP’s strategy encompasses three key areas:

1. Developing early-stage, technology-oriented companies;
2. Helping established manufacturers creatively apply new technology and business practices; and
3. Promoting an innovative community-wide infrastructure that fosters a favorable business environment for high-growth companies.

Since 1983, the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania has achieved the following results:

• Created 15,479 new jobs
• Retained 21,459 existing jobs
• Started 429 new companies
• Developed 1,127 new products and processes 

The northeastern center is headquartered on the campus of Lehigh University, and also operates Ben Franklin TechVentures®, an award-winning incubator/post-incubator facility, on Lehigh’s campus.

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• Nanotechnology commercialization efforts go statewide [NTI]
• Pennsylvania’s Nanotech Players Pursuing Giga-Scale Impact
• Nanobiotix and Thomas Jefferson University Start Research Collaboration
• PA Nanotechnology 2012: Nanotech’s Role in Advancing PA’s Economy Set for June 5th at Harrisburg University
• Air Products Completes Acquisition of DuPont’s Stake in DuPont Air Products NanoMaterials
• PCAST Report Recommends Increased Funding For Nanotech Research
• A Tiny Approach to Green: New Nanotechnology Applications
• Nanotech creating Rust Belt jobs
• New Nanotechnology Center Opens in Little Rock
• FDA proposes rules for nanotechnology in food

Nanotechnology commercialization efforts go statewide …

Philadelphia Business Journal by Peter Key

Friday, March 30, 2012

The Nanotechnology Institute is taking its show on the road.

The group will use part of the $1.16 million in state funding it was recently awarded to take its nanotechnology ommercialization efforts statewide in conjunction with a similar organization in Pittsburgh.

“A lot of the work that we did in the past six months working with Harrisburg was to encourage them to support the programs that focus on commercialization,” said Anthony P. Green, vice president of technology commercialization for Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, which co-founded the NTI in 2000 with Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania’s Nanotech Players Pursuing Giga-Scale Impact

keystoneedge – Rebecca VanderMeulen | Thursday, April 12, 2012

Researchers across Pennsylvania are discovering new ways to apply nanotechnology.

Nanobiotix and Thomas Jefferson University Start Research …

MarketWatch

Nanomedicine and Medical Education leaders are joining their forces in the United States to accelerate the development of NanoXray

PARIS & PHILADELPHIA, May 02, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Nanobiotix, a company developing novel cancer nanotherapeutics and Thomas Jefferson University, one of Philadelphia’s premier medical and health sciences universities, today announced that they have entered into a research collaboration to accelerate the development of Nanobiotix’ lead compound NBTXR3 in the US.

PA Nanotechnology 2012: Nanotech’s Role in Advancing PA’s Economy …

Your-Story.org

Harrisburg, PA, April 19, 2012 – April 20, 2012 | Author: straightlinepr | Posted in Nanotechnology

The PA Nanotechnology conference explores viable nano-based strategies, programs, and resources to assist economic development via education and job creation and retention.

Air Products Completes Acquisition of DuPont’s Stake in DuPont Air Products NanoMaterials

Posted on: Apr 5th, 2012

(Nanowerk News) Air Products has announced it had completed the acquisition of DuPont’s interest in DuPont Air Products NanoMaterials LLC (DA NanoMaterials), the two companies’ 50-50 joint venture serving the global semiconductor and wafer polishing industries. …nanotechnology business news article

PCAST Report Recommends Increased Funding For Nanotech Research

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) has a catalytic and substantial impact on the growth of the U.S. nanotechnology industry and should be continued with increased funding from the office of management and budget, according to a new report from the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. The report provides several other recommendations for improving the NNI and updates progress on some of the key recommendations PCAST made in 2010. Read more…

Source: SSTI Weekly Digest for the Week of May 2, 2012

A Tiny Approach to Green: New Nanotechnology Applications

April 23rd, 2012 | Author: Tracey Schelmetic

While it doesn’t garner as many column inches as other industries – probably because it still seems like sci-fi to most people – the nanotechnology industry continues to expand out of the lab and into practical applications. Nanotechnology, the creation and use of devices that are between one and 100 nanometers wide (a nanometer is a billionth of a meter), is today worth an estimated $24 billion according to some research, and that figure is expected to rise steadily.

May 7, 2012

Nanotech creating Rust Belt jobs

New York State is not waiting for the federal government to create an economic turnaround; it’s creating one in a nanotech lab at Albany’s new College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, CBS News reports.

New Nanotechnology Center Opens in Little Rock

Nanotechnology News (press release)

Little Rock, AR | Posted on May 7th, 2012

UALR – The University of Arkansas at Little Rock – has opened its new home for the Center for Integrative Nanotechnology Sciences. The five-story, $15 million building is a working symbol of Arkansas’ major stake in atomic-sized technology that will …

FDA proposes rules for nanotechnology in food

Apr 21, 2012 – WASHINGTON (AP) – Regulators are proposing that food companies that want to use tiny engineered particles in their packaging may have to provide extra testing data to show the products are safe.

