Bennit A.I. is a self-learning, highly personalized virtual production assistant making industrial users safer and more productive at work.

Manufacturing is poised to be transformed by the Internet-of-Things more than any other single industry. Yet, the odds are stacked against it. Why? Because for years, the conversation has been too technology-centric. Manufacturers and Solution Providers have been too focused on trying to architect the right Platforms and cobble together the right infrastructure and the right solutions, leaving them bogged down to the point of frustration and exasperation.

Enter Bennit, the manufacturer's version of Siri or Cortana or Google Home or Amazon’s Echo—personal assistants who exist to make life easier for those who use them. These assistants hide the complexities of their powerful, secure, hyper-scalable, underlying infrastructure and communicate simply and directly with their users. They learn from, and with, their users and get continuously smarter and smarter. Bennit takes this one step farther, by encouraging an ongoing two-way dialog that is more interactive and productive than the passive experience of most consumer assistants - without becoming a distraction.

Bennit is your manufacturing colleague, constantly monitoring your work, asking you for input, suggesting approaches, and learning from you. Bennit also learns from the broader community of global manufacturers facing similar challenges you face. How are others succeeding, and how can you learn from them? Through Bennit.

The Internet-of-Things / the Industrial Internet-of-Things / the Internet--of-Everything all promise to connect intelligent devices and give manufacturers access to the data they produce. Manufacturers don’t use most of the data they have access to today, so how is having exponentially more data going to help if you’re already drowning in data? Bennit learns the things that matter to you most, and serves you the information you need when you need it without you needing to install yet another new system or sensor… or navigate a changing security landscape… or hire a bunch of data scientists. Bennit lives on data, constantly consuming it, interpreting it, learning from it, and brings you the value promised by today’s vision of Smart Manufacturing.

Website: http://bennit.ai/#home

Augment Therapy is a telemedicine solution for pediatric physical therapy which includes automated data collection for therapists while engaging pediatric patients through augmented-reality based exercise.

The company was founded by Lindsay Watson PT, MPT.  Lindsay has worked as a physical therapist for 16 years, and has specialized in pediatrics for the last 13. After years of frustration within her field over the lack of technology and watching telemedicine and innovation pass by pediatrics, Lindsay decided to formulate her own solution.  Augment Therapy is a software solution that can be used in both the clinical and home setting to support and augment the performance of therapeutic pediatric exercise.  Children interact with digital content on the screen in front of them while simultaneous data collection takes place and is stored and forwarded to their corresponding therapist. 

Augment Therapy blends the best aspects of telemedicine and augmented-reality, without wearable technology, to engage today’s tech-savvy children. The software is designed to create improved and more precise data collection for therapists, as well as promote adherence to exercise programs across the clinical and home-based setting. Lindsay leads a software development team, and an all-female advisory board with significant expertise in the legal, business, technology, and speech and occupational therapy fields.  

After completing its proof of concept, the company is positioning themselves for further investment from a variety of sources and for further pilot development. There are currently 11 million children in the US living with a chronic condition or developmental disability.  1 in 68 children are now diagnosed with Autism and the incidence of Cerebral Palsy and Down Syndrome are going up each year. Augment Therapy would have a dramatic impact on these children’s lives, as well as their families.  The vast majority of these children are prescribed physical therapy throughout the course of their childhood and statistics show that 70% or more do not carry out their home exercises beyond the clinical environment which negatively impacts their outcomes.  

Website: https://augmenttherapy.com/

Aspire Technologies, Inc. was founded after Todd Kelley, former sports trainer and coach, saw athletes struggling with training drills. Current products on the sport performance market offer limited capabilities, resulting in athletes modifying and manipulating equipment in a cumbersome way to fit their needs. Aspire's is developing a lightweight running wearable worn by athletes and uses a mobile app to effectively increase maximum speed rates and deliver high intensity data metrics. While most products on the market tend to be similar, Aspire's mobile app stands out by offering reliable wireless signaling that allows athletes to quickly release from equipment at the push of a button rather than manually pulling Velcro straps or plastic buckles to naturally propel an athlete into maximum speed. This eliminates timing and safety issues that plague athletes by providing real-world data and the timing and precision to control training drills that maximize athletic speed potential.

