Nanofibers Spinning a Worldwide Web By Laura Bond Dr. Jayesh Doshi, the founder and president of eSpin Technologies Inc., describes winning the 7th annual Kruesi Award for Innovation as "an important recognition" for his company. "It shows the Chattanooga community appreciates the innovativeness of eSpin," said Doshi, who was honored at the Chamber's Spirit of Innovation Awards Luncheon on April 18. "It also means a lot to our team members. We truly appreciate the recognition." Founded in 1999, eSpin was the first company in the world to develop a process and fiber spinning machinery for the mass production of nanofibers. Nanofibers have a variety of uses across diverse industries including high performance apparels, filtration, aerospace, and biomedical. According to Doshi, the diameter of a single nanofiber is a thousand times smaller than a single human hair. Nanofibers resemble a spider web and look and feel like silk. When nanofibers are incorporated into clothing, they absorb moisture and provide a "next-to-skin" comfort, Doshi said. The native of India said eSpin is working on a project that would interweave its nanofibers into an air filtration device. At the same time a local spinoff business in Chattanooga's Business Development Center (BDC) is working towards developing innovative nanofiberbased medical applications. "Polymer nanofibers can actually filter out viruses and bacteria," Doshi said. "Carbon nanofibers can filter out airborne toxic gases and volatile organic compounds and biohazards like molds, bacteria, and viruses. "This new material brings performance and value to air filter products for civilian applications such as office buildings and schools and in protection technologies for soldiers in the field as well as rapid responders. At the same time, nanofibers can be used to improve medical devices, for example, thinner dressings that deliver time-released medicine." eSpin is working with many national and international companies on developing products and technologies, Doshi said. Companies from all over the world, including Europe, Japan, China, Taiwan and Canada, visit Chattanooga and have expressed interest in eSpin's products. eSpin, which was launched in the BDC, was the first tenant of Enterprise South Industrial Park. "Enterprise South is a fantastic location," Doshi said. "There is land available for growth potential and it is also very close to the interstate and major locations that make it easily accessible to our customers." Doshi moved to Chattanooga in 1995 from Akron, Ohio. The Kruesi winner, who holds master's and doctoral degrees in polymer science, worked for DuPont in fiber spinning research before establishing eSpin. "Starting a business takes a lot of courage and commitment," he said. "You have to have the talent and the passion to deal with all the challenges, and vision to lead the company to growth by providing performance and value to customers and other stakeholders such as community and team members." The Kruesi Award recognizes companies for innovative products, services, and business practices in the Chattanooga area. eSpin was selected from three finalists, including Accurate Automation Corporation and Brake Tech Tools. www.espintechnologies.com Kruesi Award FINALISTS • Accurate Automation Corporation was recognized for designing and implementing Sentinel, an unmanned ocean racer boat equipped with artificial intelligence that protects water-based assets such as ships and oil-drilling platforms. Sentinel is the first and only artificially intelligent boat that can perform in a variety of high-demand, real life situations -- such as during storms and at night -- without human risk or intervention. www.accurate-automation.com • Brake Tech Tools was honored for inventing a line of brake measuring gauges. These tools provide a better, more efficient way of measuring brake wear, saving trucking fleets time and money, while improving safety. The Technician Gauge, which allows an in-depth evaluation of the brake linings without having to remove the backing plates or drums, reduces the time it takes to make a sound assessment of brake wear from nearly an hour to just a few seconds. www.braketechtools.com Turning Pages Good Workout for Business Steelcase Inc. President and CEO Jim Hackett told the 2007 Spirit of Innovation Awards Luncheon attendees that innovation is a form of fitness and talking to the smartest people on a subject or reading the books by the world's best minds helps innovators stay in shape. Steelcase exhibit drew a crowd,  including Sandra Brewer, right.  Hackett, who leads the largest office furnishings business in the world, delivered the keynote address on "Is There a Difference Between Thinking and Doing in Business Today?" to the Convention Center audience of over 700. He recalled that after Steelcase built a 20,000-volume library for Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, he was surprised to discover that the collection wasn’t studded with books on the topic of computing. Instead Gates' library includes the works of Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and other leading thinkers of their day. He said Gates explained that he sought out the great books of the past to help him figure out how to solve the daunting problems of today. Hackett said businesses must balance the time they invest in thinking and in doing, and he encouraged the luncheon attendees to acquire more patience with