We’re doing another theme night!  (July was such a wild success with the Green/Clean cluster.)  As you know, we believe there is innovation going on in every industry and the FOOD industry is no exception, so we reached out into the food-oriented innovation community and found some great companies to feature and not just folks who prepare and supply food!  All these companies are doing something innovative with food and eating.  Special thanks to Janet Morgenstern Passani from Jute Marketing, Kelley Lynn Kassa from Midnight Oil Writing, Leah Graves and others who helped with introductions.

Here’s the drill.  RSVP for the August 11 event, to be held at the IBM Innovation Center.  Check out the companies, vote for your four favorites (SCROLL DOWN TO VOTE) and then we’ll see you there.  The top four vote-getters will have 5 minutes to present their story to everyone but all these great companies will be there!  (All ten organizations will have tables and you can talk to everyone.)  There will be experts and some special guests too! (More on that later.)

1FastBite – Web/Mobile Restaurant Online Ordering
Barmaid and Lime Tree Cove Cocktail Spices – Innovative Cocktail Products
Batch – local ice cream
Boston Chocolate School – educational organization with a mission to educate Boston about chocolate one bar at a time
Catnip cards — Greeting cards for your cat’s enjoyment
Cooking for Geeks – Book, Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food
EverSave — Online group buying service    
Kangogift — Instant Gifts by Cell Phone
Mysterymeet — Boston Foodies discovering new restaurants
NOMx3 — Video Marketing Your Restaurant
Top Sprouts — Develop rooftop greenhouse for food

Wow, wow, wow.  What a great event!  You should all be congratulated on the work you did to make the night a raging success!  We had great products and a great supporting network of folks who came about to make a difference for Massachusetts-based innovators.  Let’s hear what you all had to say.

Let’s start off the pre-event coverage!  Thanks to Dave Atkins for profiling Pietzo and Drupal Gardens before the event actually happened.  Dave looked at our website, checked out the company websites and picked his favorites.  Of course we also saw mentions from various innovators and experts, helping to promote the event as a whole.  We’re all about the crowd sourcing promotion, huh?

Tech writer Janet was among the first to file a detailed report from the event – gotta love those professional writers.  She gave us a nice write up of Pietzo, Episend, Real Cool TV, and Drupal Gardens.  Christine Sierra was hard on her heels, writing up Clean Journey, Episend, Pietzo, and Drupal Gardens.  Janet from Neuron Robotics also came through with a nice post showing what a great networking event it was.    And, not everyone writes about every event.  Doug Haslam (or @DougH on Twitter) posted a picture on Flickr showing the standing room only crowd (OK, maybe 1/2 the room).  BostInnovation sent a team out to cover the event too!  Pictures and a story!

Check out these videos of the event:

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It’s going to be a fun Mass Innovation Nights.  We’re back at the Waltham IBM Innovation Center and, in addition to our usual assortment of new and innovate products, we’re hosting a cluster of green and/or clean products.

1. Check them out — visit their websites, see what are they talking about on Twitter, on Facebook, etc.
2. RSVP and we’ll see you on Wednesday, July 14 so you can check out the companies in person.

Acquia Drupal Gardens – SaaS version of Drupal, site + community management tool
BuySellAds.com – Private label ad network software.
CleanJourney -  Clean Tech Business Networking Platform
Difra, Inc. – Residential architectural design technology
Episend -  Rich Media Messaging and Sharing
Leslie Reichert, The Cleaning Coach – Coaching people to Green their Cleaning
Miss Pinup Power 2011 — Renewable Energy Pinup Calendar (Website coming soon!) (POSTPONED)
Real Cool TV – Marketing content dev & video & web technology
Pietzo Hybrid Electric Bike – Sustainable transport to speed your commute  
Yankee Barn Homes – Energy Efficient Timber Frame Homes

Plus, in keeping with our green theme, special guests Rate it Green from last month.

Voting has closed and our presenters will be: Pietzo, Acquia Drupal Gardens, Episend, and Real Cool TV!  Check out the final tally on the results below!

It may have been a Thursday night, but it was still Mass Innovation Nights in Waltham at the IBM Innovation Center.  Once again ably hosted by our friends at IBM, we gathered to check out what’s new in Massachusetts innovation and blogged, tweeted, videoed and networked! We also welcomed the Boston-area finalists from SmartCamp and heard from the  winner.  (Helpful hint:  you can still enter SmartCamp in other locations!)  It was also part of New England Innovation Month — go #NEInno.

Huge thanks to the SmartCamp finalists for jumping in like the pros they are to man the tables and explain their products after a full, exhausting day at SmartCamp! Thanks, SkyMeter, Sendsor, ProxPro, Sproxil and GISCloud.

