Cincinnati’s Innov8 for Health Startup Accelerator has selected its inaugural group of Startup companies for this summer’s intensive 12-week accelerator program, giving these innovative health care businesses the opportunity to work with established mentors from various sectors of the health care industry and business community, develop a working prototype for their product, and meet with well-known venture capital firms and angel investors to seek funding for future growth.

Innov8 for Health joins a small group of other national health care accelerators, including Rock Health, Blueprint Health and Health Box. Seeking to leverage Cincinnati’s already advanced health IT capabilities, Innov8 for Health aims to nurture startup companies with health IT solutions that will help provide better heath and better care at lower costs. The Startup Accelerator is designed to provide these entrepreneurs a rapid start so they can quickly bring their products to market. With strong support from the local community Innov8 for Health’s goals are to improve health, attract and retain top talent, and to create jobs.

The winning Accelerator Teams will receive intensive, on-site business mentoring from several dozen executives who are volunteering with the program, as well as access to a unique group of “customer” and “patient” advisors from well-established health care institutions, payor organizations and other health technology companies. The new companies will be provided space at the Live Well Collaborative that is part of the University of Cincinnati’s Innovation on Vine project and will each receive $20,000 in startup funding from Ohio New Entrepreneur’s (ONE) Fund.

The teams selected for the 2012 Startup Accelerator class are:

1. CCM Link – Provides Connected Care Management web applications to improve health. CCM developed the CHARTS application (Connected Health Activities Reminder & Tracking System) as a patient self-management and a care team support tool. CHARTs enhances communication between patients, care givers, and providers reducing the care coordination burden for caregivers and improving patient adherence to prescribed health activities. Learn more at http://www.ccmlink.com.

2. Chronic Care Solutions – Focuses on improving the health and reducing the health care costs for patients with Type 1 Diabetes. It uses digital media and social gaming dynamics to increase patients’ understanding about effective diabetes management to support positive lifestyle behavior change and treatment adherence. It works with patients from initial diagnosis through long-term management of Type 1 Diabetes.

3. I Feel Great – Apps – Uses simple mobile and web tools to educate patients on health care costs and health safety. Users can match local health care providers to personal preferences, track treatments and medications, and view how healthcare choices impact their pocketbooks.

4. Intec Solutions Inc. –created the System Access Requested Solution health IT program to automate the otherwise time consuming task for hospitals to manage employees’ access to Private Health Information. This reduces the administrative burden of maintaining the high level of security required to comply with federal HIPAA regulation and to produce reports for external auditors.

5. MedaCheck, LLC – is developing a suite of software and hard ware solutions that help to tackle the costly problem of medication adherence. The New England Healthcare Institute (NEHI) estimates patients not taking medications as prescribed leads to poorer health, more frequent hospitalizations, a higher risk of death and as much as $290 billion annually in increased medical costs. MedaCheck, LLC is dedicated to designing elegant solutions that empower patients to take the right medication, in the right amount, at the right time. .

6. Betterpointment - is a patient smartphone mobile app designed to kick-start and improves the quality of patient communication with his or her physician. Betterpointment is simple and fast and uses machine learning and patient input to generate an appointment agenda and a concise opening remark. Betterpointment helps physicians, who need highly relevant patient input during the opening minutes of the exam, by eliciting focused patient communication to deliver a lower cost and higher quality mutual model of healthcare delivery.

7. Empowering Innovations LLC - is dedicated to helping empower people to reach their potential by providing real, fast, easy & long-term solutions to address issues that hold them back. The company’s first product, MyFear Zapper, is an interactive web-based game that helps children aged 3+ build long-term confidence by learning how to face and conquer fears. The product assists therapists, physicians and parents by using validated psychological techniques and gaming dynamics to teach children how to overcome fears and gain confidence. Empowering Innovations LLC is led by Andrea Brady, an entrepreneur with expertise in marketing. Brady came to Cincinnati to work at Procter and Gamble and has owned her own marketing consulting company for 20 years. Her partner, Tracy Ruberg, is a strategic development and sales professional with experience at companies including Dell, HP and Ernst & Young.

8. The eighth offer is in the process of being cleared

More info: Innov8 for Health Startup Accelerator 

An excellent example of innovative and systematic approach to urban development. 

What can we learn from them and apply in Cincinnati?

