The Cleveland Clinic’s annual Medical Innovation Summit will be the first event held at Cleveland’s brand new Global Center for Health Innovation. The event will be held October 14-16, and organizers expect it to draw more than 1,200 people.
 
"We’ll have CEOs from major companies, investors, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs,” says Gary Fingerhut, acting executive director and general manager of information technology commercialization at the Clinic. “Deals come out of this summit. Past innovation deals have been made on the buy-side and in research.”
 
More than 1,000 jobs and $700 million in investments have been created from the regional spinoff companies.
 
On the first day, 12 startup healthcare companies will have a chance to pitch their companies to a panel of executives. “The winner gets a year engagement with StartUp Health Academy."

The theme this year is Finding Balance through Innovation: Obesity, Diabetes and the Metabolic Crisis. Fingerhut says the topic was chosen because of the growing international concern about diabetes. "Clearly, it's an economic problem in the world," he says. Demonstration and panel discussions will focus on the impacts of type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Mike Roizen and a panel of experts will discuss the Clinic's top 10 medical innovations for 2014. Fresh Water readers can receive a discount to the summit. Go to the registration page and use promo code FRE2013 for a special $500 rate on registration.

Source: Gary Fingerhut
Writer: Karin Connelly

The entrepreneurs behind Piccadilly Artisan Yogurt, who opened their first location in the old Grog Shop space on Coventry Road less than a year ago, will open their second location in Ohio City this fall.

Adrian and Cosmin Bota, Romanian-born brothers who grew up in Parma, have also signed a letter of intent on a retail space at West 117th and Clifton.

The Ohio City location is a slender, 1,100-square-foot storefront that's sandwiched between Crop and Bonbon Cafe in the 2500 block of Lorain Avenue. Adrian Bota says the location, which will offer the same organic, locally-sourced frozen yogurt that's available in the Coventry store, is perfect for the urban-oriented company.

"Our whole focus was not to be in the suburbs, and to focus on urban areas we’re both interested in and want to promote," says Bota. "We were looking for areas in Cleveland that had same vibe [as Coventry Village] and that we could be a part of. Ohio City was our top choice for expansion. It's a great place because people are moving back and they're really interested in reviving that neighborhood."

Bota says the new store will feature unique, creative design with an urban flair. Ariel and Otelia Vergez of design firm Vergez Inc. helped design the interior, which will feature refinished plywood design accents, tables made from reclaimed wood, and a lounge area that might feature a porch swing (the Botas haven't made up their minds yet). Local architect John Williams developed the interior plans.

Bota says the Coventry location has been successful enough that they were able to use some of their profits to launch additional stores. Construction is underway on a third location next to Melt in the Short North district of Columbus. He is talking with representatives of Downtown Cleveland Alliance about a downtown shop.

The Bota brothers, who worked at the West Side Market as teenagers, intend to source as many ingredients as possible from the market and other local vendors.


Source: Adrian Bota
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Core and shell renovations of the 150,000-square-foot Victory Center, a $26 million project located along the Health-Tech Corridor, are almost complete. Tenant build-outs will follow, and although none have signed leases yet, developer Scott Garson says that will change as his team finishes the common spaces and shows the property to more prospective tenants.

"Everybody thinks it's wonderful, great… The trick is getting the first one in," he says. "I have enough letters of intent out there that I'm confident it's only a matter of time."

Garson says the demand is there for flexible, ready-to-grow office space geared towards biomedical, research and technology companies, which is why he decided to undertake the project. He points out that nearby buildings owned by Geis Companies and Cumberland Development are almost completely full.

So far, Garson has completed the project without a bank loan, using partner equity and a $720,000 loan from the city, $2.5 million in tax increment financing, federal and state historic tax credits, and a $1 million State of Ohio job ready sites grant. Garson expects to secure bank financing in the near future for tenant build-outs.