Our goal, as always, is to help local companies make some noise, get some visibility, and make connections.  Over the past 15 months, we’ve hosted more than 150 companies, generated thousands of tweets, LinkedIn status posts, Facebook posts, blog posts, video, pictures and links.  Here are a few from this month:

Joe Cronin from Rewatchable gave us a nice roundup of the presenters.  Our friends from BostInnovation also did a roundup of the presenters and visited a few of the tables too!  Our friend Janet brought her new friends from Neuron Robotics (congrats on the new job, Janet!) and did a nice blog post on the presenters, tables, experts and gave out kudos for the networking opportunities.  We also got a nice post from MIN first-timer, Janet Egan,  “a darn good tech writer for hire” who gives Experts Corner participant Bill Scher props for helping her with her tech writing pitch.

Here are some quick snapshots from the evening — check out JumperSearch’s slides.  What to hear what Tony_Artuso was talking about with Proxpro?  Or find out how VC Ready really gets new clients?  Or find out how far away we had people coming from for the event?  Or some of the silly questions that got asked?

Don’t forget to let us know if you blog about the event, or one of the companies.  We’d love to link to you.  Also looking for video from the evening, @bobbiec was too busy getting pitched by MassChallenge companies — we’re an “endorser” — to get out the Sony HandyCam HD.  (The MIN-ion is thankful, a well-earned break from video-editing.  You can still check out our previous videos, or post your own on YouTube.  The most recent video is from our most recent Innovation Breakfast presentation by Bill Warner.  Note that we’ve transitioned Innovation Breakfast to a Friday morning drop-in, 8:30 to 10:00 am at the Cafe on the Common, Main Street, Waltham.  See you there.

We’re changing things up in the Innovation Nights world again — our June event will be on a THURSDAY! Thursday, June 3 to be exact.  This special Mass Innovation Nights (#MIN15 if you keep count) will coincide with the IBM Smartcamp being held that day.

We’re also going to be showcasing some of the state’s “Smartest” start-ups from SmartCamp.  SmartCamp is a global program bringing together entrepreneurs, investors and experienced mentors who want to build a Smarter Planet. SmartCamp provides access to world-class advisers plus a direct route to seed and venture capital. In each location, five companies will be selected to spend one day networking with 25 world-class entrepreneurs, investors and industry experts. (Note: the Boston deadline is May 21 — you still have time to enter your company!)   Some of the SmartCamp finalists will stick around and show off their products!

In addition, we have our usual assortment of cool companies.  VOTING IS NOW CLOSED. We’re saving room to get a look at the SmartCamp winner too!  Our three presenters will be Jumper Networks, Rate it Green and thebuyersNET.com.  BUT these great companies will ALL have a table AND we’ll get to see the SmartCamp companies too!

Founder Institute — 4-month apprenticeship and training program for both new and seasoned entrepreneurs
Jumper Networks, Jumper 2.0 –  enterprise bookmarking engine
Porticus Technology, Inc. VoiceKeyID — Wireless Voice Biometric Security
Rate it Green — Green building peer-review directory/community
thebuyersNET.com from Stellar Netcom, Inc. — Group buying, buyers get together and negotiate volume discounts
Laxy – Footwear and apparel for lacrosse players

Thanks to everyone who came out to #MIN14, and a very special thanks to Scott Kirsner for mentioning us in his blog.  It was great to see such a wide variety of new products – everything from innovative software to low-maintenance grass seed! Let us know when you blog about the event and we’ll connect to it.

Here are some video highlights of the evening:

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We also have some video taken by one of our attendees:

And, we are starting to see blog posts roll in…and here.

Don’t forget, next month’s Mass Innovation Nights is on a special date: THURSDAY June 3rd.  Mark your calendars now!

Here they are, our May team of Innovators and their new products for the May Mass Innovation Night event –  Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at the Waltham IBM Innovation Center, 404 Wyman Street, Waltham, MA.  Doors open at 6:00, presentations start at 7:00, plus a lot of networking and fun in between! Use #MIN14 when you tweet about this event!

Check out the websites and don’t forget to RSVP — our RSVP list makes networking a cinch.

Boomerang — email follow-up made easy
BiddingforGood, AIRS — online charity donation request system
Buckts – Firefox add on for Facebook and News Feeds
JitterJam – Social, Email & Mobile Marketing
MysteryMeet – Boston Foodies discovering new restaurants
Pearl’s Premium Ultra Low Maintenance Grass Seed
ReInforced Care™ – Hospital Re-admissions Reduction Services
Software Horizons Inc – InstantHMI, Human Machine Interface for Industrial Automation
Wow Mobile, Walking Hotspot – wirelessly connect to the Internet at broadband speed
WebinarListings — Online seminars at your fingertips

Voting for the four presenters is now over – the following companies earned a 5 minute presentation slot: BiddingforGood, Boomerang, JitterJam and WebinarListings.  See you soon!

Here they are: another month of super-cool Massachusetts-based companies, coming together to launch some super-cool new products at the IBM Innovation Center, 404 Wyman Street, Waltham, MA.

