Neighborhood Innovation : Innovation + Job News

Chasing elusive healthcare innovation: IBX Game Changers Challenge applications due soon

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

The Independence Blue Cross Game Changers Challenge is now accepting applications, and the window to enter closes on July 10. The idea is to link the muscle and financial power of big health care with the energy of startups in an effort to drive change.

"This is a huge opportunity," says Tom Olenzak, who, as a full-time consultant, is helping to run the Game Changers Challenge, which draws on the partnership of IBX, Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs, the Department of Public Health of the City of Philadelphia, Venturef0rth, and ?What If! Innovation Partners.

Applicants have until July to submit proposals aimed at improving the overall health and wellness of the Greater Philadelphia region. New companies, applications, technology, products, programs, and services that promote health and wellness are all welcome to enter. The prize is $50,000 for up to three winners, who will be notified by the end of July.

"Health care legislation has forced people to think about change," says Olenzak. "We've been stuck in an employer based sales model."

While most individuals consider themselves insured by a particular company, insurers are actually built on a B2B model, selling to employers, not employees. That's why customer service at an insurer can be quite frustrating. It's not a detail most people consider while on hold trying to get information about a claim.

Making change in healthcare is daunting, even to a seasoned professional like Olenzak, who's been in healthcare IT for 20 years, and reports that innovation in healthcare has always been the next big market.

Olenzak sees the regulatory process as a barrier to innovation. "There's been a ton of innovation on the care side," but not on the business side, adds Olenzak. "The challenge in health care is that open and transparent transactions are almost unheard of."

With an economy that continues to struggle, and cuts in reimbursement, Olenzak says healthcare focused acclerators are on the rise around the country, and points to Blueprint Health in New York, Rock Health in San Francisco, and Chicago Health Tech.

Here in Philadelphia, Venturef0rth hosted the first ever Startup Weekend Health at the beginning of this month, and there are plans in the works for a Philadelphia based health care accelerator, details of which cannot yet be disclosed.

"Once you start pulling on one thread, you find it's attached to 16 more," says Olenzak of the complicated field of health care innovation. "We're at a stage where we need a larger platform like an insurer or a health system to get involved to make a difference."

Source: Tom Olenzak, IBX Game Changers Challenge
Writer: Sue Spolan

Overheard at Venturef0rth: Million/Million for SnipSnap; CloudMine releases version 1.0

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

It wasn't up there for long, but the upstart startup CloudMine celebrated the release of version 1.0 by attaching one of its massive company logo banners to the water tower atop the large white building at 8th and Callowhill where it calls home at Venturef0rth. Talk about eyeballs. The water tower got the attention of tens of thousands of Friday commuters.

While none of the CloudMine founders was willing to take credit (or in this case, blame) for the guerilla marketing stunt, CloudMine's presence is hard to miss. With a newly redesigned website, the year old Backend-as-a-Service company has put its beta to bed, according to CEO Brendan McCorkle. But developers were not so fortunate, with Marc Weil reporting that the team worked well into the wee hours to make the launch happen. Developers are now running more than 1,500 apps on the CloudMine platform.

Meanwhile, just yards away at Venturef0rth, Ted Mann of SnipSnap announced that he's raised a million dollars in funding for his coupon snapping app, and a million coupons have been entered into the system. Adding to recent Ben Franklin Technology Partners of SE Pennsylvania funding, Mann says Philly's Mentortech Ventures and Michael Rubin contributed to the round.SnipSnap is hiring two in leadership positions, and according to Mann, is engaged in a national search to hire a VP of Marketing and a VP of business Development and Sales.

Keya Dannenbaum, founder of ElectNext, and late of Project Liberty Digital Incubator stopped by to check out the space, and reports that the candidate choice engine is now closing in on a round of funding. She also mentioned that co-founder Paul Jungwirth has moved on and is no longer with the startup.

Source: Brendan McCorkle, CloudMine, Ted Mann, SnipSnap, Keya Dannenbaum, ElectNext
Writer: Sue Spolan

Creative sector jobs, reputation for art growing in Philadelphia

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

The whole starving artist cliche doesn't fly in Philadelphia. Two releases, one from the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, and another from The Greater Philadelphia Tourism and Marketing Board, point to arts as an area of serious growth, and a powerful financial force in the region.