American Generated Energy Solutions (AGES) on-site generation system has a theoretical fuel utilization efficiency of fifty-four to sixty percent (54-60%). When the generation unit is supplemented by the addition of solar energy, the fuel utilization efficiency could be increased to eighty percent (80%). The AGES generation unit is designed to produce 15 Kilowatts of power. The average home usage per hour is only 2 to 3 KWH. Electricity generated by the system and not used by the homeowner can be sold back to the electric company, significantly lowering home utility costs.

ABEMIS LLC develops novel, motorized microscopy and micro-testing systems for both standard imaging and challenging custom imaging/testing tasks. ABĒMIS was founded in 2015 by Todd Doehring, Ph.D. and William (Bill) Nelson who have developed the lead technology and financial/marketing strategies. 

The goal of our company is to produce cutting-edge micro-systems that are flexible, customizable, durable/portable, and affordable (appx. 10x less expensive!) compared to existing systems. A huge market opportunity exists because current systems cost $100-200k (or much more) and are locked into proprietary software/hardware. We strive to enable improved local point-of-care and clinical laboratory health care systems – as well as non-clinical uses such as advanced field microscopy (e.g. archaeology, biology, more…).

Our main product is the ABĒMIS MezoScopeTM system with full X-Y-Z motor control, rapid imaging and gantries/software -- all developed (and customizable) in-house. Our software (.NET C#, GPU imaging, OpenCV) is a new milestone in the successful development of the new fast motor-control V.3+ system which is available now and in production for clients such as the Lerner Research Center (Cleveland Clinic Foundation). Demo systems are being built for national distributors. Next steps are development of the new V.4 ‘bullet-proof’ durable/portable system with AI guided software-assisted (deep-learning), live specimen feature-tracking, web interface for tele-medicine applications, and cloud solutions for image database storage/processing -- among other novel hardware/software innovations and features.

Website: https://www.abemis.com/

 Aatru Medical is developing a wound dressing product platform that leverages market-ready technology that will disrupt the multi-billion dollar wound therapy market (NPWT).  With our focus on the negative pressure wound therapy market space, Aatru is designing the Industry’s first and only fully self-contained negative pressure dressing that eliminates the need for pumps, batteries, hoses, and canisters that are found in today’s portable NPWT products.

Because of the innovative and streamlined design of the patent-pending Aatru dressing, our bandage will be easier to apply for the caregiver, offer discretion to the patient, and can substantially reduce the cost of treatment for the hospital, insurance provider, and patient.

Aatru was founded in Cleveland by a team of highly experienced entrepreneurs.  The management is being supported and advised by a fully-rounded group of medical experts, wound-care specific Industry leaders, a dedicated IP legal team, and design and manufacturing innovators.

With three provisional patent filings, and demonstrable early-stage prototype dressings, Aatru is working towards FDA submission by year’s end.  

In addition to the wound care market, there are substantial market opportunities for the Aatru platform, specifically in the post-surgical incision market, and tissue treatment in the cosmetic and aesthetic markets.

Website: https://aatru.com/

iRx Reminder is a mobile health application service provider focused on real-time medication adherence, care compliance, patient activation and data capture in disease, medicine, device or behavior-based care provision or research. The iRxReminder app, available in the Apple App Store, is a customizable, bidirectional tool that is used to conduct patient care management or intervention studies of individuals with complex chronic conditions, such as cancer, autoimmune disorders, diabetes, pulmonary and heart disease among others.

The company has completed projects with or currently has projects in progress with such institutions as Case Western Reserve University, Kent State University, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Summa Health System. iRx Reminder plans to evolve with FDA approval of the iLid, their automated dispensing and verification medication dispensing system as a medical device and a complete patient-centered clinical management and education system supporting accountable care and population health management goals.

