Emerging Technology : Innovation + Job News

Keeping track of what a work crew is doing is a challenge for landscaping and construction firms. Akehurst Landscaping Services, Inc. in Joppa is solving that problem by implementing iCREWtek tracking software.

The software helps the firm keep track of its crews and  empowers them to be more efficient and accountable in estimating, scheduling and business management duties, says Akehurst Landscaping Services Business Developer David Sheredy.
 
Using iCREWtek, Akehurst Landscaping is able to do real time monitoring of all of the company's work crews.

iCREWtek is an extension of Asset, a business management application for landscaping services produced by Annapolis-based software developer Include Software.

Customer invoices, job site photos, materials management and time sheets can be processed paperlessly and remotely, which allows for more accurate estimates and faster billing. The software also has English/Spanish communication capability to increase communications accuracy.


Writer: Amy McNeal
Source: David Sheredy, Akehurst Landscaping Services Inc.

CampaignON, a campaign management software company in Towson, has partnered with Baltimore's Weiss PR Associates Inc. to help candidates get their campaign messages out  --- just as the 2012 election season heats up. 

Weiss PR will be providing candidates with a wide range of public relations services, including strategic communications planning, media outreach, public affairs, issue management, community relations, and crisis communications, says Weiss PR President Ray Weiss

Weiss PR has worked with candidates on the state and local level, including PR support for former Baltimore County Executive Dennis Rasmussen when he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2006.

Writer: Amy McNeal
Source: Ray Weiss, Weiss PR Associates Inc.

Advertising banners flying from the back of a plane are a classic sight at the beach, but don't work so well in a crowded metropolitan area. Enter Columbia's Bootcamp Lights. The Columbia start up is taking that concept to a new level with digital banner advertising from a custom-built helicopter that is flown over urban events.

“We take a message, the foundation of any campaign, and we display that message directly above prime locations,” says Bootcamp co-founder Kyle Benham. “We are capable of reaching areas unattainable by other forms of media.”

The company has flown messages for a variety of area businesses specially tailored to their needs. Using a helicopter allows for more precise message locations, as it did with last year's advertising campaign for Scores flown over the U2 concert at M&T Bank Stadium.

Bootcamp Lights celebrated their new social media tool, currently in beta testing, at this year's New Year's Eve fireworks display in downtown Baltimore. Users were able to send their New Year’s greetings to the world using the online tool, Facebook and Twitter. Bootcamp Lights plans to continue developing their social media platform in 2012. The application allows customers to connect with a company and livestream chat on the company's site.

Writer: Amy McNeal
Source: Kyle Benham, Bootcamp Lights

Baltimore's Pure Bang Games is growing. The social games developer recently added star game designer Eric Ruth, developer of Pixel Force, to their roster and they're looking for more help as they launch new projects.

The company is looking for a top user interface designer as well as “rock star” front-end and back-end programmers, says Pure Bang CEO Ben Walsh. Ideally, the new hire will know AS3 Flash and/or PHP and MySQL, but if they know object-oriented programming, Pure Bang can teach them what they need to know to be mobile and Facebook programmers, Walsh says.

Pure Bang Games has a busy 2012 planned. The company is planning to launch their third mobile app game in the first quarter of this year. Pure Bang Games also plans to launch a new game by Eric Ruth.

Writer: Amy McNeal
Source: Ben Walsh, Pure Bang Games

The Maryland Biotechnology Development Center is accepting applications at their website for grant awards of up to $200,000 through Feb. 15th. These awards are available in two categories, biotechnology commercialization and translational research.

Biotechnology commercialization is focused on supporting projects that are in late-stage development and are poised to enter the market and begin generating revenue within three years. The translational research category is designed to help start ups that are bridging the gap between research institutions and private companies in Maryland, with the goal of taking promising research down a commercial path.

This is the third year for these awards, which have provided nearly $3.1 million in funding to 13 life sciences companies and three university research projects in Maryland.

Source: Maryland Biotechnology Development Center
Writer: Amy McNeal

The Maryland Technology Development Corp. has awarded a dozen Maryland researchers nearly $500,000 in grants to further their work in technology development. These grants were made through two of TEDCO's programs, the University Technology Development Fund and TechStart.

Technology researchers from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Salisbury University and Towson University each received up to $50,000 in technology development funding. Teams from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, University of Maryland College Park and Johns Hopkins University each received up to $15,000 in funding from the TechStart program. 

The technology development aims to help researchers develop and assess the commercial viability of new inventions, test prototypes and perfect research designs. Since the inception of the UTDF program, 95 projects have been completed and 43 have been licensed or optioned to private companies. The projects have launched 29 Maryland start-ups.

The TechStart program provides funding to university and federal lab-based teams that include an inventor who can evaluate the feasibility of a start-up, an experienced entrepreneur to provide business guidance and a technology transfer manager. TechStart was started in 2007 and has completed 29 projects resulting in 20 new tech start-ups.

Five new start-ups have been launched as a result of this round of funding awards. These new companies include BOSS Medical, CervoCheck, Clear Guide Medical, Lifelong Technologies and NexImmune.

Source: TEDCO
Writer: Amy McNeal

The Maryland/Israel Trendlines Fund L.P. is making its first major investment in NovoSpeech Ltd., an Israeli developer of speech recognition technology.

The $550,000 investment will help NovoSpeech develop a new algorithm that will make speech recognition technology more accurate. The company expects to achieve greater than 95 percent success rate with its speech recognition software.

NovoSpeech is working with a major manufacturer to embed its software in its Bluetooth devices and use the speech recognition technology as firmware. NovoSpeech will be launching its first smart phone application at the Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Spain.

The Maryland/Israel Trendlines Fund is operated by the Maryland/Israel Development Center and the Trendlines Group. The Fund is designed to provide capital investment in early stage startups in Israel in the life sciences, information technology, agritech and clean tech industries.

“Speech technology is the next frontier in computing. Novospeech’s technology brings the promise of speech recognition to the market today,” says Maryland/Israel Development Center head Barry Bogage.

Source: Maayan Jaffe, The Associated
Writer: Amy McNeal

Baltimore now has 9 new chargers available for drivers of electric vehicles. Mayor Stephanie
Rawlings- Blake, Department of General Services Director Theodore “Ted” Atwood, Parking
Authority of Baltimore City Executive Director Peter Little, and John Murach of Baltimore Gas
and Electric were on hand at the dedication celebration for the new chargers. The Mayor
also took a spin in a new Chevy Volt, which is being considered as a fleet vehicle by the
Department of General Services.

The 9 new car chargers are located at city owned garages around downtown Baltimore.
Electric vehicle chargers have been installed at the Arena Garage, the Baltimore Street
Garage, the Caroline Street Garage, the Lexington Street Garage, the Little Italy Garage, the
Penn Station Garage, the Redwood Street Garage, the Water Street Garage, and the West
Street Garage.

The celebration ceremony for the 9 new chargers is a part of the city's efforts to reduce
energy consumption. During the month of October, which has been designated “Energy
Awareness Month,” Baltimore City officials have also held energy awareness and green
initiatives seminars. Baltimore's city government is also holding a City Employee Energy
Challenge, pitting different city departments against one another in a competition to
reduce energy use. According to the Department of General Services, the Baltimore City
government is on target to meet its goal of a 20% reduction in energy use by 2015.

Writer: Amy McNeal
Source: Department of General Services, Baltimore City