CLEANTECH NJ 2011 will bring together senior executives of N.J.-based clean technology and energy companies, government policymakers and regulators, institutional and angel investors, professional services firms, thought leaders and environmental activists to leverage the region’s competitive and economic strengths in the clean tech sector.

Caren Franzini, CEO of the EDA will be event keynote and Mary Beth Brenner, assistant director of the Division of Economic Development and Energy Policy for the N. J. Board of Public Utilities will discuss the revision of the state’s Energy Master Plan as the closing keynote speaker.

http://www.cleantechnj.com/

The Spring 2011 NBIA Chapter Newsletter is available at http://www.nbia.org/njbin/may11/index.php.

In December 2010 NJMC Business Accelerator welcomed Battle Empire, an e-commerce technology company developing proprietary software for the entertainment industry.

A few years ago, Theresa Kim was an aspiring entrepreneur looking for opportunity.

The one-time manager in Ernst & Young’s office of minority recruitment and retention had just started an environmentally friendly business manufacturing cabinetry. She spent hours Googling different prospects, ultimately stumbling on a press release about the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission’s Business Accelerator, a new Lyndhurst-based business incubator for startups that focused on alternative energy and green technologies and services.

“When I first saw the press release, it spoke to me as a new business owner,” recalls Kim. “It said they were looking for green businesses and minority- and woman-owned businesses. I happen to be a Korean-American woman so I had all the things that fit into what they were focused on. I needed to apply.”

Kim’s business, Grain, was one of the first to be accepted into the Meadowlands
incubator, known as the NJMC Business Accelerator. It now houses 18 startups,
including Kim’s, and boasts a diverse roster of client companies and owners, including an Hispanic-owned website design firm, a German-American who does sustainability consulting for Fortune 500 companies, and a technology firm owned by a Korean-American who is also disabled.

“We have a pretty diverse group, and hopefully we can get even more diverse,” notes Kim, who is currently transitioning her business into selling green wall-coverings and doing green-building consulting. “The incubator is almost like being part of a business co-op; people come from different backgrounds and want to be helpful.”

Incubators, by nature, are supportive, providing early-stage companies with
inexpensive space and business services to help them grow their ventures. What’s
more, New Jersey’s incubators are also inclusive, offering their services to an
ethnically diverse group of both men and women entrepreneurs.

“If you have a great idea, you can turn it into a business, and no one really cares where you came from,” says Bill Coons, operations manager of the New Jersey Business Incubation Network, which represents 12 of the state’s business incubators. “Because the network is largely technology-driven, there are a lot of male and female and different ethnic backgrounds that are entrepreneurs.”

Although Coons does not have statistics on the ethnic or gender diversity of the
more than 500 entrepreneurial client companies in the state supported by his network’s incubators, he can speak to the organization’s collective outreach efforts.

Each year Coons, along with incubator directors, attends several seminars,
conferences and clinics—such as the New Jersey Governor’s Conference on
Women and the Small Business Clinic at New Jersey Institute of Technology
in Newark—to promote the network’s services to business people of “all races,
creeds and religions.”

Coons stresses, however, that each incubator director is responsible for his or her own marketing programs—and thus, responsible for attracting a diverse client base. For most, their portfolio of client companies reflects the demographics of their location.

“We are in a high-density area that is very diverse,” observes Michel Bitritto, director of the NJMC Business Accelerator.

Bitritto says she is often approached by foreign consulates in Manhattan that
are helping businesses and entrepreneurs that are looking to do business in the
U.S. but hoping to avoid New York City’s high rents. She estimates that roughly 60 percent of the business tenants in the Meadowlands incubator are immigrants.

“If we found that we were attracting one sliver of the very broad and rich network of
small businesses out there, then perhaps we would find the need to recruit more actively, but that is not the case,” Bitritto says.

Tenants like Kim say Bitritto, who has led the NJMC Business Accelerator since 2008, appreciates different cultures and embraces the concept of an inclusive workplace.

Jeffery Dunn, founder and director of The Incubator Inc./The BOSS (Business One Stop Service) in Plainfield, agrees that his incubator’s location “lends itself to
diversity.” Dunn, who runs the network’s only for-profit incubator, caters to service oriented businesses of which 40 percent are Latino and the rest African-American.

While Dunn does not have to work to ensure a diverse client base, he believes strongly that incubators are a rich resource for all types of business owners across the state.

“Incubators are needed in areas that are least likely to get the investment,” says
Dunn. “Incubators are needed in the inner city. Incubators are needed in the rural
areas. Incubators are needed where there is high unemployment. The incubator must be the catalyst, the linchpin, or the cog in the wheel that links the private and public sectors together in regard to linking awareness of the business development
resources that are available. There are too many people who are not aware of how to start and maintain their own business.”

Dunn would like to see new incubator satellite offices set up in urban areas like Paterson and Atlantic City.

Incubator directors, whether in cities or rural areas, must be prepared to help minority business owners with unique business issues.

Sarah Piddington is interim director of the Rohrer College of Business Incubator
at Rowan University in Mullica Hill. It draws entrepreneurs from both the college and the community and currently hosts six companies.

Piddington admits to having a “very limited marketing budget” when it comes to recruiting ethnically diverse entrepreneurs. Even so, the Rohrer incubator has one minority-owned medical billing business that is run by a former Rowan student, Brian Ruiz.

“When he was trying to get started, one of the things he and I discussed was applying to the state to be designated as a small minority-owned business,” says
Piddington. “That gives him a leg up on government contracts.”

Incubators may also assist clients in expanding their customer base, which can mean helping ethnically diverse entrepreneurs to step beyond their own communities and take advantage of more resources.

“Latino businesses do a lot of their business development through their own community. They have a reluctance for a variety of cultural reasons and a lack of trust of government that makes them not easily receptive to embracing government resources,” notes Dunn. “They tend to cluster with their own community.”

That was the early path followed by Jovanky De Los Santos, managing director of JD Giron Media Solutions, a company in the Meadowlands Accelerator that offers technology and web-related services to small businesses,

JD Giron started out serving friends and family within the Hispanic community,” says De Los Santos, whomoved to the United States from the Dominican Republic 15 years ago. “The people who give you the first opportunity are the people in your community, and then you grow from there.”

More recently, JD Giron has been branching into the mainstream. “We have
grown a lot, and we owe most of it to the Accelerator,” he adds. “When we came to
the Accelerator a year ago we had 12 clients; now we have 42. The knowledge-sharing here gives you an opportunity to speak more professionally about what you do.”

view article on page 22

Hackensack- When Hackensack University Medical Center set out to build its new cancer center, the goal was to accentuate the world-class treatment that’s offered at the hospital with a world-class facility. Part of that meant creating a building that puts sustainability at the forefront of its design.

In order to create a cutting-edge “green” building, Hackensack University Medical Center turned to New Jersey’s various leaders in sustainable design, including Midland Park-based R&S Landscaping, the state’s premier environmentally conscious landscaping firm.

With the help of R&S Landscaping’s proprietary Eco Earth Design approach, which entails using only the most eco-friendly methods and materials, The John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center is now one of the region’s premier sustainable buildings.

R&S Landscaping designed and recently installed a 4,000-square-foot roof garden and demonstration vegetable garden at the cancer center.

The Eco Earth roof garden, which features 1,000 square feet of drought-tolerant green roof modules, decorative planters and shrubs, will provide several economic and environmental benefits for the Hospital, which is pursuing Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. Benefits of the roof garden include:

• Protection of the roof membrane, resulting in a longer lifespan — Green Roofs For Healthy Cities estimates that green roofs will last up to twice as long as conventional roofs, resulting in decreased maintenance and savings in replacement costs.
• Savings on energy heating and cooling costs. Experiments have found that a six-inch extensive green roof reduces heat gains by 95 percent and heat losses by 26 percent.
• Sound Insulation – soil, plants and a trapped layer of air will provide sound insulation. Sound waves produced by traffic and airplanes will be absorbed and reflected.
• Decreased storm water runoff — according to Green Roofs For Healthy Cities, a green roof will retain 70 to 90 percent of the precipitation that falls on it during summer, and 35 to 40 percent during winter.
• Improved air quality — the roof garden will not only absorb heat, decreasing the tendency towards thermal air movement, but will also filter the air moving across it. Additionally, through the process of photosynthesis, the plants will convert carbon dioxide, water and sunlight into oxygen and glucose.
• But perhaps more important than the environmental benefits and cost-saving opportunities that the roof garden will provide to Hackensack University Medical Center is the oasis that the space will provide to the cancer center’s patients.

The roof includes 2,000 square feet of accessible sitting walkway areas with benches, turning a roof into an oasis that will help improve the state-of-mind of cancer patients receiving treatment and will be conducive to improved employee productivity. The vegetable garden portion of the space will be used to educate the cancer patients about growing their own food and eating healthy.