According to the newly released Creative Sector Jobs Report, new research shows that 48,900 jobs exist in the creative sector, which represents 6.5% of the jobs in Philadelphia. Creative sector employment grew 6.3% from 2001 to 2011, yielding $5 billion in direct output and $2.7 billion in direct employee earnings.

The GPTMC just launched its new With Art Philadelphia campaign, as well as its annual report, titled "The Art of Collaboration." GPTMC CEO Meryl Levitz reports that the city welcomed a record 38 million visitors in 2011, and will likely see a dramatic increase with the lure of the Barnes. The GPTMC also unveiled its impressive new With Art site which allows visitors to curate their own Philadelphia experience by shopping through the city's arts and culture offerings to create an individualized tour.

"Culture and the creative sector are a critically important part of our city, and a critical creator of jobs," says Gary Steuer, head of the OACCE. "Creative assets are a core reason people visit Philadelphia."

The GPTMC also announced that it has a 75-page spread in the June 2012 US Airways Magazine, highlighting area museums, historical sites, music and public art. "Philly is a city in the throes of artistic revolution," reads one article.

According to the OACCE's Creative Sector report, In 2010 and 2011, research studies ranked Philadelphia 50-70% above the national standard in “creative vitality” using the Creative Vitality Index, a research tool developed by the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) to measure the creative health of an area.

Source: Gary Steuer, OACCE, Meryl Levitz, GPTMC
Writer: Sue Spolan

Old City interactive shop I-SITE hiring four for new international projects

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, June 19, 2012

I-SITE, the super groovy interactive agency with an international clientele, is hiring. "One project manager, one developer, one contract Drupal programmer, and also we need a contract designer for the summer. So there will be four new faces working with the team in the next few weeks," reports Ian Cross, President and CEO.

Cross, who also operates burlesque-a-go-go hot spot The Trestle Inn, says Project Manager Jessica Chappell is moving to the UK, and one of the company's programmers is going freelance. "That said, we are growing and taking on more projects. I-SITE is a seven person core team – all about open collaboration, problem solving, and coming up with innovative digital," explains Cross, who hails from the UK.

Offering graphic design, animation, app development and website management, I-SITE has several international projects in the works, including one in Iceland that deals with beverage development, and one in Africa aimed at animal conservation, according to Cross.

"We're doing more app development for smartphone and tablet," says Cross, who lists projects with Deloitte, Sprout, and the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology. "It' a nice mix of corporate and social causes. We also just launched an iPad app highlighting the housing crisis in Northern Armenia."

The company, located in an expansive space on 3rd Street in Old City, even operates an online audio program and just released MUSIC MIX VOL.14 - I've Got a Bike (You can ride it if you like). Look for Volume 15: Whiskey and Go Go mix, to be released this Thursday.

"We’ve always been boutique," says Cross, who says he's created a great team of people who are cross trained and can communicate well directly with clients. While I-SITE has has a few more or less employees over time, it has never employed over 15. "These days we're lean and mean – the way I like it," says Cross, who reports that out of the four open positions, he's already got strong candidates in mind for two.

Source: Ian Cross, I-SITE
Writer: Sue Spolan

Ridaroo partners with PECO/Exelon to offer secure carpooling

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Boom: Ridaroo is running with the big boys now. The two-year old company has partnered with PECO/Exelon to launch a secure enterprise-wide ride-sharing program. The bootstrapped startup, which comes out of Drexel's Baiada Institute, has been working on a program to match drivers with riders within a specific organization.

Ridaroo will even tell carpoolers if there are discounts and deals along the route.

Andy Guy and Aksel Gungor, both former Drexel students, built the firewalled program to stand out from traditional ride boards by building in a new level of trust. Each organization has its own online ride board, separate from all the others, so that employees don't have to take a risk in order to go green on the road.

Gungor recalls that as an undergrad at Drexel, there was a bulletin board in the hall where, like at most colleges, people posted notes about rides offered and needed. The Career Services department would manually copy down each post and email it to students.

