Each project is broken down into a problem, solution, results, and future considerations for the attendees to vote upon. The problem presented by IU Kokomo’s Regional Transformation Initiative case study is centered around a shift from an economy of traditional industrial manufacturing, based on natural resources and labor, to an economy of knowledge, driven by innovation and entrepreneurship; further complicated by intense global competitiveness and uncertainty.

Read the full case study here

I am pleased to offer my congratulations to Dr. Ali Jafari, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) professor of computer and information technology and director of IUPUI CyberLab. Dr. Jafari was awarded the “Technology in Education Excellence and Innovation – Individual” award at this year’s gala. This award is given to an individual associated with an educational institution, including K-12 and post-secondary schools, who demonstrates excellence and/or innovation in the delivery or use of technology to further learning and student achievement. Click here to learn more about Dr. Jafari’s previous success in developing the education-based software platform for ANGEL Learning, a startup eventually sold in a $100 million transaction.

Additionally, I would like to extend my congratulations to Courseload, a startup company engaged in an e-textbook pilot at Indiana University. Courseload took home the “Technology in Education Excellence and Innovation – Team, Department, or Program” award. This award is given to an organized group for demonstrating the same level of excellence and/or innovation as the individual award received by Dr. Jafari.  Click here for more information about Courseload’s partnership with IU. Courseload is also one of the first three portfolio companies of the university’s Innovate Indiana Fund.

All in all, it was a great evening for Indiana University and the rapidly growing technology sector in Indiana.

About Ali Jafari, Ph.D.

Ali Jafari is professor of computer and information technology and director of the CyberLab at IUPUI. His research focus is on intelligent agents and smart learning environments both from conceptual and architectural perspectives. He is currently acting as the PI and chief architect for the Indiana@Work ePortfolio project funded by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

Courseload

Courseload’s seamlessly integrated platform delivers course materials through any web-enabled device (computers, laptops, iPads and Android devices, smart-phones, etc.) allowing all course material to be located in a single place.  With digital tools that enable search, highlighting, annotating, and creating links to online content, the technology is easy-to-access, simple to use, and costs one-third the price of traditional textbooks – the same textbooks sourced from the same publishers that are used today.

Matt Hunckler of Verge

While the previously introduced Speak Easy represents the physical hub of the Indianapolis tech start-up movement, Verge provides its virtual center, offering a network community from which entrepreneurs, developers, and investors can engage and interact.  Under the vision and leadership of founder Matt Hunckler, Verge membership has swelled to over 1,500 in less than three years.

By providing an inclusive platform and value-added programming that promotes active collaboration and innovation among its members, Verge has emerged as a vital resource to young entrepreneurs.  Assets such as Verge and the Speak Easy will enable the Indianapolis tech start-up movement to continually evolve into a vibrant ecosystem.  Indianapolis’ potential and future in this arena looks increasingly bright as momentum continues to build.

If not already a member, you can become one today by going directly to Verge’s web site for more information.

Also known as theCN, it’s a great open source learning platform that will help teachers and students connect. The IURTC works closely with theCN founder Dr. Ali Jafari, a serial entrepreneur who has been very successful taking his innovations from idea to practical implementation.

theCN headquarters are housed in the IU Innovation Center in Indianopolis. Educators and learners, sign up and give it a try.

For background information on the product and Dr. Jafari, see the news release.

ExactTarget develops and provides permission-based marketing software enabling businesses to interactively market to their customers on-demand via email, mobile, Internet, and social media platforms while considering personalized customer preferences.  Microsoft, Groupon, and CareerBuilder are among ExactTarget’s 4,700 business customers.

The company maintains offices across the globe, but remains true to its strong Indiana roots: CEO Scott Dorsey earned his marketing degree from IU’s Kelley School of Business in Bloomington and the company is proud to play a leading role representing Indianapolis’ growing technology sector from its Monument Circle headquarters.

ExactTarget’s continued growth and success greatly benefits Indiana by creating new high-quality jobs, bringing greater focus to the vibrant Indianapolis IT community, and opening new doors for vital capital resources.  The company’s successful IPO signifies a major win for Indiana on multiple levels.

IU Health's Dan Evans and IU's Michael McRobbie at the Feb. 16 economic impact announcement.

It is crucial for Hoosiers to understand the effect that Indiana University and IU Health have on the economic health of the state, which is why the data in the Tripp Umbach Consulting report merit particular attention.

The results of the study, announced yesterday, Feb. 16, make it clear just how much Indiana’s economy depends on IU and its partner IU Health.

Two notable facts are these:

• Together, IU and IU Health are the state’s largest employer supporting 100,000 jobs.
• Together, IU and IU Health generated $11.5 billion in total economic impact in the 2010-11 fiscal year.

Note that this economic value is spread statewide. For example, in the greater Lafayette region, the IU School of Medicine operates a Center for Medical Education while IU Health runs IU Health Arnett Hospital. There are similar connections in and around Muncie, South Bend, Gary and Bloomington. I encourage you to read the full analysis, which is available on the Innovate Indiana website.