The building's unique features include a new interior with a historic waffle slab ceiling, window wells that allow plenty of natural light, copious backup power, fiber-optic connectivity, and the right mechanicals in place for laboratory space. The building will be certified LEED Silver, saving tenants 20 percent on utility costs. Finally, it has views of downtown, free parking and HealthLine access.

"We went through a recycling program with the materials and our landscaping uses stormwater management strategies," says Michael Augoustidis of Domukur Architects, the firm that designed the project. "It's very energy-efficient."

Although he's not ready to declare victory yet, Gardon says the historic building, which was built in 1917 as the Arts Center, is nearing the goal line and ready to score.


Source: Scott Garson
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Cleveland Clinic Innovations has launched a spinoff company, Shield Biotech, out of the Lerner Research Institute. Led by Vincent Tuohy, the company is developing a vaccine for breast cancer.

The vaccine uses the body’s own immune system to fight off and kill cancerous tumors. Tuohy, who serves as Shield’s chief science officer, has been working on this theory for the past 11 years. 
 
The next step is to secure FDA approval for human clinical trials, probably within the next two years. Researchers found that a single vaccination could prevent breast tumors from occurring in mice genetically bred to develop breast cancer, while also inhibiting the growth of already existing breast tumors. The research was originally published in Nature Medicine in 2010.
 
“It works in animals,” says Tuohy. “It’s safe and very effective. We’d like to see women live longer without tumors, not women live longer with tumors.”
 
Tuohy sees the vaccine as particularly effective in breast cancers that are aggressive and tend to recur. “Triple-negative breast cancer has a higher recurrence rate than other forms of breast cancer and is insensitive to current forms of adjuvant therapy,” he says. “It’s the predominant form of breast cancer that occurs, for example, in women with BRCA1 mutations. “
 
Tuohy sees potential in eventually immunizing against prostrate and ovarian cancers as well. 

Source: Vincent Tuohy
Writer: Karin Connelly

JumpStart’s Burton D. Morgan Foundation Mentoring Program offers young companies a little additional insight into running a successful business. Each participating startup is assigned between one and four mentors.

“It really depends on the stage the company is at and what their needs are,” says Anthony Hughes, director of the program. “No one mentor is going to have all the skill sets needed as these companies take their ideas to fruition.”
 
Companies do have to be involved with JumpStart to enroll. Currently, 38 mentors are involved in the program and they have assisted 33 companies since it was launched in March of 2012. The program currently has 21 companies active.
 
“The companies have generated or raised $2.9 million in capital," says Hughes. "Startups with access to mentors and advisers are seven times more likely to raise capita and three and a half times as likely to gain customers. We are responsible for creating serial entrepreneurs and polishing the diamonds in this ecosystem. They’re really flying blind without access to people who have been there, done that.”
 
The mentors come from virtually every industry and background -- from Fortune 500 companies to venture capitalists, to leaders of nationally-know startups. “We’ll entertain anyone, but through a stringent evaluation process. We use mentors who are experienced and knowledgeable,” says Hughes. “Mentors are invitation-only. We’re not trying to be elitists or exclusive.”

 
Source: Anthony Hughes
Writer: Karin Connelly

Kelli Hanley Potts has lived in Denver and Albuquerque, where she got involved in the slow food movement, replaced her front lawn with a vegetable garden, and worked for some of those cities' top chefs. When she got the urge to move back home to Cleveland, she knew she wanted to do something food-related.

That's when she stumbled upon a business idea. Despite the rise of the local food movement, most people had no idea how to cook kale, make jam or preserve food. She asked 18 female friends if they knew how to make a pie from scratch, and only two said yes.

Additionally, many people in the local farming movement have trouble explaining and marketing their products to customers, who are largely unfamiliar with them, she explains.

There are no cooking schools in Cleveland that did what she wanted to do -- connect people back to the land and back to their grandmothers' kitchens by teaching them the age-old skills of home economics -- so she decided to create one.

"I didn't want to watch a chef in front of me and drink wine," says Hanley Potts. "I wanted to learn something. I wanted to reconnect people to the lineage of the table, help them build their own table culture."

