GLITR Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Your report for Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Central Michigan U offers state's busiest incubator and lots more
Like the rest of Michigan's so-called directional schools, Central Michigan University started out as a teacher college. Now the Chippewas are teaching everybody else in the state how to run a business incubator. The CMU Research Corp. incubator on the southern edge of the Mt. Pleasant campus is now home to no less than 40 businesses, which they say is tops in the state. I got presentations from six of them Monday, the fifth day of the Great Lakes IT Report's 2009 Fall Tech Tour. I also saw a lot of the latest high-tech touches on the CMU campus, from a $50 million teaching building to an improved human body scanner, the results of which are pictured right here. More.

Michigan's URC rises in rankings, economic impact hits $14.5B
Michigan's University Research Corridor has grown in all competitive categories over the past two years, rising among the nation's top research and development clusters for producing patents, businesses and graduates with high-tech related degrees. A new annual economic impact study, "Empowering Michigan," shows URC partners Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University have improved in several key benchmarks since the first study in 2007. The studies, which examine innovation clusters in other states, were conducted by Anderson Economic Group. More.

Whirlpool to produce one million smart clothes dryers
Benton Harbor-based Whirlpool Corp. continues its legacy of innovation leadership with the announcement that it will produce one million Smart Energy clothes dryers by the end of 2011 as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Smart Grid Investment Grant program. These U.S.-manufactured appliances will be capable of reacting intelligently to signals from the smart grid by modifying their energy consumption to save consumers money on their home electric bills. In markets where utilities offer variable or time-of-use pricing, these dryers could save a typical consumer $20 to $40 per year, while also benefiting the environment. More.

Kalamazoo Valley CC expansion, renovation ready to begin
The first major construction on Kalamazoo Valley Community College's Texas Township Campus since the Student Commons project was completed in the fall of 2001 is about ready to start. A ground-breaking ceremony for the $12 million renovation and expansion is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 30 at 1:30 p.m. and the college community is invited. Once that first shovel of dirt is turned, completion of the phased project should take 15 months. More.

Southwest Michigan First life sciences fund invests
The Southwest Michigan First Life Science Fund has announced RealBio Technology Inc. as the most recent addition to its portfolio. RealBio, based in Kalamazoo, is developing and commercializing leading edge cell and tissue culture technology that supports the growth, expansion, differentiation and collection of human and non-human cells. RealBio’s advanced cell culture technology, the Nth Degree System, creates a ‘BioRealistic’ in vitro environment that mimics in vivo cell and tissue development permitting researchers the ability to study true organs and tissue in a laboratory setting. More.

Hennessey in corporate partnership with Macomb-OU INCubator
Hennessey Capital LLC, a Michigan-based specialty finance company providing working capital to small and mid-sized businesses, announces it has become a corporate partner in the Macomb-OU INCubator. The Macomb-OU INCubator is a business support program for entrepreneurial start-up companies and is managed by a partnership between the City of Sterling Heights, Macomb County and Oakland University, along with assistance from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. Its overarching goal is to help bring industry diversification within the tri-county area by producing successful, financially viable firms. More.

Comerica: Michigan economy improves in August
Comerica Bank's Michigan Economic Activity Index improved five points in August to 78, the highest reading since December 2008. Compared to its recent low reached in May, the Index is now up eight points, or 11 percent. Year-to-date, the Index averages 73, down 14 points from the 2008 average. More.

Wayne State leads first combined imaging, genetics study in OCD
Wayne State University Monday announced an expansion of a research grant of nearly $2.7 million. This project, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health at the National Institutes of Health, is the first combined imaging and genetics research study on obsessive-compulsive disorder. The project, "Brain Chemistry and Genetics in Pediatric OCD," led by WSU, with collaborative partners at the University of Michigan and the University of Toronto/The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), is focused on OCD, a severe, prevalent and chronically disabling disease. More.

Dewpoint helping state create health information exchange plan

Lansing’s Dewpoint Inc. is helping the state of Michigan create a statewide plan for high-tech health information exchanges (HIE) under a five-year contract worth just under $10 million.

The project aims to provide a backbone infrastructure to allow Michigan resident’s to authorize the sharing of their medical history available to whatever doctor, hospital or laboratory that is providing treatment – quickly and securely – thereby cutting down on both medical errors and duplicate care.

Beth Nagel, health information technology manager for the Michigan Department of Community Health, said the state has been focused on a health information exchange since 2005. Stakeholders involved met throughout 2006 to set priorities and develop a road map guiding the creation of the exchange.

What became the Michigan Health Information Network (MiHIN) set up nine local health information exchanges based on local health care markets throughout the state. The network received $10 million in state planning grants over five years, using the money to create a resource center and implementation grants for two demonstration HIEs to be created in the Lansing area and in the Upper Peninsula.

The election of Barack Obama last fall and the passage of the federal fiscal stimulus bill has provided new urgency to the effort with federal guidelines and funding to support the progress that Michigan has already made, Nagel said. The bill contains $33 billion for health IT, and the bill could bring up to $40 million to Michigan to create the statewide exchange.

