Good Vibrations – Innovation@rtp

Dr. Lane Miller, VP Global R&D, LORD Corp was the speaker at December 14th's Innovation@rtp event.

What do HAL DHRUV active vibration control systems, rubber to substrate adhesives, jet engine isolation systems, low-odor adhesives, UK-60 rod ends, highly resilient elastomers, and V-22 elastomeric bearings have in common? Well, besides being things for which I have no understanding, they’re all innovative solutions developed by pioneering employees at LORD Corporation.

Headquartered in Cary, LORD Corporation is the leader in the development and implementation of computer controlled systems for managing dynamic loads and motions for vehicles and aircraft. Now, LORD linear and rotary controllable damping technology is implemented on cars, trucks, marine craft, spacecraft, and civil structures worldwide.

On December 14^th, the Innovation@rtp speaker series was delighted to host Dr. Lane Miller, VP Global R&D for LORD Corp with a presentation entitled, “Active Control Solutions for Vibration and Motion (with a Soliloquy on Innovation).” While Dr. Miller gave us some fascinating insight into what his company does (including sharing some fun videos of Humvees on a test track), probably the most important aspect of the presentation was his take on the lessons they’ve learned and some best practices for accelerating innovation.

Dr. Miller's humorous example of someone being inventive, but not very innovative.

One of Dr. Miller’s key messages was to remind us that there is a difference between invention and innovation.  Invention is a clever or unique idea, while innovation deals more with converting technology into stakeholder value.   And often, it takes both of these things to produce results.

And while it’s just common sense to have the right people for the job, Dr. Miller went on to explain what that means in terms of innovation and his company.  He suggested looking for impatient technologists.  As odd as it sounds, it makes sense, because as he pointed out, combining a patient company with an impatient technologist produces results.  LORD Corp also looks for people that are more likely to adapt quickly to changes, more apt to champion someone else’s ideas, and can be introspective regarding their own weaknesses.  Finally, these problem solvers need to understand the business plan, and further, be willing to challenge that plan. Read more »

The Art of Forensic Video

The magic green line.  We’ve all seen it in action on any number of crime investigation shows: Investigators stare intently at a monitor examining some video evidence.  An astute detective spots something and says, “Wait.  Enhance that.”  A technician makes a few quick keystrokes, and the magic green lines goes to work, across the image. Incoherent image details sharpen as the line passes over them, and bam! The case is solved… or at least one step closer to being solved.

The Art of Forensic Video at Innovation in RTP on Wednesday, October 12, 2011. Do you have a magic green line to enhance this photo?

Unfortunately (and I think most of us know this despite how much we want to believe), true video forensic investigation doesn’t work quite that magically or effectively.  With the wide range of video recording devices of varying quality and resolution, there’s not a simple way to pass a green (or any other color) line over them to produce the effect that we so often see on television.

Despite this, effective and efficient video forensic investigation is quickly becoming an essential tool for law enforcement organizations. As video surveillance becomes more and more pervasive in our lives, with CCTV, cell phone video, traffic cameras, web cameras, etc., the amount of available video data that can help piece together aspects of a crime continues to grow.  Being able to process that video and make it usable in a timely manner is essential to helping investigators solve crimes. Read more »

Funds with Benefits: Joystick Labs at Innovation in RTP

What does it take to be a video game developer?  According to John Austin, Managing Director of Joystick Labs, you need to be stubborn and flexible.  But more about that in a bit. 

Joystick Labs, housed in the American Underground in Durham, is a seed-stage accelerator that launches the next generation video game entrepreneurs through a unique mix of early-stage seed funding, mentorship, education, services, and networking. Founded in July, 2010 and based on the model of accelerators such as Y Combinator (in Mountain View, CA) and Techstars (based in New York City, Boston, Boulder, and Seattle), Joystick Labs has now funded six companies.  With a year under their belt, they continue to focus exclusively on identifying and launching the next generation of digitally distributed video game companies. Read more »

The Expanding Digital Influence

TrueParallel’s president, Mark Rosenberg, started with saying, “Thanks.”  It certainly struck a chord with me, and as I listened to his presentation at Innovation in RTP last Wednesday (August 10^th), I realized it was just another example of how Mark doesn’t always follow convention when it comes to doing business.