She recently launched the Agrarian Collective, an earth-to-table lifestyle school. Her mobile cooking school is offering classes this fall that cover topics like roasting your own coffee, fermented and cultured foods, and discovering local apples, among others. She'll be teaching students how to make the perfect pesto at this weekend's Cleveland Flea.

She was aided by a $5,000 low-interest loan from Bad Girl Ventures, which enabled her to purchase supplies and begin reaching out to chefs and farmers as partners.

"This is like home ec, but not quite as official and nerdy," she says. "It's about reconnecting people. All these things we once learned and were taught, they're missing. We're teaching people the 'how' of home."

Source: Kelli Hanley Potts
Writer: Lee Chilcote

As millenials, empty nesters and other demographic groups flock to downtowns across Ohio, business improvement districts -- or BIDs -- are playing an important role in ensuring that these areas are clean and safe and that residents, office workers and property owners have the amenities they need to thrive.

A business improvement district is a defined area in which property owners pay an additional tax in order to fund projects and services that enhance the area. Downtown Cleveland has a BID, and the organization provides basic "clean and safe" services, organizes events and markets downtown to prospective residents, visitors and businesses.

This week, Downtown Cleveland Alliance, which manages the downtown BID, organized the first all-Ohio BID conference, bringing together BID leaders from across the state to network and learn about issues they share in common.

"It came from the idea that there's not a unifying organization or conference for BIDs," says Anna Beyerle with DCA. "We can learn a lot from other BIDs across Ohio. The idea was to get in the same room and throw out ideas and best practices."

Topics included food truck legislation, downtown transportation, farmers markets, placemaking, and office and retail recruitment strategies.

Participants also enjoyed several tours of downtown Cleveland and the surrounding area and had a chance to learn from Cleveland's redevelopment.

Beyerle says the conference will help BIDs, such as the one in downtown Cleveland, to become more effective. "We're up for renewal in a couple years, and we're looking at how we can improve."


Source: Anna Beyerle
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Since 1988, Beachwood-based Acendex has been the go-to IT consulting company for businesses looking for information and communications systems. “We’re like the IT department for companies too small to afford the talent and too large to not have high-end support for their systems,” says Jonathan Husni, founder and president of Acendex.
 
The Acendex philosophy is to let their clients focus on what they do, while Husni and his team build the right voice and data networks to help them do those jobs.
 
With the local economy improving, business has picked up. To cover the increased business, Acendex is looking to add three or four senior network engineers to its 14-person team. But Husni is having trouble finding talented people to keep up with client demands.
 
“Just finding folks who have the skill set I’m looking for is very, very difficult,” he says. “The guys who have been with me who are successful have been with me 10 to 15 years.” Like many IT companies, Husni finds that applicants have the training, but they don’t have the hands-on experience. “A lot of people have the credentials, but they don’t have the experience to back it up,” he says.
 
So in the meantime, Husni came up with a solution. He hires entry-level people and puts them in the field with clients who want someone on-site 40 hours a week. They have the knowledge for basic support and at the same time have the backup of senior level staff if there’s a more advanced problem.
 
“They get the opportunity to get real world experience, but when they get stuck they can call our senior engineers.” Husni says. “It’s a sort of proving ground. It works for the client because they get 40 hours of help at a low cost. It works for me because they get the training they need.”
 
 
Source: Jonathan Husni
Writer: Karin Connelly

When Andy Halko founded Insivia right out of college in 2002, he was more of a freelancer, picking up projects piece by piece. Today, the company is a full-service marketing firm working out of the Agora in Midtown.
 
“We’ve really evolved into a strategic marketing firm for our clients,” says Rick Scheeser, Insivia's director of operations. “Nowadays we’re their entire marketing department. We have a more strategic partnership with our clients, and we have a lot more control over what we do.”
 
Over the past year Insivia has developed its client base, grown into a 16-person company, and is looking to add a back-end developer and an account executive.
 
“Before we had lots of one-off projects,” says Scheeser. “Now our clients are more our partners; we’re working with them on a long-term basis.”
 
