Showing posts with label Innovation Station. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Innovation Station. Show all posts
The Next Best Thing To A Personal Tour!
Belle Isle Park has been a favorite retreat for Detroiters for almost 120 years. Whether you're a visitor or a local, you'll learn a lot about the history, cultural attractions, art, and recreational opportunities that abound there. Narrated by Detroit radio veteran Dick Shafran, "Exploring Detroit's Belle Isle" informs you on all major points of interest on the island:
- 18 sculptures and monuments, including its world-class fountain
- 12 historical buildings and structures of architectural interest
- 5 historically significant locales
- 4 indoor cultural attractions
- and much more
The full-featured app employs GPS and helpful audio cues to guide you to over 40 points where narrations automatically provide the details. This 2.5-hour guide is a combination car and walking exploration. Biking the 9.5-mile route is an excellent option, too! Explore it all or pick and choose. It's up to you!
Click HERE For More Information!
By Rick Merritt, Silicon Valley Bureau Chief, EE Times
Detroit's progress in diversity is a lesson it can give Silicon Valley in exchange for its example of passion for startups.
Just before the Fourth of July holiday, I got an email pitching a story about progress with the turnaround in Detroit, the city where I was born. I was especially intrigued because the email hit my iPhone just as I was heading to the San Jose airport for a flight to see family in Kalamazoo.
I recently got more details from Pam Lewis, director of the New Economy Initiative, a project of a nonprofit working on the turnaround in southeastern Michigan. Lewis said after the 2008 financial crisis, unemployment rose in Detroit to nearly 25% and poverty peaked at 40%. Even worse, 60% of residents of the Motor City don't own a vehicle, she said.
I’ve heard from friends and relatives for years about the down economy in Michigan generally. I witnessed it first hand the last two years trying to sell my aunt’s Kalamazoo home. Walking around my old neighborhood, I saw several houses shuttered, some badly in need of repair and selling under foreclosure for less than $40,000.
Silicon Valley entrepreneurs consider that a good down payment on a Tesla. The average San Jose home sells for twenty times that amount.
NEI provides some impressive figures of what it has helped achieve, especially in diversity, an area where Silicon Valley is more of a follower.
In recent years, NEI helped create 1,600 companies, 39% of them minority-owned, compared to a national average of 21%. In high-tech, 28% of the companies are minority and women owned, compared to 3-4% nationally.
In the last nine years, the number of startup accelerators and incubators in Detroit has risen to 50 from less than ten. And the amount of venture capital investment has nearly tripled in five years while the national numbers have declined, the NEI said.
Click HERE For The Full Article!
The White House is partnering with the New Economy Initiative to host “The Detroit Story,” a side event highlighting Detroit’s business environment at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Palo Alto, California.
“It is time to tell the Detroit story, to put Detroit back on the global map, and to encourage innovators from around the world to come join the entrepreneurial movement in Detroit led by Detroiters,” said Julie Egan, deputy director of the White House Detroit Federal Working Group.
Detroit has a large footprint at this year’s Summit, with five official delegates. No other city has as many representatives, according to a press release.
Click HERE For The Full Article!
Entre-SLAM, an Ann Arbor based business storytelling organization, is launching a Business Storytelling Accelerator in Detroit, Michigan. They have partnered with TechTown Detroit, Dinsmore and Goldman Sachs 10K Small Businesses to deliver a series of competitive, business storytelling cohorts for Tech, Retail and Social Enterprise organizations. The Entre-SLAM Business Storytelling Accelerator schedule is as follows:
- The Tech Cohort begins June 24th
- The Retail Cohort begins June 27th
- The Social Enterprise Cohort begins June 28th
Each cohort will last for four weeks. Training will be held mostly at TechTown’s Junction440 at 440 Burroughs St. Detroit, Michigan 48202.
Subsidized by Entre-SLAM and partner sponsorships, cohort fees start at a low rate of $49 and go to $225. Fees covers coaching, marketing, strategy and sales training.