Mark sat down with us before his presentation to talk about what TrueParallel does and about his presentation at Innovation in RTP:

During his talk, Mark focused on discussing various market shifts and the new center of digital strategies.  According to Mark, even with an aggressive digital initiative, it’s important to be aware of the impact that users have on the web process and how that must be incorporated into an overall strategy.  He reminded us that the customer’s voice is loud and clear from anywhere on Earth these days and that feedback and information exchange is instantaneous.  Because of this, it’s likely that change must also happen almost immediately. Read more »

The Open Source Way – Innovation@rtp

I’ve always associated the term “open source” with software and with the idea of freely opening up source code to the world to encourage collaboration and improving the end product.  But at Wednesday’s Innovation@rtp, Red Hat’s Narsi Subramanian and Michael Tiemann helped me understand that “open source” is really much more a philosophy than just a software development tool.

Open source harnesses the power of peer review and the transparency of the process and it recognizes the continual ability to adapt, refine, and improve a product through use. When you think about it in that light, it’s clear that the concept of open source has been around for much longer than software has been.  Things like cooking recipes and teaching methods are examples of “technological” information that has been shared, collaborated and improved upon since the beginning of human culture.  And as Narsi and Michael spoke, it was clear that just like open source software development, The Research Triangle Park is all about bringing great minds together and cross fertilizing ideas, with Innovation@rtp being a perfect example.

One of the surprising facts that was revealed during the talk, was that the number one reason businesses choose open source software was not related to cost, but rather because of the its quality compared to proprietary software.  And people use open source software every day, without even realizing it.  Tools like amazon.com and Twitter are built (and continually improved upon) using open source software.

Take a look at what else Narsi and Michael had to say about open source, including the what, why, and how open source communities work.

For more information on Innovation@rtp, visit www.innovationinrtp.com.

Revisiting IBM’s Smarter Planet

Two years ago, Craig Nygard presented IBM’s Smarter Planet initiative to the Park at the inaugural Innovation@rtp.  On March 9, 2011, in celebration of Innovation@rtp’s two-year anniversary, Dianne Fodell, IBM Program Director for Global University Programs, returned on behalf of IBM to provide an update on the Smart Planet initiative.

Amidst celebratory cupcakes and gifts of t-shirts to the attendees, Dianne provided a fascinating look at how IBM is working with governments and businesses around the world to make the planet “smarter.”  But what does that mean?  Well, for IBM, it means working with world systems, including both natural and engineered systems, to infuse “intelligence” into processes that make our world work.

Examples of this include:

• Smart supply chains – helping companies ship smarter with innovative tracking systems which can help to reduce empty cargo holds, prevent food spoilage, and protect food quality;
• Smart Energy – building intelligence into utilities to lower costs for customers and creating a smart grid that includes intelligent appliances to efficiently use power;
• Smart Traffic – working with large cities to create solutions to traffic congestion, improve traffic flow, and thereby reducing vehicle emissions and improving vehicle (and human) efficiency;
• Smart Water – using sensors in water systems to monitor marine and plant life, learn how humans use and treat water, and make inferences about trends in water quality, all in an effort to keep water clean.

One of the examples I found particularly fascinating included placing sensors in the shells of mussels in Galway Bay, Ireland.  Because mussels function as quick indicators of water quality, quickly closing themselves up in response to pollutants, determining when and where mussels are closing, can help water quality managers know when and where water quality problems may be arising.  Collecting and analyzing this data can help pinpoint pollutant sources and trends and lead to corrective action and a cleaner Galway Bay.

