Innovation and Technology by Tribune Columnists and Reporters
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Copyright © 2014 by the Chicago Tribune All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or me- chanical, including copying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without express written permis- sion from the publisher. Chicago Tribune Tony W. Hunter, Publisher Gerould W. Kern, Editor R. Bruce Dold, Editorial Page Editor Bill Adee, Vice President/Digital Jane Hirt, Managing Editor Joycelyn Winnecke, Associate Editor Peter Kendall, Deputy Managing Editor Ebook edition 1.0 March 2014 ISBN-13 978-1-57284-480-3 Agate Digital is an imprint of Agate Publishing. Agate books are available in bulk at discount prices. For more information visit agatepublishing.com. CONTENTS ABOUT THIS BOOK INNOVATION IN CHICAGO 3-D technology reshapes Chicago manufacturing Tribune reporter duplicated in plastic 3-D printers debut at Chicago library; future uses still to be imagined Making a not-so-basic bourbon Rand McNally navigates digital turnaround Nokia anchors location data strategy in Chicago ‘Nerds’ play the hands they were dealt Giving would-be entrepreneurs a head start In growing field of big data, jobs go unfilled Alliances to get push from two sides Finding ‘real people’ to test civic apps A selection of civic apps that aid Chicagoans Pritzker’s big push for U of C data Keeping genius in Illinois PROFILES IN INNOVATION Andrew Sieja, founder and chief executive, kCura Linda Darragh, head of innovation, Kellogg School of Management Chad Mirkin, professor of chemistry, Northwestern Saqib Nadeem, owner, Paradise 4 Paws Nina Nashif, CEO, Healthbox Richard Thaler, University of Chicago Booth School of Business professor Marianne Markowitz, regional administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administra- tion Talia Mashiach, founder and CEO of Eved Amanda Lannert, CEO, Jellyvision Lab Amy Francetic, executive director of Clean Energy Trust Rishad Tobaccowala, chief strategy and innovation officer at VivaKi Ron May, 1956–2013 TECHNOLOGY IN THE NEWS Chicagoans test out Google Glass wearable computer Google headsets raise privacy concerns Drawing insight into Google’s Doodles Google certain to make cold-storage building cool Rethinking startup a ‘pivotal’ experience Entrepreneurs bringing meals to downtown office workers Delivery firms take another stab at same-day service Bioscience startups to open in Chicago in next year With 24/7 streaming, local TV finds growing mobile audience Belly raises $12.1M from investors including 7-Eleven With new logo, focus, Motorola touts latest phone at Techweek Motorola Mobility introduces Moto X smartphone $25M Hyde Park VC fund looking for Midwest tech startups I2A Fund goes private, becomes Chicago Ventures Chicago-based tech company offers email tool to collect employee feedback 2 students’ dream leads to Logitech deal UIC launches $10M seed fund to advance startups SOURCES PHOTO CREDITS ABOUT THIS BOOK This book was created using articles originally published in the Chicago Tribune. The material has been carefully selected to feature the best recent reporting on innovation and technology by Tribune columnists and reporters. INNOVATION IN CHICAGO 3-D technology reshapes Chicago manufacturing Digital production lowers costs, eases production for hardware startups By Wailin Wong April 21, 2013 The machine, no larger than a coffee maker and encased in black like Darth Vader’s hel- met, hums at a whisper. Swinging open the shell’s door reveals a slim metal nozzle moving smoothly over a platform, putting down melted black filament in thin layers that form a set of simple chess pieces. The plastic figures might not look like much, but to Zach Kaplan, the 3-D printing technology creating them represents the early promise of digital manufacturing, powered by desktop machines, user-friendly design software and creative people tinkering away in basements and garages. As CEO of Chicago-based Inventables, an online retailer of materials for product de- signers and artists, Kaplan is finding new customers among small businesses and bud- get-strapped hardware startups. He and other proponents of digital fabrication say the technology’s increasing accessibility is emboldening a new generation of participants in the manufacturing sector, reinvigorating the industry in traditional hubs like Chicago, as the creation of a single item or a small batch of products becomes as affordable as mass production. The 3-D printer making the chess set at Inventables costs $899 on the company’s website, and one spool of filament, enough to make 360 pieces, is $39. The accompany- ing design software can be run on a basic computer connected to the printer with a USB cord. “Inventables used to only be able to service the most well-funded R&D groups,” said Kaplan, who launched his business in 2002 to cater to big corporations. “Now we’re ser- vicing R&D labs in garages all over the world.” Unlike