Scheeser says Insivia has developed a niche market in the manufacturing industry. “It really helps us understand how we can use technology in their businesses and communicate with their clients,” he says regarding developing an expertise in the market. “I don’t think you could be in Cleveland without helping manufacturing companies.”
 
Another niche evolves around small tech startups. But Scheeser says no matter what the industry, Insivia gets to know the inner workings of the client. "It’s all about learning about our clients,” he says. “We focus on long-term objectives from a marketing perspective. It allows us to really own the results, instead of just one small piece.”
 
Source: Rick Scheeser
Writer: Karin Connelly

Nine local biomedical companies were named to this year’s Inc. 5000 list, a tally of the fastest growing companies in the country in terms of jobs and revenue. Inc. measured revenue growth from 2009 to 2012.
 
The list represents companies across every industry, but the number of area biomed companies named to the list is encouraging to the growing biomed industry in Cleveland.
 
“It’s a very exciting time right now in Northeast Ohio for the biomedical industry," says Aram Nerpouni, president and CEO of BioEnterprise. “It’s a little bit of validation here that you can really grow and thrive in the region.”
 
Nerpouni says the list reflects a combination of young startups and more established companies. Cleveland-based Bravo Wellness, founded in 2008, ranked 888 overall on the Inc. 5000 list. The company, which provides health insurance consulting, ranked 68 on the top 100 health companies. Bravo added 94 jobs in the past three years.
 
Twinsburg-based CoverMyMeds ranked at the top of the Ohio healthcare companies at 96 on the Inc. 5000 list. The company added 32 employees in the past three years.
 
“You’re beginning to see a lot of young companies looking at the area,” says Nerpouni of the Health Tech Corridor, located between University Circle and the Campus District. “We should start seeing more and more activity.” Already, 500,000 square feet have opened up in the area in the last six months, with 80 percent occupancy.
 
In 2012, 43 Cleveland biomedical companies raised $227 million in equity funding.

 
Source: Aram Nerpouni
Writer: Karin Connelly

When Good Greens launched in 2011, the founders were confident their wellness bars would be popular. They’re packed with protein, completely natural and provide 100 percent of daily fruit and vegetable requirements. 

Within four months, the Good Greens bars were the top nutrition bar sold at Heinen’s stores, and they also landed shelf space at Dave’s Markets and Marc’s stores.
 
Two years later, the LaunchHouse portfolio company continues to be a best seller at Heinen’s. The company sold close to 480,000 bars with Heinen’s last year. They’re good for kids with allergies and people have supposedly lost 25 pounds eating Good Greens bars.
 
Good Greens are so popular, in fact, that Good Greens struggled to keep up with demand. Heinen’s wanted more and more bars, and the company lost accounts because it couldn't keep up with demand.
 
 The company hired a national distributor and is now in 200 Chicago stores, 150 Iowa stores and 100 Wisconsin stores. Good Greens also is the top selling bar on Ohio college campuses, including Ohio State.
 
Good Greens has grown from three employees in 2011 to 10 full-time and 22 part-time employees. John Huff recently joined as COO/CFO. The company is growing so fast that Shaker Heights invested $100,000 in renovations to the second floor of LaunchHouse's building and offered Good Greens a two-year lease in the four-office space.
 
Today, Good Greens sells 10 varieties, six of which are vegan and dairy free. Good Green’s new soy Greek yogurt line includes four flavors, and the company plans to introduce two more flavors by the end of the year. Coming soon is a superfood brownie.
 
 
Source: John Huff
Writer: Karin Connelly

The historic Colonial and Euclid Arcades in downtown Cleveland suffered from 40 percent vacancy last year, yet this year they added a slew of new shops and have gone from half-empty to nearly completely full.

Renamed the 5th Street Arcades, the once-moribund properties have been turned around by Dick Pace of Cumberland Development, who has breathed new life into the spaces by luring entrepreneurial tenants with fresh concepts and excitement about downtown.

