So, the danger here is to point to the listicle and call it a day. But even if we are the 13th best place to live according to Livability.com (moving up a few spots from last year) that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement, right? Or do we sound too much like a mom? Excerpt: "This quintessential Big Ten college town lays claim to the University of Michigan, which includes Michigan Stadium – the largest stadium in North America. Residents have easy access to the more than 300 restaurants located in a 20-mile radius of Ann Arbor, as well as the city's growing metropolitan area that features great schools, medical facilities, culture and more." Check out who else made the list here.

With Detroit's auto industry developing cars that can talk to one another in order to avoid traffic jams and keep drivers safe, and Google's plan to develop driver-less cars, there's a battle a brew in' for which technology will set the course of our auto future. Excerpt: "Among the advancements automakers announced at last week’s conference in Detroit was GM’s “Super Cruise” system for 2017 Cadillacs, which will let drivers take their hands off the steering wheel and feet from the pedals for periods of highway driving. Like technology being developed by Toyota, Honda Motor Co. and other companies, GM’s system hands control back and forth between driver and vehicle. The approach that Mountain View, California-based Google is taking is, literally, much more hands-off. In May it unveiled plans to deploy at least 100 fully autonomous, two-seat, egg-shaped test cars with a top speed of 25 miles (40 kilometers) per hour and no steering wheel. Google has since said it will include one, as well as brake and gas pedals, as California requires." Read the rest here.

Though the owners of the new restaurant coming into the W. Liberty location vacated by sushi place Tamaki will be the same, that's about the only thing Taste Kitchen will have in common with its predecessor. The new, multi-faceted eatery will offer light breakfast, light lunch, afternoon tea service and fine dining in the evenings, all under the theme of thinking globally and acting locally.  "We aren't pigeonholing ourselves into a certain kind of food," says Michelle Hinze, pastry chef and general manager for Taste Kitchen. "Our menu is going to be fresh and vegetarian and vegan friendly. If we feel like cooking Thai one day, we'll do that. If we want to cook  African the next week, we'll do that."  The ever-changing menu will be sourced as locally as possible. According to Hinze, their priority is to use ingredients first from Michigan, and then within a 200 mile radius when possible. The ambiance of the restaurant will move from casual dining early in the day and during afternoon tea service, and then move into a more formal experience at night.  "We want to hit as many target markets as we can," Hinz says. "Our location provides us great access to the college students, and we want to step things up for dinner service to draw in other clientele from the Ann Arbor area."  The goal is to open Taste Kitchen in about two weeks. Hinze expects to hire 10-15 staff members to operate the restaurant. Future plans include getting involved with the community and partnering with local artists and musicians.  Source: Michelle Hinze, Taste Kitchen Writer: Natalie Burg

While in graduate school at Michigan State University, Emmanuel Jones conducted a study to determine the impact of mentorship on the grades and behavior of middle school aged children. His findings led him to a new career. The positive results inspired him to create Mentor2Youth, a non-profit organization serving kids primarily in the Ypsilanti area. Three years later, the growing organization has found a new home in the newly renovated Ypsilanti Town Center on Ecorse. Rd.  "I felt this location would be prefect because there's not really a lot of support services on that side of town," says Jones. "Being on a bus line allows families who might not have transportation to come learn more about our programs."  And Mentor2Youth needs the space. What began as one program serving 15 student has grown into multiple programs during the school year and summer offered in multiple locations, having 350 kids so far. Programs include everything from life skills and career planning to fun field trips the students wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to experience.  "We want them to get thinking long term about what they wan to do with their lives," Jones says. "We try to expose students to their potential and what they're capable of doing." The new office will help support six to 10 part-time staff Jones hopes to soon hire to help manage the growing program. Through the help of grants, he plans to eventually expand his staff to include permanent employees. As the organization is always in need of volunteers, in-kind and financial contributions and other means of support, those interested in helping out can find more information on Mentor2Youth.com  Source: Emmanuel Jones, Mentor2Youth Writer: Natalie Burg

