Northwest : Innovation + Job News

Flying Bytes is a recurring roundup of innovation and quick updates on the people and companies we're covering:

SEPTA launches TransitView
Back in January, we reported that SEPTA was weeks away from launching a real-time, system wide tracking program. The future is finally here. Like SEPTA's TrainView for regional rail, the new TransitView provides live updates on the whereabouts of buses and trolleys throughout the city. Also launched: SMS Transit Schedule Information, allowing customers to receive a text with the next four scheduled trips, and Schedules to Go, a mobile website function that provides information on the next ten scheduled trips.

Shah closes $72 million IPO with Universal Business Payment Solutions
Following a hot tip, we learned that Bipin Shah, creator of the MAC, was seeking $72 million for payments startup Universal Business Payment Solutions. On May 13, UPBS (NASDAQ: UBPSU) got its money. According to Shah's partner Peter Davidson, "we closed on 12 million shares at $6.00 per share. The underwriters have a 45 day option to cover any over-allotments, which they have not exercised to date." Investors include hedge fund magnate J. Kyle Bass, who purchased about 800,000 shares.

Philadelphia Printworks up, running, finding its market
The lovely ladies at the helm of Philadelphia Printworks are going full speed with their new T-shirt business. Co-founder April Pugh reports that most of PPW's customer base has come from custom work, particularly from local indie rock artists. PPW loves its rockers right back and offers a band discount. Pugh says she and partner Ruth Paloma Rivera-Perez are now seeking partnerships with retail outlets and will be selling at upcoming summer festivals.

Specticast expands with EuroArts partnership
Digital entertainment distribution company Specticast continues to widen its reach. The company, which we originally profiled back in April, announced an exclusive partnership with EuroArts, bringing live and pre-recorded events from Berlin's Philharmonie, The Sheldonian Theater at Oxford University, and Madrid's Teatro Real, according to Mark Rupp, SpectiCast president.

Source: Andrew Busch, SEPTA; Peter Davidson, UBPS; April Pugh, PPW; Mark Rupp, Specticast
Writer: Sue Spolan

There's a powerful global interactive agency right here in your backyard. You've probably never heard of it, but that's by design. Empathy Lab, based in Conshohocken, is set to break $14 million in revenue this year with clients you've definitely heard of, including Sony, Nautica, Kipling, Saucony, Clarins, Lexmark, Comcast and Verizon. The digital agency, founded in 2005, employs around 70 people in its suburban Philadelphia headquarters, and unless you're in the know, you'd pass right by.

"We don't necessarily focus on the region as our target for clients," says Kevin Labick, CEO of Empathy, explaining Empathy's local low profile. "We made a decision to be world class in two areas: eCommerce, and media and entertainment as it pertains to the digital channel."

Empathy's target companies are in New York, Los Angeles, Paris and the Netherlands, with just a few in Philadelphia. Its secret to success is an intimate approach to customer needs and motivations.

"Everything we do revolves around understanding the customer's point of view," says Labick. "Almost every project we work on involves contextual inquiry. We go into people's homes and offices, and sit with them on the way to work in their cars, to understand how they use our clients' brands."

Labick cites research for David's Bridal eCommerce platform that involved peering over the shoulders of brides to be as they perused potential gowns on the web. With the growth of destination weddings, Empathy discovered that brides want to know what the bottom of the dress looks like so they can judge its performance on a sandy beach.

Another growth area for Empathy is digital media and entertainment. While many brick and mortar stores were closing down, Empathy positioned itself at the forefront of digital media delivery. One example is Sony's newly released My Daily Clip for Apple mobile devices. Empathy's strategic placement has paid off. While other agencies have struggled through the economic downturn, Empathy's growth is impressive: in 2009, company revenue was $8 million, in 2010, revenue jumped to $12 million, and this year's projections show more of the same.

Empathy's low profile is going to have to change, says Labick, whose staff spends the great majority of its time on client campaigns, not self-promotion. "We are growing and we need people. We don't want to open offices everywhere. We want people to be based here, and have lives here."

Labick attributes Empathy's success to deep partnerships within the industry, working closely with developers and software companies to deliver innovative channel solutions to clients. Earlier this year, SmartCEO Magazine selected Empathy as a Future 50 Company in recognition of its tremendous employee and revenue growth over the past three years.

