Emerging Technology : Innovation + Job News

When software developer Andrew Kortina was living in New York, friend and former University of Pennsylvania roommate Iqram Magdon-Ismail often visited him. But when Magdon-Ismail forgot his wallet one weekend, he borrowed a few bucks from Kortina. Magdon-Ismail promptly repaid using a check but with normal banking delays, it took Kortina a week to get his money back. That's when the pair decided there had to be a better way.

They created Venmo, a bill-pay service where users can link a credit card or bank account to make instant payments to friends from the comfort of their mobile device. The service is free and, Kortina says, it will remain free. The company will charge merchants--like several coffee shops in Philadelphia and restaurants in New York--to accept the service. Founded in 2009, Venmo has already put its founders in Inc. Magazine's 30 Under 30. But its creators admit it's still a work in progress, adding features and refining the platform for iPhone and Android markets. The company looks to add three new positions in the next six months to help make Venmo a household name.

"We are always looking to make the site work better," says Kortina. "Any time we meet someone who is really smart and excited about Venmo, we want to hire them."

More than just a bill-pay service, Kortina and Magdon-Ismail see Venmo as a social network; a way to show friends where you have been and what you've been up to. By targeting merchants instead of consumers, Venmo hopes to increase publicity both for their service and for the merchants who use it through Facebook and Twitter connectivity. Forgetting your wallet has never been so much fun.

"We encourage users to make their payments public," says Kortina. "Most of the time, when you are exchanging money with a friend, you are doing something fun like going to a bar or restaurant, going on a ski trip, going to a baseball game, usually something your friends might want to know about."

Source: Andrew Kortina, Venmo
Writer: John Steele

Susan Ng and her team at Villanova's Real Time Tomography have made a living at perfecting the science of mammogram imaging. Their software products have made traditional film-screen images obsolete, allowing faster mammogram results and more accurate imaging. With a new $275,000 match grant from Ben Franklin Technology Partners, RTT begins the commercialization process this month, bringing their software to the giants at Seimens and GE and, hopefully, saving lives.

"With digital imaging, the image that is produced is not what the radiologist sees, it is processed and enhanced so that lesions are more visible," says Ng. "As the industry moves from film screen to digital, we can process images six times faster, reducing patient wait-time and making images clearer for doctors."

After introducing their 2-D imaging software, Adara, in 2009, Ng and her team have created a 3-D platform to give radiologists an even better view of critically affected breasts. Ng hopes commercialization goes smoothly as RTT has gone to great lengths making compatible software, not just for large companies but for small and mid-sized manufacturers as well. Because everyone deserves a great picture.

"There are a lot of mid-sized companies in Europe and a very big market opening up in Asia," says Ng. "These mid-sized companies have smaller R&D groups and often purchase their software from third parties like us."

Source: Susan Ng, Real Time Tomography
Writer: John Steele  

It's a CEO's worst nightmare: your company's most valuable data suddenly disappears. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft sounded the alarm in 2004, when he estimated that intellectual property theft accounted for losses of $250 billion a year. Numerous case studies from Coca-Cola and Forbes have shown the effects as well. From trade secrets to client lists, document security may feel like paranoia but that is no consolation when it happens to you.

Center City cyber security designers DDC (formerly Document Depository Corp) created RADAR, a full-service critical data management system that recently added two new features. The first is a contract tracker that allows companies to share contracts and get digital signatures remotely. The second is a secured online chat room with document-sharing capabilities that DDC calls a Virtual Data Room. With these new products, DDC goes beyond just document sharing solutions to the protection of a company's most critical documents. 

"Most companies store data in filing cabinets, on CD's in e-mail so pulling that all together is a very painful process," says DDC Executive Vice President of Business Development Cristina Greysman. "Not to mention, the fact that, what if your CFO who has all that data stored on their laptop gets hit by a beer truck? What then? Can you get to all that data and if not, how much will it cost to recover it?"

As the company transitions from document sharing to a more security-focused firm, it has drawn private funding for recent additions like the Silicon Valley facility it opened in August or the European facility opened in Dublin, Ireland in September. As the rollout continues for RADAR, DDC will be adding staff as it tries to expand marketing efforts and online product offerings.

"We want to build out our customer support staff," says Greysman of new hires. "We will do consulting with clients to help them determine best practices for putting information into RADAR. It is possible that we will hire some additional sales staff as well."