Interested parties can go to Entre-SLAM: www.entreslam.com/accelerator
All will accomplish:
- Discovering their 'why' and how to build a compelling, competitive narrative around it,
- Connecting their personal 'why' to their brand's 'why', and,
- Building focused plans for implementing sales and digital marketing strategies.
Select candidates will be featured at the Entre-SLAM Business Storytelling Demo Day on October 5th at TechTown where the event will feature a steampunk theme. Three winners will receive valuable prizes. ‘The stories building and coming out of Detroit and the state of Michigan, by extension, are stories of resiliency, determination and tenacity. Detroit won’t stop and neither will Entre-SLAM as we join in the city’s pursuit of positioning Detroit as a viable draw for entrepreneurship.’ says Christa Chambers-Price, founder of Entre-SLAM.
“Every business has a powerful story, and that story is integral to every facet of operations,” says Bonnie Fahoome, SWOT City Portfolio Manager at TechTown. “TechTown is thrilled to be partnering with Entre-SLAM to provide Detroit entrepreneurs with the tools they need to develop and deliver their stories across channels in engaging and impactful ways.”
Since 2012 Entre-SLAM provides coaching, training and events for innovators seeking to discover their 'why,' build compelling narratives and implement them across their entire operations.
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| Photo: Getty Images |
Sidewalk Labs, which Google created last June and has since spun off as a subsidiary--is reportedly scouting locations to build an entire city, a highly connected utopia that will make the aforementioned cities look obsolete. Think: self-driving cars, high-speed Wi-Fi, internet of things-enabled everything.
According to The Information, the Denver and Detroit areas, so far, look like the frontrunners. Sidewalk Labs has consulted with more than 100 urban planning experts and forward thinkers, such as Anthony Townsend, research director of Institute for the Future. Sidewalk Labs already has some heavy-hitting city planners in its own ranks, including its CEO, Dan Doctoroff, a former New York City deputy mayor.
Google created Sidewalk Labs to confront the problems plaguing cities: traffic congestion, pollution, lack of public transportation, limited connectivity, to name a few. Its mission statement is to "accelerate innovation in cities around the world." What could that mean? Maybe a city with exclusively self-driving cars, clean energy sources, world-class transit hubs, and high-speed wireless, for starters.
Click HERE For The Full Article!
Global initiative celebrates entrepreneurs in Detroit May 23-27
Detroit Startup Week, powered by Chase, will feature over 100 events with 2,500+ participants expected over five days. Marquee speakers include:
- Bill Ford, executive chairman, Ford Motor Company
- Jennifer Piepszak, CEO of Chase Business
- Danielle Weisberg & Carly Zakin, co-founders, theSkimm
- Tami Door, president and CEO, Downtown Denver Partnership and co-founder of Denver Startup Week™
- Mike Duggan, mayor, city of Detroit
- Jason Mendelson, co-founder, Foundry Group
- Pamela Lewis, director, New Economy Initiative
- Eugene Richards & Patricia Lay-Dorsey, artists, Facing Change: Documenting Detroit
- Devita Davison, co-director, FoodLab
- April Boyle, director, Build Institute
- Garlin Gilchrist II, deputy technology director for civic community engagement, city of Detroit
Detroit’s inaugural Startup Week™ will be the largest first-year event in the global brand’s six-year history.
“Our city is unlike any other, with both ingenuity and a welcoming spirit, brilliance and grit, and opportunities abound. Detroit Startup Week™ is designed to glue together those opportunities, celebrate what’s already working, and lay the groundwork for what’s to come,” said Kyle Bazzy, lead organizer.
Detroit Startup Week™, powered by Chase, celebrates and supports entrepreneurship in Detroit and beyond. All activities are free and startups, entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts are all welcome to attend to amp up their business skills, networks, and knowledge of opportunities in Detroit and the region. Ten learning tracks will be offered to entrepreneurs at all levels: technology, entrepreneurship 101, mobility, music, food-preneurship, art+design, civic innovation, neighborhood collaboration, social entrepreneurship and the Internet of things (IoT).