Instead of looking out at bare black rooftop, patients and staff will have an aesthetically pleasing view. Psychological studies have shown that the restorative effect of a natural view holds the viewers’ attention, diverts their awareness away from themselves and from worrisome thoughts, thereby improving health.

The variety of sounds, smells, colors and movement provided by plants, although not quantifiable, can add significantly to human health and well-being. In one recent study, two sets of patients in the same hospital, recovering from the same operation, were studied as to the restorative effects of views onto a landscaped courtyard versus a brick wall. The patients with the green view had shorter post-operative stays, took fewer painkillers and had fewer negative evaluation comments from the nurses.

Green roofs have been installed on commercial buildings for years now, but now we are beginning to see them installed on public buildings, such as hospitals. The roof garden at The John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center sets a standard for building owners that are seeking the most state-of-the-art way to help the environment, their bottom line, and, most importantly, their patients.

Last updated: Thursday September 30, 2010, 10:58 AM
BY DANIEL O’KEEFE
South Bergenite
Staff Writer

Edward Di Geronimo is a student of the classics. But his classics aren’t Catullus and Cicero: they’re Zelda and Mario.

Di Geronimo is a 29-year-old game designer who just got his first video game accepted for download for the Nintendo DSi.

Like, many of his generation, Di Geronimo’s interest in video games started very young, at about the age of seven.

“My dad brought home a Nintendo one year and I got hooked pretty quickly,” he said. A native of Saddle Brook, Di Geronimo started doing his own basic computer programming around the age of 12 and has been designing games since about the same age. He went on to get a degree in computer science and work for several game developers in Manhattan.

In 2006, at the age of 25, Di Geronimo founded his own small company, Saturnine Games. In 2009, while Di Geronimo was between contracts, he heard about the NJMC Business Accelerator from a friend who knew someone at one of the companies. He began that year as an intern.

“There’s a lot of expertise here that I don’t have,” he said. “If I need a reference or some sort of service, someone here knows how to do it.”

The NJMC Business Accelerator was started in 2008 to help small entrepreneurs develop their businesses. Located on Chubb Avenue in Lyndhurst, its support services include grant writing support, marketing assistance, business plan development and one-on-one mentoring.

Even as the world of gaming has grown ever more complex, Di Geronimo said it was many of those old, classic games—”Super Mario Brothers,” “The Legend of Zelda,” “Metroid”—that have stuck with him most vividly.

“The thing with these games is they give you a big world with lots of room to explore and enjoy the openness and freedom.” Those classic games were his inspiration in designing “Cosmos X2.” “We decided to do an old style space shooter,” said Di Geronimo. “It seemed like a manageable proposition, like something I would be able to really polish and finish.”

“In most shooters it’s a straight fire-fight: bullets everywhere, you shoot them before they shoot you.” Di Geronimo tried a different tactic with Cosmos X2: in the game the player gets to pick two different weapons from an array of three possibilities at the beginning of the game. The weapons have different strengths and weaknesses: one is a straight-ahead laser that shoots powerful shots, one weapon is weaker but hones in on enemies so each shot is a guaranteed hit, and the last weapon shoots a spray of shots each time and is in between the other two in terms of power.

The player can switch between the two weapons at his discretion, but each weapon has its own life bar and that bar runs out as the player gets hit while using that weapon. The weapon only slowly recharges while not in use. Consequently, the game involves a good degree of strategy as the player decides which weapon will work best in each situation.

Di Geronimo says that when it comes to designing your own video game, all the difference is in how much of your initial idea you’ve managed to realize.

“Everyone has a million ideas for a game and is convinced it’s the best game ever,” he said. “Very few people can see it through. To get a game done, even if you don’t get it published, it gets you a lot.”

Though he’s worked as a programmer on several other games before, Di Geronimo says it’s a great feeling knowing that a game he imagined and designed himself will finally be published.

“I was at a game developer’s convention last night,” he said, “and one guy took the [Nintendo] DS and we couldn’t get it away from him for half an hour.”

Not one to rest on his laurels, Di Geronimo said he’s already hard at work on his next game, “Antipole,” a 2D platform game in which the player defeats enemies and solves puzzles by using the ability to reverse gravity.

E-mail: okeefe@northjersey.com

*Note article published under title Nintendo game born and bred in the Meadows in South Bergenite and under Nintendo game born and bred in the Meadows in NorthJersey.com

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LYNDHURST (Sept. 27, 2010) — In a small office in a large building off Chubb Avenue in Lyndhurst, Edward Di Geronimo shoots aliens and walks on ceilings. For this 29-year-old Fair Lawn resident, defying gravity and using powerful weapons as a means of defense in the solar system is all in a day’s work.

And he’s one of the few workers in the labor force who can play games at his computer and get away with it.

Di Geronimo is CEO of Saturnine Games, a client of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission’s Business Accelerator program. The alien mayhem aspect of his job comes from Cosmos X2, Di Geronimo’s space-themed video game that recently premiered thanks to Nintendo.

“This game started off about five years ago with a couple of friends I knew online,” Di Geronimo said in an interview in his Lyndhurst office. “We just decided we wanted to make a game. We knew we had the talent to do it, and so we just sat down and started work.”

Di Geronimo and his team found early success. They managed to receive a publishing contract with a small start-up publisher, and the sky (or perhaps the universe) seemed the limit. Cosmos X2 was completed and delivered as promise.

Then the hiccups arrived.

“The publisher wasn’t able to get it out into stores,” he remembered. “So we had a finished game, and nothing to do with it.”

Eventually the NJMC’s incubator program entered the fray. Founded in 2008, the business accelerator is a byproduct of the commission’s goal to bring commercial development and an entrepreneurial spirit to the Meadowlands area. The program, headed by director Michel Bitritto and located at 160 Chubb Ave. in Lyndhurst, helps start-up companies like Saturnine Games develop their legs from the Petri dish to the rough-and-tumble landscape of the business world.

When Nintendo premiered its DSi portable game system a couple of years ago, Di Geronimo saw a foothold for Cosmos X2. The new system allows for downloadable games via an online store that gamers can connect to and peruse — similar to iTunes on an iPod.

In the spirit of making more games available at affordable prices, Nintendo generally offers content on the DSi system for anywhere between $2 and $10. Di Geronimo’s game, which premiered Aug. 30, costs $5 for download.

So what do gamers get when they enter the mind of this Fair Lawn entrepreneur?

“It’s an action game,” he explained. “This kind of game, the story is not why you’re playing. … You got your spaceship and you just go in guns blasting, everybody shooting at everybody. That’s the game. We tried to do it a little different in this one, and we gave you a system where you get two weapons on your ship and each one has its own life meter. So you use one weapon at a time. The one you’re using takes damage when you get hit. When you kill something the one you’re not using regenerates. … So you get a balancing act in the game.”

The additional strategy aspect makes Cosmos X2 fairly unique among other shooter games. Players can choose from three weapons: a power weapon (straight, high-powered shots), a traction weapon (low-powered, rapid-fire homing shots) and a repulsion weapon (medium-powered shots that spread apart).

The shooter pilot is trying to repel an alien invasion of his or her home planet. In total, there are three forms of difficulty and six levels, with three bonus modes for those fortunate gamers who master the solar system.

Although Di Geronimo said it takes 30 to 40 minutes to play through the entire game, that time stipulation came with a challenge: “You’re not going to beat it on your first try,” he said with a laugh.

From the business side of the venture, Di Geronimo receives sales data from Nintendo on how many gamers are downloading Cosmos X2.

The outlook looks good. The promise for the future of the gaming industry is in smaller developers like Saturnine. “On the top-budget titles, the big things, they’ve worked up toward these 40-hour games that take $50 million or more to develop, and it got to a point that you can’t spend that money on it and not everybody has that kind of time,” he said. “Now with the downloadable market being available, you have got smaller developers doing smaller games for cheap prices.”

Bitritto said Saturnine Games is a model for why the business accelerator has been a success over the past two years. Di Geronimo actually started with the program working for another start-up company. “And that’s how we became familiar with Ed and Ed became familiar with us,” said Bitritto, a self-avowed solitaire player. “It really is a classic kind of incubator success story where an employee, so to speak, of a company starts his own business and comes back because he appreciates that there was some value in a place like the accelerator.”

Di Geronimo said that thanks to the NJMC’s program he has been able to receive and offer help to those other companies that set up camp around him.

As with any start-up business, the horizon can be a burden. But Di Geronimo has a plan beyond the mutilation of an alien species.

The next game he is developing is in a “completely different direction.”