"Step by step, we're getting there," says Pace, who has focused on locally themed retail that serves downtown residents and office workers. "Each month, there's something new going on. Our tenants cross-market and help each other."

Last year, a retail grant competition netted Soulcraft Furniture Gallery, which opened earlier this year, and Pour Cleveland, which will open by November 1st.

Several of the businesses in the 5th Street Arcades will soon add outdoor seating, including Pour, Sushi 86 and a yet unnamed food tenant that Pace is working with.

Additional businesses that will open this fall include Herron Starr Apparel (a shoe store), The Tea Lab (a tea shop run by Bob Holcepl of City Roast), The Olive and the Grape, and a take-out vendor called C'mon Let's Eat (CLE).

Finally, Sushi 86 is expanding to create space for banquets and cooking classes, and Alphonso's, a men's and women's accessories shop, will open later this year.

"Tenants are drawn here because this is becoming known as a retail area, an area for shopping," Pace says. "That says a lot about downtown and what's happening."


Source: Dick Pace
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Bad Girl Ventures recently was honored by the SCORE Foundation as Outstanding Non-Profit Organization for its work with entrepreneurs in starting their businesses. BGV works with SCORE mentors in its business education classes.
 
“BGV has been using SCORE mentors and services since 2010,” says Reka Barabas, director of BGV Cleveland. “We tap into their expertise and we match up our finalists with SCORE mentors.”
 
Additionally, BGV is now a Kiva Zip trustee, meaning it can recommend businesses for zero-interest loans for up to $10,000 through that organization. “Bad Girl Ventures is the first Kiva Zip trustee in Ohio,” says Barabas. “We have a two-pronged approach to helping female-owned businesses. We provide education, and if they have a strong business plan and are ready to go, they have access to capital. Having these partnerships really helps our mission.”
 
Two BGV Cleveland graduates already have been identified as candidates for the Kiva Zip loan. Anne Hartnett received a 2012 $5,000 BGV loan for Harness Cycle, which is opening this fall in Ohio City. Paula Hershman, owner of Storehouse Tea Company, is one of the first Cleveland graduates of the BGV program and will use the Kiva Zip loan to expand her business. One more graduate will be endorsed this year.
 
BGV business education courses also offer the opportunity to receive a $25,000 low-interest loan. The application deadline for the fall session is September 1.
 


Source: Reka Barabas
Writer: Karin Connelly

The founder of the successful Cleveland Flea will soon move her growing business, The Indie Foundry, into a historic mansion on St. Clair Avenue. The location will function as a co-working and classroom space aimed at helping small creative businesses to grow and flourish. It joins a growing list of new startups on that street.

"This is the business development side of a business incubator, a place where you meet other creatives," says Stephanie Sheldon. "You’re making things in the kitchen, crafting things or making stuff in the woodshop -- but when it’s time to work on your business, where do you do that? 'Hey, have you found great insurance agent? Who do you use for bookkeeping? How do you deal with a growing company?' These are the kinds of questions that the Indie Foundry is dedicated to."

The stone mansion, located behind the Slovenian National Home, is a bit of a "time capsule" that has beautiful hardwood floors, natural woodwork and two ballrooms.

Sheldon says the Indie Foundry will offer desk space and wi-fi for freelancers and creative entrepreneurs as well as classes, workshops and a slew of pop-up events.

Examples include a lecture series from Bad Girl Ventures and workshops hosted by Soulcraft, the Cleveland Culinary Launch and Kitchen, and Craft Connection.

Sheldon will also work closely with the Slovenian National Home to help improve their operations over the next year, including making the home's courtyard a signature outdoor space for events, pop-up dinners and other activities.


Source: Stephanie Sheldon
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Next week, Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry (LMM) celebrates the grand opening of its new headquarters in a former textile manufacturing shop at E. 45th Street and Superior Avenue. The redeveloped office not only makes LMM more efficient, sustainable and accessible, it also contains a 2,400-square-foot central kitchen and 6,000-square-foot metal shop that allows the group to advance its social enterprise branch.

