Research ParkArchive for the ‘’ Category

Innovation awards honor those ‘foolish enough to try’

Article Source: The News Gazette, Don Dodson, February 24, 2012

URBANA — What’s the common bond of most innovators and entrepreneurs?

According to Nuvixa founder Sanjay Patel, they’re “foolish enough to try things they shouldn’t be trying” and have “the stubbornness of mind” to persist in those efforts.

On Thursday, Patel and 10 other entrepreneurial leaders won awards for their work at the seventh annual Innovation Celebration.

The evening also highlighted the accomplishments of 18 other finalists, many of them founders of high-tech companies.

About 250 people filled the Beckman Institute auditorium for the awards, sponsored in part by the Champaign County Economic Development Corp.

Among the winners:

— Shahid Khan won the Economic Development Impact Award for developing Urbana-based Flex-N-Gate Corp. into an international supplier of bumpers and other parts for the automotive industry.

Emcee Laura Frerichs said Khan’s first job in the United States was washing dishes for $1.20 an hour. But after attending the University of Illinois and working at Flex-N-Gate, he started Bumper Works and later acquired Flex-N-Gate.

Today the company employs 12,450 people at 48 manufacturing plants in the United States and has $3 billion in annual revenues, she said.

Khan was out of the country Thursday, and Dave Kirkolis, Flex-N-Gate’s vice president of engineering, accepted the award on his behalf.

“Champaign-Urbana is very important to him,” Kirkolis told the crowd. “At the end of the day, he wants to make sure he made a difference.” Receiving that award is a sign he’s “on the right track,” Kirkolis said.

— Betty Brennan, owner of Taylor Studios in Rantoul, received the Longevity Through Innovation Award. Her company fabricates exhibits for museums throughout the nation. Brennan said the company is marking 20 years in business and has more than 35 employees.

— Brian Jurczyk, co-founder of Starfire Industries, won the Entrepreneurial Excellence in Management Award. The company, located in the University of Illinois Research Park, employs 17 and is a leader in neutron sources and plasma engineering.

Frerichs described Jurczyk as someone who would “do anything to support his team.” Jurczyk was traveling Thursday and unable to attend. His wife, Jenette Jurcyzk, accepted the award and said she’s “jealous of how excited Brian is to go to work” each day.

— Nuvixa, founded in 2009 by UI electrical and computer engineering Associate Professor Sanjay Patel, won the New Venture Award. The company, based in the UI Research Park, has used new sensing devices, advanced algorithms and new computing power to expand the potential of video presentations.

— Serionix won the Student Startup Award. The company is developing technologies for air and water purification. Specifically, it’s using fiber-based absorbents to help remove perchlorate from drinking water.

Jim Langer, president and CEO of Serionix and a doctoral student in materials science, accepted the award, acknowledging fellow doctoral student Weihua Zheng and UI Professor Emeritus James Economy.

— Scott Daigle and Marissa Siebel of IntelliWheels received the Social Entrepreneurship Award for developing an automatic gear-shifting system for wheelchairs. The device reduces shoulder pain for those using wheelchairs.

Siebel, who was traveling with the wheelchair basketball team, thanked the audience via Skype, and Daigle, there in person, called the venture “a really fun ride.”

— Dave Kranz, co-founder of both Immuven and Biodisplay, won the Technology Transfer Award given by the University of Illinois. Immuven is developing new drugs based on the engineering of T-cell receptor proteins. Kranz, a UI professor of biochemistry, has been issued more than 20 patents.

— Yi Lu, co-founder of ANDalyze Inc., received the Innovation Discovery Award given by the UI. A UI professor of chemistry, biochemistry and biophysics, he has 41 invention disclosures and 14 issued patents.

— Liz Kellner won the Entrepreneur Advocacy Award for nearly 20 years of work to support and encourage entrepreneurship in the community. She has worked at the UI’s Technology Commercialization Lab, in TechCommunity and with the Second Saturdays group. Frerichs said Kellner “is ever present behind the scenes” to make things run.

— Brian Nudelman received Parkland College’s Innovation in Engagement Award for his work with the Service-Learning Program at Parkland.

Through that program, Nudelman, an associate professor of humanities, helped get Parkland students involved in after-school programs at Garden Hills Elementary School and helped enable dental-hygiene program trips to Tennessee and India.

