Featured Stories

She's studied and worked in major cities in North America, was inspired by the creative scenes in Berlin and landed in Detroit to work for NextEnergy -- and design Detroit's first off leash dog park. Jay Walljasper profiles Erin Kelley. 

Jim Richter wears more than one hat in Metro Detroit's entrepreneurial ecosystem, and he regularly throws those hats into the regional economy's growing defense sector. Richter is the CEO of Gravikor, a Delphi spin-out that is working to commercialize welding technology that is both lighter and stronger than traditional welding. It aims to take this technology to refurbishing military vehicles, such as the Humvee. These sorts of military vehicles are constantly overweight, which causes everything from lower fuel economy to increased wear and tear on parts. The Ann Arbor-based startup's technology is promising to make these Humvees lighter and give them the ability to add or subtract armor easily. Richter is also the president of the Michigan Research Institute. The non-profit research incubator, which is based in Ann Arbor, works to help bring more cutting-edge technology into the marketplace. Often that means creating startups that help create more jobs. The defense and aerospace sectors are both areas the Michigan Research Institute has helped create new, local businesses in. Richter answered a handful of questions about Metro Detroit's growing defense sector means to the local economy and where the best opportunities for it are.

After D:hive's Jeff Aronoff attended a Detroit to Cincinnati city swap organized by Hudson-Webber and Little Things Labs, we asked him to report on the trip. He came back with some valuable takeaways. We're in debt to you, man.

GraviKor, Plex and Patriot Services are firms that are expanding business in the defense and aerospace industry sectors. In this Model D and Metromode Special Edition, Jon Zemke shows us how this business gets done in Metro Detroit.  

Join us this Thursday on the campus of Lawrence Technological University to hear from a panel of experts, activists, and business owners about how green and blue infrastructure is transforming our region, and learn what you can do to be a part of this movement.

One of the many highlights of last week's Urban Innovation Exchange speaker series was a slideshow of portraits taken by Marvin Shaouni. In case you missed it, here it is in living color and occasional black and white.