"I had an internship to which I had to take a bus. I ended up carpooling by default,"says Gungor. "There had to be a better, more efficient way of doing it. Fast forward to Andy and me sitting down and working on it. We set up a private website for different organizations."

The beta version, which was open to all college students in Philadelphia, led to the new corporate version. Integrating social media tools, Ridaroo allows PECO employees to log in and create trips limited to PECO staff. Andy Guy created an automatically generated matching system which screens for preferences like distance, time, number of available seats, pick up location, and even smoking or non-smoking.

Gungor says companies like PECO can offer the Ridaroo service as an employee benefit, and the bill goes to the employer. "It's a pure sustainability play. We calculate all the emissions and the analytics behind that." Not only do employees save hundreds of dollars per year, but companies can earn LEED points via collected Ridaroo data.

Gungor says Ridaroo isn't seeking outside funding at this time; rather, he and Guy are focused on growing with the revenue generated by enterprise solutions. Current partnerships (including another with the law firm Morgan Lewis) will help Ridaroo scale quickly, which will lead to hiring. At that point, the team will look at raising a small round.

And that whole boom thing? "Andy and I always joke around. When something good happens, we say, 'boom,' that just got done."

Source: Aksel Gungor, Ridaroo
Writer: Sue Spolan

Venturef0rth welcomes new companies, hiring office manager

Flying Kite Media Thursday, June 14, 2012

Three-month old Venturef0rth is growing fast, and announced this week that DreamIt Ventures grads Cloudmine, MetaLayer, Grassroots Unwired and SnipSnap have all taken up residency at the incubator, located in an in-between neighborhood the team has dubbed Southern Liberties. Elliot Menschik, Jesse Kramer and Jay Shah even registered the domain solib.org to help classify their spot at 8th and Callowhill, which is neither Center City nor Northern Liberties.

Opening its doors just three months ago in March 2012, Kramer notes that the endeavor is picking up momentum with the goal to enable the next big thing. Certainly, Cloudmine qualifies. From its original founding three partners, the back end mobile solutions provider has grown to nine employees, and occupies the entire eastern section of Venturef0rth.

"They had us when we came in and saw the space," says Cloudmine co-founder Brendan McCorkle. "I have to keep the engineers happy."

McCorkle says his team looked all over the city, seriously considering a standalone office in Old City that was the former home of Indy Hall. But looking forward, McCorkle knew that Cloudmine would soon outgrow that space. Also, adds McCorkle, "We offer our customers pay as you go pricing, and that's what they're doing here."

With eight companies in residence, and one already graduated, Menschik says, "We built Venturef0rth to be an inspiring place to work. It attracts certain types, and repels certain types. You can see when they walk in whom it resonates with. They either love the 14-foot ceilings or think, 'How am I going to have a conversation here?'"

Russ Oster, whose Grassroots Unwired adds mobile connectivity to door to door campaigns nationally, was the first paying tenant in March.

"We looked at all the coworking options, and realized that with Venturef0rth, you also get the wisdom of the three co-founders."

Within a week of moving in, Grassroots Unwired received a term sheet from a West Coast VC, and got great advice on handling the process. "We did close our seed round based on that term sheet," says Oster.

The company that's moved on is Lessonsmith, which has merged with Defined Clarity. Founder Dan Lopez is Venturef0rth's first alum.

Venturef0rth also announced that it's hiring. The team is in search of a killer office manager, which includes the task of keeping the refrigerator stocked with local craft beer.

Says Kramer, who comes from a marketing background, "Think about every brand that you love. There's not one thing that makes you love it. You want to identify with it because of a variety of attributes."

Source: Elliot Menschik, Jesse Kramer, Brendan McCorkle, Russ Oster, Venturef0rth
Writer: Sue Spolan

Educational strength in numbers: The School Collective connects teachers with good ideas, hiring

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, June 12, 2012

There's a lot of talk about technology and education, but most of the time, the conversation is about individual schools implementing technology. In the case of The School Collective, a social entrepreneurship startup based in Philadelphia, technology becomes a way to link and improve all schools at once.