“Entrepreneurs are playing an invaluable role in Detroit’s comeback,” said Jennifer Piepszak, CEO of Chase Business Banking, whose firm has committed $100 million over five years to Detroit’s economic recovery. “Detroit Startup Week™ is a great opportunity to recognize small businesses’ importance to the city’s recovery and to ensure they gain access to the necessary resources to support and grow.”
"More than a century ago, Ford Motor Company was a startup business that applied innovative thinking and collaboration to get where it is today,” said Bill Ford, executive chairman, Ford Motor Company. "We are proud to support the next generation of entrepreneurs at Detroit Startup Week who embody that same spirit."
Sessions aligned with the ten tracks, including fireside chats and panels, networking opportunities, happy hours and even free headshots for entrepreneurs will round out the week. Events will take place all over the city at venues that include Civilla, Grand Circus, Techtown, Bamboo Detroit and more. Event headquarters are at the historic Masonic Temple, known for the week as #ChaseBasecamp.
To learn more to register for Detroit Startup Week, visit http://detroit.startupweek.co.
Startup Week™brings entrepreneurs, local leaders, and friends together over five days to build momentum and opportunity around Detroit’s unique entrepreneurial identity. Detroit Startup Week is led by entrepreneurs and hosted in entrepreneurial spaces all over Detroit. Tracks include technology, entrepreneurship 101, mobility, music, food-preneurship, design/art, civic innovation, neighborhood collaboration, social entrepreneurship and the Internet of things (IoT). This Techstars initiative can be found in dozens of cities worldwide. Detroit Startup Week is powered by Chase and made possible by Ford Motor Company, Butzel Long, Microsoft, Liquor 43, Opportunity Detroit, Telemus, Social Enterprise Alliance Detroit, Billhighway, Solidea, Pixo Group, Detroit Regional Chamber and Verii. To learn more or register, go to http://detroit.startupweek.co.
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| Photo: Trip Advisor |
What you risk when you have your struggles publicized as widely as Detroit’s is attracting more ambulance chasers than medics.
That is, when the call for help is too big and too wide, you can attract people who come more for their own gains than the city’s. But of course there is a danger too of not asking for help, of stubbornly keeping the doors closed, so the disease festers as the edges fray even further. Because for all the hype, Detroit, with its bankruptcy and blight, still needs a lot of help.
“Detroit isn’t going to be saved by one big thing,” said April Boyle, the Detroit native, all-mom band lead vocalist and Build Institute executive director. “It’s going to be saved by a million little things.”
One of the big themes of any entrepreneurship story in Detroit (a city pestered by reporters) is one of access and motivation. This was the case at the Tomorrow Tour event held at TechTown Detroit, as part of the first multi-city event series Technical.ly produced with Comcast NBCUniversal.
“This has to be about more than just affordable real estate,” said Paul Riser, Jr., the managing director of technology-based entrepreneurship at TechTown, a business accelerator founded in 2000 by leaders at Wayne State University with General Motors and the Henry Ford Health System. “There are reasons to build here.”
The city’s legendary automobile manufacturing reputation looms — Boulder-bred TechStars brought a mobility-focused accelerator and the 135,000-square-foot, GM-founded TechTown is adjacent to transportation technology incubator NextEnergy. There, too, are budding strengths in food and urban agriculture (shoutout to Campbell’s $231 million acquisition of suburban Garden Fresh last year), said Amanda Lewan, the cofounder of the Bamboo Detroit coworking space and editor of Michpreneur, a founder-focused news site.
Detroit also has the bones and the soul of all big cities — diversity (including a fair bit of gender-balance in IT salaries), research universities, culture and history and infrastructure (some of which is getting turned back on).
But for all that good sense, it’s hard not to instead focus on the passion that’s behind a city portrayed as in crisis.
Even those who think the fears are overblown say so with conviction. Ask Ida Byrd-Hill, a Detroit-native edtech founder, who stood up during the Tomorrow Tour and announced to applause: “We are not rebuilding ourselves.”