Scot Ellsworth, chief enterprise architect for the Michigan Department of Information Technology, said the state is currently working on the MiHIN statewide vision to analyze the current health information environment across Michigan, and coordinate the design and implementation plan for future health information architecture.

Ellsworth said Dewpoint "has been helping us with the program plan to move forward in this exciting project to securely and reliably communicate health information in the state of Michigan."

Dewpoint and their national HIE consulting partner, Strategic Alliance Advisors (s2a), beat out several other companies for the project, which began Aug. 10. Federal specifications for states to receive grants to create exchanges came out Aug. 20. Nagel said that means the Dewpoint team’s role is now in part helping the state to create “a smart, well thought out and comprehensive grant proposal. Dewpoint’s team of technical and business architects has really been essential in making sure we meet those goals.” The engagement also includes oversight and control of the technology that will eventually be implemented to create and run the HIEs.

In addition, the Dewpoint team is helping MDCH create working groups of stakeholders to look into strategic and operational plans for how the HIEs would work. Those working groups will provide for collaborative planning on governance, finance, technology and clinical aspects of Michigan’s HIE.

The state of Michigan will be submitting its statewide HIE grant proposal Oct. 16. Work groups are now accepting nominations now through mid-October at www.michigan.gov/mihinworkgroups.

For more information about how Dewpoint can help with health IT planning and implementation, contact info@dewpoint.com or visit www.dewpoint.com.

Note: Today's Blue Box was sponsored by Dewpoint Inc. For information on how you can sponsor content in the Blue Box, contact Jeff Lasser at (248) 455-7319 or jeff.lasser@cbsradio.com.

THE WORLD IN TECH

AP source: Warner to return its music to YouTube
Warner Music Group Corp. has agreed to return songs and music videos from its artists to the YouTube video site, after a months long boycott over what it called unfair terms, according to a person familiar with the matter. The deal would involve sharing advertising revenue with the Google Inc. unit on music videos provided by Warner from artists such as T.I., Red Hot Chili Peppers and Michael Buble, as well as on song streams uploaded by users, said the person. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because a formal deal has not yet been announced. More.

SEC sues Michigan man accused in Ponzi scheme
Federal regulators are suing a Detroit-area man who is accused of soliciting millions for the leader of a $250 million financial scam. The Securities and Exchange Commission says Frank Bluestein of Oakland County raised 30 percent of the money given by investors to Edward May and his company, E-M Management. The SEC sued May two years ago, saying he misled people into believing they were putting money into telecommunication deals. The government says it was a massive Ponzi scheme, with money recycled between investors. More.

Among the new features in CNN's iPhone app: a price
CNN is coming out with an iPhone application Tuesday that has a feature few other news apps have tried: a price tag. There's been a lot of talk this year about finally charging readers for news, especially on mobile devices, where media executives see a chance to condition consumers to handing over a few dollars for a constant stream of updates to their pocket. CNN is among the first big news outlets to give it a shot. Its app costs $1.99 to download. The new app follows an announcement this month by News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch that the company will start charging a subscription - possibly as much as $1 or $2 per week - for access to The Wall Street Journal's mobile applications. More.

Dell settlement has tougher accounting oversight
Dell Inc. said Monday it will beef up accounting and corporate governance rules as part of a settlement tied to an investigation into its past financial practices. Dell, the world's second largest PC maker behind Hewlett-Packard Co., will also pay $1.75 million in legal fees, according to a settlement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. After an SEC investigation into Dell's accounting was made public in 2006, several shareholder groups filed lawsuits saying Dell misrepresented its financial health while officers and board members sold stock at inflated prices. Round Rock, Texas-based Dell restated results for 2003 through 2007 after an internal audit found it overstated sales by $359 million and profit by $92 million during those years. The SEC probe is ongoing. More.

Stocks: Xerox, Abbott deals boost stocks; Dow rises 144
A burst of corporate dealmaking is giving investors a shot of confidence about the economy. Stock indexes rose more than 1 percent in light trading Monday to break a three-day slide. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 124 points for its biggest gain in more than a month, recouping much of what it lost last week. Large acquisitions from Abbott Laboratories and Xerox Corp. pushed shares of drugmakers and technology companies higher, and the buying spread to other parts of the market as investors hoped that the $6 billion-plus deals could be a sign that takeover activity is finally picking up. A resumption of corporate takeovers would represent an important milepost in the recovery of the financial system. Mergers had slowed to a trickle since the peak of the financial crisis a year ago as companies became fearful of parting with cash. Even those that were willing to had trouble lining up financing in the ailing credit markets. More. The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) rose 39.82 points or 1.9 percent to 2,130.74. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) rose 124.17 points or 1.3 percent to 9,789.36. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX) rose 6.62 points or 2.1 percent to 327.67. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) rose 10.48 points or 2 percent to 534.69. The NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index (DRG) rose 3.59 points or 1.3 percent to 287.69. The NYSE Arca Biotech Index (BTK) rose 16.7 points or 1.8 percent to 943.54. Finally, the Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) rose 18.6 points or 1.8 percent to 1,062.086.

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