Innovation + Job News

Anyone who has used eBay before understands the ease of PayPal. But for the medical industry, where costs come with a long list of variables--whether or not a patient has insurance or if there is a deductible--the simplicity of PayPal is even more desirable. Center City-based InstaMed allows doctors and health care centers the ability to turn any computing device into a payment terminal, able to calculate the copay and deductable for a complete check-out. The technology now operates in over 7,500 health centers, representing all 50 states. This week, InstaMed announced receipt of $6 million in new capital growth funding, bringing total investment to $22 million.

"We allow health systems to get rid of all the hard terminals you would typically see at a retail store or pizza shop where they swipe your card," says InstaMed CEO Bill Marvin. "What's unique about InstaMed is we are one integrated platform for handling everything that has to do with money in health care."

With the new funding, coming from existing investors including Bala Cynwyd's Osage Partners, InstaMed will continue to expand market share, launching new marketing campaigns, and aggressively expanding business development. But as a relatively young company, Marvin is keeping an eye on quality, looking to update technology systems. By keeping their message and technology strong, Marvin's team hopes to make InstaMed as common as Tylenol in American hospitals.

"As a business that was really just an idea six years ago, we implemented our first hospital only three years ago," says Marvin. "We have experienced tremendous growth in the last three years and we are at the point where the existing data centers and technology infrastructure that we built needs to be upgraded and taken to the next level."

Source: Bill Marvin, InstaMed
Writer: John Steele

Philadelphians know SEPTA's Market-Frankford El as the Blue Line. But a new pilot program, which stores leftover power from the subway's regenerative braking system in a massive battery, would make the Blue Line a little greener, and provide SEPTA some much-needed capital.

Earlier this month, SEPTA and Conshohocken smart-grid firm Viridity Energy announced receipt of $900,000 from the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority to install a massive storage battery--about the size of a cement truck--at SEPTA's Kensington electrical substation. The current regenerative braking system transmits electricity, collected as trains enter stations, to other electric vehicles. But if no other vehicles are in range, the electricity is lost. The battery, capable of storing up to a megawatt of electricity, would siphon energy to be resold to the power grid. Viridity estimates that this one battery will generate $500,000 a year in clean, green profit. SEPTA has already applied for new funding to install these battery systems at all 33 substations across their service area.

"With this technology, SEPTA can be very strategic with their power; when they are using it, when they are storing it and when they are selling it back into the grid," says Viridity Director of Business Development Laurie Actman. "At peak periods, the grid is willing to pay premium prices for sources of reliable load."

Since 2008, SEPTA has struggled to execute capital improvements to its transit infrastructure. Most recently, a proposed switch to SmartCards has drawn scrutiny from city media and transit bloggers. When Governor Ed Rendell made a play to turn state thoroughfare I-80 into a federal toll road, he promised a chunk of the resulting revenue to SEPTA. Since Rendell's proposal was defeated, SEPTA has been looking for other ways to fund improvements, from fare hikes to advertising on the sides of trains. The battery system technology could be the answer they have been looking for that will finally bring the Philadelphia subway into the 21st century.

"As we all know, SEPTA has always had a constrained budget and not enough money to invest in its infrastructure," says Actman. "For so long, SEPTA's infrastructure, that was built nearly a century ago, has been a liability. We are turning that into an opportunity."

Source: Laurie Actman, Viridity Energy
Writer: John Steele

Every great city has a skyline. Most great cities also have works of art that can't be found anywhere else. But it takes a special city to do both at the same time. This summer, electric company PECO and tech-artist collective Breadboard began a program entitled "Art In The Air" to promote the burgeoning digital arts scene in Philadelphia by bringing works of art to the storied crown lights display atop PECO's 23rd and Market St. headquarters. A new group of submissions hits the skyline every First Friday.

"The vanguard of where digital art is going, I don't think there is a lot going on in the city right now," says Breadboard Director Dan Schimmel. "We saw this as an opportunity to pursue our mission which is art and technology and certainly PECO's light tower, when it was put up was the forefront of technology. So we wanted to give Philadelphia artists the chance to showcase their work on this large-scale format."

Installed as a public service for their customers, PECO activated the crown lights display on July 4, 1976 to celebrate the bicentennial. Since then, the display has shown over 17,500 messages for non-profit and community organizations. On July 4 2009, PECO upgraded the display to energy efficient LED lights. And 34 years to the day after the display first lit up the sky, PECO added yet another jewel to their crown, displaying three new artists to the world on July 4th 2010. The project continues throughout the year and will continue promoting the work of this already growing medium.

"In terms of public digital art, there is limited opportunities for that," says Schimmel. "We were able to use the crown lights in a way they were not being used before and I think that has opened up some opportunities to work with other companies to display some of these works in the future."

