Recently in University of Michigan Category

UM has begun to meet new entrepreneurs halfway by allowing them to "utilize the school's enormous resources [such as] faculty consulting, laboratory equipment, research projects and professional development classes."

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Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Competing Globally | Innovation | Start-Ups | University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is (finally) doing its part to lift Michigan's economy: it has recently opened many of its resources to area entrepreneurs not linked to the university.

A good way to turn around this poor economy is by creating new industries to bring money into Michigan. UM has begun to meet new entrepreneurs halfway by allowing them to "utilize the school's enormous resources [such as] faculty consulting, laboratory equipment, research projects and professional development classes."

What does this mean? Well, for one, that UM is feeling the slow economy. In addition, it has decided to take steps toward changing things. With any luck, area entrepreneurs will be able to use UM's resources to solidify their business in the market.

Peer-2-Peer file sharing programs don't offer much security to their users. Users are capable of titling their files as they please and use of a p2p network requires direct access to a users file network. Tranche solves this problem with their Java based client-server network.

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Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Information Technology | University of Michigan

File sharing systems like Bear Share and Limewire are unsecured file sharing systems because they offer little security to their users.  The two areas in which peer-to-peer (P2P) programs fail the most are in accountability and the need to directly access users files.  Additionally, shared files are not indexed, so the user relies on the file holder to provide secure and accurate data.

In enters Tranche, a client server network which provides secure data sharing for the scientific community.  Created by Jayson Falkner at the University of Michigan in late 2005, Tranche is part of the National Resource for Proteomics and Pathways. Tranche proved to be a reliable data bank for proteomics and is now being used in the fields of glycomics, metabalomics, and 2D gel data.

Tranche goes against the grain in their pursuit of security.  Their software is built off of Java Webstart and is a complete server side operation.  Several security issues are resolved by simply switching to server side software.  Tranche controls all of the data that is shared over their network and keeps their users safe by monitoring all of the files shared on their system.  In addition, users must request the ability to upload data to the server.  Once they have approval, their log in is typically valid for only two weeks.  This ensures that a user name and password cannot be stolen and reused by an distrusted user. Upon upload, all files are given a unique hash. This enables quick retrieval of data from the database.

Finally, users are allowed to encrypt their data and share their passphrase with limited parties.  So while anyone can log onto Tranche and download data as they please, you can restrict access with passphrases.  If at a later time the owner wishes to publish their data, they have the option to share the passphrase.

As virus's become more advanced and the number of infected computers rises, I'm sure many more programs will follow in Tranches footsteps. Their client-server environment keeps their users safe and happy.  On top of all of that, Tranche is completely free to use and is open source.

Yue needs some help applying for a patent for his Pattern Clock: "I wrote a non-provisonal patent by myself, so we know it's bad. We know it's really bad." Luckily, as MORE Program Director Jessica Pfeiffer explained to the Detroit Free Press, "We're here to be mentors and provide helpful connections between entrepreneurs in Ann Arbor and Detroit."

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Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Education & Training | Financing | Innovation | Start-Ups | The MORE Program | University of Michigan | Yue Fan

The MORE Program at the University of Michigan does more for young entrepreneurs than just give them grant money. Yue Fan said that "the MORE Program is a program that helps students get experience and get knowledge in starting their own companies."

Yue needs some help applying for a patent for his Pattern Clock: "I wrote a non-provisonal patent by myself, so we know it's bad. We know it's really bad."  Luckily, as MORE Program Director Jessica Pfeiffer explained to the Detroit Free Press, "We're here to be mentors and provide helpful connections between entrepreneurs in Ann Arbor and Detroit." Connections such as possibly finding a good patent attorney.

Yue told me more about his activities with the MORE Program: "We have weekly meetings and we get to ask the directors, Brian[Balasia] and Jessica [Pfeiffer] for advice at any time [...] during our weekly meetings we get to bring up what resources we need and what we're kind of getting stuck on that they'll work to find the resources we need to keep going."

"Every week we meet, one team gives a presentation about what they're doing so we learn a little bit more about eachother and we learn a little bit more about what we might run into as we progress along."

So where has Yue progressed to now? He's considering advertising the Pattern Clock on New York City radio. Although it would cost him $3,600, which seems like it would be a lot of money, the advertising would "make about 500,000 impressions." 

"It's amazing how effective radio advertising can be," said Yue.

Anybody can pre-order the Pattern Clock through the website. He's already gotten 1,000 pre-orders, of which "a few hundred" were in the first few days after being "featured on gizmodo.com, a tech blog, and other blogs." About the large amount of pre-orders, Yue said, "it's a pretty good indicator that people want to buy this."

When I asked Yue what he will do with his $5,000 grant from the MORE program, he told me: "right now, we're saving up for the possibly very expensive lawyer and attorney fees for pursuing a patent."

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Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Education & Training | Financing | Innovation | Start-Ups | The MORE Program | University of Michigan | Yue Fan

On Thursday I posted an entry called Michigan's MisadVenture Capital in which I detailed Michigan's poor venture capital and planned "to examine how universities such as the University of Michigan present opportunities for their students to navigate their way through the early stages of bringing innovation to market." Recently, I met with Yue Fan, who just finished his second year at UM, to talk about his invention, the Pattern Clock.

According to the website, www.patternclock.com, "Pattern Clock is an alarm clock that can not be turned off until the sleeper can repeat back a randomely generated pattern of lights." More information on how it works can be found here, and you can pre-order it (with no obligations) on his home page.

I remember talking to Yue about his Pattern Clock two years ago when we were both seniors at Ann Arbor Huron High. Of course, back then it wasn't much more than an idea. When I saw his picture in the June 23rd Detroit Free Press, I decided to ask him about the process that he has gone through with his innovation.

The Detroit Free Press article highlighted Yue and as one of the students run through the MORE Program. When I asked Yue what he will do with his $5,000 grant from the program, which is run through the University of Michigan, he told me: "right now, we're saving up for the possibly very expensive lawyer and attorney fees for pursuing a patent." He went on to say, "If you want to make a lot of money from [an idea] and have a successful company formed you should probably first check [...] to make sure you can get patent protection, because without it anybody can copy your product. If it's a consumer product it's very easy to copy and you will be forced out of the market by more experienced and bigger manufacturers."

I also asked him if he had ever searched Google for "How do I get money for my invention?" His reply was "Well, I think I might have searched for that exact phrase before. But mostly what you'll get is a site that tells you all the extents you have go through, and at the end it tells you that all of this, it's pretty unlikely to happen."

"We [Yue has gotten help from David Karlak and David Han, who attend Savannah College of Art and Design and Wharton School, respectively] did meet with a very nice banker at Comerica bank, and the problem with that is that we're still in school, and if somehow something goes horribly wrong, we're going to be graduating with more than $100,000, plus tuition, on our back. We don't feel that at this point in life its worth the risk."

As for getting monetary contributions from his family, he said, "I think I might have some rich, distant relatives, but I have no idea who they are."

Yue's opinion on what you should do to start a business? "If you go to the University of Michigan, you should contact [MORE Program Directors] Brian [Balasia] and Jessica [Pfeiffer], or go to the website, www.themoreprogram.com."