Bringing the Smarter Planet initiative to fruition is certainly a challenging effort.  There are ever changing skill requirements and needs for data; however the most important aspect of smarter systems is the actionable insights that data can reveal.  So along with data, a Smarter Planet relies on statistical analysis to feed these intelligent processes (so much so, that Dianne urged everyone to encourage their kids to major in math).

I think one of Dianne’s final points really summarized what Smarter Planet is about:  “Everything is becoming instrumented, interconnected, and intelligent.”  And with IBM and other like-minded companies calling RTP home, I certainly think we’ll begin to see these types of connections and interfaces improving the way we live right here in the Triangle.

For more information on the Smarter Planet initiative, visit www.ibm.com/smarterplanet.  For more information on the Innovation@rtp lecture series, visit www.innovationinrtp.com.

Innovation@rtp: Managing Social Media

I have to admit that there can sometimes be something unsettling about watching someone achieve dramatic success at a young age.  Perhaps it stems from a concern that they’ll burn out or perhaps it’s not being able to understand the drive they have.  But, more likely, it’s jealousy.  Why didn’t I found my own company when I was in eighth grade?  Does someone barely out of high school deserve such success? Yes, it’s petty, I know.  But for Joe Davy, CEO of EvoApp, I wholeheartedly acknowledge that success is well deserved.  A serial entrepreneur and true innovator, Joe has certainly made a name for himself.  Joe’s expertise includes artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, social media, and business communication. Joe founded his first company, Axis, in 2003, and graduated from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in 2007. Since then, he has worked in R&D at IBM, has founded and sold an IT consulting company, and founded his third company, EvoApp.

Joe’s latest venture, EvoApp, is the first ever relationship-intelligence engine, helping companies understand the conversations that are happening with their customers in social media.  Joe’s presentation at Wednesday’s Innovation@rtp event provided great insight into how companies can better utilize social media to understand the marketplace and their role in the world of social marketing.

Joe Davy of EvoApp discusses relationship intelligence at Innovation@rtp.

I know what you are thinking: Another talk about the benefits of social media?  I couldn’t possibly sit through another presentation on how to use Facebook. Well, I assure you that Joe went way beyond the basics to provide some really useful counsel on ways to manage and solve the problems surrounding social media, which he pointed out, is quickly becoming the largest profit driver in the world.

According to Joe, the key to managing social media is to create what he calls an “intelligence” strategy.  This strategy should be comprehensive, one that taps into all the data to figure out where your customers are, what tools they are using, and in what ways are they already interacting with you and with others about you.  As you do this, the strategy you develop needs to be business based.  Companies need to consider whether they should be tracking more than just themselves.  Should you be tracking competitors and strategic partners?  Should you track how key customers are performing?  Are you watching to see when important or interesting things are happening to your customers and competition?  I’m guessing the answers to all of these questions should be “yes.”

Another point to keep in mind as you develop your strategy is that it needs to be goal oriented – you need to understand your business objectives.  This means defining your line of business impact, identifying key metrics for determining success, and building a business process to carry out your plan.  (At EvoApp, they call this “processifying” the plan – I’m sure that if we try, we can get that word into the dictionary in a few years; be sure to use it in your status updates this week.  It’ll catch on.)

So how do you get started?  According to Joe, the first step is to emphasize positive business attributes, not necessarily business news.  And make it personal; people need to be able to relate to it.  Second, embrace your lack of control over it; use the opportunity at hand to create buzz about your organization, product, or identity, and let the social arena spread the word.  And third, make it easy for your prospects and customers to share that information with their contacts.  This is particularly important for websites, but can even include something like a link on an electronic invoice.  Remember, the key is to make it easy.  So on that note, I encourage you share this with your friends and colleagues!  It’s easy! There are a slew of options at the bottom of this post.

Thanks to Joe Davy and EvoApp for sharing his expertise with us.  You can see Joe’s presentation from February’s Innovation@rtp at our YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQlJ0nwdBRw.