Sebastian Stoddart, one of the co-founders, says "We originally came up with the idea at Oxford University. Alyson Goodner and I were both studying for our MBA. The education problem is bigger than just one issue. We identified an element of the education world where we can actually make a difference."

The School Collective joins teachers across schools through a website where educators can share best practices through lesson plans, materials, and instant communication. Currently there are over 1,700 members sharing nearly 21,000 documents and over 36 thousand lesson plans.

Stoddart, who remains in the UK but visits town 3 to 4 times a year, says it was Goodner's enthusiasm and energy that drew him into the project. "She's incredibly passionate. It's her one focus and one mission. From my standpoint, it's a real chance to use innovation to improve education. It's an opportunity to reshape an existing model that isn't working."

Coming from one of the most venerated learning institutions in the world doesn't hurt. "One thing you get from Oxford is a hands on teaching style," says Stoddard. "You work directly with a tutor, and there are 2 to 3 other people in the room. The difference of that model to Philadelphia education is huge. Oxford is an incredible education, and it gives you a massive desire to give that education as well."

Goodner adds, "I am not British. I was born here in Philly, and ended up at Oxford, a place where people gather to talk about global change. Here in Philadelphia we get a fairly bad rap. People say, education reform here in Philly? Good luck with that. But there has been movement. There are amazing people doing reform work in Philly."

The School Collective, says Goodner, gathers revenue via a freemium model. Teachers sign up for free or pay $5 per month to access the full functionality of the site. Organizations can also subscribe to the site using a tiered model.

"The School Collective is built to give benefit to every user on the site," says Stoddard, who compares traditional teaching tools that are brought in by the principal, but offer no benefit to the teacher, "From the beginning we wanted this to be something teachers would want to be on."

An essential key to The School Collective's success is Goodner and Stoddart's professional development package, their hands on approach to teaching teachers. During a 10-hour workshop, The School Collective shows educators take the time to visit schools in person and explain exactly how to use the tools, resulting in a 98% acceptance rate.

With this level of success, expansion is on the agenda, although it would be difficult to replicate an Oxford-educated team. "We are looking to bring on a person full time similar to what I am doing, and a full time developer on Sebastian's side to build a team in Philadelphia," says Goodner, who plans on tapping into former Teach For America participants to find the right fit.

Currently, The School Collective serves a diverse roster of Philadelphia schools, including The William Penn Charter School, Stepping Stones, and The School District of Philadelphia. The plan is to expand to include parents and students, and to extend The School Collective's reach to neighboring states.

Source: Alyson Goodner, Sebastian Stoddart, The School Collective
Writer: Sue Spolan

Philly as a model for social entrepreneurship examined as part of The New Capitalist Junto

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Getting paid for paying it forward is the future of social change. Last Wednesday (June 6), Good Company Ventures hosted The New Capitalist Junto.

In the high-rise offices at 1650 Arch, formerly known as The Green Village, around 220 attendees gathered to consider the task of making Philadelphia a center for new capitalism. Based on the book The New Capitalist Manifesto written by Umair Haque, the business philosophy embraces sustainability, non-violence, equity and improving quality of life.

"Philadelphia has all of the infrastructure, in institutions, talent and beyond, to be a global leader in social entrepreneurship," says Technically Philly's Christopher Wink, one of the night's top rated speakers. "The intractable legacy problems we have in our big, old, industrial city, mean that this is among the most meaningful places in the world to confront the challenges that we need to solve most -- education inequality, crime, violence, drugs, poverty, joblessness and the like."

Joined by Mayor Michael Nutter and 25 local organizations from all corners of business and civic life including Robin Hood Ventures, EEB Hub and NextFab Studio, the goal, says Wink, "is to get a broad coalition and conversation happening around the region being a relevant, sensible and powerful hub for mission-minded ventures."

Good Company's Zoe Seltzer says, "It was a nice mix of engaged, yet wanting more. Venture types curious about the social stuff and social types wanting us to reach further. As long as we have this diverse group talking, we've made a good start."

The idea of the Junto originated in Philadelphia in 1727, and was defined as a club for mutual improvement. P'unk Avenue, one of the evening's participants, has hosted a monthly junto for about 2 years.

