Helicopter Lasers, Health Record Exchange, and Rick Snyder’s Past—A Michigan Roundup

Gregory T. Huang9/8/10Leave a CommentFollow @gthuang

There has been a smattering of innovation news from around the state this week:

—University of Michigan researchers are developing a laser-based system to protect military helicopters from heat-seeking missiles by jamming their sensors, according to a report in Gizmag. Mohammed Islam, a U-M professor of electrical engineering and computer science, is leading the research and soon might be testing a prototype at his spinoff company, Ann Arbor-based Omni Sciences.

—Wayne State University Physician Group, a nonprofit that operates 100-plus medical practices and serves 670,000 patients in Detroit, said today it is using Orion Health’s technology to collect and manage patient data, independent of its own existing electronic health record system. The system will help the Wayne State organization create an exchange of clinical and demographic data between hospitals, medical centers, and its own offices.

—GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Snyder has come under fire from his Democratic opponents for allegedly outsourcing jobs while he was on the board of Gateway, the computer maker, in the 1990s. AnnArbor.com has the gory details here. Last month, Xconomy’s Howard Lovy wrote an in-depth piece on Snyder’s background and experience in the tech industry.

Gregory T. Huang is Xconomy's National IT Editor and the Editor of Xconomy Boston. You can e-mail him at gthuang@xconomy.com, call him at 617-252-7323, or follow him on Twitter at @gthuang.