the abstract act of thinking by equating it with something concrete like chopping wood. Hackett's article, "Preparing for the Perfect Product Launch," appeared in the Harvard Business Review just prior to his address in Chattanooga. In the article, Hackett counsels business leaders on how to avoid product launch failures. Using his Critical Thinking Model, Hackett outlines an approach to give development teams the mental tools, intellectual resources, and time they need to think a project through to completion and to success. A Great Idea from a GPS Grad By Brianne Carswell Girls Prepartory School graduate Priya Boyington won first place in the Great Ideas Competition with a creative business plan that carried the sweet smell of success. Perfusion, which uses nanofibers to create scent-enhanced fabric products, was originally Priya's science fair project for her chemistry class. "A thousand times smaller than a human hair, nanofibers are super absorbent and offer a large surface area," the 17-year-old explained. Priya Boyington "I am very drawn to entrepreneurial programs so I knew I had to enter the competition," Priya went on. "I love to write business plans and it seemed like a perfect match." Priya, whose parents Dr. Dane and Sheila Boyington own Thinking Media, will use the $3,500 scholarship she received for Perfusion at Georgia Tech this fall. She was recognized during the Chamber's Spirit of Innovation Awards Luncheon. The Great Ideas Competition is the brainchild of Mayor Ron Littlefield, who promotes it as a means of encouraging creativity and business savvy among high school students. Priya said she enlisted the help of officials from eSpin (the 2007 Kruesi Award Winner) to improve her business plan for the competition. eSpin provided her with advice and samples to perform experiments on. "Many entities had a hand in my success," Priya said. She praises GPS, her chemistry teacher Ms. Sonya Steele and her parents, who have grown Thinking Media into a national company, as role models. Chetna Chandrasekaran of CSAS won second place for envisioning a company that establishes a web site to help students obtain business internships. Third place honors went to Colton Griffin, a Baylor School senior, whose business plan would recycle waste vegetable oil into diesel fuel. Priya intends to study industrial and systems engineering at Georgia Tech. Her career goal is to start her own company after obtaining an MBA degree. "There is a lot more research to be done to put Perfusion on the market, but I can see it happening in the next couple of years," she said. Floodbloc Takes Early Innovator Honors During the Spirit of Innovation celebration, the Chattanooga Technology Council presented the Early Innovator Award to Floodbloc, LLC. The business has two patent-protected products: Floodbloc™ bags and SAP750™. According to Founder Barron Tasker, the Floodbloc™ bags are uniquely designed to absorb 40 pounds of water in roughly two minutes. "The specific design of this product allows for the construction of water-tight flood control barriers using 30% of the product and 20% of the manpower required when building barriers with traditional sandbags," Tasker said. Further, the Floodbloc™ barrier can be erected in less than half the time required when using traditional sandbags. Finally, Floodbloc™ bags are reusable up to five times and are fully recyclable and bio-degradable. SAP750™ is a Super Absorbent Polymer (SAP) that can capture 750 times its own volume in liquid, Tasker said. "Unlike any other product, SAP750™ has the ability to remove approximately 85% of any liquid chemical spilled on water. As an example, if 750 gallons of gasoline were to be spilled on the Tennessee River, one gallon of SAP750 would be required to remove 85% of the gasoline lost." Once removed from the river, the gasoline trapped by SAP750™ could easily be treated so that 637.5 gallons of the gasoline lost could be returned at the same grade or quality as it was lost. "In short," Tasker said, "SAP750™ allows for our waterways to be cleaned in an efficient, cost-effective manner while returning 85% of the lost product to market and thereby helping to reduce the consumption of gasoline stores." Tasker said the recognition afforded Floodbloc by the Early Innovator Award is flattering and welcome. "The recognition has afforded Floodbloc a degree of credibility and constancy we would have struggled far longer to achieve on our own," he said. For further information visit www.floodbloc.com. Early Innovator Award F I N A L I S T S • Fire Eye Productions, Inc. was a finalist  for  LocalWebcastNetwork.com and a new website for high-quality streaming videos that provide comprehensive coverage of important events in business, technology, government, education, healthcare, sports and the arts. • MiniTennisCourt.com is a scaled-down practice game kit, with the same geometries as a full tennis court but with portability and easy assembly. With maximum dimensions of 16 feet by 54 feet, the Mini Tennis Court duplicates the feel of an actual tennis game and, at $150 a kit, makes tennis more accessible. • Triton Technologies has patented Smart Textile, which is made from a new elastic fiber form that elongates to over 600 times its initial length but does not spring back. Smart Textile can be used in safety harnesses for OSHA fall protection compliance, rescue applications, seat belts, cargo safety systems and in other applications.