2 Grand Rapids Companies Win First Place In Accelerate Michigan Awards

DETROIT – Who says Southeast Michigan has a strangle-hold on hot technology in the state. On Thursday night Grand Rapids-based Varsity News Network, a web site for high school sports communications, won the $500,000 grand prize at the Accelerate Michigan business-plan competition. In the student competition, first place and $25,000 went to Soletics of Grand Valley State University, a developer of gloves and jackets heated by solar energy for outdoor sports wear.

Grand Rapids entrepreneur Fred Keller also won the Accelerate Michigan Spirit of Michigan award for his company, Cascade Engineering, a plastics molder that has become a big player in the renewable energy sector.

Second place in the adult competition, and $100,000 went to Covaron Advanced Materials, an Ann Arbor developer of advanced ceramics that can be cured at low temperatures. Third place, and a check for $50,000, went to REL Inc., a Houghton-area developer of patented metal matrix composite brake rotors.

In the student competition, second place and a $15,000 prize went to SIB Medical Technologies LLC of Wayne State University, developers of a sample collection device for home stool samples. Third place and a $10,000 prize was awarded AirFuel of Michigan State University, which builds miniature lightweight wind turbines to provide off-grid electricity.

Other sponsored prizes of $25,000 each include:

DTE Energy award, Inmatech Inc., a University of Michigan spinout making advanced capacitors for energy storage

NextEnergy award, Wave Aircraft, a West Bloomfield Township developer of unmanned aircraft

Masco Corp. advanced materials award, LiteBrake Tech LLC, an Upper Peninsula company commercializing a steel clad aluminum brake rotor

IT industry award, PlanReaction, an Ann Arbor company developing technology to create floor plans for architect

Products and services award, Pindrop Inc., which develops indoor mapping and location technology to assist consumers and enterprises in finding products and assets

Next-generation manufacturing award, AutoBike, a developer of an electronic automatic shifter for bicycles

Medical device award, ENT Biotech Solutions LLC, a Detroit company making a surgical tool for adenoid removal

Life sciences award, Cure Launcher, a healthcare IT company with patent-pending technology to match patients to clinical trials based on their unique condition.

Turtle Cell LLC, a developer of a cell phone case with retractable earbuds, won the $10,000 People?s Choice award in voting of attendees at the event.

Other finalists that didn?t win money Thursday night were Blaze Medical Devices, developer of blood transfusion medical devices; First Sense Medical LLC, which has developed advance breast cancer detection technology; and Upland Nanotech LLC,which is developing diagnostic sensing systems for food safety.

Other finalists in the student competition were Action Glow ? 45th Parallel Lighting LLC of Northwestern Michigan College, a developer of LED lighting for sporting equipment; All Things Weaved of Grand Valley State University, which an information hub of hair and skin care for African-Americans; Bar2Bar Transportation of the University of Michigan, a provider of safe transportation for those imbibing at nightspots; Herd Products, no description provided; NanoGolf of Michigan State University, a golf accessories manufacturer; Show Town of Wayne State University, a website through which bar and restaurant managers can book musicians and musicians can promote themselves; SnapScript of Michigan State University, a patient medication organizer for the mobile phone; and Soup Spoon of the University of Detroit Mercy, an assistive eating utensil for the disabled and elderly.

MITechNews.Com was a media sponsor of Accelerate Michigan.