No, say those most seriously pinning their entrepreneurship dreams to Detroit’s future, it isn’t that the city needs to be remade.
“It’s an opportunity and the feeling that there is real work to be done,” said Jason Lorimer over $5 glasses of Tempranillo one night last month.
The founder of Dandelion, a seven-person civic-tech consultancy that serves as something like a general contractor on large projects, has been in Detroit for four years. First he moved from Philadelphia to follow an investment in a previous company of his, and then he stayed anchored to the network he built here. Lorimer is representative of so much Detroit change — and got pilloried for just that.
Well-intentioned as he may have been from the start, a 2013 essay of his on coming to Detroit to join in “its future” led his likeness to be used to symbolize a certain-kind of much criticized city newcomer: the white male entrepreneur and self-styled savior. Dozens of meme photos of him were shared by Detroiters who were trying to understand what it meant to be a struggling city with so much national attention and a new crop of excited residents.
Click HERE For The Full Article!
Red Bull Creation, Detroit’s very own 72-hour industrial hackathon, is currently underway at Recycle Here! (1331 Holden St.) The competition not only features six teams in an “Invited” division from throughout the country building at the event site, but also seven other local Detroit teams comprised of incredible makers, do-it-yourselfers, and hackers in an “Open” division building throughout the city.
On Saturday, September 26th, Red Bull Creation invites any and all to come and see the incredible contraptions that the teams have made surrounding this year’s topic, “Serious Fun.”
At 4pm, the clock will stop after 72-hours of building and all of the 13 team’s Creations will be on display at Recycle Here!
The event will feature a community BBQ, music, and other festivities as the teams are judged on their finished products and the winner is announced!
Click HERE For More Information!
Restarting The Motor City Teaser| A documentary about the innovators and disruptors changing Detroit from Long Haul Films on Vimeo.
Restarting the Motor City is a feature-length documentary, that will tell the story of how innovation and entrepreneurship is remaking Detroit. The film will let viewers envision the Detroit of the future, and experience the challenges and opportunities encountered by the people who are working to bring it to fruition.
Visit restartingthemotorcity.com/kickstarter to back the film
This teaser features interviews with:
Jacques Panis from Shinola
Jill Ford, special advosor on entrepreneurship to Detroit's Mayor Duggan
Ted Serbinski from Techstars Detroit
Dug Song from Duo Security and Techstars mentor
Jake Sigal from Tome Software and former founder of Livio
Motown. Motor City. But there’s another nickname that suits Detroit's character best of all, these days: Renaissance City. Certainly, the past 50 years haven’t always been kind to this once-mighty industrial capital. But while Detroit’s fortunes have risen and fallen, thanks to a startling new surge in Detroit tech, in the arts, in design and in independent business, the city is now poised at the start of a brilliant period of regeneration. Welcome, ladies and gentleman, to the new Detroit.
Detroit Tech
Michigan’s biggest city has been closely associated with the spirit of innovation for more than a century, and no one person was more influential in shaping its dedication to invention than Henry Ford. The unveiling of his iconic Model T in 1908 was the first major step in cementing Detroit’s status as a capital of progress, and other automotive leaders soon followed Ford’s move. By the 1950s, Detroit was a flourishing boomtown, a symbol of American technological ingenuity and a cultural capital full of Art Deco theatres, sweeping avenues, and grandiose architecture.
Now, that same spirit of technological innovation is helping to foster Detroit’s phoenix-like rebirth. The city’s proliferation of available office spaces and low overhead costs has created welcoming turf for a new generation of start-ups and entrepreneurs. According to recent statistics, Detroit is growing at a faster pace than Silicon Valley – and is currently home to some of the country’s most-watched start-ups.
Nowhere encompasses that spirit better than TechTown: a business accelerator and hub of innovation, it’s at the heart of the Detroit tech start-up boom. Situated in New Center, it has served 1,026 companies and contributed more than 1,000 jobs to the local economy since 2007. Not to mention that the very history of Detroit-brand innovation infuses its on-trend, open-plan office: located within a renovated Albert Kahn building that once housed Chevrolet offices, the Corvette was designed on its third floor.