For more information on the Innovation@rtp speaker series, visit www.innovationinrtp.com.  Events are held monthly and are free to attend.  And, you can win a great door prize!

We’re Freezing Your Assets Off Here

Eric Hallman, PhD, and Doug Baker of Kryosphere, Inc. came to the RTP Headquarters Wednesday to give an overview of their company and its success at the June installment of the Innovation@rtp speaker series. Kryosphere is the only independent commercial biorepository in the Southeast. Hallman, the company’s CEO, and Baker, the company’s president, co-founded Kryosphere in 2007. Essentially, Kyrosphere stores important biomaterial samples for labs and research centers in a failsafe freezer factory to insure their preservation. It weathered its infancy during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and since then has grown into a shining example for the biomaterial management/organization (BMO) industry, passing the 2 million sample milestone last October.

A Chilling Lesson of Loss: “It was with the realization that in this area there are over ten thousand -80° storage freezers that contain biological samples. And hearing horror stories that almost every week someone was losing valuable research assets because of freezer failure, we realized there was a need for a place like a bank* that could store this stuff safely and maintain scientific assets,” Hallman said. Let’s do some quick math, here. With the amount of biosamples one freezer can hold — at an average of $10 per sample — the content value of the Triangle Region’s biofreezers alone is estimated at $4 billion. One power failure, short circuit, or human error could cost years of research and testing budget.

*The Kryosphere facility is often referred to as a ‘biobank’ – much like a data repository – but providing freezers instead of servers. The pair, however, was quick to point out that what they do is not to be confused with Hollywood cryogenic freezing ‘science’ in films like “The Shining” and “Austin Powers”.

Experiencing their formative first years during such a tumultuous economic backdrop, the founders of Kryosphere had an “educational sell” to convince consumers that this start-up wasn’t just another flash in the pan, Hallman said. Even after the market was beginning to show signs of recovery, people were reluctant to outsource what traditionally hadn’t been outsourced before. “We had to assure people we knew what we were doing,” Hallman said. The sell was slow, but it worked. Now their demand is rapidly exceeding their supply.

Baker and Hallman chose RTP because “it’s the crown jewel of biotech”. North Carolina is the third largest state in the country in terms of biotechnology-based development. Hallman and his partners have lived in the area for over 20 years, maintain good connections with the universities (for which they store many samples), and share a love for the community; in his spare time, Hallman plays jazz trumpet and is a founding member of the Triangle Jazz Orchestra and the Jazztones sextet.

In the future, Kryosphere is looking to expand their brand out of RTP. From the beginning, they have recognized that the BMO secret is in proximity to its clientele. They have identified several biotech hot spots around the Southeast with the goal of building the “mothership” facility in RTP, then opening up satellites all over the East Coast: Atlanta, Richmond, Winston-Salem and the Triad, Charleston, and many places in Florida. From there, they can pivot west and hit Birmingham, Knoxville, and Louisiana. And as if a national presence isn’t enough, Kryosphere is soon to announce partnerships in Europe and India.

“Instead of building one centralized facility and try to bring in samples from all over,” Hallman said. “we see ourselves as kind of the FedEx-Kinko’s of the biorepository business—we’re putting a biorepository around the corner from where the major research is.”

Both Hallman and Baker have backgrounds in entrepreneurship. Prior to Kryosphere, Baker was the president and Chief Operating Officer of HumanCentric Technologies, a product development and design services firm, where he led the company through strong growth and operations revitalization. He was also president at Constella Clinical Informatics and COO and Rho, Inc., both emerging growth contract research organizations. Hallman had founded SARCO, one of the first companies to commercialize combinatorial chemistry technology. He guided the company from launch to a $7.8 M acquisition in less than two years.

-Ross Maloney

Catch the entire innovation@rtp program on our YouTube channel.