Source: Kevin Labick, Empathy Lab
Writer: Sue Spolan

Flying Bytes is nuggets of innovation from across Greater Philadelphia:

BROTHERLY LOVE GOES GLOBAL
Following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, there's been a swell of support from local companies and groups. Comcast is offering free calls to Japan for Xfinity Voice and Business Class Voice customers. Call Japan now until April 10, 2011 and get an automatic refund on your Comcast bill. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Red Cross is accepting both online and text message contributions for Japan relief efforts and reports that it has received generous donations from Westchester's QVC and Philadelphia Insurance. The Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia has instituted a Disaster Relief Fund, and is also taking donations at the Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival.

THE GREEN GREEN GRASS OF HOME
Urban Blazers, a Philadelphia program that organizes outdoor activities for under-resourced youth, is co-sponsoring an East Fairmount Park Spring Clean-Up. The event, to be held Saturday, April 2 from 9 to 1, will start at Mander Playground, 33rd and Diamond, for a seasonal overhaul of nearby recreational spots, as well as the Woodford Mansion Orchard. It's part of the citywide Philly Spring Cleanup. Participating civic groups include the East Park Revitalization Alliance, Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education, the Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation and the Strawberry Mansion Athletic Association. RSVP on Facebook or email [email protected].

COME ON BABY LIGHT MY FIRE
Speaking of blazing, on April 16, grab a flashlight and head over to the eternal flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Washington Square Park for a warm spring evening of fun. Get Out Philly is hosting a game of Flashlight Tag beginning at 8. Put on your post-tax return attitude and casual clothes. Food and drink to follow at a nearby casual spot. Suggested donation is $1. You can RSVP on Facebook.

Source: Comcast, Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia, Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Red Cross, Urban Blazers, Get Out Philly
Writer: Sue Spolan

Any runner who has ever bought a bottled water with the fiver in their shoe can understand VitaBand, the new product from Philadelphia entrepreneurs at VitaProducts that allows athletes to carry the contents of their wallet right on their wrist. But in fact, the VitaBand started from a much scarier place.

One day in 2007, co-creator Jason Brown was on a 10k run when a car nearly clipped him, sending him diving onto the shoulder. He made it home safely but what if he hadn't? He hadn't left a note, no one knew where he was and he didn't have his wallet. How would medics locate his medical information? How would they contact his family?

"Had I been hit, I wouldn't have been found for days," Brown says. "Being the type of guy I am, I got home and started to look around for products that might be used for identification purposes for athletes and found that this might be a good business opportunity."

Company co-founder David Waxman looked beyond the bracelet, which is not unlike existing medical ID bands. Along with bringing a point-of-sale payment option to the VitaBand, allowing users to swipe their wrist to pay for that bottle of water, he began licensing the technology to manufacturers of everything runners use: cell phone cases, exercise gear and other proprietary partners. Waxman and Brown hope this bifurcated strategy will give the Vita technology life as both a product and a platform. After completing a first angel investment round last year, the company has received a second round of investment and looks to launch its pilot product, the original VitaBand, in January.

"When we came up with the concept, we wondered how to make this into a mass market product without a $200 million marketing budget," says Waxman. "We looked at the Intel Inside model or the Dolby Digital model, creating a bracelet to jumpstart the market for the licensing component of our business so we can focus on the payment and medical records and let our partners do the heavy lifting getting the products out in the marketplace."

Source: Jason Brown, VitaProducts
Writer: John Steele

Something exciting happened during WHYY's fall pledge drive. And it wasn't a riveting Terry Gross interview. For the third consecutive year, NPR stations saw growth in the 25-to-40 demographic. Welcoming this younger demographic will not be easy for WHYY, Philadelphia's NPR affiliate and home for political discourse and intellectual public programming. So the station created NewsWorks, an online news and commentary site, launching Nov. 15. Enlisting its own journalists and regional content providers, NewsWorks hopes to create a hyperlocal news focus and bring enlightened discussion from the airwaves to the internet.

"The 2008 election was a great thing for NPR stations because a lot of people considered NPR to be the most reliable place to get news on that election so we brought a lot of new people into the tent," says WHYY Director of News and Civic Dialogue Chris Satullo. "Now we are trying to keep them. We are looking for two key demographics we hope will be the early adopters of NewsWorks. One is the younger technologist professional group--the creative class in Philly. And the other is the middle-aged professional who has been an NPR fan for a long time."

One of the goals of NewsWorks is to replicate the open discussion created on air at WHYY and bring it to the internet. Website comment boards are not traditionally known for scintillating conversation so NewsWorks will employ a self-governing rewards system, allowing users to give points to other users for contributing a valuable comment. By changing commenting and by asking the right questions, Satullo believes productive dialogue can occur online.