Click HERE For The Full Article!
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| General Motors headquarters in Detroit, Michigan, left and Google headquarters in Mountain View, California.Photographs by Getty Images/AP |
As manufacturing grows more high tech, software will play a bigger role.
Historically, the economies of Detroit and Silicon Valley couldn't look more different: the Motor City has long been known as a hub for manufacturing and the auto industry, while innovations in technology have dominated Silicon Valley. Despite their differences, these cities are actually more similar than most think.
Increasingly, manufacturing has gone high-tech in Detroit, while the Silicon Valley/San Jose region has seen an uptick in manufacturing. This isn't what we might expect, but to understand this convergence, it helps to look at a recent Brookings report, which lists a group of 50 advanced industries, ranging from automobile manufacturing to software development. Together, they contain our nation’s most competitive and innovative firms. Nationally, these industries have an outsized impact on the economy—just 9% of the workforce, they produce 17% of gross domestic product and, since the end of the recession, advanced industries have created 65% of new jobs.
It would surprise no one that San Jose and Silicon Valley have the highest concentration of advanced industries workers in the country, with 30% of all jobs in the metro area in one of these R&D and STEM-intensive industries. While some might think Facebook and Twitter dominate the Valley, manufacturing actually employs nearly half (46.1%) of workers. These 134,000 workers produce everything from semiconductors to computer equipment to aerospace parts and pharmaceuticals.
The reverse dynamic is at play in Detroit. While the automotive industry accounts for over one-third of all advanced industry employment, services still employ almost half. Over 32,000 professionals in the Detroit metro area are employed in the computer systems design sector alone—many of which feed into the larger automotive supply chain.
Still, even this data obscures just how much the business of innovation is changing —and how firms are responding. General Motors remains one of the largest employers in Detroit, mostly within automotive manufacturing. But increasingly, the automaker has also been getting into the software space, according to patenting data, which shows that GM filed 592 software patents over the past five years, accounting for over 15% of their patenting activity.
Similarly, Google, a software company, is rapidly moving into manufacturing. Thirty-nine percent of its patents from 2007-2012 have been in hardware — computer hardware, yes, but also power and energy devices, as well as mechanical hardware—many originating from their ambitious autonomous car project. The very fact that the world’s leading software giant is moving into the automotive sphere (and that one of Detroit’s Big Three automakers invests so much in software R&D) shows just how integrated these two industries have become.
Click HERE For The Full Article!
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| Photo: BrickCityLive.com |
Craft Entrepreneurship is an educational program that equips creative people in underserved communities with the knowledge and skills to start Etsy businesses and earn supplemental income through their craft.
In each city, Etsy partners with local organizations that are working to empower lower income residents through creative and interactive programming. Each organization is responsible for recruiting students who have craft and manufacturing skills, and who need support in applying their talents to entrepreneurial endeavors.
This support can be best provided through in-depth education and hands-on experience. Etsy has created a curriculum designed to be taught in person by experienced, local Etsy sellers who we train and prepare for the classroom. Participants put their learning into action by setting up and running an Etsy shop and practice strategies for success across a variety of selling environments.
Detroit's Build Institute CEP is a 5-week, 12-hour course with sessions running Fridays April 10th, 17th, 24th and May 1st and 8th. All sessions run from 6pm - 8pm, except the April 17th class will run 4pm - 8pm for a special product photography session.
All classes will be held at the Ford Resource and Engagement Center (2826 Bagley Ave, Detroit MI). The cost of the course is $75 for BUILD graduates and $100 for non-BUILD graduates. You must pay the full cost in order to reserve your seat in the course.
Eligibility requirements:
• At least 1 handmade craft ready to sell
• No previous sales on Etsy.com
• Credit card (for your sales) & Internet access
Click HERE For More Information & Registration!
