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MAY 18, 2012

Transit tenter construction is expected to begin soon, with a design that melds modern and historic elements.

CEO aims to achieve turnaround

Harris Interactive to bring headquarters back
By TROT I. SMITH

ffer more than 1 2 years of speculation and planning, Rochester residents could see physical evidence of a new transit center next month.

the eastern parcel of the transit center site on Mortimer Street. Monroe County records list the property as being owned by 71 North Clinton Avenue Associates. RGRTA soid the lead owner of the property is I. Gordon Corp. RGRTA would not say how much the purchase offer was for. The property was Continued on page 19

Bill Carpenter, CEO of the Rochester Genesee Regional Transportation Authority, said the organization has made a purchase offer on 65-71 N. Clinton Ave., a vacant lot that would be

Since CEO Albert Angrisani rejoined Harris Interactive Inc. last June, the struggling market research firm has cut costs, shrunk its loss and increased its stock value. It isabitot'deja vu for Angrisani, who led the last major turnaround at Harris Interactive as its president and chief operating officer from 2001 to 2004. During that **''Angrisan. time, the company's consolidated revenue increased by more than 270 percent, while shareholder value jumped more than S200 million. In the years after Angrisani's deparGontinued en page 15

Firm targets raising funds for inventors

By SMRIII JACOB

Foreclosure ends effort to rebuild firm

Former leaders say Stone Construction was reviving when M&T called in loan
By ANDREA DECKERT

Mikael Totterman and his team believe they can hatch big breakthroughs by thinking small. Totterman and a group of local entre-

**.j innovocracy
preneurs have founded Innovocracy Ltd. to connect inventors with funding, help them get to the next phase of development, a step closer to the marketplace, and perhaps build a base for a business. "This is something that has been perContinuedonpage13

The now-defunct Stone Construction Equipment Inc. was on the mend and returning to profitability before the business was foreclosed upon in March, its former leaders say. The business in Honeoye, Ontario County, had struggled for several years because of the housing slump, but those who led the firm say it was not only poised for a comeback but already showing signs of improvement. When the company was turning a corner, M&T Bank Corp. called in its loan and foreclosed on the business, they said.

tions, which then would sell the products mainly to contractors and municipalities. Its products included concrete, mortar and silo mixers; handheld compaction equipment; ride-on asphalt and dirt rollers; and materialhandling equipment. Allan Stone founded the company in 1969 and initially sold only mixers. The business grew into File photo by Kimbetty Former president and CEO Lynne Woodworth: "We thought what was once the No. 1 we were on the mend and believed the bank supported us." mixer manufacturer in the United States and the only "It's a sad, horrible story.*' said Robert American company that made mortar and Fien, who was Stone's chairman. concrete mixers. It also was 100 percent Stone designed and manufactured light employee-owned. construction equipment that it sold to Fien worked at Stone for 32 years. He QjnSnued on page 17 equipment dealerships and rental opera-

MY 18. 2012
INNOVOCRflCY Cortinied from page 1

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colating as a challenge in the back of our minds probably for about four or five years now," said Totterman, chairman of Innovocraey and CEO of iCardiae Technologies Inc. Innovations at universities do not always come lo fruition as products in the marketplace, he added, because federal agencies traditionally do not finance commercialization as much as they finance basic research. The gap between work in the laboratory and a real product is often a relatively small amount of money. So Totterman and seven othersincluding Alexander Zapcsochny, president and chief operating officer of iCardtac; Ralph Dandrea, chairman and CEO of ITX Corp., Martin Edic, CEO of 24PagcBooks Inc., and Richard Glaser, a former investment bankerdecided to help fill the gap. Based on a crowd funding model, Innovocracy lets individuals, who can choose to be anonymous, donate as much as they want toward a particular project in areas such as health care, sustainability and alternative energy. If, for any reason, a project fails to reach its funding goal, donors are not charged for their pledges. For initial projects, Innovocracy plans to raise S3,OI)0 to no more than SI5,000 for each idea. Currently a non-profit but with paperwork filed to become one of the state's earliest benefit corporations, Innovocracy aims to work with universities in the region and beyond lo identify ideas that need help getting to the marketplace. The donations arc not tax-deductible now, but Innovocracy is working with academic institutions to make them so, Totterman said.

Pilot project
The group's first launch partner was the University of Rochester. Innovocracy raised money to fund the development and testing of a toilet-training device for autistic children and those with developmental disabilities. The minimum goal was to raise S5,500. As of midweek, the project had raised $9,452 from 53 sponsors. It is expected to cap at $10,500 and close on June 5. "A very targeted number of dollars can get a bunch of prototypes made better than the previous version, get that product in the hands of caregivers and children to make an actual difference, Totterman said. "So the money that goes into that, that is a donation, it is entirely charitable with the objective of something significant being done." Children who suffer from autism often are not toilet trained by their school years or beyond. Factors such as communication deficits, sensory and motor differences, anxiety and skill-building problems contribute to making this task a challenge. The product and curriculum, developed by Daniel Mruzek. assistant professor of pediatrics at UR's medical center, and Stephen McAleavey, associate professor of biomedical engineering at UR, aim to help a child use the toilet in a relaxed manner. A disposable sensor fits inside the child's underwear. The first few drops of urine activate a sensor, which emits a message to a pager that indicates to both the child and the parent or teacher that a simple training procedure should commence. The process is based on positive reinforcement. "I've had this opportunity through Innovocracy to generate money that allows me to further refine the technology, further refine the corresponding curriculum and pilot it out a bit more with children with autism and developmental disabilities," said Mru/ek, who is impressed by how well the Innovocracy platform worked. "The nature of this project, where it's at
Photo by Kimbetly McKinzie The Innovocracy team includes, from left, Julian Baldwin, director of innovation management; Alexander Zapesochny. director; Mlkael Totterman, chairman; and Ralph Dandrea, director.

