West Michigan companies and entrepreneurs will soon be able to access innovations from across the country thanks to a new partnership between innovati ... Read More on guru Doug Hall, Founder and CEO of Cincinnati-based Eureka! Ranch and The Right Place Inc. The collaboration includes creating a standardized evaluation system for assessing the market value of ideas and building a national network of ideas for companies to electronically access via the internet.

Today at a special program open to the public, Hall and the InnovationWorks team presented the results of recent collaborative efforts and shared best practices for creating an innovation-driven company. Through the national network, West Michigan businesses and entrepreneurs can gain access to vetted ideas from around the country, and inventors whose ideas cannot effectively be commercialized locally can gain national exposure. InnovationWorks’ recently launched Idea Portal, accessed through its website at www.innovationworkswestmichigan.org, will serve as West Michigan’s conduit to the national network.

“The work we had already done with the Idea Portal and our commitment to accelerating innovation and commercialization in West Michigan positioned us perfectly to create this partnership with Doug,” said Jim Ross, Vice President, Innovation & Technical Services for The Right Place. “As the beta site for this new system, West Michigan companies will be among the first in the U.S. to access a wealth of proven, validated innovations they can use to increase market share, improve competitiveness and, ultimately, grow our regional economy.”

Although vetting and accessing new ideas is at the heart of the new network, Ross notes that InnovationWorks goes far beyond matchmaking.

“So much of what you see happening nationally is based on brokering inventions,” he said. “As part of an economic development organization, our goals are much more holistic. We are focused on collaborating regionally to increase West Michigan’s capacity to create and develop innovations at all stages of the commercialization process. West Michigan is already a center of excellence for advanced manufacturing; we want it to become a center of excellence for innovation as well.” View Less

Source: The Right Place

Three West Michigan cities have been awarded $800,000 in brownfield grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – the first time any such fun ... Read More ding has come to the region.

Part of a $74 million release of grant funds to communities in 43 states, the money will be used to fund brownfield site assessments in targeted redevelopment areas within Grand Rapids, Wyoming and Kentwood.

“Michigan has been a leader in brownfield redevelopment for more than a decade,” said Rick Chapla Right Place Vice President, Urban Redevelopment, noting the state’s passage of groundbreaking brownfield legislation in 1996, which subsequently served as a model for other states. “West Michigan has taken full advantage of that leadership, becoming one of the most active redevelopment regions in the state. It is a credit to that momentum that we were able to work with these cities to secure this funding.”

The brownfield redevelopment is a large part of a growing regional commitment to sustainable principles, and is at the heart of projects like Grand Walk – a sustainable business park in northern Grand Rapids – as area municipalities use public dollars to make at-risk urban properties financially competitive with suburban and rural greenfields.

“The strong urban center Grand Rapids enjoys is due in part to the dedication we have to making urban properties attractive for investment,” said Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell, noting that Grand Rapids’ Brownfield Redevelopment Authority has approved over 65 brownfield redevelopment projects to date resulting in over $800 million in private investment and over 7,000 jobs. “The Right Place and our city Economic Development Department collaborate to make best use of tools such as state tax credits and these federal grants so that we can assist businesses and developers, thereby enhancing their investment in our community.”

“Kentwood has matured to the point that we have many of the same land use issues that are typically thought of in core cities like Grand Rapids,” added Kentwood Mayor Richard Root. “Working with partners like The Right Place to leverage resources like these grants is another way we are attracting investment and jobs for our community and showing that Kentwood is open for business.”

“Manufacturing has been a core industry in Wyoming’s economy and we are working to rebuild that investment,” said Wyoming Mayor Carol Sheets. “This funding will help us revitalize our available industrial properties making them more attractive for investment and expediting the re-growth of our manufacturing sector.”
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Source: The Right Place

West Michigan regional economic development leaders today got a first look at InnovationWorks’ (IW) new Idea Portal during a special demonstration ses ... Read More sion. A critical tool of IW, the session was designed to familiarize key partners with the Portal so they can actively engage area businesses and entrepreneurs in the new initiative, dedicated to advancing innovation throughout West Michigan by accelerating the commercialization of inventions and new technologies.