Source: Cristina Greysman, DDC
Writer: John Steele

From mud thatch to clay tile, roofing materials are about as varied as the houses underneath them. But with a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, St. Joseph's University students will test the limits of green roofing materials, trying out everything from gravel to plastic-based fabric to recycled sneaker rubber. By building an expansive green roof on the deck of the University's Science Center, St. Joes associate dean of Natural Science, Math and Computer Science Mike McCann will monitor the drainage of four different green roof sections to see which performs best.

"A big goal with the green roof project is public dissemination," says McCann. "What we want to do is be able to tell anyone who is looking to do a green roof in this area of the country 'here is some performance data that might help guide your design.' "

This grant will also fund a study of switchgrass cultivation. Widely thought to be an excellent source of biofuels, switchgrass growth may be impacted by climate change. Through university study and field research at National Science Foundation Long Term Ecological Research site Konza Prairie, near Manhattan, Kan. students will examine the effects of changes in precipitation, temperature, and carbon dioxide on the growth of switchgrass to see if it may one day become a sustainable fuel source. McCann and the St. Joe's brass hope these projects will help formally establish their proposed Institute for Environmental Stewardship.

"We expect development communities to be very interested as well as people looking at global climate change impacts," says McCann. "But this grant is going to support undergraduate and graduate students engaged in these projects. We are not doing this to train switchgrass researchers. We are doing this to train sustainable researchers to do all sorts of jobs."

Source: Mike McCann, St. Joseph's University
Writer: John Steele

With Lab Hub, Blue Bell's Halfpenny Technologies hopes to take Health Information Exchange technology to the next level, integrating features like computerized order entry and results reporting with the company's already-respected exchange tools. With a little help from their friends, Halfpenny may be ready to deliver this turnkey technology sooner than expected as the company announced two big steps forward last week.

First came a $2.6 million venture capital investment. Locals like Bala Cynwyd-based Osage Venture Partners and LORE (Loosely Organized Retired Executives) Associates partnered with New York-based Milestone Venture Partners to put support behind Lab Hub. Investors believe the financing will help push Lab Hub over the finish line.

"Halfpenny's strong technology platform, domain expertise and solid business strategy combined with its growing client base have positioned the company to move to the next level, says Osage Venture Partners vice president David Drahms. "We look forward to partnering with Halfpenny in meeting the needs of the evolving healthcare market."

Halfpenny also announced the addition of four industry veterans to the Halfpenny Management Team. New team members include , executive vice president of business development Mitch Fry; chief financial officer Daniel O'Brien; senior vice president of sales Roger Newbury; and vice president of sales Jim Sheils. While trying to establish Lab Hub in new markets, Halfpenny officials hope these experienced team members can keep things growing.

"All of our new team members have impressive track records in healthcare and understand the complex challenges facing the industry today," says Halfpenny chief sales officer Bob Cox. "We are pleased to be able to draw upon the strategic vision and in-depth understanding of these healthcare veterans and look forward to their insights and ideas as we continue to develop solutions that address ever-expanding laboratory outreach, HIE and REC initiatives."

Source: Bob Cox, Halfpenny Technologies
Writer: John Steele

When most people strap on a helmet and hit the road on a bike, they are probably not thinking about carbon tonnage or sustainable energy credits. But with each pedal push, cyclists are putting a dent in Philadelphia's carbon footprint. And University City bike sharing consultants CityRyde want you to know how much your morning ride is effecting the planet.

Creating a personalized version of the carbon metering software they have in city-wide bike sharing programs from Paris to Portland, CityRyde introduced a new mobile application this week helping bikers and walkers monitor their carbon savings and see how much their car is polluting.  The company is beta testing on Android phones with hopes to expand to Blackberry and iPhone in the next month and is working on adding public transit to the application.

Twenty-five percent of the world's carbon emissions come from daily transportation.

"Knowledge is really power," says CityRyde CEO Tim Ericson. "I don't think anyone really understands the impact of their daily activities."

Through corporate partnerships, Ericson and his team hope to offer incentives for people to reduce their carbon emissions. Using increasingly comprehensive mapping software, CityRyde can examine a user's location, route and rate of speed to determine what mode of transportation a rider is using to keep things honest, holding sustainable to a higher standard and making it worth your while in the process.