#MIN13 is Wednesday, April 14, 2010.  Doors open at 6:00 for networking and browsing, presentations will start at 7:00.   RSVP NOW .  (Click-thru for more info for each company)

Congratulations to our poll winners, who will be presenting at #MIN13:

• Nine Technology
• Appstella
  
• Edit me
• WineHug

P.S. It’s our first BIRTHDAY!  Who wants cake?  I heard that Edit me was bringing cake.  Must go find candle now!

careinnovators — tracking key information in healthcare
Ceiba Solutions — life science and healthcare data dashboard
Conversion Associates – Website analytics
Code Blue – all natural recovery drink
Edit me — Easiest way to create websites
Greenhorn Connect -  Find Jobs Based on Culture
The Navigator Club -   Boston’s premier boating club
Nine Technology Inc. — Online Backup
AppStella – “App on the tap”
WineHug – “Hug Your Wine, Protect it”

At last night’s event, we got to hear about a lot of dogs.  What kind of dog do you have?  That’s because Proportions Dog Food was giving out samples of their gourmet dog food and the audience at #MIN12 was eating it up…err…taking it home to their puppies! 

We changed up the format, using the entire museum (except the amphitheater) last night.  By scattering the tables everywhere — downstairs, on the mezzanine and in the big room, things weren’t as noisy and bunched up and people were able to hold conversations easier.  Putting the demonstrations upstairs meant that anyone who wanted to see, could!  No more crowding into the too-small amphitheater!  (Although I think we will start the presentations at 7:00 next time to give everyone a chance to arrive.  And we have to find a better way to showcase our experts who ended up hidden in the back.)  The new set-up was much more conducive to networking too!  We even changed up our after-party venue, heading over to Jake’s Dixie Roadhouse for BBQ afterward.  (Thank, Jake’s!  We’ll be back!)

Our MINi-theme shows within a show– Life Sciences/Bio Tech and Mobile (part of Mass Mobile Month) also went well.  While our group of regulars is light on Life Science experience (with a few notable exceptions) we were all intrigued with the work Tomophase is doing (especially those of us with asthma) and impressed with the testimonials from the big name athletes who use NormaTec to recuperate. Zoiray — a thumbs up for your work as well!  (Couldn’t part the crowd to get to you but heard people liked seeing the device humming!)

On the mobile end, it was great to see so many pictures coming out of the Tweetworks demo — liking the new app!  And RaizLabs’ content platform showed off some sweet nursery rhymes.  Say it “sweeeet” and that last sentence takes on a whole new meaning, doesn’t it?)

And, if you want to create more themes, we can do that!  How about a textiles theme?  Appropriate for what was a textiles mill.  Bite’s beautiful reusable bags help do away with those plastic bags you used to have to use at the grocery store.  You know, the little flimsy ones that you feel guilty about using to bring home apples when you have nice reusable canvas totes instead of grocery bags?  We evidently use them up at a rate of a million a minute!  And, also on the textiles front, ThredUp for Kids (OK, it’s a website but there’s clothing involved) looked so easy to use.  (Ask @BobbieC about how fast her boys outgrow stuff!  Trading it in sounds pretty darn good!)

And our final presentation of the evening, by Searchandize, sounded like a boon for people with physical products to sell!  Always like to see the data showing that a product or service really really works.  Impressive stuff.

And we can’t say enough about special guest Dan Hermes’ fine digital art collection.  (Maybe a little competition for the Museum’s upcoming steampunk festival!  Speaking of exhibits — did everyone notice the museum’s new exhibit on patents?  We know we want to spend more time there!)

Videos are below, and remember, if you blog about the event — let us know so we can link to it!

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Over the last year, more than 100 companies have launched new products with Mass Innovation Nights.  (If you want to know why, read our “Why Exhibit?” page.)

Frequently people ask us about those products.  What’s our favorite?  What’s the most innovative product we’ve seen?  What products do we use ourselves?  (There are actually several but like any parent, we don’t like to play favorites.  We love all our kids!)

But one thing we want to make sure everyone is clear on – Mass Innovation Nights is for every kind of innovator.  Not just start-ups and early stage companies but small, medium and large companies too.  (We’ve had IBM, Intuit labs and Invention Machines – so don’t be shy, you larger companies.  We want to see you at MassInno too.)

We like to say we’ve had everything from Popsicle drip-catchers (last summer) to the latest iPhone apps.

Innovation isn’t limited to one industry and Massachusetts has a lot to offer outside the high tech arena.  This month we’re featuring a crew from the Life Sciences industry and we’ve got some great mobile applications as part of Mass Mobile Month.  In December we had renewable energy companies.  Our group of  Charter Innovators (April 2009) included a solar powered innovation.

Innovative chocolate process used to create these treats

We’ve had cool gadgets, classes, and services.  Who can forget the nifty glass rimmer, the bartender’s friend?  THAT was a popular exhibit, although maybe not as popular as January’s Taste of Chocolate, Boston chocolate tours.   (Speaking of chocolate, earlier this week we visited Aroa of Boston – they created an innovative process for creating a shiny colorful “shell” for their chocolates.  They “paint” colored cocoa butter on the inside the molds, add a layer of white chocolate and fill with dark or milk chocolate for a unique tasty and pretty treat.)

Innovation is everywhere – and while we’re geeks at heart, some of our favorites are non-tech companies. Help us keep up the awesome variety with great examples of Massachusetts Innovation from every industry!  Submit your products today!