Source: Christopher Wink, Zoe Seltzer, The New Capitalist Junto
Writer: Sue Spolan

'Twive and Receive' fundraiser for TechGirlz on June 14

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, June 12, 2012

A one day only fundraiser for TechGirlz will take place June 14. The local nonprofit, dedicated to training middle and high school students for jobs in technology, is Philadelphia's entry in Give Across America through the Twive and Receive campaign.

Gloria Bell, who chose the organization for the competition, says, "TechGirlz gets all of the money we raise and if they are in the top three fundraising cities, they get an additional amount, $5,000 for third place, $10,000 for second place or $15,000 for first place, on top of what we raise."

Here's the setup: donate $10 and then encourage 10 friends to donate as well through social media. Bell has written suggested tweets, so it's a no-brainer to participate.

TechGirlz, with the mission of empowering girls to be future technology leaders, has a year round calendar, and is running a one week Entrepreneur Summer Camp for middle school girls the week of July 9, where each student has a chance to create a startup in a hackathon setting. The program is in conjunction with DreamIt Ventures and Startup Corps.

Tracey Welson-Rossman, a female tech star in her own right, founded TechGirlz, and has since welcomed Kerry Rupp, Yasmine Mustafa, Jane Frankel, Neelan Choski, Anita Garimella Andrews, Christian Kunkel, Karen Stellabotte, Skip Shuda and Joyce Akiko to the leadership team.

"Curiosity and research led me down the path to find where I hypothesize it begins - at high school, specifically 9th grade. Studies show that girls at that age self-select out of technology learning because they do not understand what a career in tech can be. They see the stereotypes in the media of nerdy white males who work in cubicles and are not creative or collaborative," says Welson-Rossman. "We know that is not the case. TechGirlz wants to show the depth and breadth of what technology can offer. We also want to represent what the folks in tech actually look like - men and women."

TechGirlz hosts regular workshops to teach girls a wide range of skills including programming, web design, podcasting,3D printing and animation. Welson-Rossman also reports that TechGirlz is at a point where it will soon be hiring staff to help the organization grow and to track participants' progress.

Source: Gloria Bell, Tracey Welson-Rossman, TechGirlz
Writer: Sue Spolan

Beer pong your way to an employer's heart at UNCUBED at World Cafe Live on June 21

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Looking for work is about to get way cooler, thanks to UNCUBED. "Everyone likes to have a good time, and everyone hates job fairs," says Tarek Pertew, UNCUBED organizer and co-founder of Wakefield, a media company that's producing the event which takes place June 21 from 11 am to 4 pm at World Cafe Live in University City.

"UNCUBED is something everyone can enjoy, with music and drinks. No one wears suits, and companies are not going to have a barrier to interaction with candidates. It's a different mindset, where people can interact on a more realistic level. It's what startups want. Their approach to culture is significantly different from large companies."

Targeting the fast growing world of tech entrepreneurs, Philly UNCUBED is an expansion from the first UNCUBED which took place in Manhattan in April 2012 and drew tech luminaries like Tumblr and Spotify, not to mention 1100 attendees vying for jobs at 85 companies.

Here in Philly, AppRenaissance, Zonoff, Monetate, RJ Metrics and Leadnomics will join dozens of companies for music, an open bar, food and games. And of course, to find employees.

UNCUBED is a production of Wakefield, which sends out a daily email on startups: think Daily Candy for business, says Pertew, who comes from a background in fashion retailing.

Wakefield plans on taking UNCUBED to more cities in the future, but chose the vibrant tech scene in Philadelphia for its initial expansion.

Source: Tarek Pertew, UNCUBED
Writer: Sue Spolan

311 mobile app, PublicStuff coming to Philly by summer's end

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Philadelphia's open data movement recently got stronger by a factor of 311. The city has announced that PublicStuff will produce the long-awaited 311 mobile app to allow citizens to make faster service requests without disrupting city operations.

"The product is already built," says Lily Liu, founder and CEO of PublicStuff. "It's a mobile and web app that integrates with how workers are already working. The staff does not have to change what it does every day. They will still manage work flow and work orders, but it will be a much better experience for the citizen."

