Ben Franklin proudly co-sponsored the
CleanTech Company of the Year Award on May 9th

About Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern PA

Ben Franklin is celebrating our 30th year of helping our region’s talented entrepreneurs bring their Dreams to Reality.  Ben Franklin is a national, award winning organization for Stimulating Entrepreneurial Potential, through entrepreneurship, technology and innovation.  We grow technology companies and partnerships through Capital, Knowledge and Networks that help innovative enterprises compete in the global marketplace, generating wealth and supporting regional economic growth.  Ben Franklin has invested more than $165 million to grow more than 1,750 regional enterprises, across all areas of technology.  It has launched university/industry partnerships that accelerate scientific discoveries to commercialization. The Ben Franklin Technology Partners is an initiative of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and is funded by the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority.

For additional information, please visit www.sep.benfranklin.org, Facebook, LinkedIn & Twitter.

CONTACT:

Jaron J. Rhodes
Manager, Marketing and Communications
(215) 972-6700, ext. 3214
jaron@sep.benfranklin.org

The EEB Hub Commercialization Center™ (HCC) presents “Breaking Into U.S. Markets In Building, Infrastructure and Environmentally-Related Industries.”

The webinar will give an introductory session on what to consider when entering the U.S. markets, and specifically how to best position and launch a revolutionary product or service that touches building, infrastructure and environmentally-related industries. It will cover best practices for sales channel development, as well as how to leverage marketing promotion, public relations, and digital assets.

Francine F. Carb, CEO and Founder of Markitects, Inc, will present the webinar.  Francine has over 25 years of experience in branding, launching and promoting technology and engineering products into B2B markets, nationally and globally. Her expertise extends from strategic market planning through sales and distribution channel development. She is an award-winning member of the business community and has been recognized by the region, state, and internationally as a top tier professional. Francine is an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, and Villanova University. She has a B.A. in Economics from Lafayette College and an M.B.A. in Marketing from St. Joseph’s University.

May 21th
8:00AM – 9:00AM

About the EEB Hub Commercialization Center™ (HCC)

The Energy Efficient Buildings Hub and Ben Franklin Technopan>logy Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania created the HCC.  The HCC is located at the Hub Center, Building 101 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The HCC has part and full time client office spaces for entrepreneurs and business focused on improving energy efficiency in new and retrofitted buildings.  HCC clients have direct access to Hub personnel, meetings and events for an immersive experience in Advanced Energy Retrofit (AER) development and commercialization.  The EEB is funded by the U.S. DOE, EDA and other federal agencies.

HCC’s suite of programs and services are offered onsite, and virtually through the Ben Franklin Navigator™ program.  Ben Franklin Navigator™ creates linkages with companies regionally, nationally and internationally who are interested in exploring the opportunities in our region, and being involved with the EEB Hub.

For more information, please visit: www.eebhub.org/hcc

Ben Franklin Navigator™ contact:
Dr. Omar Mencin
omar@sep.benfranklin.org
215-972-6700 x3011

The Greater Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies has announced the winners of the Philly Enterprise Hackathon.

John Quillen won the life sciences track, which was sponsored by Teva (NYSE:TEVA) and required contestants to build an app for simplifying project/content management. He received $50,000 in cash and $1,000 in Amazon Web Services credits.

My Flow, a team led by Charlie Giammattei, won the infrastructure track that required entrants to develop a mobile app for reporting water quality problems. That track was sponsored by Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, the Delaware River Water Alliance and FloWatch, and awarded My Flow $25,000 in cash and $1,000 in Amazon Web Services credits.

There was another infrastructure track sponsored by Bentley Systems that required participants to develop a mobile app for performing infrastructure inspections, but it didn’t attract enough qualified entries to merit giving out an award.

Both winners will get three months free rent at the VentureF0rth incubator in Philadelphia.