"We are going to work very hard not to frame things as black and white, left vs. right," says Satullo. "We are trying to get the 360-degree opinions and how people's experiences shape their opinions."

Source: Chris Satullo, WHYY
Writer: John Steele

From mud thatch to clay tile, roofing materials are about as varied as the houses underneath them. But with a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, St. Joseph's University students will test the limits of green roofing materials, trying out everything from gravel to plastic-based fabric to recycled sneaker rubber. By building an expansive green roof on the deck of the University's Science Center, St. Joes associate dean of Natural Science, Math and Computer Science Mike McCann will monitor the drainage of four different green roof sections to see which performs best.

"A big goal with the green roof project is public dissemination," says McCann. "What we want to do is be able to tell anyone who is looking to do a green roof in this area of the country 'here is some performance data that might help guide your design.' "

This grant will also fund a study of switchgrass cultivation. Widely thought to be an excellent source of biofuels, switchgrass growth may be impacted by climate change. Through university study and field research at National Science Foundation Long Term Ecological Research site Konza Prairie, near Manhattan, Kan. students will examine the effects of changes in precipitation, temperature, and carbon dioxide on the growth of switchgrass to see if it may one day become a sustainable fuel source. McCann and the St. Joe's brass hope these projects will help formally establish their proposed Institute for Environmental Stewardship.

"We expect development communities to be very interested as well as people looking at global climate change impacts," says McCann. "But this grant is going to support undergraduate and graduate students engaged in these projects. We are not doing this to train switchgrass researchers. We are doing this to train sustainable researchers to do all sorts of jobs."

Source: Mike McCann, St. Joseph's University
Writer: John Steele

When most people strap on a helmet and hit the road on a bike, they are probably not thinking about carbon tonnage or sustainable energy credits. But with each pedal push, cyclists are putting a dent in Philadelphia's carbon footprint. And University City bike sharing consultants CityRyde want you to know how much your morning ride is effecting the planet.

Creating a personalized version of the carbon metering software they have in city-wide bike sharing programs from Paris to Portland, CityRyde introduced a new mobile application this week helping bikers and walkers monitor their carbon savings and see how much their car is polluting.  The company is beta testing on Android phones with hopes to expand to Blackberry and iPhone in the next month and is working on adding public transit to the application.

Twenty-five percent of the world's carbon emissions come from daily transportation.

"Knowledge is really power," says CityRyde CEO Tim Ericson. "I don't think anyone really understands the impact of their daily activities."

Through corporate partnerships, Ericson and his team hope to offer incentives for people to reduce their carbon emissions. Using increasingly comprehensive mapping software, CityRyde can examine a user's location, route and rate of speed to determine what mode of transportation a rider is using to keep things honest, holding sustainable to a higher standard and making it worth your while in the process.

"A perfect example would be (all-natural foods maker) Cliff Bar or one of those type of companies offering product samples or other incentives in exchange for those carbon credits, essentially giving them a marketing piece and a PR piece combined into one package," says Ericson.

Source: Tim Ericson, CityRyde
Writer: John Steele 

Farmers across Central Pennsylvania will be celebrating another plentiful harvest season this fall, but thanks to Weavers Way and the Awbury Arboretum, there will also be plenty of celebrating to do in the city. The Weavers Way Community Farm, a Northwest Philadelphia urban farm tended by high school students and used to make local products by community members,  is honoring another successful year. The Weavers Way farm celebrates this Saturday from 11am-3pm at Awbury Arboretum with the second annual Northwest FarmFest, a country festival for Philadelphia's city farmers.

"This farm is making sustainable agriculture a part of this urban community," says farm committee member Josh Brooks. "This is a time to gain acknowledgment for the farm, spread awareness and just celebrate that it's there. And have fun."

As the Weavers Way urban farm offers students and community members all the benefits of local agriculture--fresh produce, low prices, local cultivation--the Chestnut Hill food co-op's members and community program directors bring all the country comforts of a small-town festival to the big city. The Northwest FarmFest is free and open to the public, presenting musical performances from local acts, pumpkin painting, hay rides, and farm tours. And of course, the Weavers Way Farmstand will have plenty of homegrown produce on sale, along with prepared food from the Weavers Way's Marketplace Program, a school-based cooperative food business run by students. Weavers Way hopes the event will be a venue to show off many school programs focused on the benefits and lessons of local, healthy eating. And of course, to celebrate the harvest.

"We will also be promoting the whole aspect of Weavers Way Community Programs who work with schools to create a marketplace, teaching about food and creating a market" says Brooks. "We'll have food, some barbecue, the marketplace will be selling some food and drink."