Liu adds that the integration piece is essential, and the custom designed app will be fully scalable and integrate with backend solutions.

While PublicStuff is a based in New York with over coverage of over 100 cities nationwide, Liu says PublicStuff will soon be opening a satellite office in Philadelphia, where it got its start with Good Company Ventures.

"Our original goal was to create something that could be utilized in any city, not necessarily in Philly," she says. "A lot of our mentors and investors are located here."

It was an easy decision to apply for the project once PublicStuff heard about the opportunity, which was a bit of a wait-and-hurry-up situation. While the idea for a 311 mobile app has been kicked around for several years, it was only a matter of weeks from RFP to selection, says Liu, who reports that her company is still finalizing details around the local office.

PublicStuff, with an $18,000, one-year contract from the city, hopes to set up shop here in the fall, and expects to roll out the app by Labor Day 2012.

Source: Lily Liu, PublicStuff
Writer: Sue Spolan

Father's Day is every day with ManCaveKingdom

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, May 15, 2012

"There's no such thing as a typical man cave," says Joe Chiaccio, founder of ManCaveKingdom. The bootstrapped startup is in the business of creating safe havens for every man, no matter what his taste.

Maybe you're the kind of guy who's just waiting for beer o'clock. Or maybe you are more of a Super Street Fighter. Whatever your particular escape, ManCaveKingdom will help make it happen.

While Chiaccio, based in South Jersey, has full time designer Amanda Burke on staff, he explains it's more of a DIY thing. "Guys are traditionally not the decorators of the house. Typically women are the primary decorators. If a guy is lucky enough to get his own space, ManCaveKingdom makes it attainable for guys who have an idea of what they want," says Chiaccio, who adds that wives are often more than happy to hand over an area of the house where a guy can get as sloppy as he wants.

The target demographic for the fledgling company is pretty wide, ranging in age from men in their early 20s up to their 60s. "Younger guys live in apartments, and then there are guys who have been married 40 years and want a little bit of space," says Chiaccio. Most commonly, men are looking for a bar and a really nice TV viewing area. Add-ons include stand up arcade games, ping pong and pool tables.

How much is this going to set you back? "How much does a diamond ring cost?" jokes the recently married Chiaccio, citing a budget range from a few hundred dollars all the way up to the tens of thousands. In fact, it was Chiaccio's own experiences building out his man space that gave him the idea for the business.

Chiaccio reports that Philly Tech Week was great for business, and now counts among his clients a recently divorced local entrepreneur who does web analytics by day, but wants to get loose at night. We're not naming names, or even initials. What happens in the man cave stays in the man cave.

Source: Joseph Chiaccio, ManCaveKingdom
Writer: Sue Spolan

Malvern's ReadySetWork hiring on heels of expanded scheduling platform, acquisition

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, May 08, 2012

ReadySetWork has served tens of thousands. While it all began with a sandwich franchise, co-founders Joel Frisch and Jacob Dreyfuss are in the business of serving those who serve. The company is hiring ASP.NET MVC developers, mobile developers and business development experts, on the heels of an acquisition for an undisclosed amount by national payroll solutions provider PrimePay.

ReadySetWork was created to schedule shift workers, first in the restaurant industry, and now branching out to any vertical that employs hourly, on-demand labor. Frisch and Dreyfuss first got the idea for the company when they owned several Pita Pit franchises, and developed the technology to fix a major pain point that had previously been a pencil and paper solution. "The whole pitch of our product is taking the schedule off the back wall and bringing it to life," says Frisch.

The RSW suite is a set of web and mobile tools that allow managers to schedule workers online, but also allow employees to tell bosses when they are available. "When employees have more access with ReadySetWork, they feel more a part of the process. Accountability and morale are higher," says Frisch.

The acquisition does not affect the management team or the location of company, which remains in Malvern. Frisch says the company's national client base has been built up through distribution channels, not one-by-one sales, and PrimePay is now offering a co-branded version of ReadySetWork.