The iRxReminder system meets healthcare’s pressing need for real-time data capture, care control, patient compliance and clinician and patient coordination to produce better outcomes and reduce costs.

Website: https://www.irxreminder.com/

Hyr Medical — a Cleveland startup that connects health care providers to places to practice — has partnered with Axuall, a digital verification company, also in Cleveland, to pilot portable digital credentials across portions of Hyr's network of more than 650 physicians, according to a news release.

The partnership will leverage Axuall's national network of primary-source credential issuers to enable physicians to present fully compliant credential sets to places where they apply to practice via the Hyr platform. Hyr Medical's online network directly connects qualified physicians and health care systems for freelance ("locum tenens"), telehealth and permanent jobs.

Regulations require health care employers and health plans to credential practitioners upon hire and periodically after that. The process, which can be a significant operating expense and take anywhere from three to six months to complete, is repeated for each additional care setting where a physician works, leaving qualified physicians waiting to start work, patients waiting for care and health care systems losing money, according to the release.

"Together, the Hyr and Axuall technologies will play complementary roles in reducing unnecessary costs and time to place qualified physicians into much-needed positions," Charlie Lougheed, Axuall's CEO, said in a prepared statement. "We expect to learn a great deal during this pilot as we observe how this technology reshapes workflows and improves efficiencies."

Supported credential types include, according to the release: medical education, training, licensing, board certification, work history, competency evaluations, sanctions and adverse events.

Axuall's network leverages patent-pending blockchain technology to enable physicians to acquire digital versions of their credentials from authorized issuers, including medical schools, residency programs, license bureaus and medical boards, according to the release. They can then share those credentials securely with health care systems and medical groups.

"As the U.S. health care system grapples with the challenges of meeting the growing demand for care coupled with the disparity in physician density between metro and rural locations, health care employers are looking for new ways to attract, engage and deploy practitioners," Hyr Medical CEO Manoj Jhaveri said in a prepared statement. "We expect new models like on-demand freelancing, telehealth and faster placement to play a significant role in addressing these challenges. Technologies like Axuall and Hyr will enable these advancements."

As part of the pilot, the companies will study the experience of the practitioners acquiring, managing and sharing their digital credentials with employers. Collected data will help them better understand how technologies "improve workflow, reduce redundancy and create empowering experiences for physicians," according to the release. Axuall has recently started separate pilots with two health systems, details of which will be announced "shortly," according to the release.

Inspiration arrives in unexpected ways.

Thirteen years ago, Jonathan Klinger came home from work to find his wife, Julianne, in the living room of their home in Cambridge, England. She was holding a CD player and had big earmuff-sized headphones strapped to her pregnant belly.

More than a decade later, the couple's baby-tech startup has gone through loads of research, engineering, testing, relocation and risk-taking. After several prototypes, securing a patent and winning the Northeast Ohio Chapter of the Innovation Fund of America prize (a "Shark Tank"-like competition) in the form of a $100,000 interest-free loan, Mbrio Pregnancy Earbud Adapters hit the market in June 2019, and they're getting noticed.

The adapters, which transform regular earbuds into pregnancy headphones, garnered an Instagram shout-out from supermodel Ashley Graham to her almost 10 million followers, blurbs in People and Us Weekly magazines, online coverage on lifestyle sites including PopSugar, and a rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars on Amazon.

Having an idea, designing the product, manufacturing it and establishing a company around it are daunting tasks. Jonathan and Julianne Klinger merged their experience — his in engineering, hers in marketing — to create earbud adapters that clip to a pregnant mom's waistband. They're made of safe, quality materials in an ergonomic shape. Decibel level and frequency testing was performed by a nationally registered lab.

"I'd heard about playing music to my unborn baby from my mom and sister," Julianne said. "It wasn't a new concept, and after my midwife suggested it, I decided to give it a try. I thought I could go to the store and pick something up. All I found were bulky speakers that required adhesives or straps and splitters or adapters. That got us thinking that there must be a better way."

