Dayton startup True Concepts Medical, brainchild of Mick Hopkins, has been named 2019’s most promising startup by the Quality & Safety Education for Nurses International Forum.
Mick has invented a series of new syringe technologies capable of revolutionizing healthcare across the globe. The first of these technologies, Diversyn, has the potential to reduce false blood cultures by up to 92%. The second, S.A.F.E., can save lives during cardiac arrest by ensuring the proper saline flush automatically follows the administration of epinephrine.
He exhibited prototypes of these devices at the annual QSEN conference, held in Cleveland at the end of May. He was one of seven companies set up to demo products to the 150+ nursing leaders from across the country during a new “Evolving Ideas in Healthcare” event.
These leaders tapped Mick’s company for the award for the most promising innovation in healthcare technology for quality and safety.
“I knew that people would be interested since it was a nursing conference, and they would get it, but the overwhelming acceptance of devices was humbling,” Mick said.
Several of the hospital leaders were interested in purchasing the syringes, and the Institute is willing to help market the devices when the time comes, which will hopefully be within the next two years, he said.
There were also great questions from these future end users, including suggested applications Mick hadn’t explored, such as use in dialysis treatment, he added.
Other products demoed at the QSEN conference included analytics-driven software apps, a new chest-tube technology, & a learning platform for nurses.
Mick holds 4 U.S. patents for his syringe technologies & has multiple international patent applications pending. He’s currently raising funds to manufacture a full prototype run and clear FDA regulations. Ultimately, he hopes to license the technology to an existing medical device manufacturing company.
Wright State Applied Research Corporation has been awarded $750K to pump into the Dayton region’s burgeoning cluster of medical technology companies, the U.S. Economic Development Association (EDA) announced today.
The Dayton MedTech Nexus Initiative will move medtech startups to market faster by leveraging the region’s healthcare specialization, defense research assets, and entrepreneurial ecosystems to build new, medtech-specific commercialization pathways.
“This is great news for the region,” WSARC CEO Dennis Andersh said. “The research labs and entrepreneurs in the Dayton region are creating world-class technologies with the potential to save lives across the globe. We’re excited to work with EDA & regional partners to get these products to market.”
“The Entrepreneurs Center is thrilled to partner with WSARC in support of the i6 Challenge grant. Medtech is the fastest growing segment of our entrepreneurial ecosystem, and this program will catalyze our ongoing efforts to make it a foundation of the Dayton region’s innovation economy,” TEC Director Scott Koorndyke said. “One of Dayton’s unique assets is our collective ability to generate novel technology, and this award will help us develop those technologies into viable businesses. This award reflects the progress we’ve made – and the incredible future ahead of us.”
On average it takes three to seven years for a medtech product to reach market due to extensive regulations and often prohibitive prototyping costs. The Dayton MedTech Nexus Initiative will provide funding to help medtech entrepreneurs develop regulatory compliance strategies and prototypes, both of which they need to pursue angel investors.
Partners on the Dayton-area project include Wright State University’s The ONEIL Center, The Entrepreneurs Center, BioOhio, and University of Dayton’s Fastlane. Over the next three years, WSRI & its partners look to create a network of 300 researchers, entrepreneurs, mentors, and investors; create and assess a pipeline of 100 MedTech opportunities; support the development of 50 MedTech companies; create an internship infrastructure to place 50 interns in MedTech companies; & see $10M invested into startups.
“At The ONEIL Center at Wright State, students support Dayton’s thriving entrepreneurial community in a uniquely collaborative experiential learning setting,” ONEIL Center Executive Director Brandy Foster said. “We’re excited to expand our efforts toward building a workforce development pipeline for the medtech startup ecosystem.”
“FASTLANE is delighted to be a partner to WSARC in this Dayton MedTech Nexus Initiative,” FASTLANE Director Philip Ratermann said. “Our team looks forward to capitalizing on our expertise to connect these medtech entrepreneurs to local manufacturers, and meaningfully accelerate the commercialization of these technologies into real-world product solutions.”
EDA’s Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) Program awards grants that build regional capacity to translate innovations into jobs through proof-of-concept and commercialization assistance to innovators and entrepreneurs. The RIS portfolio represents a catalytic, nationwide program designed to fuel high-growth entrepreneurship and increase access to capital for communities across America.
This 2019 granting round is EDA’s biggest yet — $23M in federal grants to 44 organizations in 28 states and two territories will be matched by $26M in community dollars, totaling nearly $50M invested in regional entrepreneurial communities.