“It’s a 2-D platformer, the same type of game as ‘Super Mario Brothers’ and things like that,” Di Geronimo said. “But the difference in this game, you have the ability to reverse gravity for short periods of time. So you can do that to run on the ceiling or to jump really far.”

It seems that some of these gravity-defying traits have rubbed off on Saturnine Games and its young, promising CEO.

E-mail: JSoltes@LeaderNewspapers.net

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NuLite Enterprises Inc., Lyndhurst

Owners: Brian Haggerty, Gerry Coppola, Dina Keane

Idea: Haggerty was approached by a Hong Kong light bulb maker to open the U.S. market and sell its new, larger cold cathode light bulbs. The bulbs, a version of the energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs but with longer life spans, had been very small and used only in equipment such as copy machines. Haggerty operates as a distributor selling the bulbs to several restaurants, because they are dimmable, unlike compact fluorescent bulbs, he said. Additionally, Haggerty sees a market for the ability to change the color produced by the bulb, known as the color temperature of the cold cathode bulbs. The feature would allow users to customize the color to mimic different types of sunlight. He’s begun discussions with electrical engineers and light-fixtures makers to design and build mechanisms that would control the color abilities and incorporate them in their production process. “It [color change] gives people the ability to change their lighting to what makes them feel the best — the light of a bright blue sky or the warmth of a sunset.” Haggerty has demonstrated prototype lamps with the bulbs that change color to health care facilities, such as hospitals. They were receptive to using the devices to supplement patient care, said Haggerty. He also anticipates demand will increase for the cold cathode light bulbs as the U.S. government phases in mandates for more energy-efficient light bulbs.

Launch: May

Employees: None

Address: 30 Park Ave., Lyndhurst

Funding: About $70,000 from friends and family for print materials, a website and light bulb inventory, said Haggerty.

Web site: nulite-ccfl.com

So far: Haggerty and his partners have become clients of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission Business Accelerator. They have sold the cold cathode bulbs to local restaurants including the Candlewyck Diner in East Rutherford and the Lyndhurst Diner.

— Carol Lawrence

Start-ups appears Tuesdays
Do you own an innovative business that started three to 15 months ago?
E-mail: lawrenceca@northjersey.com

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NJMC Business Accelerator Client’s Video Game Available Through Nintendo

Lyndhurst, NJ-

Saturnine Games, a client of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission Business Accelerator, has developed a space-themed action video game that is available online through gaming giant Nintendo®. Cosmos X2 is available for download from the Nintendo DSi™ Shop.

Edward Di Geronimo, 29, is the CEO of Saturnine Games. The Fair Lawn resident founded the company in 2006 and has been developing video games since he was 13. Di Geronimo first came to the accelerator as an intern in 2009, working in information technology for a healthcare services company.

“The Meadowlands Commission is extremely proud of Ed and congratulates him on his achievement,” said Lori Grifa, chairman of the NJMC and commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs. “Saturnine Games’ success reflects the significant role the accelerator plays in providing the assistance necessary to help entrepreneurs develop their businesss.”

In Cosmos X2, which was released last month, gamers defend their home planet against an alien invasion from the cockpit of the game’s namesake spacecraft. Players equip their battle plane with two weapons of their choice and work their way through six levels of action, with bonus modes providing additional challenges.

“The accelerator has been an invaluable asset in helping me grow my business,” said Di Geronimo. “The staff has assisted me in developing a business plan and provided networking opportunities that would not otherwise have been available to my company.”

The NJMC Business Accelerator was founded in 2008 to help entrepreneurs and early-stage companies grow their ideas into self-sustaining businesses. Located in Lyndhurst, the accelerator’s support services include one-on-one mentoring, business plan development, grant writing support, marketing assistance, networking opportunities, and professional and affordable office space. In its first year of operation accelerator clients generated $850,000 in revenue and $2.1 million in third-part investments.

“The NJMC Business Accelerator is an excellent example of the Meadowlands Commission’s dedication to growing the region’s economy and creating new jobs,” said Robert Ceberio, executive director of the NJMC. “We look forward to many more success stories from accelerator clients.”

For more information on the NJMC Business Accelerator and how to become a client, visit www.njmcaccelerator.com, or contact its director, Michel Bitritto at 201-438-1245 or michel.bitritto@njmeadowlands.gov.

Nintendo trademarks used under license. DSiWare is available only through the Nintendo DSi system.

click here for event details

The 2010 Annual Meeting will also feature a conversation with industry experts:
Dennis Bone, President, Verizon New Jersey
Les Browne, President & CEO, Senesco Technologies, Inc.
Ralph LaRossa, President & COO, PSE&G
Dale Cline, President & CEO, netForensics

click here for event

LYNDHURST (June 10, 2010) — The time, work and commitment one must invest into a young start-up company can be all-consuming for a hopeful entrepreneur. But, the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission can offer a helping hand to companies in their infancy stage. The role of the commission’s business accelerator program has become all the more vital during this economic recession when entrepreneurs are hard to come by and failed initiatives are a dime a dozen.

The mission of the program, which launched in fall 2008, is to assist early-stage companies that seek to develop alternative energy solutions as well as green technologies and services.

Headed by Michel Bitritto, who has 30 years experience in the chemical and technology industry, candidates for the program are usually in their “incubation” stage.

“There is an application online,” Bitritto said. “They need to submit a business plan, if they have one. If they don’t, they are expected to come up with one in 90 days or so, and we will work with them on that. They talk about where their strength and weaknesses are, what kind of help we might provide. Basically, they tell us a little bit about their business. So we look (to see) if they fit into our overall guidelines of alternative energy, green technology and green businesses.”

After the application process, a panel decides whether the company is a right fit to join the program. So far, 16 companies have been selected.

After a company is accepted, the accelerator offers a professional business environment, business planning, corporate structuring, plus help with energy incentives and regulations, academic partnering, programs, workshops, mentoring and access to NJMC resources and relocation assistance upon graduation, among other things.

“We might have a company that is initiated by a pure scientist, for example,” Bitritto said. “Sometimes a founder is a techie who doesn’t realize that a business is not based on just being a techie — you have to build a market, close deals, make sales, influence investors and we help them with that.”

The accelerator is headquartered in a spacious suite at 160 Chubb Ave. in Lyndhurst. The façade of the office entrance is as professional as they come — with a receptionist to welcome visitors and guests. The suite itself houses a conference room, offices, mailboxes, cafeteria and cubicles. The affiliates can rent office or cubicle space, and they are all provided with free Internet access, mailboxes, faxes and interns, according to Bitritto.

Companies also have access to the in-house, full-service attorney, Michael Baer, who is always at hand to help with any legal matters for a reduced fee.

“My door is always open to them and I am getting great exposure meeting new clients, and I’ve actually picked most of them up as clients, giving them a reduced rate,” Baer said. “I’m another sounding board for them.”

Rainer Ochsenkuehn is president of ROC One LLC, a sustainability consulting firm and member of the accelerator that provides small and mid-size companies with assistance in establishing, implementing and improving their sustainability strategies. She said Baer’s legal advice is invaluable.

“Michael makes our family here a lot better, a lot more helpful,” Ochsenkuehn said. “We can just pop in our head and say ‘Hey, we have a quick legal question’ without having to go through a lot of paper work and trouble to get an answer and help.”

However, of all the services that the accelerator provides, companies generally believe that the most important one is the existence of a networking base.

Francine Glick, CEO of Water Journey, said networking has been important to her and her business, which is the exclusive manufacturer of Hands2GO, a green, alcohol-free instant hand sanitizer currently available in 6,000 retail stores nationwide.

“That did something for me,” Glick said. “We are looking for funding, and so we met with the law firm and we are actually presenting to them in the middle of June to their partners around the globe. … So that’s going to give us exposure. Plus they are also introducing us to the department that works with the health-care industry and some of their clients.”

Theresa Kim, CEO of Grain Cabinetry & Millwork, a company that designs and manufactures eco-friendly commercial and residential cabinetry and millwork using bamboo and other sustainable materials, believes that those in the program rely on one another when necessary.

“We are always willing to help each other,” she said. “These are the first people you go to if there are any problems.”

Kevin Esposito, sales coordinator for RPG Associates, echoed what seems to be a common belief among those in the program: the program is one big family.

“We work great together,” Esposito said. “We have lunch together, share ideas. We really are a family.”

The accelerator’s intern program works directly with New Jersey colleges and universities to match clients with students whose interests and skills can benefit the client company.

Edward Di Geronimo Jr. was an intern a year ago for Waterfront Health Care Services, assisting in setting up servers and computer infrastructures.

Now, he himself is part of the accelerator program, spearheading Saturnine Games, LLC, which is not considered a “green” company, but is a technology company developing software for advanced video games as well as providing consulting services to top game producers. Di Geronimo has already achieved a certain level of success — reaching agreements with Nintendo.