Thank you for joining us at the Tuesday evening, May 8th Ben Franklin Technology Partners i xchange 2012. We hope you found it enjoyable and worthwhile. We request that you complete a very brief post-event survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ixchange_survey so that we can continue to improve i xchange. Thank you in advance for your input.

Click here to register.

“This round of investments reflects the growing number of entrepreneurs choosing to create their web, app, social media and mobile technology companies here, in our region,”

said RoseAnn B. Rosenthal, President & CEO of Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

PHILADELPHIA, PA (www.sep.benfranklin.org) – Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/SEP) recently
approved $675,000 in funding for six
early-stage companies.

Companies approved
for funding:

Cross X Platform, LLC – Audubon – Montgomery County
Approved Investment: $100,000

Cross X Platform (CXP) accelerates the capacity of professional services firms to scale and deliver the sustainable results that business leaders expect.  CXP’s top-tier clients leverage the company’s shared services platform – including cloud-based collaborative sales and recruiting engines, efficient back-office support, leadership and capital – to increase speed and operational agility to better serve clients and expand the business. And with CXP managing most non-core business functions, clients are in a superior position to improve delivery outcomes and time-to-market advantages across mid-to-large organizations and Fortune 500 companies.

CXP is led by Terry Williams, co-founder and CEO.  Williams is also Managing Partner of NextStage Capital, a Mid-Atlantic region venture capital firm focused on financing start-up technology companies.

Christopher Betzler is the co-founder and CFO; and Christopher Mengel is the VP of Marketing.

GroupAppz Inc. – Fort Washington – Montgomery County
Approved Investment: $150,000

As individuals around the world are increasingly turning to social networks as their primary means of accessing information, communicating and collaborating; so are businesses – making it necessary for them to leverage these networks for applications and online computing services.

GroupAppz was founded to address this need, developing mobile and web based apps which improve group-oriented activity.  By exploiting the power and widespread adoption of popular social networks and ubiquitous mobile technologies, the company’s platform allows groups and their members to create, manage and share their processes and activities online, build membership, engage with their members, deliver news and information, and conduct commercial transactions, enabling them to be more productive and successful.

The company is led by Stephen Layne, CEO and co-founder.  Layne has started five companies, all which have been successfully sold or merged with multinational firms including, Sprint, IBM, Xerox, and The Active Network.

Joseph Cellucci is the CTO and co-founder; and Elizabeth Murray is a co-founder and head of Operations.

PeopleLinx, LLC – Philadelphia
Approved Investment: $150,000

PeopleLinx improves the way businesses respond to the unique challenges and opportunities thrust upon them by social media technologies – such as LinkedIn®, Facebook®, blogs and Twitter®.

While social media presents tremendous opportunities, most organizations lack the strategies, best practices, training, and tools needed to minimize risk while maximizing return on their social media sales and marketing efforts – which is where PeopleLinx steps in, with software that shapes and directs employees’ use of social media tools.

PeopleLinx Advisor™ develops the strategic foundation from which the social media information contained in an organization’s employee database can best be defined, accessed and utilized with optimum efficiency.  PeopleLinx Navigator™ provides in-depth training and guidance needed to ensure that personnel set up, maintain and continuously optimize their social presence and usage of social media tools. PeopleLinx Connector™ gives organizations the ability to harness their employees’ collective social network relationships, and leverage that data to drive the goals of both the individual and the organization.

The company is led by Nathan Egan, Chairman & CEO.  Prior to PeopleLinx, Nathan was an early employee at LinkedIn, where he helped create and execute the sales process for their corporate solutions.

Other company leaders include Rick Genzer, COO; Patrick Baynes, Senior VP of Social Business Solutions; and Rick Eastland, CFO.

SnipSnap App, LLC – Philadelphia
Approved Investment: $50,000

What if snipping a coupon was as simple as snapping your smartphone camera?  That’s the idea behind SnipSnap, the first app to scan, save, and redeem printed coupons on your mobile phone.

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 enabled to share their coupons via social networks.

SnipSnap is successfully taking advantage of much of Philadelphia’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.  In 2011, the company was shaped by Dreamit Ventures, a nationally renowned entrepreneurial accelerator, which is funded and supported by Ben Franklin.  This year, SnipSnap is part of the inaugural class of companies at the Project Liberty Digital Incubator, housed by the Philadelphia Media Network, funded by the Knight Foundation, and operated by Ben Franklin.  This April, SnipSnap won Philly Tech Week’s Switch Philly competition.

The company is led by Ted Mann, CEO; Kostas Nasis, CTO; and Kyle Martin, VP of Product.

Syandus, Inc. – Exton – Chester County
Approved Investment: $25,000
(Ben Franklin previously invested $150,000)

In an effort to produce more knowledgeable and experienced doctors, Syandus, Inc. has developed unique medical education programs that use learning simulations to help doctors better learn to diagnose and manage diseases.

ALIVE Med^TM Digital Delivery Platform uses simulation models, 3-D animation, and game technology to enable interactive education for healthcare professionals, allowing them to better learn and adopt new therapies.

