Entry deadline nears for Innovate Illinois contest

The Saluki Times
August 26, 2010
By Christi Mathis 08/26/2010 09:54:40

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The statewide 2010 Innovate Illinois competition, offering $80,000 in prizes, is open to new and prospective businesses and Southern Illinois University Carbondale is the downstate host for the contest.

This marks the sixth year for the challenge, created to recognize high-growth Illinois businesses offering or planning to offer an innovative service or product. More than 100 businesses compete each year in one of the contest’s two divisions, with a top prize of $30,000 cash for the winners of each division and $10,000 prizes for each runner-up.

The early stage category is for companies with an idea for an innovative product, service or process that could have a lasting economic impact. The late stage category is for new companies that have recently created or implemented an innovative process, service or process that is already showing an economic impact in the state.

“The Innovate Illinois challenge allows our clients and successful Southern Illinois companies to compete head to head with companies from all over the state, demonstrating their intelligence and innovativeness,” said Robyn Laur Russell, director of business development and international trade. She noted that in 2008, client Clipius Technologies Inc., a Carbondale company led by former SIUC mechanical engineering professor Ajay Mahajan, brought home the $10,000 state runner-up prize in the early stage business category.

Now is the time to enter for 2010, as the entry deadline is Sept. 10. You can only submit applications for the competition online at www.innovateillinois.org.

From the total pool of southern region applications submitted, the top eight entrants from each category will get notification on Oct. 1 that they will advance to the Southern Area Competition Oct. 12 in Carbondale. Eight early stage companies will make presentations in the morning and eight late stage companies will make afternoon presentations. Two winners from each semi-final category advance to the state competition.

Central and northern Illinois semi-finals will be Oct. 20 and Oct. 27, respectively. The six early stage and six late stage competition finalists will go to Chicago Dec. 16 where they’ll make seven-minute presentations before a judging panel representing entrepreneurship and investment organizations.

Since the challenge’s inception, 33 statewide winners have claimed $530,000 in cash and prizes while generating more than 500 new jobs, securing $20 million in financing and, in 2008 alone, generated in excess of $50 million in new revenues. The competitions produce winners in more way than one, Russell said. In addition to having the chance of winning cash prizes, the competitors all get to showcase their innovations for potential investors, mentors and customers and this could spark accelerated business growth.

The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center, an affiliate of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, are the joint administrators for the Innovate Illinois Program.

For more information or assistance with the Innovate Illinois online application, contact Russell at 618/453-3805 or visit www.growsi.com. You can also learn more on the state website at www.innovateillinois.org.

Southern Illinois University Carbondale and School of Medicine holding steady on technology transfer activities

The Southern Illinois University Carbondale Technology Transfer Program recently announced fiscal year 2010 patent and licensing activity statistics for SIUC and the SIU School of Medicine.

Twenty-nine new inventions were disclosed, six new licenses or options executed, 15 US patent applications filed, and two patents were issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

"Our technology transfer activity is holding up very well in view of the tough economic times. A particularly important indicator of success is that two of our licensees are start up companies based on University research located here in Carbondale," Senior Technology Transfer Specialist Jeff Myers said. "Our licensing activity for inventions from previous years is also showing good results."

SIUC is increasingly active in the field of technology transfer and commercialization. Over the past decade, SIU Carbondale and School of Medicine have disclosed 217 inventions, issued 54 licenses/options, filed 113 patent applications with a resulting 39 issued patents, and received more than $3.8 million in royalties.

The SIU Carbondale Technology Transfer Program helps University inventors with inventions and intellectual property resulting from University research. The program conducts invention assessment, files patent applications, and develops strategies to market and license technologies to existing businesses and start up companies.

For more information, visit http://techtransfer.siuc.edu, or go directly to the Tech Transfer Stats Page.

SIUC to host ‘Invention to Venture’ workshop

The Saluki Times
July 30, 2010
By Christi Mathis 07/30/2010 14:41:54

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Could your idea for a new product, service or business be a commercial success and if so, how do you make it happen?