“For years I’ve wanted to do my own projects,” Di Geronimo said. “(The program) is a really great place to start out. There are a lot of people that can help you out, with advice and whatever else you need.”

Open House
Networking Breakfast

Thursday, June 10th
8:30 am – 10:00 am
at
Greater NY Chamber
Coffee House 6th floor
20 W. 44th Street
(between 5th & 6th)
New York City

Network amongst business and civic leaders in a
landmark building with almost 120 years of history!

MUST RSVP 212-686-7220
or register online at www.ny-chamber.com

Members $10.00
Guests $25.00

Sponsored by NY Chamber PAC

http://www.canontradeshows.com/expo/gmx10/ny_event.html

The NJTC is pleased to announce the 2010 Bootcamp – an intense day long conference for entrepreneurs and executives of seed to early stage technology companies scheduled for Thursday, May 13, 2010 at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, NJ. Attendees will be introduced to expert speakers and a support network of service providers that will continue to serve as potential resources for the entrepreneur.

There also be workshops on Raising Capital, Intellectual Property, and Building your Business Right the First Time, Capital, and a lunch program on funding, law, accounting, real estate, NJ state funding programs and more.

Go to www.NJTC.org for more information, or sign up now to register.

In one office, Dr. Vincent Grasso is inspecting the one square inch chips he’s going to implant in bracelets for recently discharged hospital patients that can remotely be monitored at home during physical therapy. A couple doors down, Yogi Sookhu stands in front of a dry erase board with blueprints of his real time data sharing technology for tide gates in the Meadowlands. Down the hall, John Mickowski is ready to fly out the door for a business meeting; a business plan that will enable his Tirebyter recycling equipment to be put in use.

Goal: recycle five million tires in New Jersey annually. Develop a sea-based robotic technology that grows algae and converts it to clean energy. Strip the alcohol, dyes and perfumes from sanitary products and make them safe for all from children to the elderly. The list of ideas goes on and on. They’re not your run-of-the-mill business plans, but everyone needs to start somewhere and where the principles of these ideas and the companies they run are getting their chance at stardom is right here in the Meadowlands. Many have already made waves in their respective business fields.

“We provide the services that these companies either can’t afford or wouldn’t have access to,” said Michel Bitritto, director of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission Business Accelerator. It was created about 18 months ago in a spacious suite at 160 Chubb Ave., a glass corporate building that provides views of the sports complex, vast reeds of the meadows and the New York City skyline. “It’s a great opportunity for these start-up businesses to grow and here, they get the support they need.”

Bitritto, who holds a PhD and worked nearly 30 years in the chemical and technology industry and served posts as the president of the New Jersey Incubation Network and as an associate director of business relations on the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology, is the gatekeeper at the accelerator. Those allowed into the accelerator have to be green of some sort. The companies are given below market rate rent, free Internet, mail services, fax, access to an attorney, marketing and even access to interns. Soon an in-house engineer will be available too. The subsidies come by way of state grants and dedicated annual funding by the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC), which amounted to about $713,000 last year, according to an audit of the NJMC operations released last week. The facility now houses 15 clients.

“We just had a top notch law firm that came in and spent the day with the clients talking to them about how to structure their business, what’s the difference between a C Corp, LLC, S Corp and what the tax consequences are of each,” said Bitritto. “That’s an example of the typical workshop or client services that is helping these businesses.”

Most of the clients in incubators stay three to five years before “graduating” or expanding on their own to their own facilities. Bitritto said her goal is to keep the clients in the Meadowlands area, but in the least, New Jersey. Mickowski is one who says he’s ready to stay put. For about five years, he did research and development at the Pennsauken landfill in South Jersey with his tire chipper technology that instead of shredding tires, punches them into two-inch squares that can be used for renewable energy or alternatives to sand or gravel in-fill in septic tanks or for drainage. He’s ready to get off the ground.

“Why here? We intend to set up a full scale tire recycling facility in this district and the accelerator will become our operational headquarters for the facility,” said Mickowski. “Right now, New Jersey exports almost all of its scrap tires out of the state. In the tire recycling business, the recycler is paid to take the tires so that means the tipping fees are sent out of state. The five million tires we intend to recycle, that would equate to roughly $8 million worth of revenue within the state and of course create quite a number of jobs.”

Theresa Kim, CEO of Grain, designs and manufactures eco-friendly cabinetry and millwork for both residential and commercial projects, with a focus on using bamboo as her material of choice. A former real estate consultant and fundraiser, she got into green remodeling when renovating her mother’s house. She entered the accelerator a year ago and has a growing portfolio; a green library in Kingston, NY and 12 townhouses in Newark are currently on her plate.

“I started looking at all the industry stats, and saw they predicted a 35-percent jump in this demand. It hasn’t kept up with that pace, but eventually everything will be built green,” said Kim. “I jumped at it [the accelerator]; it said they were looking for start-ups that are green and women- and minority-owned businesses.”

Jovanky De Los Santos approached the accelerator after working 10 years for LexisNexis, managing Web operations and technical support after hearing about it from his wife, who works at Meadowlink Commuter Services. He left his job, was accepted to the accelerator and operates JD Giron, LLC, which does software development for small companies to automate tasks to make their jobs simpler. “In light of that, they can maybe close earlier or use their services more efficiently,” said De Los Santos.

“He is exactly the type of person we are seeing; one who had a full-time job and goes out and starts their own business because they see a need. They know the market and see some niches that a big company may not recognize or want to deal with,” said Bititto.

Grasso finds himself at the accelerator after a thriving career as a surgeon, software architect and NASA project manager, who, in the late 1990s, developed the technology he’s working to perfect and market at the accelerator. He was ready to go with it then, but he was too deep on the ground floor.

“We actually conceived it in the late 90s, proved we could do all these things, we call a kind of telemedicine, but the market wasn’t prepared for this type of technology 10 years ago,” said Grasso.

If there’s any evidence of the family type atmosphere at the accelerator and the reciprocal success one client feeds to another, take Edward Di Geronimo. He was interning for clients at the accelerator; helping set up servers and computer infrastructure. He’s a gamer at heart with not as much business savvy, however. Growing out of his intern role, he now has his own office and is a client with the nametag Saturnine Games, LLC outside his door. With the business advice of the same clients to fall back on and his tech prowess, he’s pursuing video game development and has already reached agreements with Nintendo to use the company’s DS platform.

“Everyone just provides a lot of support,” said Di Geronimo. “If someone needs help on something, there is always someone here to turn to with that type of expertise.”

E-mail: lamendola@northjersey.com

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South Bergenite

The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission Business Accelerator has added five new clients to its roster in the past three months. Entrepreneurs and early-stage companies, said a spokesperson, are looking to the commission for guidance on alternative energy and green technologies in an effort to grow their ideas into self-sustaining businesses.

“The NJMC Business Accelerator is a vital resource that can help new businesses grow and succeed,” said Robert Ceberio, executive director. “We are pleased to see more companies taking advantage of the accelerator’s critical support services and encourage others to explore the strategic business advantages that the accelerator offers.”

The accelerator’s newest companies are:

BPL Carbon-Free Solutions. The alternative energy company offers solar, wind, geothermal, hydro and hybrid grid connected power systems for homeowners, small to medium size businesses and municipalities.

Alliance Cooperative Energy. The company provides design, permitting and installation services for solar, solar thermal (hot water) and wind power systems. Alliance also offers consulting expertise in financing options.

NobleGEOFurnace, Inc. The alternative energy company has developed a geothermal heat pump system that can help lower monthly utility bills while helping to reduce global warming and oil dependency.

Saturnine Games. The technology company develops software for high-level video games and provides consulting services to game producers.

Water Journey. This company manufactures Hands2GO, a natural hand sanitizer that does not contain alcohol, dyes, perfumes or other unnecessary ingredients.

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The annual daylong NJTC Venture Conference, the largest and most dynamic of its kind on the East Coast, drew a crowd of investors looking for the next great deal. Many agreed this year’s conference showcased a vibrant new crop of startup firms. More than 65 companies from various sectors including life sciences, IT, energy/environment, telecommunications and nanotechnology showcased exciting technologies.

Hilin Life Products, Inc. of Newark, based in the NJIT Economic Development Center, received the award for “Company Most Likely to Succeed.” The medical device company markets original fertility management products for health and family planning.

Water Journey Ltd. of Livingston, manufacturer of an alcohol-free hand sanitizer, won two awards: Best Management Team and People’s Choice Award.

In an economy where many entrepreneurs are working double-time to find any available funding, the crowd at this year’s Venture Conference was well worth noting. Maxine Ballen, president and CEO of the NJTC, said there is a lot of interest but investors are being extremely careful about the risk to value ratio.

