ANN ARBOR ? Phase II of the Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest business plan contest begins Feb. 1, with huge cash prizes and invaluable business training and support on the line. Executive Director Diane Durance said the top prize dollar figure has not yet been established, but in year?s past the Emerging Company category has paid
LANSING ? Michigan's electric and natural gas utilities would have to implement energy efficiency programs and electric service providers would have to produce or purchase 10 percent of their power through renewable energy resources by 2015 under legislation overwhelmingly approved by the House Energy and Technology Committee on Wednesday. However, all of the lead lawmakers
LANSING - With the creation of a task force in Michigan, all of the states under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region V are now involved in the Midwest Clean Diesel Initiative. The first meeting of the Michigan task force is scheduled for February 6. The five other states in the region began their task forces
ANN ARBOR ? Pharma giant Pfizer, which has all but walked away from its Ann Arbor R&D labs, is donating up to $6 million in sophisticated research equipment to the Michigan Innovation Equipment Depot and to state universities and community colleges to help build new Biotechnology companies. Up to $4.5 million in surplus lab equipment
ANN ARBOR - Ron Suarez, founder of LoudFeed, a digital music promotions company for independent record labels, is headed to Cannes, France, this week for the world?s largest independent music convention. Suarez, also founder of MediaRica.Com, the podcast partner of MITechNews.Com, hopes to ink some contracts in Europe with record labels that will propel his
GRAND HAVEN ? Corporate training solutions provider Media1 has won four awards from the Society for Technical Communication's Effective Communication Competition, including Best of Show. The Best of Show awards was given for its work on the Meijer Effective Selling course. The Western Michigan Chapter will sponsor sending this course on to the STC International
DETROIT ? Having problems getting to sleep at night? Could be that cell phone pressed to your head. A joint study involving Wayne State University School of Medicine and researchers in Sweden has found that cell phone usage for a substantial period of three hours or more immediately prior to bedtime disrupts sleep patterns. Bengt
NEW YORK - Amid a drop in solar company stocks and concerns over a green-tech investment bubble, Sanford Bernstein analysts issued a report Tuesday that takes the long view on alternative energy, arguing that the sector is a relatively safe bet. Persistently high fossil fuel prices and environmental regulations mean that alternative energy technology companies
TRAVERSE CITY ? Traverse Angels is moving from concept to reality on Feb. 27 when it hosts its first membership meeting. The group is only open for qualified investors, meaning you have to make $250,000 a year or have a net worth of $1 million. The state wants to make sure you have risk capital
BERLIN - Microsoft is making a new bid to get governments to go with its technology, rather than open-source alternatives such as Linux and OpenOffice. At its Government Leaders Forum in Berlin, which kicks off on Tuesday, the company plans to announce what it is calling the Citizen Service Platform. It's not a whole new