Reinventing How We Communicate Science

Most people are aware The Research Triangle Park (RTP) and the Triangle region in general has a plethora of science and technology related companies, people, and activities. Images of lab coats, techie start-ups, and research universities abound. But, innovation and science doesn’t operate in a silo, and it takes more than a test tube and a fume hood to create a successful research firm.

When you think of the support organizations needed to nurture the region’s innovation, thoughts of venture capital firms, incubator space, and professional service firms come to mind. However, as we were reminded last week at the annual ScienceOnline event, the RTP region is also a landing ground for science communicators, journalists, and bloggers who support and market the scientific community to the world.

As the members of this journalist community continue to expand, we are also witnessing the demise of print media outlets nationwide. This becomes a contradiction of sorts, and every journalist across the nation has their own hard-luck story. However, the fall of print journalism also presents communicators with the opportunity to jump on a whole new set of social media/Web 2.0 based tools to harness their efforts and expand their audience.

Which brings me to a list of five innovative ways our RTP science communicators are reinventing the nature of journalism right here at home:

1. Conferences, unconferences, and online collaboration. The recent ScienceOnline event is a testimony to the strength of organic gatherings as a way for science communicators to learn, share and collaborate with their peers.

2. Science in the Triangle. Science in the Triangle is an evolving experiment in community science journalism and scientific-community organizing. Launched online in April 2008, Science in the Triangle informs research park companies and employees about the advancements their neighbors are making through the internet and new media tools.

3. Science Communicators of North Carolina (SCONC). SCONC is a professional organization founded in April 2007 providing fellowship and networking among communicators who bring science to the public. The organization includes science writers, journalists, public information officers, teachers and institutional communicators from academia, government labs, industry, museums and schools — just about anyone interested in communicating science. SCONC President Ernie Hood also runs a stellar radio show highlighting interviews with science leaders from the region.

4. Networking 2.0. Communicators are taking interest in innovation-based events like never before with the benefit of creating connections and networking their way to the science scoop. The Triangle Area Research Directors Council (TARDC), Innovation in RTP, and American Scientist Pizza Lunch are just starters in a line-up of interesting programs being covered by freelance journalists across the region.

5. Blogs, blogs and more blogs. Traditional print media presented journalists with a number of challenges, not limited to scope and speed to market. With the access to online tools such as blogs, journalists now literally have the world as an audience at their fingertips. Some of our favorite blogs to follow:

A Blog Around the Clock

Bull City Rising

Cree LED Revolution Blog

Man in Ranks

Mister Sugar

Science in the Triangle

Social Wayne on the Social Web

Wake County Economic Development

*This list is in no way comprehensive. Please suggest additional blogs we should be watching!

Innovation in RTP Speaker Series

Innovation in RTP is a series of monthly talks by various companies and organizations based in and around The Research Triangle Park. The goals are to build awareness of companies in and near RTP, of their local and global impact, and to strengthen the community of professionals in the Park, with the hope of increasing innovation and new business opportunities.

Here’s what a couple of people had to say after the January session:

“I have learned more about the…way local companies do business by attending these events.  I have also made important contacts for my business.  The speakers’ passion for their companies is inspiring.”

“I thoroughly enjoy the varied and vibrant discussion that happens in this forum.”

“The innovation series held at RTP provides great insight into business and industry trends.  A great place to meet professionals from all industries and at the same time keep abreast of the latest merging technologies, businesses, and regulations which impact all of us…. “

“This was a very positive and educational event and it was refreshing to network with such professionals.”

Join us for our next session – Wednesday, February 10 at 4 pm at RTP Headquarters, 12 Davis Drive.  The topic is How iContact Delivers WOW! and the speaker is Chuck Hester, iContact’s Communications Director.  For more information about the series, visit www.innovationinrtp.com.  To RSVP, email innovationseries@rtp.org.

- posted by Alison Fiori, director of @rtp programs for The Research Triangle Park