Curitiba, Brazil, is the birthplace of bus rapid transit, the high-capacity urban public transportation system developed under the leadership of former city mayor Jaime Lerner. The ensuing transit-oriented development (TOD) underscored the importance of organizing urban areas around transport corridors and led Curitiba to be hallmarked as the most successful example of TOD.

(for English subtitles, press the [CC] button)

Also watch the TEDx speech of former mayor of Curitiba, Jaime Lerner, who reinvented urban space in his city. Along the way, he changed the way city planners worldwide see what’s possible in the metropolitan landscape.

From building opera houses with wire to mapping the connection between the automobile and your mother-in-law, Jaime Lerner delights in discovering eccentric solutions to vexing urban problems. In the process he has transformed the face of cities worldwide.

http://www.ted.com/talks/jaime_lerner_sings_of_the_city.html

Last two Saturdays, Core Change Cincinnati hosted "Innovation Engineering" workshop led by Doug Hall, founder of Eureka Ranch and judge on the TV series American Inventor.

Doug has spent his career helping Fortune 500 companies and entrepreneurs turn ideas into reality through his Innovation Engineering process which has been proven to increase the speed of innovation and reduce the risks associated with innovation.

Innovation Engineering is a proven process for turning ideas into reality by increasing speed and reducing risk. It was pioneered by Doug. You can learn more about it on his blog on Innovation Engineering

This process is now being used by Core Change Cincinnati to transform the innovative ideas developed during the Core Change Summit into reality.

As EnterChange reports, Xavier University will host its first TEDx conference this Thursday, April 26th in the Cintas Center Schiff Banquet Hall.

The theme will be Innovation, Service, and Leadership.

It is free, but you must RSVP  here.

The lineup of speakers  includes:

Todd Henry, the founder and CEO of Accidental Creative, a company helping teams generate ideas.

Rashmi Assundani PhD, an Associate Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship at the Williams College of Business at Xavier.

Randy Wilhelm, the co-founder and CEO of netTrekker, which delivers digital K-12 educational content.

Andrew Gibson, the Global Brand Manager at Procter & Gamble, leading global marketing for the Old Spice brand.

Elizabeth Edwards, the founder of Metro Innovation, a catalyst for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Kate Hansian, founder of Design Impact, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Cincinnati Honors College.

Sunnie Southern, a healthcare industry professional specializing in business development and new product launches, and a registered dietician.

Sherman Bradley, the president of Green Recycling Works, a former US Air Force Sergeant, ordained minister, and vice president of City Gospel Mission.

Dan Meyer, co-founder of Nehemiah Manufacturing, which attempts to change lives in the inner city of Cincinnati through employment and coaching.

Breaks in-between speakers will feature live music and an interactive art display by a Xavier art major.

The event will be held from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m.

A hydrogen-fueled vehicle produced by General Motors was tested in South-West Ohio last Saturday. It's good to see that GM is getting serious with alternative enegies. After Volt, its first fully electric car, there is obviously a chance for a hydrogen car coming from GM: Read more...

With it, GM will join other car makers, like BMW, which has already world's first production-ready hydrogen vehicle: BMW Hydrogen 7

It's worth to mention that Cincinnati is also involved in electric car production, with its Amp Electric Vehicles company, that recently moved from Blue Ash to Loveland

Since Automotive and Advanced Energy are two of eight Industry Clusters designated by Regional Chamber of Commerce, let's hope to see more this development in South West Ohio. 

Finally Cincinnati is slowly warming up to Innovation!

The latest sign is the creation by Cincinnati Enquirer of a special section: Enter Change:

http://enterchange.cincinnati.com/

Congratulations!

On Oct. 1, 2011 Robotics teams sponsored by SHPE Cincinnati participated in Advanced Programming training organized by iSPACE:

It was a very educational workshop and it was beneficial for both coaches and students.

Creating the future innovators of Cincinnati, one student at a time...

The TiEQuest Ohio 2011 Finals will feature a successful local entrepreneur. Come and hear the inspiring story of Alfonso Zubizarreta, one of the entrepreneurs behind Hyland Software's success. The discussion with him will be led by Baiju Shah, President of BioEnterprise and founding Charter Member of TiE Ohio.

A native of Peru, Mr. Zubizarreta joined Hyland in 1993 as a Senior Developer. Today, as Vice President of Hyland Software’s Enterprise Solution Group, he works in partnership with executives from numerous industries to fulfill their corporate initiatives, streamline processes, and reduce costs.

