Emerging Technology : Buzz

Online technology publication InformationWeek recently released its annual list of 250 companies that excel at utilizing information technology, and four Minnesota-based businesses got a nod.
 
Eden Prairie-based Virtual Radiologic came in at no. 15 on the list, with Minnetonka-based Digital River at no. 129. Capella Education Company, headquartered in Minneapolis, is at 192nd, and Ramsey-based Vision-Ease Lens squeaked in at no. 233.
 
The magazine looked at U.S. companies that boasted a revenue of $250 million or more, and contenders were required to complete an application that articulated their business technology strategies. Applicants even had to do an essay submission, which must have left many CEOs recalling their college application days.
 
In unveiling the list, InformationWeek's Editor in Chief, Rob Preston, noted that every enterprise is now a digital business, or needs to become one fast. "The organizations in our ranking are leading the way," he stated.

The University of Minnesota's recent decision to begin offering free online courses via development firm Coursera caused a nice amount of stir after the announcement. Local business and news publications highlighted the story, as well as popular technology blog TechCrunch.
 
A story in the Pioneer Press noted that the university is among a growing number of educational institutions that will be offering free online courses. These types of courses have attracted millions of students, the article states, and five U. of M. professors have already signed on to create the courses.
 
"This partnership will give people from around the world the opportunity to learn from the U's world-class faculty at a time when we are working harder than ever to increase access to higher education, reach broader audiences, and strengthen our land-grant mission," University Provost Karen Hanson told the Pioneer Press.
 

Business magazine Forbes released its annual list of "America's Most Promising Companies," and two Minnesota businesses got nods.
 
Hastings-based Anytime Fitness ranked 14th on the list of 100. Forbes noted that the company's steady growth and high sales were notable, as is the franchise model's numerous locations.
 
Code 42 Software, based in Minneapolis, came in at 53rd on the list. The company creates cloud-based backup systems for consumers and companies, and notable clients include Google and Apple, Forbes noted.
 
Companies were ranked based on factors like market size, key partnerships, quality of management team, presence of investors, and demonstrated growth. The magazine considered Florida-based mobile platform developer 3Cinteractive the most promising company in the country.

MedCity News, an online publication focusing on medical innovation, recently singled out Minneapolis-based Clear.MD for its distinctive technology platform.
 
The article noted that about 35 percent of U.S. adults have gone online to diagnose a medical issue, and that Clear.MD is one of two interesting startups trying to help consumers break the "online diagnosis" habit.
 
The company has developed a tech platform that doctors can use to create short videos about various health topics. Clear.MD also offers a tool that users can use to find doctors close to them geographically.
 
With the system, patients get accurate information about a disease, a surgical procedure, or symptoms, the article states, while doctors can "rest easy knowing that patients can go home and access videos with instructions for postsurgery, for instance."

Audit, consulting, and tax services firm Deloitte released its annual ranking of fastest-growing technology companies, and three Minnesota businesses made the list.
 
SPS Commerce, Knowledge Marketing, and Outsell all showed strong revenue growth over the past five years. In creating the list, Deloitte looked at both public and private companies, and considered growth from 2007 to 2011.
 
 The Deloitte Technology Fast 500 is now in its 18th year, and is considered one of the most notable indicators of technology business health. Innovative companies in a range of industries are considered, including hardware, software, life sciences, telecom, and clean technology.

Technology career site Dice.com highlighted a recent report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that put Minnesota in the top five states for fastest job growth in computer systems design and related services.
 
Dice's managing director, Alice Hill, noted that the Minnesota High Tech Association has the goal to make the state one of the country's top five in all types of technology by 2020. Also, IT hiring in Minnesota goes beyond tech firms and includes retailers, healthcare companies, consulting firms, insurance companies, and manufacturers.
 
Maryland showed the strongest growth in the nation for the computer systems design sector, followed by Massachusetts, Texas, and New York. An interesting aspect of the report, Dice pointed out, was that technology powerhouses California and Washington didn't make the list of the top 10 fastest-growing states for IT jobs.

Inc. magazine released its annual list of fastest-growing private companies in the United States and seven Minnesota companies made the list.
 
Highest-ranking at no. 71 was Plymouth-based GarbageMan, a firm that franchises environmentally conscious garbage and recycling services. Also on the list is Code 42 Software (see our previous coverage here), a Minneapolis-based developer of data protection and backup software.
 
Other Minnesota companies that made the list were MetroSpec Technology, DefySupply.com, Erickson Builders & Co., Intuitive Technology Group, and aimClear.
 