That’s what participants can find out at a fall workshop at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. “Welcome to Invention to Venture: Southern Illinois University” is set for 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 7 at the Dunn-Richmond Economic Development Center, 150 E. Pleasant Hill Road in Carbondale.

The focus of the workshop is on moving great ideas toward commercialization. While the target audience is university and community college students, anyone with an interest is welcome to attend. Workshop presentations will cover a variety of topics including securing venture capital, marketing, intellectual property, business plans and much more. Experts from throughout the region will provide important information about invention entrepreneurship.

The registration fee includes a participant guide, lunch, a continental breakfast and all workshop presentations. The fee schedule is:

• $5 -- Saluki CEO Corps members.

• $10 -- all other students.

• $15 -- faculty/staff (from any university/college).

• $20 -- all other community members.

The event is a cooperative effort from the SIUC College of Business and its Center for Innovation, Saluki CEO Corps, the Small Business Incubator Program, Southern Illinois Research Park and the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA). To register, or for more information about the workshop, visit the website at www.invention2venture.org/soillinois/. Or, you can learn more by calling the Center for Innovation, at 618/453-7788.

Technology Transfer and Economic Development at SIUC in the news

Tech transfer keeps innovation flowing
By Codell Rodriguez, Southern Business Journal, July 18, 2010

With Southern Illinois University Carbondale being a research university, innovations are made and the Technology Transfer Program is there to ensure those innovations are successful.

The program helps identify potential successes at the university and help make them successful by acquiring patents and marketing inventions to industries.

“We’ve always felt one of the key aspects of research is to get it out there into the public, to utilize it and do some good,” said Jeff Myers, senior technology transfer specialist.

One of the professors making use of the program is Luke Tolley, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry. He developed the DIABLA method with fellow associate professor Matt McCarroll. Tolley said the method helps understand how drugs and molecules work in the human body.

Proteins and drugs are placed in a small tube. Drugs are hit with a laser and look for slow-spinning drug molecules to know which proteins react with which drugs.

Tolley said the process could help design better drugs and reduce the amount of side effects. He said he has enjoyed working with the program.

"I'm very excited to have the opportunity to bring my product to the market," Tolley said. "It's been a very good experience."

Getting the university's research out on the forefront is something SIUC Chancellor Rita Cheng has shown great interest in. Her husband, Tom, who has a background in business, said he would volunteer time to help in any way to boost the success of the program. He said he is still exploring his options for getting involved and helping out.

Myers said the program can help the university's name recognition by getting quality-inventions on the market and can also help the region in ways such as producing startup businesses.

"We think it's going to make a difference for the region's economic development," Myers said.

Read the full article with photos on Southern Business Journal.

Visit the related websites:
SIUC Technology Transfer
Dr. Tolley's Homepage
Dr. Tolley's technology available for license

News out of Southern Illinois Research Park

Georgia firm brings office, jobs to research park

The Saluki Times, June 25, 2010, by Christi Mathis

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- At a time when many companies are protecting the bottom line through layoffs or overseas outsourcing, a Georgia technology services business has brought a new office and new jobs to the Southern Illinois University Carbondale campus.

Liaison Technologies, whose chief operating officer is an SIUC alumnus, is the newest tenant at the Southern Illinois Research Park. The company, which opened earlier this month in the Dunn-Richmond Economic Development Center, has hired seven employees and plans to employ at least three more in the coming weeks. Company officials are hopeful that heading into 2011, they’ll have about 15 local employees and increase its Southern Illinois workforce to about 25 by 2012.

As Liaison considered expansion, the options included overseas outsourcing of highly skilled technology positions or expanding existing metropolitan office locations. But Larry Mieldezis, Liaison Technologies COO, said he had another idea, a plan involving his alma mater.

“We decided instead of going offshore to other countries with these jobs, we would try a different approach, staying onshore and finding a partner in Illinois to keep these jobs in the U.S.,” Mieldezis said. He said the concept involved finding a rural location near a good university producing quality graduates in the field of information technology.