Dayton medtech startup Tempagenix has developed Temp-N-Toss, a paper thermometer that will read a temperature in 15 seconds or less, and will continue to read the temperature for up to 48 hours.
The thermometers hit the shelves of 1,700 Target stores across the country in April. Cofounders April Pollock and Shelly Heller also have an eye on Walmart shelves.
The thermometers are great for parents because they don’t have to wake their kids up to take their temperatures, April recently told the Dayton Daily News. Read the full story here.
As Dayton startup Battle Sight Technologies approaches its second birthday, the company is preparing to launch a suite of new products to serve the warfighter, founder & president Nick Ripplinger said.
Battle Sight Technologies recently announced a new licensing deal with the Air Force Research Lab that would enable it to build out its suite of infrared spectrum tools using a new phosphor technology.
This phosphor works like the light in watch dials — it charges on any type of light, then emits in the infrared spectrum, Nick explained. The charge lasts about 20 hours.
Battle Sight will be using this new material to spin out at least four new products for its military customers.
The first product will be phosphor-equipped badges, enabling friendly identification on the battlefield or in a training environment, Nick said.
The phosphor tech can also be incorporated into a paint-like substance to use to mark tools to make it easier to identify items on a patrol or similar mission.
The tech can be used as a sort of backlight for information to allow soldiers to keep track of important frequencies or locations – think the reflective bands that quarterbacks use to keep info on plays on their person, Nick described.
Also, in its powder form, the phosphor can be used to tag and track objects, he added.
Battle Sight Technologies is also developing a second product with the infrared capsules it uses in its CrayTac markers. The new product is an infrared sea dye marker that utilizes buoyant, chemiluminescent squares to float with a life raft to make it easier to find downed pilots and aircraft faster, Nick explained.
The sea dye was developed in tandem with end-user feedback, Nick said — military leaders came to the shop and brainstormed with the Battle Sight Team, which then won the first Air Force Pitch Day competition. The company was able to use the prize money to prototype the new product, which debuted at Tech Warrior in June.
“There’s no better feeling than when the warfighter is coming to us with a problem because they think we can fix it,” Nick said. “We have the best customers in the world.”
Battle Sight’s new suite of phosphor tech products are expected to hit the market in Q1 of 2020.
As the product lines grow, Nick hopes to grow the team as well. He’ll expects to hire four to six employees in year three, ranging from product managers to admins to brand managers. Interested in working for this awesome veteran-owned Dayton startup? Check out battlesighttech.com for more info on the company.
Dayton brothers Alex and Derek Van Der Sluijs are coffee connoisseurs — and they’re using that beverage to disrupt the fundraising space.
Foffee Fundraising is a new platform that allows organizations and schools to blend and brand a line of coffee to their organization’s logo, mascot, etc. So rather than sending elementary school students out into their neighborhood to sell candy bars, students & their families can share the link to purchase the coffee, and Foffee takes care of shipping the final product — roasted fresh at the completion of the fundraising campaign — right to the supporter’s doorstep.
Alex & Derek recently pitched their new platform at our June 2019 edition of Dayton Tech Guide’s Early Risers.
“We try to create the easiest fundraiser people can do,” Alex said.
The cofounders are particularly interested in reaching elementary and high schools. According to the stats, 94 percent of elementary schools rely on fundraising for supplemental income, Alex said.
Challenges with current fundraising models are that products sold — ranging from candy bars to oranges to mulch to merch — often aren’t something that people really want, he said. The door-to-door sales method can be dangerous for the students, and out-of-town family can’t always support the fundraiser if they have to be present in person to purchase something, he added.
Enter coffee — a drink consumed by 86 percent of adults in America.
“We’re fundraising through the most consumed drink in America,” Alex said.
The idea for Foffee was born in a Hawaiian brewery after Alex found himself chatting with a gentleman who branded salsa for schools and organizations.
“My brother owned a coffee truck in Columbus,” he recalled. “This lightbulb just went off.”
The brothers are seeking connections to school administrators and nonprofit leaders. They’re also looking for connections to software developers. They’re interested in upgrading the platform to include leaderboards for the various organizations fundraising, and the ability to run a “drip” campaign where supporters could re-order coffee throughout the year and continue to donate to the organization, even after the fundraising campaign ends.
“Just being in a position to help people is cool, Alex said. “I’m a coach as well, and anytime you have a platform to help, whether that be raising money, mentoring, helping with a nonprofit, helping a school raise money for something they need, anytime you’re in position to do that, life is good.”