Research Park Innovators Win Big at Innovation Celebration

Article Source: University of Illinois Research Park, February 24, 2012

Several companies and individuals with close ties to Research Park won awards at Thursday night’s 7th annual Innovation Celebration.

Research Park director Laura Frerichs was the emcee for the event, which took place at the Beckman Institute. Innovation Celebration recognizes those individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions, taken risks, and provided leadership to ensure the continuing economic success of Champaign County, the ongoing success of the University’s economic development mission, and the growth of entrepreneurial talent and energy in our community.

The winners with Research Park ties include:

  • Brian Jurczyk, co-founder of Starfire Industries, won the Entrepreneurial Excellence in Management Award. The company, an EnterpriseWorks graduate that remains in the Research Park, employs 17 and is a leader in neutron sources and plasma engineering.
  • Nuvixa, founded in 2009 by electrical and computer engineering Associate Professor Sanjay Patel, won the New Venture Award. The company, based at EnterpriseWorks, has used new sensing devices, advanced algorithms and new computing power to expand the potential of video presentations.
  • Serionix, founded by materials science doctoral student Jim Langer, won the Student Startup Award. The company is developing technologies for air and water purification. Serionix recently moved into space at EnterpriseWorks.
  • Scott Daigle and Marissa Siebel of IntelliWheels received the Social Entrepreneurship Award for developing an automatic gear-shifting system for wheelchairs. The device reduces shoulder pain for those using wheelchairs. IntelliWheels is housed at EnterpriseWorks.
  • Professor Dave Kranz, co-founder of both Immuven and Biodisplay, won the Technology Transfer Award. Immuven, an EnterpriseWorks tenant, is developing new drugs based on the engineering of T-cell receptor proteins.
  • Yi Lu, co-founder of ANDalyze Inc., received the Innovation Discovery Award. A professor of chemistry, biochemistry and biophysics, he has 41 invention disclosures and 14 issued patents. ANDalyze Inc. is an EnterpriseWorks graduate and Research Park tenant.
  • Liz Kellner won the Entrepreneur Advocacy Award for nearly 20 years of work to support and encourage entrepreneurship in the community. She has worked at the Technology Commercialization Lab, in TechCommunity and with the Second Saturdays group. Kellner is the entrepreneurship specialist at Singleton Law Firm, a tenant in the Research Park.

Entrepreneurship, innovation flourish at UI, Parkland, Champaign businesses

Article Source: The Daily Illini, Thomas Thoren, February 23, 2012

Champaign County’s entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well.

Local inventors and innovators were honored at the 2012 Innovation Celebration held Monday evening at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. There were 10 awards given to recipients ranging from local business owners to up-and-coming entrepreneurs who contributed to and led in the economic development of Champaign County. The seventh annual event was sponsored by the Champaign County Economic Development Corporation, the University, Parkland College and other University offices and local businesses.

Guest speaker Lori Gold Patterson, president of the Urbana-based information technology and creative services company Pixo, began the night’s events by commenting on the state of entrepreneurship.

“Entrepreneurship has been one of the precious few bright spots in our gloomy economy,” she said. “Let us recognize the incredible innovative energies in our community and continue to support these efforts regardless of how small or big, how media-based or gearhead-ish, how local or international.”

The social entrepreneurship award was given to IntelliWheels, Inc. One project designed by the group, IntelliWheels Automatic Gear-Shift, assists wheelchair users when they are traversing tough terrain or going up an incline.

“We are new at this entrepreneurship game and it’s really nice to be honored in this type of way,” said co-founder Scott Daigle.

Daigle accepted the award while his partner, Marissa Siebel, briefly spoke to the audience from Tuscaloosa, Ala., via Daigle’s iPad.

“We have one of the most accessible universities in the country and we’re really proud to be a part of that,” he said. “This has been a really fun ride.”

Later in the ceremony, businessman Shahid Khan, owner of automobile parts manufacturer Flex-N-Gate, won the economic development impact award for his contributions to the Champaign and Urbana communities.
Khan was born in Pakistan but moved to Champaign to study mechanical engineering at the University, where he graduated in 1971. After purchasing Flex-N-Gate in 1980, he built the company and continues to operate it with 12,450 employees and 50 manufacturing plants in the United States, for a revenue of $3 billion in 2011.