Read More: http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/blog/peter-key/2013/05/philly-enterprise-hackathon-winners.html

Philadelphia, PA, May 7, 2013 — The Greater Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT) today announced the winners of its first-ever Philly Enterprise Hackathon: John Quillen of the Euclidean Group won the life sciences track, sponsored by Teva Pharmaceuticals, and received $50,000 in cash and $1,000 in Amazon Web Services Credits. Charlie Giammattei of team My Flow, won the infrastructure track, sponsored by Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/SEP), working with the Delaware River Water Alliance and FLOWatch. Team My Flow received $25,000 in cash and $1,000 in Amazon Web Services Credits. Both winners will incubate for three months at VentureF0rth.

The Philly Enterprise Hackathon was designed to foster collaboration between Philadelphia-area enterprise companies and the region’s burgeoning software development community. Developers were presented with real business problems facing enterprise companies and challenged to come up with a solution prototype within three weeks. Bruno Levine, CEO of FLOWatch, one of the event’s sponsors, noted that Philadelphia developers were up to the challenge, saying, “Focus, vision, and determination are the true attributes of our Philadelphia home-grown hackathoners.”

The Philly Enterprise Hackathon was a community effort put together by a group of entrepreneurs, developers, venture capitalists, and enterprise companies that all focus on the Enterprise―and who believe that Philadelphia is the natural place to build an enterprise software company. This community includes, in alphabetical order: Amazon Web Services, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Bentley Systems, Chariot Solutions, Delaware River Water Alliance, FLOWatch, First Round Capital, Morgan Lewis, PACT, NextDocs, Philly Tech Meetup, Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE:SFE), Teva Pharmaceuticals, and VentureF0rth.

“We’re thrilled with the outcome of Philadelphia’s first enterprise Hackathon,” said Dean Miller, President and CEO of PACT. “Many Hackathons encourage developers to come up with ideas without considering potential customers for the new application. We did the opposite, drawing on the large concentration of enterprise companies in the Philadelphia area to offer the development community real customers and issues in need of innovative solutions. As a result, the Hackathon helped form some great businesses relationships and, equally important, exposed Philadelphia’s development community to the many opportunities in their backyard.”

“It is important that entrepreneurs have opportunities to apply their talent and innovative thinking to solve problems and address opportunities identified by larger corporations.  That produces a triple win: a win for the entrepreneur, a win for corporations, and a win for the region. The Hackathon was a great test of how to provide a platform for new ideas to quickly gain market traction,” said RoseAnn B. Rosenthal, President & CEO of Ben Franklin.

“The hackathon was fantastic. Three weeks was the perfect amount of time to tackle some tough application development challenges,” said Giammattei. “We look forward to bringing our hackathon software application to production with FLOWatch and can’t wait for next year.”

“The enterprise hackathon was a tremendous opportunity to get access to senior executives who have real business needs and are looking for innovative solutions, and the competitive environment added a motivating twist,” said Quillen. “I’ve enjoyed the process and am looking forward to turning my concept into reality.”

“Teva was pleased to be an inaugural sponsor of and active participant in the Philly Enterprise Hackathon,” said Jon Congleton, Senior Vice President, Global Medicines Group at Teva Pharmaceuticals. “It supported the burgeoning entrepreneurial sector of Philadelphia while also addressing a specific business need, creating great value and a learning experience for all involved.”

About Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania

Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/SEP) is celebrating its 30th year of helping our region’s talented entrepreneurs bring their Dreams to Reality. Ben Franklin is a national, award winning organization for Stimulating Entrepreneurial Potential, through entrepreneurship, technology and innovation.  Ben Franklin grows technology companies and partnerships through Capital, Knowledge and Networks that help innovative enterprises compete in the global marketplace, generating wealth and supporting regional economic growth. www.sep.benfranklin.org