Michael Sering, Vice President at LMM, says that the organization is able to churn out hundreds of bike racks a year using the new metal shop. Recently, LMM inked a contract with the Cleveland Clinic to build and install an additional 136 racks. LMM employs individuals from 2100 Lakeside, a men's shelter, to make the racks.

The new, spacious central kitchen will allow LMM to continue its work to employ individuals reentering society after time in prison. LMM already prepares about 1,500 meals per day for area homeless shelters and other social service facilities.

LMM is preparing to break ground on a new community garden adjacent to 2100 Lakeside. Sering hopes to build a custom fence for the garden in the metal shop.

LMM's new administrative headquarters are named after Richard Sering, Michael Sering's father and LMM's former director. Richard Sering died of cancer 10 years ago.


Source: Michael Sering
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Leslie Friend will be the first person to tell you that what she does is dangerous, but it's also a real thrill and great workout. She teaches aerial silks classes, best known as the acrobatic art form of Cirque du Soleil, at two different locations in Cleveland, the Studio Cleveland and Sokol Greater Cleveland.

"It utilizes every aspect of the body: core strength, balance and flexibility," says Friend. "Most importantly for most people, it builds confidence. A lot of people have a fear of doing stuff off the ground, and this builds up their confidence."

Aerial silks athletes climb and perform acrobatic maneuvers on nylon fabrics that are rigged to the ceiling. Friend starts class participants low to the ground, and as they advance in ability, she allows them to climb higher into the air to perform tricks. She's never had an accident, although participants sometimes do get tangled.

"We've had to build a tower of mats to reach them," she says. "We always tell people, 'If you're ever in doubt, back yourself out, lower yourself to the floor.'"

In Friend's classes, silks climbers can reach heights of up to 20 feet in the air. They entwine themselves in the silks to perform spins and hang upside down.

Although aerial silks classes are growing in popularity, there still are very few places in Ohio where you can even try it. Friend's classes have become so popular this year that she's introduced software on her websites allowing people to sign up in advance.

Classes typically cost between $15 and $20, with discounts available for five-class packages. All of the classes are open to beginners as well as more advanced aerial silks athletes.


Source: Leslie Friend
Writer: Lee Chilcote

BioMotiv, a pharmaceutical accelerator formed last year to speed early-stage medical developments to market, announced last week that the company has now raised $46 million in total capital, adding Nationwide Mutual Insurance and several individual investors to original investors University Hospitals and the Harrington Family Foundation.

Additionally, BioMotiv announced Monday that the company has formed a multi-million dollar, seven-year partnership with San Diego-based Torrey Pines Investment, a specialty life sciences investor. “We have now raised $46 million in total funding,” says BioMotiv CEO Baiju Shah. “This further investment partnership will expand capital available for projects by up to $20 million through co-investment by Torrey Pines.”
 
Shah says BioMotiv has just started to identify projects of interest and started development work on those projects. The partnership with Torrey Pines expands the scope of BioMotiv’s work. “We’re pleased with the prospective partnership,” says Shah. “It’s been in the works for about nine months now. In the partnership we will jointly invest in projects -- one in the cancer area and two projects in neuroscience.”
 
Shah says BioMotiv is also working on developments in several other fronts, including anti-inflammatory and blindness. “Our mission is to accelerate breakthrough discoveries in medications that actually benefit patients,” says Shah. “These are medications that are in the early stages of clinical validation -- phase one or two patient studies. Once we prove it works in patients, then we’re in a place to partner with agencies to get it to market.”
 
Cleveland is the hot spot for companies like BioMotiv, Shah says, making it attractive to companies like Torrey Pines. “Cleveland is an incredible medical innovation environment,” he says. “We are on the global radar for medical innovations, so it’s easy for us to find partners. In many ways, healthcare is our defining industry as a community.”
 
BioMotiv currently has eight employees, but Shah says they will be adding staff as the company continues to grow.

 
Source: Baiju Shah
Writer: Karin Connelly