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Follow on Google News | 550+ Attend Ben Franklin i xchangeBy: Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeast PA Chad Paul, President and CEO of BFTP/NEP, announced that Ben Franklin TechVentures® The i xchange combined the presentation of Ben Franklin’s nineteenth annual Innovation Awards and executive networking sessions with a keynote address by Todd Buchholz. In his presentation, “Competing in a Chaotic Economy,” Buchholz addressed why we need competition to keep us going and going strong. Weaving in everything from neuroeconomics to evolutionary biology to renaissance art to General Motors, Buchholz said that the race to compete has not only made us stronger and smarter, it’s what we love and need. He explained why laid-back firms get entangled in their own red tape and why contented CEOs end up driving their companies to bankruptcy court. He argued that businesses need internal competition and described how to inspire creative competition rather than a shark-infested culture. The 2013 Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania Innovation Awards were presented: Entrepreneurial Achievement CyOptics, Inc., Breinigsville Ed J. Coringrato, Jr, Chief Executive Officer The early- to mid-2000s were filled with uncertainty in the telecom optoelectronics sector. CyOptics not only survived this difficult time; it thrived by building intellectual property and market share. In addition to developing its own technology and products, the company made key acquisitions that helped it to become a global leader in its sector. CyOptics manufactures Indium Phosphide-based optical components that enable applications in the fiber, cable, data center, and long haul/metro segments of the communications network, as well as in defense and aerospace, high-performance computing, and security sectors. CyOptics is one of the few companies in the optoelectronics component industry with vertically integrated technology and manufacturing platforms that span from device fabrication to proprietary, highly automated assembly and test facilities. Thanks to astute leadership and outstanding execution, CyOptics has grown rapidly and expanded its client base to more than 180 customers worldwide including many of the nation’s largest fiber optic-based bandwidth carriers. Despite a recessionary economy, the company achieved a compound annual sales growth rate of 34% from 2005 to 2012. In early 2005, 86 people worked at CyOptics in the Lehigh Valley. Today, the company employs more than 330 regionally and 837 worldwide. Industry leader Avago Technologies , a leading analog semiconductor manufacturer with $2.4 billion in sales, recently announced plans to acquire CyOptics for $400 million. This sale is the largest acquisition in the optical components industry since 2001, and represents great opportunities for the local operations. Incubator Graduate Computer Aid, Inc., Allentown Anthony J. Salvaggio, President From its start in the early 1980s, Computer Aid, Inc. (CAI) has focused on building a business that provides dramatically improved productivity for the information technology software sector. For most of its life, CAI has been a worldwide leader in IT metrics, process, and productivity. That capability typically provides CAI’s clients with a 30 percent cost reduction and improved quality and capability. Now a global operation, Computer Aid traces its beginning and initial success to support within the Ben Franklin Business Incubator. The company is a classic incubator success story, benefitting not only from the affordable working space, but also from the assistance and mentorship that helped accelerate the start-up’s growth. Product Innovation Micro Interventional Devices, graduate of Ben Franklin TechVentures® Michael Whitman, President and Chief Executive Officer Beginning at Ben Franklin TechVentures in 2010, Micro Interventional Devices has developed a new, minimally invasive product for surgeons and cardiologists to use in life-saving and life-extending structural heart valve repair and replacement procedures. The company’s Permaseal™ closure device is a disruptive technology that will enable crucial procedures to be conducted through a small incision between the ribs as opposed to open heart surgery. Before the product, only 10% of patients in need of aortic valve repair were considered candidates for the high-risk procedure. Permaseal will reduce operating room time, abate blood loss, and simplify complex structural heart repair procedures, addressing critical unmet needs in structural heart repair. Manufacturing Achievement East Penn Manufacturing Co., Lyon Station Robert P. Flicker, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer East Penn Manufacturing has been producing and recycling lead-acid batteries for a wide variety of markets for more than 67 years. The company is a very significant regional employer that has worked with Ben Franklin repeatedly since 1987, partnering with Lehigh University and the Enterprise Systems Partners, the Penn College of Technology’s Plastics Innovation and Resource Center, and Northampton Community College’s Emerging Technology Applications Center. These connections assisted East Penn in implementing innovations that increase efficiencies, reduce costs, and enhance profitability. Partnership Edward Thompson, CPA Consultant, Clarks Summit As a seasoned finance and accounting advisor to a number of Ben Franklin early-stage clients, Ed Thompson is enormously helpful, supportive, and proficient. Many start-ups experience the exhaustion of their initial capital investments, revenues that are not ramping up as quickly as planned, and panic setting in. Thompson enters with analysis and advice, helping young firms successfully navigate their typically difficult cash flow challenges. End
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