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White House Event Center, the newest addition to downtown Dayton’s venue lineup, is spotlighting small businesses.
Brainchild and entrepreneur-duo Brandon White & Veronica Jones, White House Event Center’s first Small Business Spotlight will be this Saturday, July 20, from 10a to 2p at 101 E. 2nd St, Dayton. The event will repeat the third Saturday of every month.
“We know there’s a lot of people that have small businesses, a lot are our friends, who waste a lot of time running around trying to meet people to make it convenient for them to get their product,” Brandon said.
But there’s often a charge to participate in a pop-up shop, he added.
“We just thought, we know what small businesses go through, and we have this platform, and we don’t have to charge,” he said. “You can’t always be looking to get something, sometimes you’ve got to give.”
The spotlight will give these businesses space for a day to have customers meet at a central location to pick up products. It will also give those small businesses exposure to other customers who already buy local, he said. And, of course, it gives Brandon & Veronica a chance to showcase the new space.
The venue, featuring the all-white surfaces its name suggests, has a capacity of about 150 people seated banquet-style or 225 people cocktail-style. Primarily designed to host weddings — a bride can bring in any color palette, and her choices will pop in the space — it has already hosted birthday parties, baby showers and similar gatherings since opening in June.
For the Small Business Spotlight events, the space will fit 20 to 25 vendors seated at 6-foot tables. The vendor spots will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, and there’s already a waitlist. After announcing the event on social media, the center’s inbox rapidly filled up with about 70 requests, Brandon said. Those who don’t fit in the lineup for July will have first dibs in August, then September, so that every one has an opportunity to participate before businesses are repeated.
“We knew it was needed, but we didn’t know it was this needed,” Brandon said.
If you’re going, you can park on the street (meters are free on weekends), or in the Stratacache Tower (formerly Kettering Tower) parking garage or Masque parking lot for $5.
For more info on the venue, visit whitehouseeventcenterdayton.com.
Billy Grill is a self-proclaimed “small business geek” — and he’s hoping his new platform, SB Connect, can connect the dots for fellow entrepreneurs navigating the confusing world of small business service providers and acronyms.
Billy runs Rebel Martech, a small marketing firm in Dayton. Over the years, he has also served as a small business advisor. He recently pitched his new platform at our June 2019 edition of Dayton Tech Guide’s Early Risers.
“This started as a job in my 20s, then it became a career and now it has developed into a passion,” he said.
When people are looking for resources, the first thing they do is search Google, he said. But the results often return an “alphabet soup” that the business owners must then navigate.
The goal of SB Connect is to cut through those extra steps, he said.
“You’re basically going to have a one-stop shop where you can go and connect with these entities in a single platform,” Billy explained.
The small biz owners will also be able to ask questions — what do I need to do start my business, what’s the most important to get a loan package?
“They’re things that should be answered pretty easily by the correct person, but finding that person is often a needle in a haystack,” he said.
Billy wants to start local, and link up with the country’s 50 state-based Small Business Development Center hubs in their more than 1K locations. Then he’d like to move national — there are more than 15M small business nationally. Dayton proper boasts more than 33K small businesses, he added.
The platform will have necessary security features built in to make it useable by government entities that work with small businesses as well, he said.
Billy is looking for connections to organizations that work with small businesses, technical expertise to continue developing the platform, and feedback.
“Small business is the backbone of America. That’s really where your city sees the most growth & community impact,” Billy said. “A strong small business foundation leads to all kinds of great things.”
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Joe Harrison is closing his design firm Virtuojo — and he’s using the moment to shift how we view & define failure in the entrepreneurial community.
Joe cofounded Virtuojo, his first business, about five yers ago, around the same time he helped launch Nucleus, Dayton’s first coworking space. Since, he has also launched GRIT, a construction company that aims to redefine the remodeling experience, and Entrepreneurs Anonymous, an organization that seeks to create a supportive space for entrepreneurs.
“I realized that I wasn’t giving any of my endeavors the proper attention,” he said. “You can’t grow anything only giving it 25 percent.”
Virtuojo will close shop on Sept. 30, and Joe will be throwing a big bash to celebrate shortly after.
“It was an amazing catalyst for me and my network,” he said. “Those first customers are now some of my closest friends.”
And moving on to a new venture — whether that be a new company, a day job, whatever — is something to celebrate, not something to be ashamed of, he said.