Yes,it's true @RocketFiber coming to downtown Detroit in near future.Fast as Google or faster. Details in a few weeks pic.twitter.com/fTPRSbauoN
— Dan Gilbert (@cavsdan) February 22, 2015
Dan Gilbert is determined to get his beloved Detroit up to speed, and making sure the city has fast internet is one way to do it.
The entrepreneur and owner of Rocket Ventures announced on Twitter on February 23rd the introduction of Rocket Fiber to downtown Detroit. He wrote on the social media platform, according to Detroit cbslocal, “Yes, it’s true. Rocket Fiber coming to downtown Detroit in near future. Fast as Google or faster. Details in a few weeks.”
Rocket Fiber should provide internet to downtown Detroit that is 100 times faster than what exists in the average home. The advanced fiber-optic network will be in the downtown benefiting government offices and businesses and will grow to other neighborhoods. President and CEO of Rock Ventures, Matt Cullen, said told Crains Detroit that it is a “generational leap forward.”
Click HERE For The Full Article!
Metro Detroit’s technology economy is among the tops in the nation, according to Automation Alley’s Technology Industry Report.
The report, presented Thursday at Automation Alley’s Technology Industry Outlook at the Colony Club in Detroit, was compiled by the Anderson Economic Group of East Lansing. It bench marked the metro Detroit region against 14 other high-tech hubs across the nation.
“You have a technology industry in metro Detroit that is the equal to all of Silicon Valley,” said Patrick Anderson, who found Metro Detroit comparable in terms of number of jobs, employers and occupations. “Right now you have the technology weight of Silicon Valley right around you, and it has been building for the last 10 years.”
Detroit was measured against other regions across the country, including San Jose, Calif.; Seattle; Austin, Texas; Chicago; and Boston for job creation, business creation, innovation and education.
The report analyzed data from sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the National Center for Education Statistics for sectors including defense, chemical, life sciences advanced manufacturing, related and other technologies along with STEM education.
In many of these areas, the report found metro Detroit ranks highly in the following categories:
- First nationally in the number of advanced automotive industry jobs and establishments.
- First nationally in the number of engineering technology degrees earned.
- First in the Midwest in the concentration of tech-focused jobs.
- First nationally in the number of architectural and engineering jobs.
- Second in the Midwest in the number of utility patents issued.
- Third nationally in the percentage of total employment in the technology industry.
- Third nationally in the number of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) degrees earned
- Third in the Midwest in the number of technology establishments.
Not surprisingly, metro Detroit had the most advanced automotive establishments with 462. But it is not just the traditional assembly plant — advanced manufacturing facilities are building state-of-the-art vehicles.
Click HERE For The Full Article!
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| Photo: neweconomyinitiative.org |
Forget Silicon Valley: 7 Better Cities for Startups
Silicon Valley is too expensive and too competitive. Consider locating your start-up in one of these great alternatives.
Maybe it's just me, but I've always found Silicon Valley (with the exception of San Francisco) to be rather depressing. Culturally, it reminds me of the boring parts of Los Angeles: dull offices, tract homes, strip malls, chain restaurants and gas stations. Yuck.
Despite the area's stultifying blandness, housing and office space alike have astronomical costs and there's a demand for talented labor that far outstrips the pool of available and educated workers.
"The Valley is victim of its own success, an expensive, crowded, hyper-competitive place that no longer works for all entrepreneurs," says Tim Sprinkle, author of the new book Screw the Valley: A Coast-to-Coast Tour of America's New Tech Startup Culture.
In his book, Sprinkle explains how to get your start-up started in seven cities where there's plenty of entrepreneurial action, lots of educated workers and where living is little bit less (organic) white bread. Here's some highlights:
4. Detroit
Why Here: Entrepreneurs who grew up in the area and consider it home are committed to a renaissance of the city and see technology startups as a big part of the solution.
What's Hot: Detroit homeboy Dan Gilbert (chairman and founder of Rock Ventures and Quicken Loans) is putting his money where his heart is.
Bonus Feature: Contagious optimism and the feeling of being part of something bigger than just starting a company.
Click HERE for the full article!