“The Venture Conference is the perfect forum for these companies to showcase for a large group of investors – all in one place. And, from what we were told,” Ballen said, “many investors were extremely excited by what they saw.”

The 2010 New Jersey Venture Conference Award Winners:

Most Innovative Product/Service
NET Device Corp, Mt. Laurel

Most Capital Efficient Company
Socialibrium LLC, Short Hills

Best Life Sciences Company
AcquiSci, Inc., Newark

Best Information Technology Company
Noveda Technologies, Branchburg

Best Communications/Electronics Company
CenTrak, Inc., Newtown, Pa.

Best Advanced Materials/Nanotechnology Co.
Freya Energy, Inc., Orlando, Fla.

Best Green Company
Infinite Wind Energy LLC, Little Ferry

Best Early Stage Company
Endomedix, Inc., Morristown

Best Management Team
Water Journey Ltd., Livingston

People’s Choice
Water Journey Ltd., Livingston

VCs’ Choice
AdFactory, Horsham, Pa.

Most Likely to Have Successful Liquidity Event
TimeSight Systems, Mt. Laurel

Company Most Likely to Succeed
Hilin Life Products, Inc., Newark

Judges’ Choice
VectraCor, Inc., Totowa

click here for details

March 26, 2010 at The Palace at Somerset Park

We are pleased to announce the NJTC Venture Conference, the exposition where emerging businesses meet investors and entrepreneurial supporters, will take place on Friday, March 26, 2010 at The Palace at Somerset Park in Somerset, NJ. We are currently enlisting organizations such as yours to serve as supporters.

The benefits of a supporting organization include:

• Corporate exposure in all promotional materials and advertising
• An individual write-up in the Venture Conference booklet
• Shared exhibit table at the Venture Conference
• Recommended clients considered for exhibiting companies
• One complimentary admission to the Venture Conference

Your participation in preparing and conducting the event is welcome and you or your representatives could be involved in one of the following roles:

• Coaching exhibiting companies
• Judging exhibiting companies

As a supporting organization you will be expected to include the Conference brochures with your individual monthly mailings; assist in marketing and communicating the Conference to members through your mailings, email and link at your website; asked to help identify possible exhibiting companies.

Each year the Venture Conference has seen an increase in participating companies and attendees. The Conference has earned a reputation as an important activity for the region’s emerging entrepreneurial companies. In past years, the Conference has attracted over 700 individual investors, venture capitalists, investment bankers, lenders and other financing groups from the northeast corridor.

Can we count on your organization’s participation in the 2010 Venture Conference? If so, and to be included in pre-Conference publicity and the Venture Conference brochure, please return your completed form by January 15, 2010. If you have any questions, or need additional information, please email jpraiss@njtc.org or call 856-787-9700.

For more details on this event and other NJCT events, please visit our website at http://www.njtc.org/events/

Click link for more information

Collaboration with Rutgers Eco-Complex Launches Feb. 10 at Rutgers University
LYNDHURST, NJ – The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission Business Accelerator and the Rutgers Eco-Complex Business Incubator will hold a public planning meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 10 at Rutgers University to kick off their joint effort to attract alternative energy and green technology companies to New Jersey. The meeting is scheduled for 3 p.m. on the Cook College Campus in New Brunswick – in case of inclement weather, please call 201-438-1245, etx. 4 to check the status of the meeting.

The two business incubators are establishing the Renewable Energy Business Attraction Collaborative, a resource network to help grow the state’s renewable energy industry through a marketing campaign that will highlight the advantages to doing business in New Jersey. “This important initiative will help showcase the many assets and incentives that make New Jersey a prime location for renewable energy companies,” said Robert Ceberio, the NJMC’s executive director. “New Jersey has so much to offer to these businesses, and it is critical to the state’s financial future that this message be communicated effectively.”

The business incubators will work with renewable energy industry representatives, state agencies, real estate developers, investors and others to develop its campaign. Their efforts will be funded by a $55,800 grant from the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology.
The NJMC Business Accelerator was launched in fall 2008 to provide critical support
services to help entrepreneurs focused on alternative energy and green technologies grow their ideas into self-sustaining businesses. The accelerator offers modern, affordable office space in Lyndhurst and is funded primarily by a $1.5 million, three-year grant from the NJMC.

In its first year the accelerator housed 12 clients which generated $850,000 in revenue and $2.1 million in third-party investments. Accelerator clients include renewable energy companies, robotics experts, software and hardware designers focused on environmental monitoring, and suppliers of sustainable cabinetry and millwork.

The accelerator recently launched a new, expanded Web site, www.njmcaccelerator.com, that serves as an information hub for start-up companies. The site offers an extensive list of links to third-party funding groups, entrepreneurial networks, government entities that run renewable energy or green business programs, and organizations that offer a wide range of business assistance. Visitors to the site can also learn about the accelerator’s clients and its varied programming, and find green business success stories in the “news” section.

The Rutgers EcoComplex is a business incubator based in Bordentown accommodating 21 client companies whose focus includes biofuel production, home energy efficiency, and environmental devices and equipment. For more information on the NJMC Business Accelerator, visit www.njmcaccelerator.com.

For information on the Renewable Energy Business Attraction Collaborative, contact
Accelerator Director Michel Bitritto, at 201-438-1245 or michel.bitritto@njmeadowlands.gov.
For more information on the Rutgers EcoComplex, visit http://ecocomplex.rutgers.edu or call 609-499-3600.

Valuation of Early-Stage Companies, a one-day workshop, will strengthen the key elements of your business financial model and enhance the focal points that venture capitalists evaluate for funding.

Valuation is often described as being more of an art than a science. That statement particularly holds true when attempting to place a value on an early-stage company with limited assets and operating history, where the primary value may be its human capital, intellectual property, and future potential. Conventional valuation methods designed for mature businesses generally prove to be inadequate in applying them to early-stage companies. This seminar is a hands-on workshop that provides insight into valuation approaches used by venture capital firms to develop a basis for evaluating and pricing venture capital investments.

Cost: $50
EDC at NJIT
211 Warren Street
Newark, NJ 07103
Contact: Judith Sheft
(973) 596-5825
http://njbin.cal.basecampbusiness.com/node/9528

Jim and Nancy have over 45 years of combined experience in Operations, Sales and Marketing and IT and HR.

For More Information:
Arti Sahni: (609) 984-1671

Trenton – The New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology today announced more than $5.6 million in awards through its Grants and Aid programs. Strategic investments were made through the Commission’s Edison Innovation R&D Fund, New Jersey Technology Fellowship Program, SBIR Bridge Grant, Technology Incubator Support Program and Incubator Seed Fund Program.

“We are proud of the accomplishments of our awardees,” said Dr, Peter R. Reczek, Executive Director of the Commission. “They are an outstanding example of how entrepreneurs in New Jersey can come together to achieve economic success through technology innovation.”

The Commission awarded more than $3.6 million and leveraged another $1.8 million through its Edison Innovation R&D Fund and made its first award under the new Edison Renewable Energy Technologies Fund. These programs provide funding to New Jersey technology companies, in partnership with New Jersey research universities, for development activities and ancillary activities necessary for commercialization of an identified technology. Work being performed by the nine grant recipients includes research of low cost carbon capture; development of low temperature solidification equipments; novel porous 3D scaffolds for tissue/organ repair and regeneration; drugs to treat serious types of brain injury and cancer; enhancing the cardiac monitor; development of a synthetic bone graft material for use in dentistry; algorithms for synchronization over packet networks and software to Simulate Optical Interactions with Materials.

The Commission awarded more than $1.3 million to New Jersey Incubators including $55,810 for funding of the Renewable Energy Business Attraction Collaborative project from Rutgers EcoComplex and the Meadowlands Incubators. In addition, the Commission announced $271,920 in Incubator Seed Fund Grants to six companies that are located in one of the Commission’s supported technology incubators around the state.

Action also included the award of $199,998 to four companies receiving SBIR Bridge Grants to help bridge the funding gap that occurs during the federally funded Small Business Innovation Research program.

Finally, one Technology Fellowships renewal grant was awarded for a second year fellowships. The New Jersey Technology Fellowship program helps move cutting-edge research from the lab to the marketplace by providing funding for up to two years to emerging high-tech companies that hire postdoctoral graduates from New Jersey research universities.
About The New Jersey Commission on Science And Technology

The New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology is dedicated to improving the quality of life for New Jersey’s citizens and promoting economic development by keeping New Jersey at the forefront of scientific and technological advances. Established in 1985, the NJCST is responsible for the development and oversight of policies promoting science and technology research and entrepreneurship. Commission members include business leaders, university leaders, scientists, legislators and representatives from the Governor’s Office for Economic Growth and the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education.