in development, if doesn't really lend itself to the procurement of large grants." UR officials are excited about the opportunity to garner funding for projects such as Mruzek's. which may not receive large sums from federal agencies. "Sometimes it's hard for us as a not-forprofit institution to find that money, but if we can get some interest in people who have a philanthropic urge to help out in certain areas that are of interest to them and we can harness the energy and interest of all those people aggregating small contributions, that's pretty exciting," said Gail Norris, UR's vice provost of technology transfer.

Attracting interest
Norris is not the only one who has bought into the idea, Innovocracy has signed three other institutions as launch partners: Rochester Institute of Technology, Cornell University and Clarkson University. The organization, which is still it in its beta form, hopes to have a total of eight launch partners. It also is in preliminary' talks with institutions in the London area and Israel. Innovocracy expects to launch officially in the late summer or early fall with one to two projects from each of its launch partners. "The key consideration really at this point is whether the institution is a likely high source of really innovative, interesting technology, they're addressing fundamental issues." said Zapssochny. executive director of Innovocracy. The innovations, he said, could come from faculty, graduate students and undergraduates. A university's technology transfer office picks a few of the top ideas.

and the team at Innovocracy, which also has experts from New York City and the West Coast helping out, screens them to identify a couple of high-impact ideas, zeroing in on a lead project. Universities spread the word through competitions and meetings that showcase new technologies. "We're trying to making sure we provide legitimate, good feedback to the teams on how they can make their project better or in those cases if the project isn't suitable for the platform, how they could improve it for whatever venues they may have to try to achieve their objectives," Totterman said. "We're trying to be value-added in the process." For its first project, the toilet-training device, Innovocracy set the funding clock for 60 days and was able to hit its target in 35. Future projects will probably be in the 45-to-70-day range, Totterman said. The length would depend on the type of research and the time it might take to raise money. The process drew money from students in amounts as small as S5 to S10 and contributions going up to SI,000 to 53,000 from wealthy business owners. "It was a very collaborative process, and I would say all segments of the community participated in funding the project, which was very rewarding to see," Totterman said, Zapesochny said people are likely to have different motivations to participate whether they are supporting a specific effort or projects in one areas such as health care or sustainability, backing their alma mater or wanting to foster cntrcprencurship. Mark Chancy, CEO of Calvary Automation, donated S2.500 toward MYuzek's idea. The father of an autistic son. Chancy

saw value in having such a product in the marketplace and in helping a business to become self-sustaining. "I like to donate sometimes just to charities; I think that's a great aid. But I think this way, if you donate to a startup business, it's sometimes just more than a onetime gift. It can proliferate itself throughout the world faster than just a single charity," said Chancy, who plans to donate again if an interesting idea surfaces. He added; "If every business in Rochester just did it once a year, we'd be coming out with great technologies that help all types of people in need. That's all you've got to dodo it once." For Paul Cypher, president and CEO of CypherWorx Inc., contributing was a chance to support parents of autistic children and also to show gratitude for help his company has received. His firm, which is approaching venture capitalists, received initial help from Excell Partners Inc. and angel investors. "I really found this approach to this funding to be really unique and interesting and wanted in some way. in some small way to give back for the support that we've gotten for our e-leaming solutions company," said Cypher, who donated S250 and would give again. For the first few projects, Innovocracy intends to donate 100 percent of the proceeds toward the inventor's efforts. Later, the organization expects to keep roughly 7 percent for updates to its technology platform, Zapesochny said. Innovocracy's long-term goal is to involve 50 to HO universities. "We're hopeful that this essentially becomes a self-sustaining system that is able to move these and shepherd these innovations forward and build a community of interest around that, whether it's around the sponsors or folks who are trying to help the inventors who arc interested in manufacturing or ultimately potentially building a business from that," Totterman said. "So we're pretty jazzed about it." Innovoeracy partnered with director Dandrea's firm, ITX, to design and build its website. Each university has its own page and can track progress of projects being funded. There was a learning curve for making sure payment gateways work and having opportunities to integrate the site with social media outlets, Tofterman said. Though he and Zapesochny know that it will take time to perfect the process, they are encouraged by the support and feedback they have received from Innovocracy's current academic partners.

Global community
Crowd funding has been gaining popularity. Roughly SI.5 billion was raised in 2011 by crowd-funding platforms worldwide, a report from Massolution states, There were nearly 350 online fundraising sites at the end of last year, up more fhan 50 percent from the start of the year. Innovocracy joins a host of organizations, such as Kiva, for example, which helps fund entrepreneurs in the developing world. For now, the team's enthusiasm is infectious. Zapesochny in particular would be gratified if products reached the market because of this funding platform. Already with Mruzek's idea, a couple of individuals approached Innovocracy to express interest in investing in it as a business and potentially manufacturing the product, "It would be great to see things come to fruition with a little bit of help, and to see many of them come to fruition at the same time would bo kind of my goal and objective," Totterman said. "1 can only do one actual company at a time, but I'd love to be able to help the ecosystem. This, I think, is our way of trying to help the ecosystem and move flic needle forward."
sjacob@rbj.net /'5S5-5SS-8303