Despite a tough economic environment, the magazine noted, the median three-year growth of this year's list was a remarkable 1,436 percent--the highest rate in the list's 31-year history. Topping the list was payment processor Unified Payments, which reported a three-year growth rate of nearly 25,000 percent. Other prominent brands on the list include Facebook, Yelp, and Chobani. 

Three Twin Cities companies have made Fortune's "Inner City 100" list of the fastest-growing urban firms in the nation.
 
The magazine singled out data infrastructure provider Atomic Data, bike-rack design firm Dero, and IT consultancy On-Demand Group (see The Line's coverage of On-Demand here).
 
The fastest-growing inner-city company in the nation, according to Fortune, is Coyote Logistics, a Chicago-based transportation firm.
 
Companies were ranked by compound annual growth rate based on their revenue over a five-year period between 2006 and 2010. The survey was part of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, a project designed to examine urban economies and spur economic development in cities.
 

Minneapolis is full of opportunity for job seekers looking to work in social media, according to a study on the Mediabistro/All Twitter web site, City Pages reports.

The city comes in number 13 nationally, “second in the Midwest only to Chicago,” City Pages states.

New York, San Jose, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston top the list.

In Minneapolis, the highest-paying job in this niche is social media marketing manager, which has a salary range of $54,000 to $85,000. “Minneapolis may not be the home of new-media giants like Twitter and Google, but we're aren't the social media backwoods, either,” says City Pages.

Recently the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) released a list of the top 10 states for green building through the internationally recognized LEED standards.

The results are based on U.S. Census data from last year.

Minnesota rounds out the list that’s topped by the District of Columbia.  

The LEED Platinum Marquette Plaza in Minneapolis is named in a prepared statement about the list.

Technology site Lead411 has released its annual survey of the top 200 tech companies in the nation, and five Minnesota companies made the list.
 
Ranked sixth on the list is Minneapolis-based Code 42 Software, a development company that produces onsite, offsite, and cloud backup applications for consumers and enterprises.
 
The other four companies are iBuyOfficeSupply.com, MSpace, The Nerdery, and CaringBridge.
 
The Tech 200 is based on revenue percentage growth from 2008 to 2010, and companies had to be privately-held U.S. businesses that earned more than $1 million in the past year.

Despite losing some tech jobs in 2010, Minnesota remained the 17th largest cyberstate, according to non-profit firm TechAmerica Foundation.
 
In its annual Cyberstates rankings, the organization analyzed the health of the tech industry in all 50 states.
 
In a press release announcing the results, Minnesota High Tech Association CEO and president Margaret Anderson Kelliher noted that "Minnesota will recover with policies that encourage education in science and technology." She also mentioned economic development tools such as the data center sales tax exemption that was recently approved by the state legislature.
 
Compared to other states, Minnesota ranked second in electromedical equipment manufacturing employment, and sixth in computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing employment.

Eight Minnesota companies have landed on America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies, a list put together by Inc. Magazine.
 
Among the top performers highlighted are MetroSpec Technologies in Mendota Heights, Jobs2web in Minnetonka, iBuyOfficeSupply.com in Plymouth, and BulkReefSupply.com in Golden Valley.
 
The companies were listed according to a three-year growth rate. For example, BulkReefSupply.com, an online retailer of saltwater and reef aquarium supplies, reported a growth rate of 1,248% from 2007 to 2010.
 
Other Minnesota companies on the list were ShopJimmy.com, Renters Warehouse,  Erickson Builders & Co.,and Modern Automotive Performance.

Cool Hunting, which showcases interesting new developments every week in the areas of design, tech, style, travel, culture, and more, recently featured an invention that comes out of Minneapolis.

Bike Fixtation, the bicycle-repair kiosk from the Minneapolis company of the same name, topped a recent list of picks on the Cool Hunting website.

"If you've ever ended up stranded in the city with a flat tire, you'll find the new Bike Fixtation kiosks helpful. The self-service stations are open extended hours for bicyclists in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan areas," the notice reads.
 
An international team of editors and contributors at Cool Hunting sort through all kinds of innovations to provide the weekly digest.

Hey, look over here. No, here. That's right.

3M has fine-tuned its tool to track just where your eyes went--and where they go--when you visit a website.
 
In a June 9 Fast Company article, Austin Carr takes a detailed look at 3M's visual impact scanner (VIS), which uses an algorithm called visual attention service.

William Smith, business manager at 3M's graphics division, tells Carr that the tools "predicts visual impact" � something of interest to advertisers and designers alike, Carr notes.

The article includes a video and several visual examples of the VIS at work.