New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology Grant Awardees

November 10, 2009

Edison Innovation R&D Fund

The aim of this research is to develop an improved, synthetic bone graft material with antiinflammatory
properties and bone growth factor, for use in dentistry.
Orthogen LLC of Springfield, NJ in the amount $500,000

VectraCor has developed and patented a technology that will enhancing the cardiac monitor
to actually derive the 12-22 lead ECG from the placement of the five original cardiac
monitoring electrodes.
VetraCor Inc. of Totowa, NJ in the amount $500,000

3D Biotek is an innovative, dynamic biomedical device company that will provide novel
porous 3D scaffolds for stem cell research, drug discovery and tissue/organ (mainly bone
and cartilage at current stage) repair and regeneration.
3D Biotek LLC of North Brunswick NJ in the amount $195,000

Edge Therapeutics has 3 drugs to treat serious types of brain injury. Its drugs are based on a
patent pending drug delivery platform technology that provides for targeted, site specific
delivery to the brain of FDA-approved off-patent drugs.
Edge Therapeutics Inc. of Newark NJ in the amount $500,000

Niiki Pharma Inc is focused on developing novel, first-in-class targeted anti-cancer
compounds. NKP-1339, an anti-cancer drug in pre-clinical studies has shown to be active
against tumors that are resistant to standard chemotherapies.
Niiki Pharma Inc. of Hoboken NJ in the amount $500,000

Low Temperature Solidification (LTS) is a new process, invented at Rutgers University by
Professor Riman, This process will be used for creating ceramic materials without the need
of a high temperature kiln.
CCS Materials, Inc. of New Brunswick NJ partnering Rutgers University, in the amount $500,000

Phoenix Labs has developed and validated a patent pending algorithm for precision timing
synchronization. Precision timing synchronization is essential for the evolution of 3G and
Phoenix Labs, LLC of Newark NJ in the amount $250,000

Simphotek will develop photonics simulation software for biomedical, nanotechnology, renewable energy and photonic materials markets.
Simphotek, Inc of Newark NJ in the amount $250,000

Edison Renewable Energy Technologies Fund

The InnoSepra technology development is aimed at reducing the cost of CO2 capture
significantly which will have a significant impact on overall cost of carbon capture and
storage.
InnoSepra LLC of Bridgewater, NJ in the amount of $500,000

Technology Incubator Grants

ACIN High Tech Incubator of Camden NJ in the amount $100,000

Burlington High Tech Incubator and Life Science Center of Mount Laurel NJ in the amount $100,000

Jersey City Business Development Incubator of Jersey City NJ in the amount $100,000

New Jersey Meadowlands Business Accelerator of Lyndhurst NJ in the amount $100,000

NJIT Enterprise Development Center of Newark NJ in the amount $300,000

Commercialization Centre for Innovative Technology (NJEDA) of North Brunswick NJ in the amount $100,000

Picatinny Technology Innovation Center of Dover NJ in the amount $100,000

Rowan South Jersey Technology Park of Glassboro NJ in the amount $100,000

Rutgers Camden Incubator of Camden NJ in the amount $100,000

Rutgers EcoComplex of Bordentown NJ in the amount $100,000

Rutgers Food Innovation Center of Bridgeton NJ in the amount $100,000

Incubator Collaborative Grant

Bordentown NJ with the Rutgers EcoComplex of as the lead entity, in the amount of $55,810

SBIR Bridge Grant Application

Project Title: Boron Nanotubes for Ultra High Strength Light Weight Composites.
Universal Global Products, LLC of Dover NJ in the amount $50,000

Project Title: Low Noise Tunable Wavelength Laser for Fiber Optic Sensor systems.
Princeton Optronics, Inc. of Mercerville NJ in the amount $49,998

Project Title: Leptin as a therapy for Alzheimer’s disease.
Neurotez Inc of Bridgewater NJ in the amount $50,000

Project Title: Human Interface Systems and Technologies for Spacesuits
WeVoice, Inc. of Bridgewater NJ in the amount $50,000 New Jersey Technology Fellowships

University
Signum Biosciences, Inc. of Monmouth Junction with Jose Fernandez of Rutgers Signum Biosciences is a private biotechnology company dedicated to developing small molecule therapeutics derived from its Signal Transduction Modulation (STM) platform to modulate signal transduction imbalances.

Incubator Seed Fund Grant

Healthy Functions, LLC of Spring Lake NJ in the amount $50,000
Development of Mechanical Pressure Reduction Mattress : Its purpose is to prevent pressure ulcers (bedsores) on bedridden, comatose, paraplegic, and others who are neuro-muscularly disabled.

AcquiSci Inc of Newark NJ in the amount $21,936
They are developing a systemic anti-inflammatory treatment of cardiovascular diseases with underlying inflammation.

Bionex Pharmaceuticals, LLC of North Brunswick NJ in the amount $50,000
They are focusing on development of novel drug delivery technologies and specialty pharmaceuticals for smoking cessation therapy, and for oral yeast infection treatment.

Actinobac Biomed, Inc of North Brunswick, NJ in the amount $49,984
The project is the preparation and analysis of Leukotoxins for the treatment of diseases.

Switch2Health Corp of North Brunswick NJ in the amount $50,000
S2H will implement enhancements to the algorithm, perform data collection and analysis of their patent and engage in a field trail with school-age children, in their development of a specialized activity sensor to motivate individuals to be physically active.

Unified Control Technology Corp. of Bordentown NJ in the amount $50,000
Unified Control Technology Corporation (UCTC) proposes to design and build a pilot process that will demonstrate pH control for wastewater effluent treatment in the process industry.
New Jersey Meadowlands Business Accelerator of Lyndhurst and the Rutgers EcoComplex

PRESS RELEASE

The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC) says it is making significant headway on flood management in the district, in not only replacing and fortifying infrastructure to prevent flooding, but integrating a new technological system that has the ability to actually warn district residents, emergency response officials and business owners when possible flooding is imminent.

Dr. Francisco Artigas, head of the Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute, briefed the commission last week on progress being made on a new technological tool in the agency’s war chest to safeguard the district against flooding, remote tide gate sensors that transmit live, real-time data on tide levels and predictions of rising tides, which essentially could mean floodwaters, district-wide.

The technology is a digital flood control system, which employs remote solar charged monitors placed at so far, four critical tide gates in the district that not only have the ability to transmit through sensors and satellite technology when flood waters are expected to hit a certain area, but give engineers status updates on the working condition of the gates themselves, many of which are decades old and have been in recent years prone to inoperable working status.

“The big problem is the traps, it’s a common problem and they need to be continually maintained and up until now, it’s been a mystery what their operating status was,” said Artigas.

Gotham Analytics, one of the businesses in the commission’s year-old business accelerator, helped develop the system by designing the data collection and management software that runs the monitors. The same technology has already been battle tested in Iraq, where U.S. troops have used the technology to transmit critical field data via satellite communication in real time. By year-end, Artigas said six of the 12 planned remote devices will be installed on the district’s most critical tide gates.

Why the system is vital is a no-brainer to Artigas. He said the new mapping system that accompanies the real-time flood water data from the remote sensors pinpoint what areas of a town would be inundated at two, four, six and even eight feet of water. For instance, in Carlstadt, you’d want to head to Washington Avenue in an eight-foot flooding event, which isn’t a far cry from reality. It happened in 1960 during Hurricane Donna.

“Floods cause greater loss to property than all other natural hazards combined,” said Artigas. “Predictions translate what water elevations will be in the district in a matter of about two to three hours. The result of the first component is an e-mail that has the date and the time and it indicates the tide expected for the flood and points to a specific map.”

After the data is transmitted, it is not only fed to the NJMC engineers, but district municipalities and their offices of emergency management. Residents can also sign up to receive e-mail blasts.

In addition, the NJMC last week entered into a memorandum of agreement with the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) to commence Phase II of the major Rutherford/East Rutherford Drainage Ditch System project, in which Phase 1 was completed in May. The first phase included the installation of 10, 72-inch culvert pipes and 10 associated tide gates. The second phase of the project will clear tidal ditches that stretch over a mile out in the marshes, most of which have filled with sediment over the years, enough so that they can no longer control the flow of water, dispersing overflow rain water into currently affected flood-prone areas. Original bids submitted to the NJMC hovered around $2 million for the project, but the NJDOT agreed to kick in $500,000 for the project and use its current contractor working on Route 17 construction to commence the Phase II cleanout. The contract with Tilcon, at a total of $1.5 million, will be handled as a change order by the NJDOT.

However, residents remain skeptical that any progress is even being made. Rutherford resident Marge Schak said she’s heard complaints in her borough that the dreaded flooding on Route 17 has not gone away despite the multi-million dollar effort to combat it and clear the highway for vehicular traffic during large rainstorm events.