Because of the lower cost of living in such communities, companies can offer competitive wages and benefits to employees more economically than they could in metropolitan areas. He noted that keeping the jobs stateside avoids common problems associated with outsourcing jobs overseas, including language and cultural barriers, regulatory compliance and security requirements, political uncertainties and time zone differences.

“In fact, it’s proven that for every one resource we hire in the United States, we would have to hire 1.5 in India or China. We’ve found an avenue that is cost-effective and it keeps jobs here at home in the states rather than overseas,” said Mieldezis, a Marion native. “When I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science in 1986 from SIUC, I would have liked to have stayed in the area but I had to move away to really utilize my degree, first to New York and then to Seattle and finally to Georgia. But I’ve maintained a relationship with SIUC and the computer science department over the years.

“The information technology talent is so strong at SIUC, we really wanted to come here. I believe there’s an opportunity to offer people a really good career and a comfortable lifestyle here in Southern Illinois,” Mieldezis added. “I would have loved to have stayed in Southern Illinois but couldn’t. I think Liaison’s rural sourcing strategy is a great thing for the University and the community. I have a strong loyalty to SIUC and there is a lot of talent here. We were looking for an investment where the company itself and the employees can benefit for the long term.”

Liaison provides integration and data management services on a global basis. Serving businesses and organizations in more than 35 countries, the company offers a wide variety of business-to-business and enterprise application integration and data transformation services. Essentially, Mieldezis said the company utilizes specialized technology in combination with highly skilled integration and data management specialists to connect companies with their business community and trading partners. Liaison’s hosted technology leverages the Internet and links companies with their suppliers as well as business partners to ensure that all are speaking the same e-commerce technological language.

For instance, a manufacturing company deals with distributors as well as suppliers. There are all sorts of documents involved in order to carry out various transactions, including orders, invoices and shipping notices. Mieldezis said Liaison is “a software-as-a-service (SaaS) network that facilitates and guarantees the delivery of that data and transforms it into the appropriate forms.”

The company began in 2000, initially working with the pulp and paper industry. Since then, it has evolved into an international information technology company serving many different industries including pharmaceutical, distribution and financial services, along with an array of manufacturing markets. Headquartered in Alpharetta, Ga., north of Atlanta, Liaison employs about 180 people at locations that include London, Amsterdam, Helsinki and Tampere, Finland. The Technology Association of Georgia, a leading non-profit technology organization, this spring named Liaison one of the “Top 40 Most Innovative Technology Companies” in Georgia.

“We welcome Liaison to Southern Illinois and to SIUC. This is an excellent example of an alternative to offshore outsourcing and we’re excited to be a part of it, especially when it involves jobs for talented young University graduates. Liaison’s COO is a Saluki and when they were exploring the idea of locating near a university, he thought of his alma mater and I don’t think we’ve disappointed him with our response to his idea,” said Kyle Harfst, executive director of the Southern Illinois Research Park and director of technology and enterprise development for SIUC.

Mieldezis said as Liaison continues to grow, it looks for ways to offer more value to customers, to build in additional intelligence and offer the best possible combination of technology delivery and integrated managed services. One popular new concept getting attention is “cloud-based” integration services through which Liaison customers subscribe to and are able to utilize the latest technology software and solutions without having to purchase them at considerable cost.

Mieldezis is confident that the firm’s implementation of rural sourcing will also be good for Liaison, its customers and its employees.

“We are happy we’ve been able to expand onshore where there’s a good University producing students with a quality education and strong work ethnic,” he said. “We are an established company and we are profitable but we have benefited from the connections with SIUC’s Small Business Incubator and Kyle Harfst. It’s been valuable to get help with the facilities and infrastructure in close proximity to the University. Our employees in Carbondale are an extension of our workforce around the world. Through the use of Internet and technology, we all work as a single, virtual network.”

Mieldezis said the employees at the Southern Illinois office provide very technical IT support around the world as well as software and platform development and IT outsourcing for client companies. In making the initial hires, Liaison has worked with various academic units at SIUC including the Department of Computer Science and the School of Information Systems and Applied Technologies. Information about job opportunities is also on the company website, www.liaison.com.