The intelligent simulations enable doctors and other healthcare practitioners to explore complex disease states, and learn how specific drugs and therapies work in the human body.  Rather than watching a video, or a slide presentation, doctors can actually interact with 3D virtual patients, and dive into an organ system to observe the impact of disease.

The company is led by president and CEO Douglas Seifert, Ph.D.

Zonoff, Inc. – Malvern – Chester County
Approved Investment: $200,000

Home automation systems are relatively difficult to install and use, unless one wants to do only one thing, such as lighting.  To remedy this problem, Zonoff has developed the Diplomat Home Control Platform – a suite of hardware and software products that integrate into individual automation networks (no matter the brand or function), and make it easy to add new automation products at any time.

Zonoff is also developing software to transform the Connected Home to the Intuitive Home – allowing a Zonoff home automation system to learn and become self-adaptive to the residents’ behaviors. For example, if during weekday evenings residents turn off indoor lights at 11 p.m., then lower the thermostat to 65 degrees followed by activating outdoor lighting and a security camera, only to reverse the process weekday mornings; Zonoff software will learn these actions and automatically invoke them without human interaction.

Automation subsystems that Zonoff can program include window shades, lights, thermostats, home entertainment systems, and more.

Zonoff is a company spin-off of BuLogics, another Ben Franklin portfolio client, focused on establishing wireless control and automation.

The company is led by Mike Harris, Founder and CEO.  Harris previously co-founded AnySource Media.  AnySource, a Ben Franklin alumni company, was a pioneer of Internet-TV technology that was successfully acquired by DivX in 2009.

Zonoff is also lead by Michael Balog, Ph.D., CTO; Bob Cooper, CMO (acting); and Natalie Cooper, Director of Finance.

About Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania

Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania is a national, award winning organization for Stimulating Entrepreneurial Potential, through entrepreneurship, technology and innovation.  For thirty years, Ben Franklin has provided the Capital, Knowledge and Networks that help innovative enterprises compete in the global marketplace, generating wealth and supporting regional economic growth.  Ben Franklin has invested more than $155 million to grow more than 1,750 regional enterprises, across all areas of technology.  It has launched university/industry partnerships that accelerate scientific discoveries to commercialization. Ben Franklin is part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Ben Franklin Technology Partnership.

For additional information, please visit www.sep.benfranklin.org, Facebook, LinkedIn & Twitter.

BFTP/SEP Contact:

Jaron J. Rhodes
Manager, Marketing and Communications
(215) 972-6700, ext. 3214
jaron@sep.benfranklin.org

Mike Armstrong, May 8, 2012

Computer technology has trumped all the mental pictures I have of what a “control room” should look like.

On Monday, I visited the Navy Yard’s new Network Operations Center (NOC) to see what’s expected to be a showcase for how “smart grid” technologies will perform at the growing urban office and industrial park.

But instead of a wall-size map of the Navy Yard or a long control board with switches and blinking lights, the room on the first floor of Building 101 looked like the classroom it was, albeit with some funky strings of LED lighting.

First impressions can be deceiving, because not only are Penn State, Drexel and University of Pennsylvania students going to be learning about green-power technologies in that room, but Viridity Energy Inc. also will use it as a fully functioning backup to its Center City operations.

One day, those involved with creating the $160,000 network operations center said, it would be possible to monitor what they call the “energy ecosystem” of the Navy Yard, which runs its own unregulated power grid.

That day was not Monday. But William J. Agate Jr., vice president of Navy Yard management and development, called the opening of the NOC an important step in a multiyear process of smartening up the grid the Navy built to demonstrate on a small, real-world scale what might be possible in large, regional power grids.

The new center uses software developed by Viridity Energy, a small company that has developed tools to help large commercial power users optimize their energy consumption.

Viridity founder and CEO Audrey Zibelman, once the No. 2 executive at power-grid operator PJM Interconnection, sees much opportunity in not only reducing energy demand, but also turning passive power consumers into active ones — using technology to buy power when prices are low and sell it back to the grid when prices are high.

Sounds simple, but clearly it’s not, since the distribution model of the power industry is the equivalent of the one-way street.

Zibelman, whose company has raised $24 million in venture capital and now employs 65 people, said she wants to see Philadelphia become a leader in energy efficiency. Key to that happening, she said, is attracting students who will be the “future operators of the power grid.”

Since what is now being called the Energy Efficient Buildings (EEB) Hub obtained $130 million in federal funding in August 2010, it has been hard to see how this very collaborative effort among government, higher education, and private industry would become the economic engine that has been promised.

I can see the potential in a company such as Viridity, which has come far in little more than four years and is involved in programs such as storing the energy created by SEPTA train brakes and sending the power back to the grid.

And growth is clearly evident at the 1,000-acre Navy Yard, where employment has grown from 2,000 people when the site was turned over to the City of Philadelphia to more than 8,500 now at 115 companies.

Its new NOC would seem to be just another small step in a very slow process, akin to a Wall Street trading desk in a business school. College students should benefit from the integration of economics, business and engineering. But the benefits to the regional economy still seem to be years away.

Read More: http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/mike_armstrong/20120508_Philly_Inc__At_the_Navy_Yard_rsquo_s_Network_Operations_Center.html