“I heard something that there is more water under the Rutherford/East Rutherford bridge and I want to know has that happened or has that been corrected,” said Schak.

NJMC Executive Director Bob Ceberio said with the completion of the first phase of the project, a significant decrease in flooding has already occurred and with the second phase complete, the problems will lessen even further.

“Phase one is complete and we are starting to see a significant improvement in how many times the road [Route 17] has been closed,” said Ceberio.

To be included on the flood warning subscriber list, e-mail Alex Marti at alex.marti@njmeadowlands.gov or Robert Saverino at Robert.saverino@njmeadowlands.gov

E-mail: lamendola@northjersey.com

Link to article

LYNDHURST (Oct. 22, 2009) — An idea that got its start in Babylon is taking shape in Lyndhurst. Rob Shucker, president of Eco Earth Design, is working to bring the modern equivalent of rooftop hanging gardens to the region’s skylines.

Shucker, recently accredited as a green roof professional by an industry organization, is one of twelve entrepreneurs supported by the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission’s Business Accelerator.

The term “green roof” doesn’t refer to color choice in shingles.

Instead, it’s a system of low-maintenance plants embedded in a low-dirt growing medium on top of a waterproof barrier, installed over normal roofing materials, Shucker explained in a recent phone interview with the Leader.

It’s an innovation that Shucker is passionate about.

History tells us that Nebuchadnezzer built his hanging gardens as a gift for his wife.

But, today’s building owners install green roofs for less romantic reasons.

The growing canopy protects roofing from its worst enemy–exposure to the sun, and that sunscreen effect can double the life of an average roof, Shucker said.

Green roofs also significantly reduce the ambient temperature near top mounted air conditioner units, thus reducing energy use and costs, by up to 30 percent Shucker added.

Rooftop plantings, and specifically the sand-intensive medium they grow in, also help prevent water pollution by retaining storm water that would normally flood drains in urban areas, Shucker pointed out.

Another perk: A green roof is a very visible symbol of environmental awareness, and that’s marketable.

The marriage of business and environmentally savvy ideas is exactly what the business accelerator was designed to promote. The program began in October 2008, with a three-year grant supplied by the NJMC.

“The process of business incubation is of great importance, especially in today’s economy,” stated NJMC Business Accelerator’s Director, Michel Bitritto. “Starting your own company is a 24/7 life-consuming venture. Entrepreneurs need all the help they can get.”

Despite experience with his own landscape design company, aligning with the business accelerator was a key business plan decision for Shucker, who is negotiating a contract for his first green roof installation during early 2010.

Without the accelerator, in the current economy, Shucker may not have launched Eco Earth when he did.

The business accelerator provides reduced-rent office space in Lyndhurst, complete with business equipment, phone and Internet systems. And, the collaborative provides mentoring, evaluation and the all-important business commodity–connections.

“We’re the cheerleaders, we’re the hand-holders; we’re just there for them,” Bitritto said.

The accelerator has room for 30 companies; with 12 clients, and one more preparing to join, there are desks available for other entrepreneurs.

Green roofs aren’t for the average do-it-yourselfer. To be certified, Shucker completed course work and a test administered by the not-for-profit organization Green Roofs for Healthy Cities.

As part of the installation process, Shucker determines if the building can support the weight of a green roof–approximately 28-30 pounds, fully saturated, and which plants would be appropriate for the climate. Eco Earth Design also provides follow-up and maintenance–no weeding required for the building owner.

Although plant filled rooflines aren’t the norm in North Jersey, they have been embraced in Europe, Shucker said. And, that’s what he’s shooting for here.

New Jersey has millions of feet of black, hard surfaces, Shucker said. Because of that, it’s an area with a lot of potential.

“The Accelerator is a huge success already – even though it has been helping start-up companies for only a year,” said Robert Ceberio, Executive Director of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission.

“Just look at the numbers,” said Ceberio. “The Accelerator already employs more than 21 people full-time, and it has trained five interns, Our clients have already generated nearly $840,000 in new business, and they have attracted $2.1 million in third-party funding.

The Oct. 15 celebration, hosted by Accelerator Director Michel Bitritto, attracted more than three dozen visitors, including several members of Governor Jon S. Corzine’s economic development staff.

Speaking at the event were (left to right) State Senator Robert Gordon, Meadowlands Regional Chamber of Commerce President Jim Kirkos, and the NJMC’s Robert Ceberio.

PRESS RELEASE

President, Rainer Ochsenkuehn

When Gilda’s Club, the Hackensack support center for people with cancer, set out to overhaul its facility recently, they did more than just repaper the walls and recarpet the floor. They decided to do it all in an environmentally sensitive way.

“When working to improve the emotional health of our members, we can’t leave out the physical environment,” said Lenore Guido, a trained holistic health counselor and chief executive officer of the club. “Going green made sense because we’re all about the health of our members and this would help their spirits lift.”

For advice on how to proceed, Guido and her board members turned to the Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology at Hackensack University Medical Center.

“They toured our facility, and we became consultants for them,” said Don O’Hagan, the center director. “We met seven or eight times, and we became very close,” he said of the two organizations.

The results of the three-month project were on display Thursday, as Deirdre Imus joined Guido, Hackensack Mayor Marlin Townes and about 60 Gilda’s Club members and volunteers for a ribbon cutting ceremony.

The improvements include a new heating and cooling system that is more energy efficient and will lower the club’s costs, as well as new 12-watt LED lights to replace traditional 150-watt bulbs, said Lou Weiss, CEO of Hackensack-based WFM Project and Construction Co., the project contractor.

New kitchen cabinets are made of bamboo, which grows fast. Old wall-to-wall carpeting has been replaced with flooring and carpet made from recycled material. Trim was coated with paint that contains no volatile organic compounds.

“When we were painting, no one even knew because they couldn’t smell anything,” Weiss said.

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Commission (NJMC) Business Accelerator, has been named an “Incubator Company to Watch” by the New Jersey Technology Council. Gotham, which designs high-tech data collection and management systems, is one of four incubator companies that will be honored at the Technology Council’s Gala Awards dinner on Nov. 17 in Somerset.

“We are pleased that the New Jersey Technology Council has recognized Gotham Analytics as an innovative company poised to do great things,” said Robert Ceberio, Executive Director of the NJMC. “This outstanding honor also reflects the critical role that incubators such as the NJMC Business Accelerator play in helping to grow small businesses and the state’s economy.”

Gotham Analytics creates remote data collection and management systems for a variety of environmental and industrial uses. The company recently designed data gathering software for the NJMC’s new digital flood control monitoring system, which uses cutting-edge military technology to better protect critical areas in the Meadowlands from flooding.
Gotham Analytics is also developing information systems that help monitor water quality and track hazardous cargo transportation. The NJMC Business Accelerator is dedicated to providing early stage companies focused on alternative energy and green technology the support they need to grow and succeed. The accelerator provides affordable work space in a modern office building in Lyndhurst, one-onone mentoring, business plan development, grant writing support, marketing assistance and networking opportunities. The accelerator, which now houses 11 clients, opened in October 2008 and is supported by a $1.5 million, three-year grant from the NJMC.

Gotham Analytics, a client of the New Jersey Meadowlands “amazing,” said Yogi Sookhu, CEO of Gotham Analytics. “The Accelerator staff’s assistance has been invaluable in helping Gotham Analytics grow its business and position itself for future success.”

For more information on the NJMC Business Accelerator and how to become a client, visit The support that we have received since joining the NJMC Business Accelerator has been www.njmcaccelerator.com, or contact its director, Michel Bitritto at 201-438-1245 or michel.bitritto@njmeadowlands.gov.

July 2, 2009, 9:15 a.m. — To better track the success and failure of older tide gates, which hold the low-lying Meadowlands ransom during heavy rains, the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission recently began implementing a new digital technology that will relay information from the flood-prone areas back to NJMC headquarters. When fully realized, these monitors will help the local area prepare for larger storms and consequential flooding.

At its June 24 meeting, the commission authorized Gotham Analytics, a client of the NJMC’s Business Accelerator, to move forward with its monitoring technology on 12 local tide gates, most of which were built decades ago.

Francisco Artigas, director of the Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute, explained to reporters that 90 percent of the Meadowlands District is “merely 2 feet above the high level mark,” and thus prone to damaging floods when rains are heavy, or worse, when a n’oreaster rolls its way up the East Coast.

Tide gates strategically positioned throughout the district should alleviate the stress of high waters — in effect by playing Moses at the Red Sea and either opening or closing depending on the time of day and situation at hand. But many of the tide gates were built more than 40 years ago and are in various states of disrepair. Thus, at times, regions of the Meadowlands are susceptible to puddles that quickly morph into foot-high car traps and basement swimming pools.