Meet the 35 entrepreneurs who participate in TiEQuest 2011 and hear the finalist present live in front of the panel of judges. Come and hear from the most promising entrepreneurs and learn what they are working on at the contestants expo. Experience their energy, get inspired by their dedication and innovative ideas. Celebrate as we announce the winner of the $25K prize package, who will move on to compete in Toronto. Who is going to represent Ohio at the global competition in April?

Time: Wednesday, March 23 · 5:00pm - 8:00pm

Location: Hyland Software, 28500 Clemens Road, Westlake, Ohio 44145

5:00pm Registration and Networking
5:30-6:10pm Company Pitches
6:10-6:30pm Interview with Hyland's Alfonso Zubizarreta conducted by Baiju Shah from BioEnterprise
6:30-6:40pm Announcing the Winner of TiEQuest Ohio 2011
6:40-7:30pm Contestant Expo and Networking

TiE Members - Free
Non-Members - $15

Register herehttps://s08.123signup.com/servlet/SignUp?PG=1532283182300&P=15322831911422412200

For more info: http://www.tieohio.org/index.php?view=detail&catid=1%3Atie-ohio-events&id=25%3Atiequest-ohio-2011-finals&option=com_simplecalendar&Itemid=4

"Like" TiE Ohio on Facebookhttp://www.facebook.com/pages/TiE-Ohio/192091987468492

Join the TiE Ohio delegation to TiECon 2011--- the largest conference for entrepreneurs! May 13-14, Silicon Valley. Hottest networking opportunity on the planet --- thousands of techies, tech entrepreneurs, and VCs. This year's keynote: VINOD KHOSLA--- co-founder of Sun Microsystems, and a founder of TiEhttp://www.tiecon.org/

My friend Mike Weppler emailed me a link to this very cool article:

Will The Midwest Become The Next Silicon Valley? 

Definitely worth reading!

And yes, Midwest has every reason to become the next Silicon Valley. There are exciting things happening here, we just need to get better organized and educated about enterpreneurship and innovation! 

On Thursday, Feb. 17, SHPE Cincinnati chapter had its second networking meeting, this time at AMIS (Academy of Multilingual Immersion Studies), which has a high number of Hispanic students.

Representatives form iSPACE presented the Robotics programs that they organize, and which SHPE would like to use as the base for the Robotics Club that they want to start at AMIS.

Several kids from AMIS were able to learn more about the Robotics program and get excited about the possibilities. We hope that our SHPE Members will get involved in helping these kids in their STEM Journey.

It is a very good initiative to expose children to engineering and science in a fun way. SHPE is also looking to open same program at Lakota High School. 

More info on SHPE Cincinnati Website: http://www.shpecincinnati.org 

Great news - just a day after we've posted a question about other schools following the success story of Taft High School, a group of non-profit organizations have teamed up on a campaign "Be the Change" to recruit 1,000-2,000 tutors for Cincinnati Public Schools' ten worst performing elementary schools. 

Read the article on Cincinnati.com 

Among the agencies involved:

University of Cincinnati, Xavier University, Literacy Network of Greater Cincinnati, Council of Christian Communities, Beech Acres, United Way of Greater Cincinnati and Cincinnati Youth Collaborative.

BRAVO!!!

Great article about Taft High School posted on Enquirer Website

While we celebrate this fantastic improvement and a great collaboration between the school and Cincinnati Bell, the question is:

why don't we have similar sponsorships for all schools in Cincinati? 

It is clearly a great success story, so all major companies in Cincinnati should be talking to Cincinnati Bell and the school principle about how the process works, what can they learn from it and how they can replicated it by "adopting" another school in our city. 

So who is next?

The University of North Caroline @ Chapel Hill is focusing on innovation in an impressive way!

They proclaim to get Bold again!

More than two centuries ago, Carolina led the way in giving citizens of all creeds and backgrounds access to America’s promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Now we must be even bolder.
We must extend our impact around the world.

Visit their Website

A good article in InfoWorld about a non-profit organization Code for America focused on helping city governments in using and taking advantage of Web 2.0. 

The Mission of Code for America is:

Code for America enlists the brightest minds of the web industry into public service to use their skills to solve core problems facing our communities. We help talented technologists leverage the power of the internet to make governments more open and efficient, and become civic leaders able to realize transformational change with technology.

For 2011 they selected four cities:

• Boston, MA
• District of Columbia
• Philadelphia, PA
• Seattle, WA