Source: Josh Brooks, Weavers Way Farm
Writer: John Steele

Just blocks from one of the premier art museums in the world lies North Philadelphia's Fairmount neighborhood. But once a year, Fairmount is more than just Art Museum-adjacent, bringing all the neighborhood's best artists out of the woodwork and into the frame for the Fairmount Arts Crawl. Started seven years ago by neighborhood art activists, the Fairmount Arts Crawl brings local artists and their works to various neighborhood businesses and meeting places every spring. With the event just six months away, Fairmount CDC officials, who have since been handed control of the event, begin preparations this week, issuing a request for proposals to any and all local artists interested in a neighborhood exhibition.

"This year, we are really trying to cast our net wider this year," says Fairmount CDC Executive Director Rebecca Johnson. "We hope this will give artists another venue, another avenue to expose their artwork to the public."

For the local homeowners in the neighborhood, CDC officials have created a poster contest to bring in revenue and create a seminal event poster to capture a quintessential event in their community. CDC officials hope the poster will be a key advertising feature, a great souvenir and a way to raise revenue. Interested artists should send work here.

"This artist from the community created a famous 'Doors of Fairmount' poster three years ago and people are still really interested," says Johnson. "People who live in the neighborhood want to have a piece of art that reflects their neighborhood so we wanted to create an official arts crawl poster as a keepsake."

Source: Rebecca Johnson, Fairmount CDC
Writer: John Steele

It's one of life's great mysteries: you can travel to a thousand cities and eat at a hundred fancy restaurants and drink a dozen craft beers at each of the bars along the way. But a meal never tastes as good as one at your favorite neighborhood haunt. And according to Philadelphia's sustainability leaders, this phenomenon is not just good for your appetite, it can be good for your neighborhood and your city as well.

Based on a concept created by the William Penn Foundation, partners from the Sustainable Business Network, Azavea and NPower created Common Space, a new mapping platform that creates a network of neighborhood establishments within a certain walkable, bikeable or busable distance to help residents support local business.

"The really cool thing is, I can map my friend's common space as well as my own," says SBN Executive Director Leanne Krueger-Braneky. "So if I am leaving from my office in Center City and meeting my husband who is coming from our house in West Philadelphia, he could say he is going to bike for 15 minutes and I could say I was going to walk for 20 minutes and Common Space will map the area where we would be able to meet up and map local culture events and businesses in that field."

Partnering with tastemakers like UWISHUNU and Yelp, Common Space shows you the best spots in your transit area, allowing you the most sustainable way possible to hit your next favorite haunt. After their trial run, organizers hope to partner with citywide festivals and cultural events like LiveArts and Philly Beer Week.

"Sustainability was one of the values William Penn outlined, which is why they wanted to partner with us," Krueger-Braneky says. "Because the application does encourage walking, biking, and public transit, it's a way of showing what's going on in the city while encouraging alternative transit."

Source: Leanne Krueger-Braneky, SBN
Writer: John Steele

From the LOVE statue to the Mural Arts Program to Market Street's massive Clothespin, Philadelphia has its share of big, urban art projects. But there is more to creating the next big movement in urban arts than making the largest painting or sculpture. So the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation launched the Knight Arts Challenge, a search looking for urban projects to change the artistic landscape of American cities for the better. Started in Miami, Knight Arts brings it's challenge to Philadelphia this fall.

"We are coming to Philadelphia and it would be presumptuous of us to say that we know just what you need in the arts," says Knight Arts VP Dennis Scholl. "So instead of saying that, we're saying we don't know what Philadelphia's next art idea is and we need you to tell us. It's not about large institutions only getting grants, people who have been in the arts forever only getting grants. It's open to everybody in the community."

After three successful years in Miami, the Knight Arts Challenge has spawned poetry collectives and arts education centers and jazz festivals. Philadelphia's challenge, a three-year, $9 million initiative, will provide new funding for established arts institutions, independent artists, businesses, service organizations and anyone else with a great idea and a plan to execute it. The challenge kicks off October 5 with a cocktail reception, where interested artists can find out how they can contribute to Philadelphia's artistic future.

"Philadelphia has two important things going for it: it has incredible, world-class cultural assets," says Scholl. "But in addition to that, Philadelphia has an incredibly hot, steadily rising art scene, with collectives and up-and-coming performance arts groups. And that is really why we were drawn to Philadelphia, because it's kinda happening, frankly."

Source: Dennis Scholl, Knight Arts
Writer: John Steele