Dikes, also located throughout the district, help somewhat, but without a mechancial way to deal with the ebb and flow of high tides, the wetlands are often more wet than land.
A recent tour of one particular tide gate in the industrial area of Moonachie showed a substantial leakage during a normal high tide when the skies were cloudy, but dry. Garbage collected on the downstream side of the gate (known as the “wet” side, which is normally higher), while a slight but steady ripple of water seeped through the gate to the upstream side (known as the “dry” side, which is normally lower).

The entire gate and its leaking waters sat a few feet away from a still operating rail line and warehouse. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine the water rising to the point where the gate would fail completely, affecting both the railroad and local business.
But locals shouldn’t stock up on SCUBA gear just yet.

That gate is one of the 12 that has been targeted to be outfitted with new monitors that will essentially relay water levels and other useful information to a communication satellite and then to engineers at the Meadowlands Commission. In theory, with this data at their disposal, NJMC officials will be able to better prepare for floods when or if they occur.

But this being South Bergen County, “when” is probably the optimal word.
Without these monitors, the commission was forced to make time-consuming, on-site inspections.

Admittedly, the new technology is only a Band-Aid, though a bandage that could milk a few more years and few less headaches out of these old tide gates.
The monitors will not solve the problem of flooding. Only a multi-million-dollar replacement, like the ones recently completed in East Rutherford and Rutherford, would be the closest thing to a permanent fix. But that takes time and money (the flood-control project in 2008 cost $4.5 million and was in the works for years). Artigas called that improvement the “Cadillac” of tide gates.

Instead, this monitor project will cost the commission no more than $85,000.
Yogi Sookhu, chief executive officer of Gotham Analytics, told The Leader that the first prototype, which sports a solar skin, was set up in late April in Moonachie. A second prototype was tested in Carlstadt. Both relayed accurate data and were successful, Sookhu said.

The 12 gates that will reap the benefits of these montiors, which are also known as remote deployment terminals, are located throughout the district, namely in Carlstadt, Moonachie, Teterboro, Kearny, South Hackensack, Little Ferry, Rutherford and East Rutherford.

Brian Aberback, NJMC spokesperson, said that the monitors will be rolled out four at a time. By the end of the year, all 12 should be in place.
The seriousness of local flooding is a fact that concerns Artigas and others at the commission. One map during his PowerPoint presentation showed the area where flooding could occur if the tide gates were not in place. Except for a few islands of higher land, almost all of the area east of Route 17 and north of Route 120 was submerged.
Officials say that with these monitors, the chances of that situtation occuring are still there. But the chances of the commission knowing and preparing for the onslaught of water is a little bit more, well, above sea level.

The challenge encourages District businesses to examine their energy use and recycling practices and find ways to improve performance in these areas. Companies that make the greatest strides within a year will be recognized as green leaders. The Commission is also leading by example: the NJMC recently completed an energy audit and is taking steps to reduce consumption, increase paper and metal recycling, and encourage employees to find other ways to reduce their carbon footprints.

“The NJMC is a leader in proactively pursuing energy initiatives that will improve the environment and foster economic growth in the Meadowlands,” said Joseph Doria, Chairman of the NJMC and Commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs. “Bringing others into this process through the Meadowlands Challenge – and showing that economic growth and environmental protection are complementary rather than adversarial goals – is a natural next step.”

Commissioner Doria will help kick off the Challenge during a speech at the Meadowlands Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Eggs and Issues Breakfast on Dec. 2 at La Reggia Restaurant in Secaucus. The Chamber has also partnered with the NJMC to encourage businesses to get involved in the competition and will maintain a list of companies that join the competition.

Participating businesses will be asked to start with their own energy audit and then to develop a list of goals and action items for increasing efficiency. They will then compete against themselves to reach these goals; those who see the greatest percentage in energy reduction will be awarded prizes. Possible benchmarks include increasing the variety and amount of recyclables collected, turning off computers and printers, and promoting mass transportation. Commission staff will be available to assist companies in setting their parameters and goals, and techniques will be shared among the group to maximize the overall benefits.

At the NJMC, this Challenge involved a switch from incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs in its administration building and Meadowlands Environment Center at the Commission’s DeKorte Park campus. Motion-sensitive light switches and an expanded recycling policy will soon follow. The NJMC has also partnered with a Trenton-based company, Terracycle, that collects specific products – certain juice pouches and candy wrappers – to be made into other items in a process called “upcycling,” and provides a donation for educational programs in return. In addition, the Commission sponsored a shuttle bus that links workers with the Lyndhurst train station and is encouraging employees to find other ways to conserve energy at work.

“There are so many ways that businesses can reduce energy consumption, and many are neither complicated nor costly,” said Robert Ceberio, Executive Director of the NJMC. “Through the Meadowlands Challenge we look forward to seeing business owners and employees take pride in helping the environment while cutting costs and in some cases increasing revenue.”

The Commission also aims to spread the green word to members of the public. Through the Meadowlands Environment Center, the NJMC is holding classes on green shopping. Next year, the NJMC hopes to take its energy conservation message on the road with workshops at libraries, senior centers and schools. Other topics will include saving energy at home and proper recycling.

Saving energy isn’t a new concept for the Meadowlands Commission. Last spring the NJMC opened a new science center that was constructed with green-building practices and relies largely on alternative energy. The agency offers financial incentives to developers who use similar techniques in District projects. Two decades ago the Commission began siphoning methane gas from it’s landfills to make electricity, and it is now working on a combined alternative energy project that could include the state’s largest solar panel display.

Businesses interested in participating in the Challenge should contact the Meadowlands Regional Chamber of Commerce at 201-939-0707 or office@meadowlands.org.

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The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission – a proven leader in green building design and renewable energy use – is expanding its efforts to create a sustainable Meadowlands with the opening of the NJMC Business Accelerator. The Business Accelerator, focused on environmentally friendly entrepreneurs, also promotes Gov. Corzine’s Energy Master Plan, Economic Growth Strategy and goal of creating 20,000 green collar jobs by 2020.

“Our goal is to attract emerging companies to the Meadowlands District and help them to expand their operations,” said Joseph Doria, NJMC Chairman and Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. “By nurturing and guiding the development of these new businesses, the NJMC Business Accelerator will play a crucial role in helping grow the economies of our Meadowlands Municipalities.”

The Business Accelerator provides entrepreneurs with affordable office space to call their corporate headquarters and, more importantly, the guidance and networking opportunities critical to turning an idea or technology into a successful business. Client services will include one-on-one mentoring, coaching and other critical resources that may otherwise be unaffordable or inaccessible to young businesses. The NJMC is particularly interested in clients with a vision for sustainable, renewable or alternative energy and other green technologies and service businesses. The NJMC’s commitment to the Business Accelerator is backed by a grant of $1.5 million over three years. “A number of entrepreneurs looking for guidance have expressed interest in becoming part of this exciting project,” said Robert Ceberio, NJMC Executive Director. “In fact, the NJMC Business Accelerator officially opens its doors with four companies already signed on as clients. We look forward to working with these and other emerging companies, helping them turn their dreams into reality.”

“The process of business incuabtion is of great importance, espicially in today’s economy,” said the NJMC Business Accelerator’s Director, Michel Bitritto, a former New Jersey Business Incubation Network President who spent nearly three decades in the state’s chemical industry and worked as an entrepreneur. “Starting your own company is a 24/7 life-consuming venture. Entrepreneurs need all the help they can get. The NJMC is committed to not only resources and support needed to reduce the time it takes for them to reach commercialization and become self-sustaining. That’s why we call our program a Business Accelerator.”

With room for more than 30 early-stage companies, the NJMC Business Accelerator is located in a modern office building at 160 Chubb Avenue in Lyndhurst. The 12,000-square-foot space includes conference rooms, shared business equipment, a digital phone system and high-speed, wireless Internet connections. The building is located just minutes from New York City and is easily accessible to Routes 3 and 17, the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway. To expand the services and support the Accelerator provides, the NJMC has established collaborations with universities, colleges and community groups.

The NJMC Business Accelerator is also part of the NJBIN, which supported nearly 600 ntrepreneurial businesses throughout the state in 2007. Those entrepreneurial companies had combined revenues of $200 million, employed 1,700 people, and attracted to New Jersey more than $130 million in third-party funding, including private equity and federal grants.

For more information on the NJMC Business Accelerator, please contact Sheri Hensley, NJMC Business Accelerator Marketing Manager at 201-438-1245 or by email sheri.hensley@njmeadowlands.gov. For information on the application process, please contact Michel Bitritto, NJMC Business Accelerator Director at 201-438-1245 or by email michel.bitritto@njmeadowlands.gov. Applications and more information are available at www.njmcaccelerator.com.

PRESS RELEASE