"A perfect example would be (all-natural foods maker) Cliff Bar or one of those type of companies offering product samples or other incentives in exchange for those carbon credits, essentially giving them a marketing piece and a PR piece combined into one package," says Ericson.

Source: Tim Ericson, CityRyde
Writer: John Steele 

After seeing the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, millions dreamed of a day when everlasting gobstoppers would hit candy store shelves, oompa loompas could manage household errands and edible wallpaper would make the snozberries taste like snozberries. Only one true Wonka-esque innovator made it happen.

Entrepreneur Adnan Aziz dreamed of a marker that could draw edible taste strips onto paper, like the wallpaper in one of his favorite movies. With a little seed capital from Penn's Wharton Investment Management Fund and guidance from business partner and current CEO Jay Minkoff, Aziz founded First Flavor, a Bala Cynwyd-based food marketing company specializing in dissolving taste-test strips that allow consumers to taste new beverage and product flavors before they buy. It's a concept that has added a new dimension to the way companies market new brands.

"It's all about empowering the consumer," says Minkoff. "Before you bought your car, you took it for a test drive, before you buy a suit you try it on. It's funny that you walk down the aisle of the supermarket with all these new products and flavors and rarely given the opportunity to try them before buying."

Recently, First Flavor received early-stage financing from Ben Franklin Technology Partners in the amount of $100,000. When Aziz first introduced First Flavor, he thought of the greeting card industry. With a birthday card, he thought, why not offer a piece of cake. With new financing, increased brand presence and a partnership with American Greetings, First Flavor brings Tasties, a new line of flavorful greeting cards, to market this fall.

"Consumer products use us as a promotional marketing vehicle to launch new products and in 2009 and the first half of 2010, most national companies were not launching products," says Minkoff. "This should create more recurring revenue for us."

Source: Jay Minkoff, First Flavor
Writer: John Steele

As anyone who has ever tried to buy a car in Philadelphia knows, dealers are closed on Sundays. The same puritanical blue laws that used to restrict alcohol sales still prohibit car dealerships, to the chagrin of salesmen and shoppers alike. Wayne's mobile application firm Advanced Mobile Solutions provides a solution to shopping restrictions like blue laws, allowing car shoppers and home shoppers to access dealer information right from their smartphones with a simple text-message code. Launching brands like Cars2Go, Homes2Go and Classifieds2Go, AMS hopes to modernize digital listings markets made famous by sites like Craigslist many years ago.

"The difference between us and (Craigslist) is that we take data that is already out there and make it mobile ready, whereas they only have data that has been edited and listed by another person," says AMS Marketing Director Dan Curry. "We take, for example a builder that has 80,000 homes nationwide. That is something that is impossible for them to go in and list in that way. With us, they can do anything on the phone that they would be able to do anywhere else."

Since its founding in 2006, AMS has shown marked growth, finding partnerships with clients like Apartments.com and Builder Homesite. Recently, the company has eyed further expansion, bringing new features to their iPhone applications and adding compatibility with the Android market. This summer the company received financing from Ben Franklin Technology Partners to expand its staff by four and prepare to increase sales and features for 2011.

"We want to go a little heavier on updating the whole platform and adding new features every month from here on out," says Curry. "The product has been proven, tested and now we are just going to go into further making this product something that no one can really touch.

Source: Dan Curry, AMS
Writer: John Steele

Something is wrong down under. Infection rates at Australian hospitals have increased over the last few years, causing patients and medical professionals to call for hospitals to come clean with infection statistics. Wayne's Molecular Detection Inc. hopes to lend a hand as they announced that the product rollout for its Detect-Ready MRSA diagnosis platform would head to Australia this week, marking the start of a global sales strategy targeting the Asia-Pacific Corridor, parts of Europe and the United States. This strategy targets countries in need of infection prevention abroad before returning to the U.S. to set up a local base.

"(Australians) have the same problems in hospitals that we have here in the states," says MDI CEO Todd Wallach. "Patients are contracting MRSA and other bacterial infections in hospitals after a successful surgery or procedure. Many hospitals have to start implementing infection control procedures that identify patients at risk and force these hospitals to really look at how they take care of a patient from entry level to exit."

Aiding in MDI's transition into the Australian market is Sydney's Integrated Sciences, a medical products and research company that, through a newly minted partnership with MDI, will aid Detect-Ready sales reps in chasing down leads and understanding the needs of the Aussie medical community.