As the nation appears to be recovering from a long slump, Indiana’s economic growth is third among the states and maintains a coveted triple-A credit rating. Look to IU and IU Health to keep driving Indiana to the top.

Colonel Alan Pratt, new Commander of Naval Surface Warfare Center-Crane Division meets IU Vice President for Engagement, Bill Stephan, at a community welcoming reception for Colonel Pratt held on January 19th in Bloomington

On January 19^th, community leaders from Bloomington welcomed Colonel and Mrs. Alan Pratt at a reception in their honor at the Monroe County Convention Center. Indiana University was pleased to co-host the reception with partner organizations: Ivy Tech-Bloomington, The Greater Bloomington Chamber, the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation and Mr. Lee Marchant, chair of the Growing Crane Committee.  The event was a great opportunity to demonstrate Bloomington’s support for Crane’s national security mission.

As I prepared my outline for my duties as emcee for the program, I was again reminded of the vast economic development engine that Crane continues to operate in southeastern Indiana.  Most Hoosiers have no idea of the scale of the Crane operations.  Think about these numbers:

1. It’s the 3^rd largest navy installation in the world by acres;
2. Critical concentration of 2,229 scientists, engineers and technicians;
3. $2.0 billion receipted in FY 11;
4. 87 patents issued, 123 in-Process which is seen as “the metric of innovation”
5. 3,105 Government Employees, $232M Payroll
6. 1,200+ Contractor Employees, $96M Payroll
7. And, thousands more jobs outside the gate that support the above

I list these statistics not just as a reminder of the huge number of Hoosiers that have good jobs related to Crane activities, but to remind us that we can’t take it for granted.  Someday, another round of defense base closures may come and Crane has darkened that list before. Indiana business, higher education and government leaders must continue to be innovative in the ways we support Crane.

Mrs. Cathy Pratt (left) and Colonel Pratt meeting Former Monroe County Commissioner Joyce Poling and Growing Crane Committee Chairman Lee Marchant.

Businesses can continue to be inventive suppliers, and governments can continue to provide infrastructure like I-69 and the Westgate at Crane technology park.  Indiana University will continue to connect with Crane on a daily basis providing faculty experts, interns, and access to our massive research collections.  In addition to building the Indiana economy we will contribute to national security.

CTSI funding enabled researcher Jennifer Huber to develop a device that remedies hypophonia in Parkinson's patients like Mary Yeaman (right).

Hoosiers are catching on: Indiana is becoming a hotbed of health science innovations. A big reason is the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, or Indiana CTSI. This bench-to-bedside research group includes scientists from IU, Notre Dame, and Purdue as well as from companies such as the Cook Group and Eli Lilly. The CTSI provides funding for researchers tackling multiple sclerosis, bone regeneration, breast cancer, and Parkinson’s disease.

But equally importantly, the Indiana CTSI provides a forum for involving regular citizens, non-scientists, in research. When people in Indiana realize that they can actually aid scientific discovery by testing a new medication or donating healthy tissue to a biobank, they get a concrete understanding of how their state, Indiana, is on the forefront of the life sciences – and commercial developments in medicine.

See the Indiana CTSI website.

Jafari’s new company has developed the CourseNetworking (CN) software, a free social network for connecting teachers and students from around the world based on shared interests and class subjects. Jafari’s new application creates an active, large-scale learning environment that is completely open to any user, nationally and internationally.  Another innovation is CN’s business model, which is to generate the bulk of its revenue through targeted advertising relevant to system users and their course subjects.

Although CourseNetworking is slated for launch in the spring of 2012, I’ve nominated Dr. Jafari as a  top tech innovator for 2011 at the Chronicle of Higher Education blogsite. If you appreciate Jafari’s contributions, please add your own nomination.

CourseNetworking website.
More about Dr. Ali Jafari on Wikipedia.

Two individuals are integral to this initiative:  Indianapolis-based entrepreneur Mickey Levitan and IU Kelley School professor Alan Dennis. Their innovation is the Courseload software, an application that allows for integrating electronic books and course materials into the mainstream academic curriculum. I’ve nominated Levitan and Dennis as “Top Technology Innovators in Higher Education” at the Chronicle of Higher Education blogs. I urge you to do the same.

Dr. Dennis, a professor of information systems, recently completed a two-year study of e-texts involving 1700 students in 22 classes at IU. Dennis’s research found that, if offered on the right kind of platform, most students preferred e-books to paper books. Students prefer them because they’re lighter, cheaper, more sustainable,  and they enhance the learning experience.

But innovation takes persistence. Dennis and Levitan foresaw the appeal of electronic media over a decade ago. When they launched Courseload in 2000, they were ahead of their time. Electronic books had yet to mature. As visionaries, they wanted to accelerate the use of digital course materials, lower the cost of textbooks for students, and to improve student outcomes. They’ve done all three.

Courseload integrates directly with Oncourse, IU’s Sakai-based learning management system. The Courseload app allows students to tag digital content, perform searches, collaborate as a study group, and view multimedia on any computer or mobile device. Faculty can add notes, links, and annotations to students’ e-texts, and faculty can use Courseload to gather data on how students are using course materials, data that can be used to fine-tune teaching approaches.

Great work at IU in 2011!