About Teva Pharmaceuticals

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. is a leading global pharmaceutical company, committed to increasing access to high-quality healthcare by developing, producing and marketing affordable generic drugs as well as innovative and specialty pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Headquartered in Israel, Teva is the world’s leading generic drug maker, with a global product portfolio of more than 1,000 molecules and a direct presence in about 60 countries. Teva’s branded businesses focus on CNS, oncology, pain, respiratory and women’s health therapeutic areas as well as biologics. Teva currently employs approximately 46,000 people around the world and reached $20.3 billion in net revenues in 2012. www.tevapharm.com

About Greater Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT)

PACT is a premier resource for emerging growth companies in technology, healthcare, and energy technology industries. PACT connects emerging growth companies, venture investors, professional advisors, universities and technology-focused corporations to network, develop relationships, pursue business opportunities, and market and promote their businesses to foster growth and innovation. PACT creates a strategic hub for the region’s emerging growth companies, manifesting in a competitive edge for the Greater Philadelphia region. PACT is an Affiliate of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce (GPCC). www.philadelphiapact.com

PACT Media Contact
Emily Herman, 215-790-3608
eherman@philadelphiapact.com

Check out a few photos from the event here!

Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern PA is sponsoring a regional company casting call for the popular ABC TV program Shark Tank, hosted by NextFab Studio tomorrow, May 4^th, from 5pm to 8pm.

40+ regional companies will pitch to a panel of expert judges, selected by Ben Franklin.  The best companies will receive VIP passes to the nationwide Shark Tank casting call on May 11^th.

Thank you to our panel of expert judges:

• Jim Betlyon, Serial Entrepreneur and Investor
• Herb Cohen, CEO, Executive Leaders Radio
• Steve Harris, Principal, MidCoast Capital
• Mike Krupit, Entrepreneur
• Jeff Mack, Exec. Managing Director, Newmark Grubb Knight Frank
• Katherine O’Neill, Exec. Director, Jumpstart NJ
• Michael Pearson, President, Union Packaging
• Larry Portnoff, Co-founder, 4 Walls
• Adam Schran, CEO, Ascentive, LLC
• Ellen Thompson, Co-founder, 4 Walls

For more information, please click here.

Come to the largest Entrepreneurship/Investment event during the third annual Philly Tech Week Presented by AT&T as sponsored by Ben Franklin Technology Partners/SEP, celebrating 30 years of helping our region’s talented entrepreneurs bring their Dreams to Reality.

The event, the anchor of the Philly Tech Week Entrepreneurship/Investment track sponsored by Ben Franklin, Morgan Lewis and Safeguard Scientifics, will be held at Building 101 in the Navy Yard on Friday, April 26, 2013 from 1pm to 5:30pm, before many will attend the annual Philly Tech Week Signature Event held at nearby Urban Outfitters headquarters, also at the Navy Yard. (See a full list of Entrepreneurship/Investment events during the week here.)

The afternoon will feature speed networking for investors and entrepreneurs, big picture lightning talks from regional leaders, and action-driven panel and group discussions about continuing the region’s growth in entrepreneurship and investment.

An early agenda includes:

• 1:00pm-1:30pm
  Welcome from RoseAnn B. Rosenthal, President & CEO of BFTP/SEP
• 1:30pm- 2:30pm
  Speed Networking: Investors and entrepreneurs run through a circle of introductions.
• 2:30pm-3:30pm
  Lightning talks: How do we strengthen entrepreneurship in the Philadelphia region?
• 3:45pm-4:30pm
  State of Technology Entrepreneurship Panel:Discussing strengthening the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem
• 4:30pm-5:30pm
  Action Prompts: Participate in collaborative community brainstorming about our entrepreneurship scene.

Other partners who are making this Entrepreneurship/Investment event possible include MVM Associates, Volpe & Koenig and all of Philly Tech Week’s sponsors.

And after the event, please join us for Philly Tech Week’s closing reception:

• 6:00pm
  Philly Tech Week Signature Event ($20 early bird/$30 after): Come out to the annual premiere Philly Tech Week Signature Event presented by AT&T and hosted by Urban Outfitters, a cocktail reception meets an interactive local technology expo and demo party. Watch a video from last year’s event here. You can purchase tickets to the Signature Event here. Early-bird ticket sales end April 1.

Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern PA

In celebration of its 30th anniversary, BFTP/SEP is sponsoring this event to focus on the state of entrepreneurship and investment in Philadelphia. BFTP/SEP is a national, award winning organization for Stimulating Entrepreneurial Potential, through entrepreneurship, technology and innovation.

PHILADELPHIA, PA – The EEB Hub Commercialization Center (HCC), created by the Energy Efficient Buildings Hub (EEB Hub) and Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/SEP), is hosting a series of webinars to introduce the Ben Franklin Navigator™ virtual business services program for HCC clients.

Located at Building 101 in The Navy Yard, the HCC will house and support startup, growth and established businesses focused on improving energy efficiency in new and retrofitted buildings.  HCC offers a suite of services designed to accelerate market introduction of energy efficiency technologies.  It includes business and product development services, access to financing and entre to a network of prototyping and fabrication labs.  Operated by Ben Franklin, the HCC supports the growing Advanced Energy Retrofit (AER) sector.

“The Ben Franklin Navigator program offers virtual services, creating linkages with companies regionally, nationally and internationally, who are interested in exploring regional opportunities, and being involved with the EEB Hub,” said RoseAnn B. Rosenthal, President & CEO of Ben Franklin.

Mark Trabbold and Dr. Omar Mencin, from Ben Franklin, are hosting the introductory webinars on the Ben Franklin Navigator™ virtual business services program.  Following the inaugural webinar this morning, two additional webinars are planned.  Please click on the links below to register:

• April 30th, 3:30PM – 4:30PM
• May 7th, 1:30PM – 2:30PM

“Our goal is for the HCC to be the number one destination in the nation for any new or existing company to develop and launch a new technology or service that contributes to energy efficient building activity,” said Laurie Actman, Deputy Director, EEB Hub.

The HCC will be open to permanent residents in May.

The EEB is funded by the U.S. DOE, EDA and other federal agencies.

For more information, or to apply as an inaugural HCC resident or Ben Franklin Navigator™ virtual client, go to www.eebhub.org/hcc

About Ben Franklin Technology Partners
of Southeastern PA

Ben Franklin is celebrating our 30th year of helping our region’s talented entrepreneurs bring their Dreams to Reality.  Ben Franklin is a national, award winning organization for Stimulating Entrepreneurial Potential, through entrepreneurship, technology and innovation.  We grow technology companies and partnerships through Capital, Knowledge and Networks that help innovative enterprises compete in the global marketplace, generating wealth and supporting regional economic growth.  Ben Franklin has invested more than $165 million to grow more than 1,750 regional enterprises, across all areas of technology.  It has launched university/industry partnerships that accelerate scientific discoveries to commercialization. The Ben Franklin Technology Partners is an initiative of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and is funded by the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority.

For additional information, please visit www.sep.benfranklin.org, Facebook, LinkedIn & Twitter.

CONTACT:

Jaron J. Rhodes
Manager, Marketing and Communications
(215) 972-6700, ext. 3214
jaron@sep.benfranklin.org

Ami Miron’s Dream Inspired Millions of Interactive Cable Boxes

Ami Miron, an Israeli American entrepreneur, changed the face of television.

He credits much of his drive to his parents. He attended the Israel Defense Force’s Officers Academy, where he graduated first in his class. He went on to earn engineering and management degrees at the Israel Institute of Technology, Polytechnic Institute of New York University, Columbia University and Babson College.

Miron spent his early engineering career at Philips Electronics and General Instrument Corporation (later Google), leading advanced technology and new products for the TV and cable TV market. He developed the first practical Picture-In-Picture system for televisions, solved annoying ghost images, and developed the first high-definition television systems. For his achievements, he was awarded two Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

In 1997, Miron decided to leverage his experience into his own venture. He co-founded MoreCom, Inc., serving as Chairman, President and CEO. MoreCom was a software company, providing an integrated solution for the delivery of digital video and Internet content to the television set.

