| 10/20/2006 | Biofuels Summit: Room for All | | Local contractors could play a valuable role in building the region’s alternative energy plants, organizers of a renewable fuels forum said Thursday.
As developers begin to construct ethanol, biodiesel and hydrogen plants in northeast Indiana, they will need a variety of services to complete those projects, said Rob Drummond, president of OnCallPSN LLC, a Fort Wayne-based management advisory firm. The company sponsored the forum Thursday at the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center. The event drew about 85 contractors, local government officials and industry participants.
A small group of specialized contractors handles many of the jobs building ethanol and other renewable fuel plants, but there is room for local companies to participate in the industry, said Fred Andriano, chief financial officer for WaterFurnace International Inc., a Fort Wayne-based company that makes geothermal heating and cooling systems. WaterFurnace, which co-sponsored the event, could supply heating and cooling equipment for some of the plants, he said.
Local engineering firm Master Group Design-Build already is participating in the industry. ForeverGreen Enterprises Inc. hired the company last year to design its planned hydrogen and synthetic diesel plant in DeKalb County, a project that ForeverGreen has said would cost more than $100 million.
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| | 10/12/2006 | Solstice Medical Establishes New RFID Laboratory | | Fort Wayne-based Solstice Medical, LLC has established a new Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) laboratory in the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center. The laboratory is situated within a simulated hospital to allow for the development and testing of RFID-enabled Class I, II and III surgical devices. Solstice Medical says the lab will offer manufacturers and hospitals a new way to test their technologies. Solstice Chief Executive Officer Daniel Smith says one challenge facing surgical device manufacturers is how to keep sterilization techniques from affecting RFID technologies embedded in the devices |
| | 9/5/2006 | Zoom Awarded Iowa Rest Area Connectivity | | System will be the first state-wide implementation of Indiana grant-funded
transportation data fusion technology
Fort Wayne, IN – Fort Wayne-based ZOOM Information Systems has been awarded a
contract from the Iowa Department of Transportation to provide wireless internet connectivity
at all 39 rest areas in the state. This technology allows motorists, fleets and Iowa DOT
employees to connect to the Internet via their laptops or other wireless communication
devices while visiting any of the state’s rest areas. The contract is the first state-wide
implementation of ZOOM’s ARTIIS technology, funded from a State of Indiana grant. “This
is the initial step in providing total connectivity for both travelers and fleets.” said Mike
Fritsch, President of ZOOM Information Systems. “We are pleased to be selected by Iowa as
the first in many states to come.”
ZOOM will be creating Wi-Fi hotspots that cover the geographical vicinity of each rest area
and information kiosks inside the rest area for use by travelers without computers. Once a
user connects, they will be directed to a custom Internet home page specific to each rest area.
Travelers will see links to information regarding: road construction; winter road conditions;
weather maps, forecasts and alerts; reports of major traffic incidents; Amber Alerts; food,
lodging, and fuel available at nearby exits; and local tourism attractions and events.
Beyond the home page, users can visit other Web sites and access their e-mail accounts. This
is of particular value to business travelers and commercial vehicle operators, as well as the
leisure traveler. Iowa Department of Transportation employees will have a separate wireless
channel to conduct business and create a “remote office”.
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| | 9/4/2006 | Innovation Mapping Wins Spot as 1st Resident of Venture Works New Business Incubator | | Venture Works, Huntington County's new entrepreneur support center, has announced that Innovation Mapping, a full-service geographic information system (GIS) company, has been selected as the first resident of the Venture Works new business incubator at 2031 College Avenue in Huntington. An open house is planned for Tuesday, September 26, from 5 to 7 PM at the incubator. The business community and the public are invited to attend.
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| | 7/28/2006 | Fort Wayne’s Schwartz Biomedical Awarded Another Grant: $2 Million | | FORT WAYNE, IN — Schwartz Biomedical has been awarded $2MM from Indiana’s 21st Century Fund to develop a new orthopaedic implant, called BioPoly RS™ (ReSurfacing), which will be used to replace only the damaged portion of a joint (i.e. knee, hip, shoulder, phalanges, etc…) as opposed to the entire joint. Patients receiving this new implant will not have to put up with chronic pain that many arthritis sufferers endure while they wait for their joint to deteriorate to the point where they are total joint replacement candidates.
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| | | | 3/9/2006 | Six firms land $6.1M | | The state's 21st Century Research and Technology Fund is back in business. Not that it ever disappeared. But after the General Assembly earmarked $75 million last year toward Indiana's showcase program for new technology development, companies finally are reaping the benefits again.
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| | 3/6/2006 | Knee Deep in Dollars | | Herb Schwartz, president and CEO of Schwartz Biomedical LLC and its subsidiary BioDuct LLC, raised $1.35 million, most of it from Fort Wayne area investors, to continue work on his BioDuct knee repair technology. Food and Drug Administration approval is expected by the end of the year, which will allow him to bring the product to market.
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| | 12/26/2005 | A study by a Massachusetts firm calls northeast Indiana ‘a place of innovators’ | | Almost one year ago, Men’s Health Magazine used some arbitrary criteria to rank the relative intelligence of 101 U.S. major metro areas. Then it poked fun at Fort Wayne for finishing last. Far from being a “dumb city,” a study on innovation and entrepreneurship here released in 2004 by Advanced Research Technologies described northeast Indiana as “a place of innovators.”
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