Venture Capital Rebounds in MI

Venture capital activity in Michigan continued a modest rebound in the third quarter of 2009 after steep declines during the credit crunch, according to the “innovation index” compiled by the University of Michigan-Dearborn College of Business. The index, a project of UM-Dearborn’s Center for Innovation Research, rose to 86.9 from 80 during the previous quarter, largely due to some new job creation and stimulus spending, according Lee Redding, associate professor of business economics and director of the index. The index tracks economic innovation in Michigan based on calculations of employment of “innovation workers,” trends in venture capital, trademark applications, incorporation activity, small business loans, and gross job creation. Redding says it is unlikely this growth continued into the fourth quarter of 2009. Those results, along with projections for 2010, will be released in June.

Author: Howard Lovy

Howard Lovy is a veteran journalist who has focused primarily on technology, science and innovation during the past decade. In 2001, he helped launch Small Times Magazine, a nanotech publication based in Ann Arbor, MI, where he built the freelance team and worked closely with writers to set the tone and style for an emerging sector that had never before been covered from a business perspective. Lovy's work at Small Times, and on one of the first nanotechnology-themed blogs, helped him earn a reputation for making complex subjects understandable, interesting, and even entertaining for a broad audience. It also earned him the 2004 Prize in Communication from the Foresight Institute, a nanotech think tank. In his freelance work, Lovy covers nanotechnology in addition to technological innovation in Michigan with an emphasis on efforts to survive and retool in the state's post-automotive age. Lovy's work has appeared in many publications, including Wired News, Salon.com, the Wall Street Journal, The Detroit News, The Scientist, the Forbes/Wolfe Nanotech Report, Michigan Messenger, and the Ann Arbor Chronicle.