“I think it’s cool for the community to see it in a different light,” he said. “It’s not failure at all, and I want others to recognize that. When people close a business, or pursue a different career path, there’s a stigma, that either you didn’t do a good job, or you must be moving on to something better.”
But sometimes it just is what it is — passions change, or it’s just time to go a different direction.
“A lot of us are running businesses we shouldn’t be, and we need to pull the plug,” he said. “It’s something to celebrate, not be ashamed of, and I want to allow people to do that. You are not your business, and that’s OK.”
In the meantime, Joe is offering discounted graphic design services, from logo design to branding to business consulting — and he’d love to see some fellow startup entrepreneurs take advantage.
After Virtuojo officially closes, Joe will focus on growing GRIT and EA.
“Whatever I do next, I feel like it will be very hard to fail because of all I’ve been through and seen,” he said. “I’m excited to take everything I learned from Virtuojo and apply it to these two companies. I want to serve people & be able to be compensated for it, and I think these two companies are a great opportunity.”
“Closing a business is a really humbling experience, but I’m really grateful for it.”
Stay tuned to EA for party details.
Are you a small manufacturer who wants to get into the innovation space?
The State of Ohio wants to give you up to $25K to kickstart this work.
The grant is supported by the Ohio Manufacturing Extension Partnership to pay for services from TechSolve in Cincinnati and Eureka! Ranch in Newton. The parties are seeking Ohio manufacturing companies with fewer than 250 employees.
Over the past 30 years, the Eureka! Ranch team has conducted quantitative research and live experiments on over 26,000 innovation concepts, over 15,000 teams and over 100,000 individuals during the process of creating and commercializing innovations in an effort to develop reproducible systems of innovation.
TechSolve leverages a deep understanding of machining, data extraction & manufacturing processes to help companies confidently adopt and integrate current and emerging technologies.
Potential ways to spend the money include a leadership summit for your company’s leadership team so they can learn about and engage in innovation strategic planning; project innovation, where 8 to 20 members of your staff will complete an innovation certification and immediately jump into a project to move your company to the next level; and innovation system, where 1 or 2 members of your staff will be trained as innovation experts and receive a year of coaching to lead innovation efforts within your company.
Have another idea to jumpstart innovation in your company? Elaborate in your application and the partners could create a custom solution for you to tackle your manufacturing goal.
The deadline to apply is Aug. 31, but funds will be awarded on a rolling basis — after all, innovation waits for no one! TechSolve & Eureka! Ranch will evaluate requests in real time and aim to reply within a week.
Funds are not available to companies who have worked with TechSolve in the past three years.
For more information, or to apply, click here.
The Recyclops Bot is an artificial intelligence-powered recycling bin — drop something in the opening, and the bin will determine what kind of recyclable or waste product it is.
Recyclops CEO, and University of Dayton senior, Mike Sundermeier, pitched the company last week at Dayton Tech Guide’s June 2019 Early Risers.
Mike knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur — in fact, he attended University of Dayton specifically for its entrepreneurship program, he said.
After winning a pitch competition for a different idea, Emily Cory, leader of the university’s Leonardo Enterprises, recruited Mike to lead the business side of the Recyclops Bot for the team of engineers that developed the AI-software. Leonardo Enterprises is a University of Dayton School of Engineering program that helps students launch tech-based startups.
The team of engineering students behind the Recyclops Bot includes Luke Schepers, Gunnar Lykins, Leo Lamantia and Evan Krimpenfort. They were inspired after working with the UD Hanley Sustainability Institute & learning that UD Arena has 30 percent extra waste from recyclables that are thrown away, Mike said.
Trash collection companies often incentivize facilities to recycle by hauling those recyclables away for free with the trash, so that 30 percent of mis-identified items represents a significant opportunity for savings, he continued.
The Recyclops Bot has the potential to capture those savings, he said.
Right now, the camera inside the AI-powered Recyclops Bot can identify 85 objects. The team’s goal is for the bot to recognize 500 to 1K objects before they take it to market, which they hope to do in mid-2020 or early 2021.
The teams target market for the Recyclops Bot is k-12 schools and local, state & national parks — areas where sustainability is at the forefront, Mike said.
“What’s really cool about this product, about going into schools, is the educational aspect,” he said. “By teaching kids at a younger age, and giving them that empowerment of recycling, we hope will carry on into a complete next generation.”
The Recyclops team is looking for connections to the target market, organizations that might be interested in piloting the recycling bot, and individuals who can help accelerate the engineering process or develop marketing/logo materials.
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