Innovation, growth & spirit: winners of IU's Indiana Entrepreneurial Awards of Distinction represent the state's pioneers, risk-takers and visionaries.

AuthorHromadka, Erik
PositionMidwest Modelmakers Inc. - Weaver Popcorn Company Inc. - YourEncore Inc. - Cover story

THE THIRD ANNUAL Indiana Entrepreneurial Awards of Distinction recognize companies that demonstrate excellence in the areas of growth, innovation, spirit and social enterprise. The 2007 awards, presented by Indiana University's Kelley School of Business and its Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, select winners from the state's public and private companies that are at least three years old and have revenues of more than $1 million.

"These companies are vital to the state's effort of developing an entrepreneurial culture," explains Donald F. Kuratko, executive director of the Johnson Center. "They work hard to make a success of their businesses and have a real impact on the state's economy. They certainly deserve the special recognition that this program gives them. They are the future for the state of Indiana."

Partners for the 2007 Indiana Entrepreneurial Awards of Distinction include Katz Sapper & Miller, IU Research & Technology Corp., Indiana Venture Center, Monument Advisors, Premier Capital and NASDAQ.

INNOVATION AWARDS

The Innovation Awards recognize companies that are pioneering new systems, bringing new products to the market and developing "best practices" for their industries. The 2007 winners include:

Cine-tal Systems

Professional video and cinema technologies

Indianapolis-based Cine-tal is a rapidly growing company specializing in video image processing and display technology. Its innovative hardware and software improves quality control during production and postproduction of digital film, television and video content.

The company's Cinemage product line was introduced in 2005 and was named one of the 2006 Top Ten Products of the Year by Distal Cinema Reports and a National Association of Broadcasters Pick Hit for 2006 by Millimeter Magazine.

CEO Rob Carroll says Indiana is well-suited as a location for innovative video technology, noting that such work dates back to Truevision, an Indianapolis company that pioneered digital video products for computers in the 1990s. Today such digital technology is used all the way from capturing images at the camera, through extensive editing and to final delivery at a digital television set. Cine-tal is working to establish its products as the standard for maintaining quality control during the entire process.

"We are all about improving the image quality," Carroll says, noting the company's technology is currently being used to produce Avatar, a science fiction film being shot in New Zealand by director James Cameron.

Imaginestics

Visual search engine for manufacturers

Another example of innovation is taking place at Imaginestics, a software company at Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette that is developing software to allow customized ordering through the use of a search engine with three-dimensional modeling.

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The idea is to allow customers to participate in the engineering of manufactured products by placing orders that are compiled from a list of searchable parts and shown as 3D images, explains president and CEO Nainesh Rathod.

Rathod and co-founder Jamie Tan had Originally worked together in a startup company using two-dimensional shaping matching and intranets. They decided to pursue even greater innovation by licensing a 3D algorithm from Purdue University and used it to create an Internet tool available to manufacturing companies worldwide.

"Our whole goal is to take the back room engineering and move that forward," Rathod explains. "We're really transforming the whole sales and marketing process."

The company's VizSeek line of software allows users to search for three-dimensional parts and then compare and configure them according to their specific needs. For example, modular office furniture can be ordered to exact dimensions by searching a database of available parts and "building" the order on-line.

Rathod says the approach to is a novel way to innovate the sales process and begins by creating a searchable database of parts and procedures so that customers can have a simple process to order creative, customized products.

"We had a customer with 20,000 parts and we indexed that in literally just a couple days," he notes. "This hasn't been tried by anybody."

Midwest Mole

Trenchless technology

Tunneling underground for the past 25 years, Indianapolis-based Midwest Mole has developed new techniques for construction services featuring trenchless technologies. Founded by engineering graduates from Purdue University, the company handles projects that range from pipe ramming and relining to utility tunneling and directional drilling.

Using its "trenchless toolbox" technology, Midwest Mole improves infrastructure projects such as installation and upgrades to sewers by tunneling between two locations and allowing the roads above ground to remain open. The family-owned company has seen continued growth and has expanded its services

President Dan Liotti says the company completed one of its largest projects this year at the Indianapolis International Airport. It used special cutting technology and...

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