"Our strategy has been very consistent around the world by identifying what we perceive as being the best-in-class, best-in-breed molecular diagnostic distributors," says Wallach. "They become our right-hand-man in the field. We work with them closely to ensure we get the right information conveyed but they bring the right skill set to be able to market a technically advanced product."

Source: Todd Wallach, MDI
Writer: John Steele

It's one of life's great mysteries: you can travel to a thousand cities and eat at a hundred fancy restaurants and drink a dozen craft beers at each of the bars along the way. But a meal never tastes as good as one at your favorite neighborhood haunt. And according to Philadelphia's sustainability leaders, this phenomenon is not just good for your appetite, it can be good for your neighborhood and your city as well.

Based on a concept created by the William Penn Foundation, partners from the Sustainable Business Network, Azavea and NPower created Common Space, a new mapping platform that creates a network of neighborhood establishments within a certain walkable, bikeable or busable distance to help residents support local business.

"The really cool thing is, I can map my friend's common space as well as my own," says SBN Executive Director Leanne Krueger-Braneky. "So if I am leaving from my office in Center City and meeting my husband who is coming from our house in West Philadelphia, he could say he is going to bike for 15 minutes and I could say I was going to walk for 20 minutes and Common Space will map the area where we would be able to meet up and map local culture events and businesses in that field."

Partnering with tastemakers like UWISHUNU and Yelp, Common Space shows you the best spots in your transit area, allowing you the most sustainable way possible to hit your next favorite haunt. After their trial run, organizers hope to partner with citywide festivals and cultural events like LiveArts and Philly Beer Week.

"Sustainability was one of the values William Penn outlined, which is why they wanted to partner with us," Krueger-Braneky says. "Because the application does encourage walking, biking, and public transit, it's a way of showing what's going on in the city while encouraging alternative transit."

Source: Leanne Krueger-Braneky, SBN
Writer: John Steele

Philadelphians know SEPTA's Market-Frankford El as the Blue Line. But a new pilot program, which stores leftover power from the subway's regenerative braking system in a massive battery, would make the Blue Line a little greener, and provide SEPTA some much-needed capital.

Earlier this month, SEPTA and Conshohocken smart-grid firm Viridity Energy announced receipt of $900,000 from the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority to install a massive storage battery--about the size of a cement truck--at SEPTA's Kensington electrical substation. The current regenerative braking system transmits electricity, collected as trains enter stations, to other electric vehicles. But if no other vehicles are in range, the electricity is lost. The battery, capable of storing up to a megawatt of electricity, would siphon energy to be resold to the power grid. Viridity estimates that this one battery will generate $500,000 a year in clean, green profit. SEPTA has already applied for new funding to install these battery systems at all 33 substations across their service area.

"With this technology, SEPTA can be very strategic with their power; when they are using it, when they are storing it and when they are selling it back into the grid," says Viridity Director of Business Development Laurie Actman. "At peak periods, the grid is willing to pay premium prices for sources of reliable load."

Since 2008, SEPTA has struggled to execute capital improvements to its transit infrastructure. Most recently, a proposed switch to SmartCards has drawn scrutiny from city media and transit bloggers. When Governor Ed Rendell made a play to turn state thoroughfare I-80 into a federal toll road, he promised a chunk of the resulting revenue to SEPTA. Since Rendell's proposal was defeated, SEPTA has been looking for other ways to fund improvements, from fare hikes to advertising on the sides of trains. The battery system technology could be the answer they have been looking for that will finally bring the Philadelphia subway into the 21st century.

"As we all know, SEPTA has always had a constrained budget and not enough money to invest in its infrastructure," says Actman. "For so long, SEPTA's infrastructure, that was built nearly a century ago, has been a liability. We are turning that into an opportunity."

Source: Laurie Actman, Viridity Energy
Writer: John Steele

Every great city has a skyline. Most great cities also have works of art that can't be found anywhere else. But it takes a special city to do both at the same time. This summer, electric company PECO and tech-artist collective Breadboard began a program entitled "Art In The Air" to promote the burgeoning digital arts scene in Philadelphia by bringing works of art to the storied crown lights display atop PECO's 23rd and Market St. headquarters. A new group of submissions hits the skyline every First Friday.

