Research / Tech Transfer Features

The risks to startup culture are a two-way street. Not only must you convince investors to make a calculated leap of faith, you also need talent that's willing to commit sweat equity to an uncertain future. The Adams Entrepreneur Fellowship Program is looking to make the second half of that equation a little easier while applying a slow-food strategy toward fostering local entrepreneurship.

For more than 20 years Dr. Robert Buxbaum's Ferndale-based company has been designing technologies that filter hydrogen. That may not sound particularly exciting to the everyday Joe but when you consider that he has contracts with the U.S. and U.K. Navies and believes his product could have prevented the Fukushima meltdown you understand how focusing on something very small can have a very large impact.

When Pfizer left Ann Arbor it was hard not to view the glass as half empty. Five years and 16 start-ups later, that perspective has started to reverse. And in many ways, the transition from one large company to many more entrepreneurial efforts is exactly what our community and state needs to establish a healthier long term economy.