Ultimately, Mieldezis said the goal is to achieve such success at SIUC that Liaison moves from the Small Business Incubator to larger headquarters in the region and the SIUC office becomes Liaison’s model for onshore-based rural sourcing.

Visit the Southern Illinois Research Park website.

Event to match businesses, lenders

http://www.thesouthern.com/business/local/article_8d664e3c-6ba8-11df-a069-001cc4c002e0.html

CARBONDALE-A lender and business matchmaking event will aim to provide small business owners access to capital. "Meet The Lenders," is co-sponsored by the Small Business Administration and the Illinois Small Business Development Center at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

The event will be held from 9 a.m. to noon June 16 at Holiday Inn Conference Center in Carbondale. The event is free to attend and seeks to aid small business owners or potential small business owners learn about the different types of commercial loan opportunities in Southern Illinois.

Emily Carter, director of entrepreneurship and business development at SIUC, said the participants will learn about the many programs, loans and funding options available to small businesses. Carter said the event will allow participants the opportunity to speak directly with commercial loan officers. She said it's a great opportunity for small business owners who are in the start-up phase of their business to make a connection to lenders.

"A lot people in the community may be in the start up phase of their business," she said. "We hope it will provide direct access to lenders and the opportunity to build a relationship with lenders."

Carter said organizers hope to draw more than 150 participants, but seating is limited and interested parties are asked to RSVP to the Illinois Small Business Development Center.

Small businesses will meet one-on-one with loan officers from participating Small Business Administration lenders. Interested participants are encouraged to bring their business plan to discuss their business loan proposal with lenders.

Valerie Ross, branch manager with the Springfield SBA, said the Small Business Administration will discuss how loan program funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act allows the organization to help small businesses in need. She said funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has allowed the SBA to further reduce the risk to lenders by guaran-teeing a higher percentage of loans. She said the additional funding allows them to guarantee 90 percent of a small business loan and allows the SBA to waive the one time guarantee fee for small business owners.

Ross said participants will also learn about small business loan programs available through federal, state and community agencies.

She said organizers are encouraging anyone interested to attend because the event will provide critical information about capital.

"Access to capital, that's what it's all about," Ross said. "We encourage business owners to come out. There's no fee, it's one morning of their time and they should take advantage of this opportunity.

stephen.rickerl@thesouthen.com

618-351-5823

IP Marketing Advisor Discusses "Operation Bootstrap"

SIU combines tech fair with entrepreneurship training in "Operation Bootstrap"

Many universities sponsor showcases to give inventors the opportunity to present their technologies to potential investors and partners. A growing number also sponsor courses on entrepreneurism to prepare would-be start-up leaders for the real world. Southern Illinois University-Carbondale has taken an approach that combines both strategies. Its most recent innovation showcase was preceded by a 12-week course, many sessions taught by alumni and others who have achieved entrepreneurial success. The structure of the course was based on FastTrac TechVenture, a program developed by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

“About two years ago one of our offices of economic development’s entrepreneurship committee got funding for entrepreneurial training for low- to moderate-income folks,” recalls Kyle Harfst, PhD, MBA, executive director of the Southern Illinois Research Park and director of technology & enterprise development at SIU Carbondale. The new program, dubbed Operation Bootstrap, followed the Kauffman model, and though it was limited by income requirements it “piqued some interest” in the university community.

The Kauffman program, explains Lynn Andersen, MBA, director of business and research in SIU’s Office of Economics and Regional Development, is designed specifically for the type of group she and Harfst had in mind — university-based scientists. Kauffman offers training and certification to allow others to offer its training. Individuals who achieve certification are then eligible to purchase the curriculum and facilitate their own program. The cost of the course, she says, ranges from $1,200 to $1,500 per participant. A detailed article on the program appears in the May 2010 issue of Intellectual Property Marketing Advisor. For subscription information, CLICK HERE.