Khan is responsible for recent campus construction such as the $10 million Khan Annex to Huff Hall and the Khan outdoor tennis complex. He recently made national news for purchasing the National Football League’s Jacksonville Jaguars team, but Flex-N-Gate vice president of engineering Dave Kirkolis, who spoke on behalf of the absent Khan, insists “Champaign is his home.”

University Chancellor Phyllis Wise spoke about the event’s two new awards for this year’s celebration: the technology transfer award for those who “successfully commercialize an innovation” and the innovation discovery award for “a groundbreaking discovery with potential for significant societal impact.”

These were awarded to David Kranz, professor of biochemistry, and Yi Lu, professor of chemistry.

Innovation Celebration Finalists

Champaign, IL – The Champaign County Economic Development Corporation, the University of Illinois’ Technology Entrepreneur Center, Research Park, Office of Technology Management, Office of Corporate Relations and Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership, along with Parkland College, Singleton Law Firm, P.C., IllinoisVENTURES, Fox/Atkins Development, LLC, Serra Ventures and Hanson Financial, Inc., are pleased to sponsor the Seventh Annual Innovation Celebration in recognition of those individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions, taken risks, and provided leadership to ensure the continuing economic success of Champaign County, the ongoing success of the University’s economic development mission, and the growth of entrepreneurial talent and energy in your community.

Innovation Celebration awards are not merely an award for accomplishment, but benchmarks of success for those outstanding individuals, organizations and corporations who are nominated and selected to receive these prestigious awards.  Additionally, Innovation Celebration serves as a tangible collaboration between the University of Illinois, Parkland College and the community that clearly establishes the power of cooperation and united vision.

Ten awards have been established, recognizing the various ways in which individuals and organizations have utilized innovation, creativity, and leadership for entrepreneurial endeavor and economic development in the community.

Award Finalists

Innovation Discovery – University of Illinois Award

Brendan Harley
Gabriel Popescu
Yi Lu

Tech Transfer Award – University of Illinois Award

Vijay Singh
Dave Kranz
Diagnostic Photonics, Inc.

Innovation in Engagement Award – Parkland College Award

(Winner will be announced at event.)

Social Entrepreneurship Award

IntelliWheels, Inc.
Avicenna Community Health Center
Sarah Zehr & Alex King, CUvolunteer.org

Student Startup Award

Serionix, Inc.
Oso Simple Technologies
Effimax Solar

New Venture Award

Green Purpose, LLC
Sung Chul Bae
Nuvixa, Inc.

Entrepreneur Advocacy Award

James Economy
Liz Kellner
Andrew Singer

Economic Development Impact Award

Shahid Khan
Dr. Kevin Wan
Predrag Pega Hrnjak

Entrepreneurial Excellence in Management Award

Brian Jurczyk
Charlie Li
Pat Jeng

Longevity Through Innovation Award

Gene Zimmerman
Betty Brennan
Bill Cope

The winners will be announced at the 2012 Innovation Celebration, held at Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology on Thursday, February 23, 2012 from 5:30pm to 7:30pm, award & program begin at 6:00pm. RSVP and learn more about the event & previous winners at www.innovationcelebration.com. RSVPs are appreciated, but not required.

WICD-TV Features Dioxide Materials

Article Source: WICD, James Fillmore

CHAMPAIGN– Dioxide Materials is located within Research Park at the University of Illinois. The company has discovered new technology for carbon dioxide sensing and remediation.

C.E.O. Rich Masel says, “One of the key things we’re trying to do is to lower the amount of electricity used, lower your utility bill, and so if you use less electricity and less natural gas it’ll help global warming and you’ll save money.”

One of the projects they are working on attaches a CO2 sensor to a thermostat that in turn lowers people’s heating bills.

A research scientist at Dioxide Materials says, “It works by automatically turning down your heating and air conditioning system when you are not at home. It also can adjust the amount of air that is going through the system according to how many people are in the room.”

Another project looks to recycle carbon dioxide by turning it into gasoline.

Masel says, “So what we’d like to do is anytime a wind farm has excess energy take that excess energy, take CO2 which is a waste product, add a little water, put it in our magic process and end up with gasoline.”

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