previous generations of 3-D printers, milling machines and laser cutters, many of today’s models fit on a desktop and are designed for micromanufacturing. That means a custom job or small run, from one to 1,000 units, can be as inexpensive as outsourc- ing production but without the fear of giving up quality control to an overseas manufac- turer. Inventables has a U.S. customer, for example, that uses a digital milling machine for a skateboard business, cutting three longboards from a $30 sheet of Baltic birch in 40 minutes. The technology’s flexibility and forgiving economics are particularly attractive to hard- ware startups that are using digital manufacturing for rapid prototyping and small-scale production of their goods. They say making a prototype with a 3-D printer can save thou- sands of dollars over handing off the work to a design company. “It’s awesome,” said Alan Hurt, founder of Light Up Africa, a local startup whose de- vice attaches to a moving object, such as a bicycle, and captures enough kinetic energy to charge a cellphone. “I never knew it was possible to make products at little or no cost.” Hurt borrowed a 3-D printer from Inventables to make prototypes of his product while participating in Impact Engine, a Chicago-based accelerator program for startups with a social or environmental mission. The digital fabrication technology he used was a major improvement over his earliest efforts, which involved fashioning a lunchbox-size case from plastic clipboards that he bought at Wal-Mart and cut apart. The ability to quickly and inexpensively make quality prototypes also allows startups to experiment without running up a huge bill. “There’s something about being able to hold and physically interact with a design that feels more real and allows you to get feedback more directly than looking at a 3-D image on a screen,” said Eduardo Torrealba, co-founder and CEO of Oso Technologies, a com- pany started by engineering graduate students at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. Oso makes sensors that measure soil moisture content and send alerts to a computer or mobile phone when plants need to be watered. The startup went through nearly 10 versions of its Plant Link sensor prototype us- ing the 3-D printer at the U. of I’s mechanical engineering laboratory. In February, Oso raised nearly $97,000 on crowd-funding website Kickstarter. The startup will use 3-D printing to create a small run of Plant Link sets for Kick- starter donors who want to get their hands on the products sooner. But Oso will mass produce the majority of its sensors through an Illinois manufacturer. The proceeds from the Kickstarter campaign will pay for the injection mold needed for that process. “We haven’t totally thrown away the idea of doing production in Asia at some point,” Torrealba said. “But for the short term we want to stay local and keep production in the United States, if it’s possible economically. People respond to that.” Like Oso, other startups are using digital fabrication technology for prototypes and turning to traditional manufacturers for mass production. That’s the case with Chicago- based venture firm and incubator Sandbox Industries, which is introducing a wireless home security system called Scout. Sandbox used 3-D printing equipment at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to make prototypes of its sensors, saving thousands of dollars over hiring a company to fashion a clay or foam mold. Lindsay Cohen, a vice president at Sandbox, said that while today’s 3-D printing technology is inadequate for large-scale production, she expects that to change. “Where we are with 3-D printing today is probably where the big card-reading com- puters were in the ’70s,” Cohen said. Digital manufacturing is part of a broader “maker” culture that unites hobbyists and professionals by their love of tinkering with stuff. George Page, founder of local startup Portapure, which makes a water filter for use in developing countries or disaster-struck areas, used 3-D printing to make prototypes of the smaller parts that fit into his device. “I’ve always been really handy,” said Page, a former water filtration engineer for the city of Chicago who also completed the Impact Engine accelerator program. “For me, prototyping is using components, plastics, resins and other materials to shape an idea.” The hobbyist end of the maker spectrum includes local “hackerspaces” such as Pump- ing Station: One in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood. Members there include “carpen- ters and game developers and microbrewers and old retired college professors and seam- stresses,” said spokesman Adam Dzak, whose day job is in information technology. Pumping Station: One provides equipment, including 3-D printers, for dues-paying members to work on projects. And while the club is focused on personal rather than commercial pursuits, it benefits from the same technological advances and creative im- pulses driving hardware startups.