Ann Arbor : In the News

Ann Arbor Spark and MichBio are sponsoring BioArbor, a networking group for the local life sciences industry.

Excerpt:

The first BioArbor meeting -- Wednesday, July 11 -- will feature Chris Ehrlich, a partner with the California-based venture capital firm InterWest Partners. As a member of the firm's life sciences team, Ehrlich is focused on investing in and building new businesses around entrepreneurs with novel therapeutic approaches.

In this presentation, Ehrlich will share his experiences and these valuable insights:

*What investors look for in a start-up company

*Today's "hot" investment areas

*Companies who successfully raise venture capital, and

*The challenges of investing in Ann Arbor

Read the entire article here.

Ann Arbor-based SoulTracks, the nation's most popular soul music website with over 3 million annual visits, has enhanced its website to meet its growing readership's needs.

Excerpt:

"SoulTracks over the past four years at a rate beyond our wildest expectations," said SoulTracks publisher Chris Rizik. "And our readers have been asking for even more. More interactivity, more news and more features on both classic soul and modern soul artists. Soul Music is again one of the fastest rising musical genres in the world, and the new SoulTracks will continue to grow with it."

Read the entire article here.

Ann Arbor SPARK will host two opportunities for job seekers to find high tech employment in the area over the next two days: On June 6, a networking event with the Ann Arbor Computing Society and on June 7, a career change exploration event.

Find out more here.

Bello Vino Market owner Louis Ferris grows 30% of his store's produce on his own 85-acre farm located just miles away from the grocery store.

Excerpt:

What the store can't get from the farm it strives to buy as locally as possible, relying heavily on the Amish community around the town of Homer, said Jennifer Ferris, daughter of Louis Ferris and vice president of the store. In all, about 80 percent of the store's produce over the course of the year comes from what can fairly be called local sources, she said.

Bello Vino customer Judy Dyer said knowing much of the food she buys there is locally produced is important to her for reasons of ecology, even though she wasn't aware what farm may be producing it.

"I know that they sell local products, and I buy that,'' Dyer said.

Read the entire article here.

New York Times profiles Bert Sperling, the man behind the annual "Cities Ranked & Rated: More Than 400 Metropolitan Areas Evaluated in the U.S. & Canada." Ann Arbor ranked No. 5 this year.

Excerpt:

USA Today printed a piece about his research and data-collection methods; the editors of Money magazine liked what they saw, and a relationship was born in 1987 that continues to this day — with a few breaks — developing the magazine’s “best cities” lists.

This has blossomed into a virtual industry. There is Sperling’s Best Places (bestplaces.net), where you can plug in any city and get a wealth of information. The site gets about 20,000 hits a day, he says.

Then there are the specific projects, for which he charges an array of clients $5,000 to $20,000, depending on the scope. For seven years he performed an annual study for Ladies’ Home Journal on the best cities for women, and he still does a yearly study for Self magazine on the healthiest cities for women.

Mr. Sperling also sells access to his database to companies like Yahoo, MSN and The Wall Street Journal.

He does all this with the help of his wife and five researchers.
He has developed a set of 10 broad categories into which he feeds an array of government statistics. The 10 are economy and jobs; cost of living; climate; education; health and health care; crime; transportation; leisure; arts and culture; and quality of life, which includes physical setting, downtown core, heritage and overall appearance.

Read the entire profile here.

Microsoft Innovates will be held on May 23 in Ann Arbor. Panelists include Scott Davidson, General Manager for Microsoft’s Heartland Area and Matt Roush from the Great Lakes IT Report.

Excerpt:

This working session will give you tools to arm your business for survival and growth. This is a session you can’t afford to miss given today’s economic climate.

In addition to the panel discussion, you will have the unique opportunity to participate in a strategy mapping exercise. In a two-hour working session, you’ll get to network with other executives, and get hands-on experience with two business tools that you can take back to your company to help make your business better:

Find out more and register here.

Ann Arbor's beloved Zingerman's Deli nabs a nice little write-up in the New York Times.

Excerpt:

Zingerman's Delicatessen in Ann Arbor, Mich, has gone beyond being simply deli to being gourmet enterprise with sales of more than $30 million expected this year...

Read more here.
Note: It is a Times Select article, so it is $4.95 to read the whole thing.

The New Enterprise Forum will host a a pitch forum on May 17 at which would-be entrepreneurs can learn about what makes a successful pitch and then practice shopping one to a panel of experts.

Excerpt:

At the May 17 event, the forum will put four entrepreneurs in front of a judging panel and give them an imaginary company to pitch ideas to. Entrepreneurs will give impromptu presentations, with little to no time to prepare. The audience will participate in voting for the best pitches.

Read more here.

Michigan's tourism website, Michigan.org, was the busiest in the nation in April, according to web trackers at Hitwise.

Excerpt:

"We view this as a clear and important signal that people are looking to Michigan for their leisure travel," said George Zimmermann, vice president of Travel Michigan. "We know from independent research that 65 percent of consumers who use Michigan.org for tourism information, then travel to and within Michigan. So more web traffic means more business at Michigan destinations. We believe our efforts inside and outside of Michigan are making a substantial difference."

Read the entire article here.

The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan announced the awarding of $15.4 million in grants.

Awardees include:

• Detroit Zoological Society,
• Eastern Market Corporation,
• Washtenaw County, for support of the Food System Economic Partnership,
• Brookings Institute, to study the region's transformation from rust belt to knowledge belt, and
  
• Boys and Girls Club of SE Michigan

Read the entire article here.

The Ann Arbor Convention and Visitors Bureau say the 4 million visitors to Washtenaw County in 2006 spent $431 million—a 5.4 percent increase from the previous year.

Excerpt:

"We are attracting a higher percentage of travelers from outside the state, and that has a great deal to do with the University of Michigan and the diversity of business here,'' said Mary Kerr, president of the Ann Arbor visitors bureau. "We are pursuing more business having to do with emerging markets such as life sciences.''

Read the entire article here.

In May, Ann Arbor SPARK is offering several opportunities and focuses for their Career Change Boot Camps, including health care, IT and entrepreneurship.

Excerpt:

"A series of Boot Camps are being offered for people who are looking for new career opportunities or are considering starting their own business. These Boot Camps will provide an intensive one-day opportunity to learn from area experts, obtain information about resources and obtain one-on-one mentoring. Boot camps are a way to learn about your options with no strings attached."

Read more and sign-up here.

 

The Michigan Department of Transportation has released a draft version of its long-range transportation plan for the state and is requesting public input.

A link to the plan and to the questionnaire can be found here.

 

The Ann Arbor IT Zone will host "Google Analytics" on May 1.

Find out more and register here.

Ann Arbor IT Zone will host "Google Analytics" on May 1.

Find out more and register here.