Source: Dan Schimmel
Writer: John Steele

Launched in 1997, the Drexel School of Biomedical Engineering is a relatively young division for the West Philadelphia institution. But like many young up-and-comers, this school's wisdom belies its age. In a 2006 address to prospective students, Director Banu Onaral promised to lead student thinking toward the future of biomedical innovation, combining engineering and technology with traditional medical practices to dig out new niche markets.

Since this 2006 progress report, the school has made great strides in the field of biomedical optics research. From brain-sensing lie detectors to xray microscope cameras capable of taking high resolution pictures of living cells in real time, optics innovations allow doctors to view the human body in exciting new ways. The most recent project allows doctors to determine the depth and seriousness of wounds through sensors. Diseases like diabetes can create ulcerous wounds that are often misinterpreted. Drexel's sensor technology hopes to change that as the product moves to the commercialization stage.

"These are open wounds but what you see on the surface is not necessarily indicative of what is underneath," says Assistant Professor Elisabeth Papazoglou, "What we have is a small Teflon probe with a sensor and a light so you don't have to worry about contaminating the wound. And once we have several readings, we can determine if there is something more serious going on."

In 2009, the University City Science Center selected the near-infrared wound monitor to receive a $200,000 award from their QED grant program. With this funding, Papazoglou and her team have licensed their technology to Emunamedica, a wound management company out of Hollywood, FL. With this first license, Papazoglou's team hopes to bring a new weapon to the fight against wound disease.

"The more people who use this device and have data, the more people see that it's good, it's fast, nurses can use it," says Papazoglou. "You need that word of mouth to prove that it's not just us."

Source: Elisabeth Papazoglou, Drexel University
Writer: John Steele

If you're interested in innovation and job news from throughout Pennsylvania, do yourself a favor and check out our sister publication called Keystone Edge. Keystone Edge covers Innovation and Job News from Erie to Easton in its weekly online magazine, which publishes each Thursday and is also available via free subscription here.

Studies in recent years have revealed that while Philadelphia welcomes up to 50,000 freshman to its colleges and universities every year, less than half remained in the region after graduation. That statistic, in part, is what motivates Young Involved Philadelphia, a comprehensive network of young professionals and student groups producing advocacy campaigns and social events to make Philly a better place to live.

This week, the group opens the State of Young Philly: Imagining Philly's Future summit, a massive, two-week event hosting over 30 partnering organizations for speeches, roundtable discussions and brainstorming sessions to make Philadelphia a more attractive place for young people. The summit will focus on four key areas--Community Engagement and Volunteerism, Government and Leadership, Business and Entrepreneurship, and Arts and Culture--in an effort to "engage, educate and empower" young Philadelphia.

"For the first time since the '50s, the city is gaining population, and although we don't have the newest census data yet, we would venture a guess that this growth is due partly to an increasingly vibrant youth culture," says YIP board chair Claire Robertson-Kraft.

With speakers as varied as former Mayor John Street and the Mural Arts Program's Jane Golden, the summit hopes to gain a wide-reaching perspective that can be gleaned into an agenda ranking priorities and creating concrete deliverables. This agenda will inform an ongoing blog and will serve as YIP's action plan for the coming year. YIP hopes to make the summit an annual event, creating a constant barometer on youth culture in Philadelphia.

"The most important thing we hope people take away from the event is a sense of empowerment," says Robertson-Kraft. "As young Philadelphians, we should be organizing, demonstrating our ability to contribute to the debate, and doing more to ensure our voices are heard."

Source: Claire Robertson-Kraft, Young Involved Philadelphia
Writer: John Steele

These days, there is a pill for everything from restless leg syndrome to erectile dysfunction. In fact, the only medicinal plant you hear about is illegal in the U.S.

That's all about to change. With a complete line of plant-based vaccines and antibodies, Newark, Del. pharma company iBio seeks to spread its green-thumb mentality, helping other pharmaceutical companies more efficiently make the switch to plant-based products. This month, the company announced a partnership with GE Healthcare to jointly develop and globally market manufacturing solutions for biopharmaceuticals and vaccines.

"We expect this relationship with GE Healthcare to accelerate and broaden market penetration for our technology through access to GE Healthcare's existing relationships and its skill and experience with project implementation and process development," says Chairman and CEO of iBio Robert B. Kay. "This is another implementation of our model to affiliate and out-source with best-in-class collaborators."

iBio's iBioLaunch model--which provides an easy transition from synthetic manufacturing to a biopharmaceutical system at a lower cost and higher efficiency--is going global. But with their primary research partnership just seven years old, the company felt a partnership with the behemoth GE would allow a smoother transition into the global market. But iBio's brass remains competent that they are delivering a finished product onto the world stage. Move over marijuana, a whole new breed of healing plants should arrive on the scene soon.
 
"We have already done considerable planning and work with GE Healthcare to prepare for implementation of this agreement," says Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Vidadi Yusibov. "Therefore, we expect this relationship to start quickly and continue long after its initial three-year term to provide important results for our collective customers."

Source: Robert Kay, iBio
Writer: John Steele