The Idea Portal serves as a central, web-based repository of innovations, entrepreneurs and commercialization resources, using sophisticated algorithms to identify and accelerate the linking of new ideas to commercialization resources in the region. Powered by Microsoft Sharepoint software and developed in collaboration with Metrics Reporting and People Design, the Idea Portal electronically matches new or orphaned intellectual property from inventors and companies with entrepreneurs looking for new ideas. Once a successful match is made, IW staff can assist the commercialization process with additional coaching and resources.

“What is really critical at this point, however, is stocking the Portal with IP and those looking for it,” explained Jim Ross, Right Place Vice President of Innovation & Technical Services and MMTC-West Regional Manager, who manages IW. “Helping our strategic partners understand the tools will support their efforts to grow West Michigan’s economy and increase our ability to extend IW’s services throughout the region.”

Serving a seven-county West Michigan region, IW provides an integrated system of resources designed to mine inventions and new technologies, connect companies to ideas and coach individuals on commercialization. The initiative will expand innovation capacity in West Michigan resulting in increased prosperity and new wealth for the region. IW is funded by WIRED West Michigan and developed by The Right Place in collaboration with its economic development partners throughout West Michigan.

In addition to managing the Portal, IW also hopes to harness needs and ideas through its newly formed collaborative networks, where the region’s top companies, academic institutions and professionals work together to share best practices on innovation and intellectual property and co-develop new technologies.

“Directly assisting individuals, companies and entrepreneurs is a large part of what we do, but we have seen first hand the power of collaboration in innovation,” said Ross. “As the West Michigan regional office of the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center (MMTC), The Right Place has developed opportunities for companies to share best practices and work collaboratively on shared issues. We are taking that model and applying it to the acceleration of new technologies, materials and processes that will take West Michigan companies to the next level and secure our region’s position in the global marketplace.”
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Source: The Right Place

The Right Place is pleased to announce the following changes to its board of directors:

Brian T. Harris, President and CEO, H & H Metal Source retu ... Read More rns as Chairman of the Board. Other returning officers include: Vice-Chair, Jim Dunlap, Regional Group President, Huntington Bank; and Treasurer, Craig Sturken, Chairman and CEO, Spartan Stores, Inc.

Rapid-Line Inc. President Mark Lindquist has also joined The Right Place executive committee as a representative for The Right Place Manufacturers Council. He is replacing former Council Chair Doug Evans, Senior Vice President of Lacks Enterprises, Inc. Lindquist is joined by returning executive committee members Jeanne Englehart, President, Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce; Lawrence E. Erhardt, Sr., Executive Chairman, Erhardt Construction; Danny R. Gaydou, Publisher, The Grand Rapids Press; John C. Kennedy, President and CEO, Autocam Corp.; Birgit M. Klohs, President, The Right Place, Inc.; David L. Van Andel, Chairman and CEO, Van Andel Institute; and Michelle Van Dyke, President and CEO, Fifth Third Bank – Michigan.

The Right Place also welcomes Peter Varga, CEO, The Interurban Transit Partnership, who replaces Bing Goei, President, Eastern Floral & Gifts, Inc. Also joining the board as the new representative for suburban communities is Kenneth D. Krombeen, Grandville City Manager. He replaces Cathy Vander Meulen, Walker City Manager.
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Source: The Right Place

With more than $1 billion in recent life sciences investment, over 850 open clinical trials, and the nation’s 6th largest biopharmaceuticals cluster, ... Read More West Michigan has significant momentum as a developing life sciences center. Now two of the region’s leading economic development organizations are collaborating to leverage that momentum and draw more investment, more research and more entrepreneurs here.
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Source: The Right Place, Inc.
File: Associated File