When Miron started MoreCom, he needed capital.
“I met with many local VCs, and was disappointed because they said I was only a good engineer, and needed a different CEO to build the company,” he said. “And then I met with Ben Franklin Technology Partners, who recognized my understanding of both the technology and market, and worked with me to refine the business plan,” he added. In fact, Ben Franklin rejected Miron’s first application, but he reapplied after receiving extensive feedback from the process, and Ben Franklin invested $150,000 in 1998.

“Ben Franklin’s approval convinced other VCs to come on board, and soon we had enough money to build the company. If not for Ben Franklin, this would not have happened.”

Miron built MoreCom from three co-founders to nearly 40 employees by 2000. That year, several larger companies bid to acquire the company and take the promising technology to the next level. Liberate Technologies eventually acquired MoreCom for more than $560 million in stock.

Liberate was later acquired by Comcast, which integrated MoreCom technology into its millions of interactive cable boxes. Best of all, most of MoreCom’s employees remained in the region during the transitions.

After MoreCom, Miron focused on raising his four children, and founded AM Partners, which works with companies, entrepreneurs and VCs to develop successful ventures.

In 2002, he joined Ben Franklin’s board, determined to help other entrepreneurs reach their potential. Miron said “Ben Franklin, unlike many VCs, is committed to working with the entrepreneur to build the company to a success. I think they are the best model”.

InstaMed said Monday it has raised $3.5 million in what the company called an internal round of funding.

The identity of the investors was not disclosed.

InstaMed, which has offices in Philadelphia and Newport Beach, Calif., said the proceeds will be used to support the growth of its health-care payments network, which links health-care providers and payers. The company works with more than 400 hospitals, more than 60,000 health-care practices and clinics and more than 100 billing services. Its system connects to more than 3,000 health insurers and other payers.

“In the past year, we have seen the number of registered providers on the InstaMed network increase by over 400 percent, and we expect this hyper-growth to continue for the next two years,” said Bill Marvin, co-founder, CEO and chairman of InstaMed.

Read More: http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2013/05/06/instamed-raises-35m.html?ana=e_du_pub&s=article_du&ed=2013-05-06&u=jRSEoKLJL4mUx9Z9TMGIMhjXD34

Philadelphia is testing a new tool for keeping major events safe. In advance of the Broad Street Run this Sunday, officials trotted out SENTRY.

Joe Sullivan, chief inspector with the Philadelphia Police Department’s homeland security team, says the mobile surveillance unit kind of looks like a big generator mounted on a trailer.

“Except this has a pole that extends far up into the air with one to four cameras on it,” said Sullivan. “The cameras can remotely pan, tilt, zoom. They have night vision infrared so that we’re able to use them on a 24/7 basis.”

The units are also self-powered by solar panels.

Samantha Phillips, director of the city’s Office of Emergency Management, says three of these units will be on the scene at the Broad Street Run, ready to help out with a full range of issues.

“It could be an investigative issue, but it also could just be looking at the flow of the crowd, seeing if there are problem areas,” said Phillips. “Certainly if there’s a medical issue it helps us, again, deploy resources quickly and efficiently.”

Phillips says the Boston Marathon bombings have heightened awareness, but they are not the reason Philadelphia is deploying SENTRY.

“We were looking at this before Boston,” Phillips said.

The units will be on loan to the city from S4W, the Doylestown, Pa.-based company that builds them.

SEPTA recently bought a SENTRY. It has been used to help nab thieves at one of the agency’s train yards.

Read More: http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/blogs/onward/item/54215-ahead-of-broad-street-run-police-show-off-new-surveillance-technology?utm_source=dlvr&utm_medium=twitterauto&utm_content=tstory&utm_campaign=social-inbound%0A