"The vanguard of where digital art is going, I don't think there is a lot going on in the city right now," says Breadboard Director Dan Schimmel. "We saw this as an opportunity to pursue our mission which is art and technology and certainly PECO's light tower, when it was put up was the forefront of technology. So we wanted to give Philadelphia artists the chance to showcase their work on this large-scale format."

Installed as a public service for their customers, PECO activated the crown lights display on July 4, 1976 to celebrate the bicentennial. Since then, the display has shown over 17,500 messages for non-profit and community organizations. On July 4 2009, PECO upgraded the display to energy efficient LED lights. And 34 years to the day after the display first lit up the sky, PECO added yet another jewel to their crown, displaying three new artists to the world on July 4th 2010. The project continues throughout the year and will continue promoting the work of this already growing medium.

"In terms of public digital art, there is limited opportunities for that," says Schimmel. "We were able to use the crown lights in a way they were not being used before and I think that has opened up some opportunities to work with other companies to display some of these works in the future."

Source: Dan Schimmel
Writer: John Steele

Launched in 1997, the Drexel School of Biomedical Engineering is a relatively young division for the West Philadelphia institution. But like many young up-and-comers, this school's wisdom belies its age. In a 2006 address to prospective students, Director Banu Onaral promised to lead student thinking toward the future of biomedical innovation, combining engineering and technology with traditional medical practices to dig out new niche markets.

Since this 2006 progress report, the school has made great strides in the field of biomedical optics research. From brain-sensing lie detectors to xray microscope cameras capable of taking high resolution pictures of living cells in real time, optics innovations allow doctors to view the human body in exciting new ways. The most recent project allows doctors to determine the depth and seriousness of wounds through sensors. Diseases like diabetes can create ulcerous wounds that are often misinterpreted. Drexel's sensor technology hopes to change that as the product moves to the commercialization stage.

"These are open wounds but what you see on the surface is not necessarily indicative of what is underneath," says Assistant Professor Elisabeth Papazoglou, "What we have is a small Teflon probe with a sensor and a light so you don't have to worry about contaminating the wound. And once we have several readings, we can determine if there is something more serious going on."

In 2009, the University City Science Center selected the near-infrared wound monitor to receive a $200,000 award from their QED grant program. With this funding, Papazoglou and her team have licensed their technology to Emunamedica, a wound management company out of Hollywood, FL. With this first license, Papazoglou's team hopes to bring a new weapon to the fight against wound disease.

"The more people who use this device and have data, the more people see that it's good, it's fast, nurses can use it," says Papazoglou. "You need that word of mouth to prove that it's not just us."

Source: Elisabeth Papazoglou, Drexel University
Writer: John Steele

If you're interested in innovation and job news from throughout Pennsylvania, do yourself a favor and check out our sister publication called Keystone Edge. Keystone Edge covers Innovation and Job News from Erie to Easton in its weekly online magazine, which publishes each Thursday and is also available via free subscription here.

These days, there is a pill for everything from restless leg syndrome to erectile dysfunction. In fact, the only medicinal plant you hear about is illegal in the U.S.

That's all about to change. With a complete line of plant-based vaccines and antibodies, Newark, Del. pharma company iBio seeks to spread its green-thumb mentality, helping other pharmaceutical companies more efficiently make the switch to plant-based products. This month, the company announced a partnership with GE Healthcare to jointly develop and globally market manufacturing solutions for biopharmaceuticals and vaccines.

"We expect this relationship with GE Healthcare to accelerate and broaden market penetration for our technology through access to GE Healthcare's existing relationships and its skill and experience with project implementation and process development," says Chairman and CEO of iBio Robert B. Kay. "This is another implementation of our model to affiliate and out-source with best-in-class collaborators."

iBio's iBioLaunch model--which provides an easy transition from synthetic manufacturing to a biopharmaceutical system at a lower cost and higher efficiency--is going global. But with their primary research partnership just seven years old, the company felt a partnership with the behemoth GE would allow a smoother transition into the global market. But iBio's brass remains competent that they are delivering a finished product onto the world stage. Move over marijuana, a whole new breed of healing plants should arrive on the scene soon.
 
"We have already done considerable planning and work with GE Healthcare to prepare for implementation of this agreement," says Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Vidadi Yusibov. "Therefore, we expect this relationship to start quickly and continue long after its initial three-year term to provide important results for our collective customers."

Source: Robert Kay, iBio
Writer: John Steele