Frisch reports that the company now schedules hospitality, healthcare, and recreation staff, and is moving into the rapidly growing on demand workforce that includes home health care, catering and security. "A tool like ReadySetWork is situated perfectly for that change." Look for a new RSW mobile app, to be launched this summer. By the way, RSW has lots of branded merchandise for sale, including a clock.

Source: Joel Frisch, ReadySetWork
Writer: Sue Spolan

GPIC gets more efficient as EEB Hub, which shifts focus and is hiring up to five

Flying Kite Media Thursday, May 03, 2012

The multi-partner organization GPICHub is now EEB Hub, which stands for Energy Efficient Buildings Hub. Same players, but a redesigned website, logo and tagline to reflect a change of focus. "From early on the name was made to speak to the Department of Energy, and be region focused," says Christine Knapp, Manager of Public and Client Relations for the EEB Hub, who feels that the shorter name says more in fewer words.

EEB Hub is more market focused as well, according to Knapp, with pages that break down content into four sections she calls "point-of-view" pages: Owners/Operators/Occupants, Architects/Engineers/Suppliers, Policy and Finance, and Education and Workforce. An even more granular approach is in the works, says Knapp, with some of the categories broken out further to address specific needs, say, of building owners.

The multi-stakeholder organization, which began life last February with temporary headquarters at the Navy Yard, is now in the process of constructing Building 661, a showplace for green building innovation. In what Knapp terms an entrepreneur's dream come true, even the current headquarters has become a lab.

"The temporary building we are in now is one of the most highly instrumented buildings in the country. It collects 1500 data points every minute," says Knapp, who looks forward to the ability to dashboard all that data, which will include energy, weather and occupancy data, to name just a few.

"ICon, our immersive construction lab, is up and running," reports Knapp. "It's a virtual 3D environment which allows design teams to put schematics into the system, put goggles on and walk around a building together." EEB Hub's Building 661 design team is using the technology now, and EEB Hub will soon make it available to regional architecture and design firms. "They can bring all their architects and engineers into the room together," says Knapp.

EEB Hub is seeking a full time manager for demonstration projects. Currently there are two, but up to five more are in the works, and will soon grow beyond the confines of the Navy Yard and into the larger region. Also available are ten paid summer internship positions for both undergrad and graduate students.

EEB Hub seeks to reduce energy use in the area's commercial building sector by 20 percent by 2020.

Source: Christine Knapp, EEB Hub
Writer: Sue Spolan

Colin Farrell film brings spotlight, jobs to SS United States

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, May 01, 2012

"Philadelphia is an extremely film friendly town," says Joe Zolfo, co-executive producer of Dead Man Down, which began filming in Philadelphia last week. "The on-set crew will be 100 people, and the off set crew will be 50 to 75 people. Add actors, and there will be 200-250 people employed on the production."

The film, which is using various locations in Philadelphia over the course of the next few months, stars Colin Farrell and Terrence Howard, and is directed by Niels Arden Oplev, who previously directed the Scandinavian version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Zolfo says the film will be here for a total of 35 shooting days. On opening day, Zolfo, Sharon Pinkenson of the Greater Philadelphia Film Office, and Mayor Michael Nutter gathered near the SS United States. The massive ocean liner, which is docked by Pier 82 on Columbus Boulevard across from Ikea in South Philadelphia, is getting a much needed publicity boost. Dead Man Down shot only one day on board the SS United States. "This is a location that's never been filmed before," says Zolfo.

Also on hand was Susan Gibbs, Executive Director of the SS United States. The long term hope is that the ship itself will generate hundreds of jobs and tax revenues during a redevelopment. A request for qualifications was opened on April 13 to repurpose the largest passenger vessel ever constructed. According to the RFQ, the ship comprises more than 650,000 square feet of enclosed space which could be used for a "hotel, restaurants, event space, retail, and educational facilities. Plans also include a museum and the restoration of the ship’s most iconic historic features."

There is no word on whether Philadelphia will become the permanent home for the vessel, built in 1903 and still the holder of the fastest transatlantic crossing by ocean liner. New York and Miami are possible destinations.

Source: Joe Zolfo, Dead Man Down
Writer: Sue Spolan