Big changes have taken place at Covaron Advanced Materials over the last year. The Ann Arbor-based startup has brought in a new CEO, raised a seven-figure Series A, and consolidated its investor circle to one person. Covaron Advanced Materials, formerly Kymeira Advanced Materials, is developing a new chemistry for ceramics. The new technology was developed by company founder Vince Alessi and co-founders Cam Smith and Reed Shick. The advanced ceramics formula makes ceramics a more affordable and streamlined option for a number of molds and durable goods, such as those used in the automotive sector. "We are a game-changing technology for a lot of industries," says Michael Kraft, CEO of Covaron Advanced Materials. Which explains why it won the student portion of the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition in 2012. And then the main competition at Accelerate Michigan in 2013. It also raised a $300,000 seed round from a number of local venture capital organizations, like Ann Arbor-based Huron River Ventures and Invest Detroit's First Step Fund. "We had a lot of help from the Ann Arbor SPARK Business Accelerator Fund," Kraft says. Those investors are gone now. Kraft says a single investor he declined to name but described as a person who owns "a Michigan-based consortium of companies" bought out everyone else and provided the money for a Series A. Kraft declined to name the individual or the exact amount of the Series A besides saying it was in the "seven figures" and provide enough funding to grow the company for 24 months. Kraft, a Michigan State University graduate, was recruited from California to serve as Covaron Advanced Materials' new CEO. He explains the plan is to focus on growing the company through targeted application development of its ceramics technology. The idea is to aim for a long-term growth cycle (similar to what life sciences startups go through) so it can maximize the use of its technology in several markets. Covaron Advanced Materials and its team of 10 people (all recently moved from independent contractors to full-time employees) plans to leverage the sole investor’s portfolio of firms to grow. "We're in a consortium of companies that employs more than 1,000 people and has more than $150 million in capacity," Kraft says. "That gives you an idea of the support we have." Kraft acknowledges this is a unique situation for a startup. There are no exit requirements or need to pump up artificial value or need to exit because a subset of the startup's investors needs to cash out. There is only the goal of growing a big business that could one day have its fingers in a lot of pies. "We have choices," Kraft says. "We don't need to paint ourselves into a corner." Source: Michael Kraft, CEO of Covaron Advanced Materials Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Deque's presence in Ann Arbor has been growing both organically and rapidly in the last year. The software firm has doubled its local staff, hiring 13 people. It now has 25 of its 80 employees based in Ann Arbor, which is up from six two years ago. "People love Michigan," says Preety Kumar, CEO of Deque. "They keep wanting to relocate there." Deque's software makes websites more accessible to people with disabilities. The idea is to tap into larger markets by making a digital process accessible to everyone. For instance, Deque's products and services make it easier for blind people to access popular websites. Check out more of Deque's accessibility success stories here. The 15-year-old company has experienced a significant spike in the demand for its services over the last year. It was able to attract a dozen new customers in 2013. As of July, it has landed 21 new customers for this year. Among those new customers, many of them are in the financial services, e-commerce, education technology, and aviation sectors. "Airlines are definitely warming up to it," Kumar says. Which has led to a spike in growth in the Ann Arbor office. The Virginia-based company has had a presence in Ann Arbor for years. It’s CTO lives in Ann Arbor. Today it has 25 people in the office and Kumar expects that number to keep growing at an aggressive pace. "We continue to add good people to the team," Kumar says. "Right now our biggest bottleneck is us. The pipeline is healthier than ever." Source: Preety Kumar, CEO of Deque Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Alex VanDerKolk is a graduate of the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business but also a fan of medical research. The recent recipient of a BBA is leveraging both passions to launch his own startup, Mountain Labs. "I have always been interested in the medical field," VanDerKolk says. The Ann Arbor-based company is developing data collection software, called Symport, for medical research. The idea is to create a platform that is simple to use, HIPAA complaint, and smart enough to streamline what can often be the archaic world of the healthcare research. VanDerKolk has firsthand experience of how archaic that healthcare research can become. The 20-something worked as a data analyst for the University of Michigan Health System for a few years before he graduated late last year. He was appalled at the 20 Century-style tools university researchers were using to conduct 21st Century research on multi-million-dollar projects for a multi-billion dollar research institution. "It was just a very inefficient process," VanDerKolk says. "We saw a lot of very smart people spending a lot of their time doing very mundane managerial tasks." That inspired him to launch Mountain Labs last April. He raised $200,000 in seed capital and put together a seven-person team to build the software platform (with the help of Atomic Object’s Ann Arbor office) this summer. The technology is now in private Beta being tested with a few different research teams at U-M. "Now we're starting to add software developers and bring our developers back in house," VanDerKolk says. Mountain Labs is aiming to conduct a true pilot phase with a University of Michigan research department this fall. It is also looking to raise a $750,000 Series A by January so it can start looking at doing pilots outside of U-M. Source: Alex VanDerKolk, president of Mountain Labs Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.