Ten win consulting, grants for innovation
BYLINE: JERRY SIEBENMARK, The Wichita Eagle
Ten promising Kansas entrepreneurs -- including one Wichitan -- will get something a lot of their predecessors didn't: education, access to venture capitalists and experienced entrepreneurs, and seed money to turn their ideas into new companies or new products.
The 10 Kansans are the first class of "innovators" for the Kansas Technology Corp.' s PIPELINE (Promoting Innovation, Providing Education & Leadership, Investing in New Entrepreneurs) program.
KTEC and PIPELINE officials will formally introduce the entrepreneurs at 5:30 p.m. today at the Wichita Marriott, 9100 Corporate Hills Drive.
The announcement is part of the Kansas Day of Innovation event held at the Marriott. It includes the Great Plains Capital Conference and the State of the Bioscience State forum.
The PIPELINE innovators include Joey Blue, a former Wichita State University baseball player who has created a business around MyAthletePlace.com, a social networking Web site for student athletes, their families, coaches and scouts.
As innovators, Blue and his nine peers will get:
Four, three-day formal education sessions over the next year on entrepreneurship and leadership.
Access to venture capitalists and mentors who will provide advice and counsel.
$36,000 to use for exploring or starting up their ventures.
Blue said his selection to the first class of 10 PIPELINE Innovators will allow him to develop his business much faster.
"I won't have to spend five or six years making these decisions, reinventing the wheel, finding out what works and what doesn't," Blue said.
Tim Pett, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at WSU, said the innovators will get invaluable advice, training and capital in a format they couldn't get elsewhere.
"I look for big things from these folks in the future," Pett said.
The other innovators, including doctors, scientists and businessmen, are: Clint Batman of Lawrence; Tim Donnelly of Leawood; Debra Ellies of Lawrence; Lisa Friis of Lawrence; Jay Humbard of Pittsburg; Olga Koper of Lawrence; George Laurence of Lawrence; William Rosenburg of Overland Park; and Toby Rush of Kansas City.
Tracy Taylor, KTEC president and chief executive, said the program was started to foster the growth of technology and bioscience companies and develop leaders in those industries. KTEC, a public-private partnership established by the state of Kansas, funds the PIPELINE program.
"We want it to be an ongoing program, because we think as Kansas continues to grow the commercialization of technology it'll need more and more leaders," Taylor said.
Wichita was selected as the site for the introduction of the innovators because it "has such an incredible legacy of innovation" and is a "breeding ground for future innovators," said Joni Cobb, PIPELINE president.
WHO ARE THE
KTEC PIPELINE INNOVATORS
Clint Batman
Job: Co-founder and president of ThinkGeo LLC, a Lawrence-based company that offers proprietary mapping software, consulting, software development and training
Previous experience: Founded Blind Bat Software in Lawrence, a software development firm, and before that worked as a senior software developer at Pearson PLC
Education: Bachelor of business administration degree in computer information systems, Fort Hays State University
Joey Blue
Job: Founder of MyAthletePlace.com, a Wichita-based company that provides a social networking Web site for high school and college athletes, their families, coaches and scouts. Blue, a former Wichita State University baseball player, is also the reporting team leader for enterprise resource planning at WSU.
Previous experience: Former research assistant at the National Institute for Aviation Research at WSU, where he worked on interactive Web surveys for NASA scientific research and feasibility studies for bringing patented technologies to the market
Education: Bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics, and a master's of business administration in commercialization from WSU
Tim Donnelly
Job: Founder and president, SoftVu LLC, a Leawood-based developer of online communications software for businesses
Previous experience: Practice manager for Xerox Connect in Kansas City and regional sales manager for Employer Data Documents
Education: Bachelor of science degree in business administration and marketing, University of Tulsa
Debra Ellies
Job: President and founder of OsteoGeneX, a biotech company at the Higuchi Bioscience Center in Lawrence that works to find therapeutics for treating osteoporosis
Previous experience: Former senior research associate at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, and before that conducted research and managed a laboratory at Ottawa (Canada) Civic Hospital
Education: Bachelor's degree in molecular biology and embryology and master's degree in molecular embryology from the University of Ottawa; doctorate in developmental neurobiology from Guy's Hospital/Kings College in London (England)
Lisa Friis
Job: Assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Kansas in Lawrence and partner in Sunflower Biotechnology Group LLC, which aims to bring new biotech products to the market from university research
Previous experience: Former research scientist at Orthopedic Research Institute in Wichita
Education: Bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering and master's in mechanical engineering from the University of Iowa; doctorate in mechanical engineering from WSU
Jay Humbard
Job: President and chief executive of Control Vision Corp. in Pittsburg, a provider of electronic and mechanical design and manufacturing services
Previous experience: Co-founder of PSI Systems Inc., a computer-aided design software company. Before that Humbard started DynaTronics Corp., a manufacturer of laser products for use in acupuncture
Education: Bachelor's degree in physics from Pittsburg State University
Olga Koper
Job: Vice president, technology and technical services, NanoScale Corp., an advanced materials company based in Manhattan
Previous experience: Graduate researcher and teaching assistant at Kansas State University
Education: Master's in general chemistry from Silesian University in Poland; doctorate in organic chemistry from K-State
George Laurence
Job: Self-employed consultant living in Lawrence who works with universities to identify research and technologies that can be brought to the market through start-up companies
Previous experience: Founded Monocle Technologies Inc., a start-up technology company in Indiana
Education: Bachelor's degree in chemistry from Purdue University; completing master of business administration at KU
William Rosenburg
Job: Neurosurgeon and partner in Midwest Neurosurgery Associates PC in Overland Park. He is also a co-founder of Sunflower Biotechnology Group.
Previous experience: Assistant professor of neurosurgery at the University of California-San Francisco and co-director of the school's neurospinal disorders program
Education: Bachelor's degree in biology from the University of California- Santa Barbara; medical degree from Harvard University
Toby Rush
Job: President and founder of Rush Tracking Systems, a provider of radio frequency identification systems to businesses
Previous experience: Product manager and director of product development for SAT Corp.; senior technical consultant and co-founder of MobilEdge Solutions
Education: Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from K-State
Reach Jerry Siebenmark at 316-268-6576 or jsiebenmark@wichitaeagle.com.