From Henry Ford to Motown’s Barry Gordy, Thomas Edison to Jerry Bruckheimer, the Detroit area has long been home to big thinkers, game changers, and rebels with a cause. Maybe it’s something in the lake water, or maybe it’s a reaction to the harsh winters and harsher realities—either way, Detroit has produced more than it’s share of entrepreneurs. There is something about the city (and its very public problems) that creates people who are able to step up and come up with solutions. From small business creators, artists, and community builders, Detroit has a whole new breed of innovators ready to lead the way.
Amy Kaherl
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| Image via Detroit Soup |
Soup is a simple dish with almost magical qualities. Throw a bunch of random scraps and ingredients together and the next thing you know you've got a delicious meal. That’s just what Amy Kaherl is trying to do with the people of Detroit, bringing them all together to see what magical things transpire. She’ll even feed them some soup. Amy is an entrepreneur’s entrepreneur. Her project, Detroit SOUP, has a simple mission: throw a monthly dinner party, invite four groups to come present their business plans, then have the diners vote, with the winner getting the donation money to start making their dreams into realities.
Click HERE for the full article!
Detroit was built on the backs of Henry Ford and his automotive brethren. But this time, when Detroit rises, it may well be built by young women.
Detroit may struggle to attract supermarkets and national retailers, but it is enticing one unlikely group in scores. The Motor City is the new, surprising face of female entrepreneurship—and women in their 20s and 30s are leading the city’s revival through new ventures.
Within the past five years, Detroit has become known both as the Wild West and the land of opportunity for business founders, a significant proportion of them female. Lax regulation, low barriers to entry and a surging demand for products and services make the city, which is emerging from the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, the ideal place to start a business. Add to the mix the legions of incubators, accelerators and resources available to all entrepreneurs sprouting up Downtown and in Midtown, and it’s clear why women are choosing en masse to locate their startups in Detroit.
“Detroit is in a period of reinvention and growth,” said Rachel Schostak, the 27-year-old founder of Styleshack, an e-commerce platform aggregating independent boutiques and designers. “While there are some challenges in a smaller market, the Detroit business community and leaders are looking for fresh minds and talent, and I've used that to my advantage.”
Click HERE for the full article!
The most innovative cities in America
From technology and infrastructure, to job creation and sustainability, these 10 cities are leading the pack when it comes to creatively solving urban issues.
Need is often a prime driver of innovation -- and Detroit needs a lot.
There's a new land bank charged with helping get people back into the city's thousands of abandoned homes. The land bank itself is part of a broader plan to reimagine all of Detroit's unused space -- a plan that's won points from experts.
Start-up incubators abound, with a vibrant technology district downtown. In the city's Midtown section, light manufacturing is making a comeback and other high-tech industries are taking hold, helped by funding from regional and national foundations. The two neighborhoods will soon be connected by a new light rail line -- a collaborative work between the public and private sectors. (Photo: Shutterstock) --S.H.
Click HERE for the full article!
The Showcase is the culminating event of the 2014 Michigan Social Entrepreneurship Challenge, the nation's first statewide business plan competition for emerging social enterprises led by Michigan Corps in partnership with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and numerous business and philanthropic sponsors. Over the last three months, 280 companies have competed for $60,000 in prizes to advance their causes.
EVENT: 2014 Michigan Social Entrepreneurship Challenge Showcase
DATE: Friday, June 20th, 2014 TIME: 1:00 – 7:00pm
Awards Ceremony 6:00 – 7:00pm
LOCATION: Max M. Fisher Music Center at 3711 Woodward Ave Detroit, MI 48201
Parking is available for $7 in the Orchestra Place Parking Structure located on Parsons just south of The Max.
Get your tickets HERE!
Michigan Corps is a private non-profit organization that leads programs to discover, support and scale social innovation across the state. Michigan Corps believes that our communities are strengthened principally by networks of social-minded entrepreneurs and engaged citizens that are connected with one another and the resources to help make Michigan a better, vibrant place to live.
For more information, visit www.michigancorps.org
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