Jonathan, raised in England, is an engineer with a graduate business degree from France. Julianne, raised in the Midwest, has an undergraduate degree in anthropology and an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, where the two met through a mutual friend.

Together, the couple moved often, following their jobs. Jonathan worked in marketing and product innovation for large corporations, while Julianne worked in advertising and marketing for a large Fortune 100 company.

"We kept thinking that playing music for our baby shouldn't be a different experience than playing music for ourselves. It should be seamless and use things we already had," Julianne said.

Three months after their first child was born, Jonathan's work took them to New York. Design began with a trip to Walgreens and CVS, where they bought everyday products, including things with plastic clips, gel shoe inserts and other items that would attenuate sound.

As an engineer, Jonathan had two questions. "One was: How do you make the sound safe for the baby? And the second is: How do you hold it to the mom's belly without harnesses or sticky stuff? The first sketch was literally drawn on the back of an envelope.

"We made several iterations," he added, "and by the time we got close to the final prototype, we searched to see if anyone had done anything like it. No one in the world had, so we applied for and received a patent. No one can legally copy it."

After having another child and moving to Cleveland a few years ago, the Klingers were nearing the home stretch. They discovered Sears think [box], a public-access innovation center at the Case Western Reserve University School of Engineering.

"They have a phenomenal 3D printer that we could use for free," Jonathan said. "Unlike many 3D printers that only produce items in hard plastic, this printer allows you to model the squishiness of the piece."

"We gave prototypes to local pregnant moms to try," added Julianne, who named the company Mbrio. They also commissioned Suzy.com, a market research company, to carry out an online survey of 500 pregnant moms across the U.S. to confirm attitudes about the benefits of prenatal music and interest in their product.

The couple also discovered the JumpStart Inc. nonprofit accelerator, which provided mentoring, networking and ongoing support before, during and after the grant application through Glide (Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise) for the Innovation Fund of America prize and the product's launch.

The final product, which looks as sleek as anything hanging on the wall of an Apple Store, meets the standards put out by the CDC and the National Institution for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). It's made of medical-grade silicone and a plastic clip that are joined without screws or glue but using split, flanged pegs. When it came to finding a manufacturer, Jonathan says that many turned the product down due to the complicated design.

"It was our choice to be this concerned about product safety. I've been through this with other products," said Jonathan, who left his full-time job two years ago. Through his contacts, he chose a high-quality, tier-one manufacturer in Asia to make the two components.

The next step, he added, became equally important.

"The organization that assembles the product and the packaging is a nonprofit based in Norwalk called CLI Supports," he said. "It provides paid employment to adults with developmental disabilities. They assemble the silicone to the clip and package the finished product. We also have the graphics done locally and use Ohio suppliers. Many are women-owned businesses."

"We could use suppliers from around the world," Julianne said. "We could have the graphic design done elsewhere, anyone could do our fulfillment, but we feel the community has given us so much, we love Cleveland and we want to give back."

She manages engagement with influencers and moms through Instagram. "That was a big part of this for us," she said. "Who we are in terms of bringing this product to light is also about who we are as parents. We left our lives in large corporations to do this a certain way. It might have taken us a little longer, it might cost us more, but there is integrity in it and that's the only way we wanted to do it. We came into it launching a product for pregnant women, but the richness has been the lives of these women we've gotten to know and remain in touch with. That's been the jewel of the whole thing."

As for additional items from Mbrio, Julianne said, "We're thinking of the next product as we consider the community and their needs."

Mbrio Pregnancy Earbud Adapters fit earbuds by Apple, including wireless AirPods, Samsung and Google Pixel. They're available in white or aqua, sell for $30 and can be purchased at mbriotech.com and on Amazon. For additional reviews and images see mbriotech on Instagram.

Whiskey makers tout the centuries-old craft of making their liquor: aging it in barrels for many years yields deep, smooth flavors. Patience is the key ingredient. Some distillers are out of it.

A new generation of whiskey makers is looking to quickly and cheaply capitalize on bourbon’s booming popularity by maturing it for just a few months, weeks or even seconds.