Not your typical groundbreaking

Say this for Bob Wilhelm and Doug Dawson. They don't mind risking embarrassing themselves in front of a crowd.


Wilhelm, executive director of the Charlotte Research Institute at UNCC, and Dawson, incoming chairman of the Ben Craig Center business incubator, literally broke ground Thursday for the new PORTAL building on campus. Literally, as in manned the earth-moving machinery -- in their business suits -- to mark the official groundbreaking for the building.

Truth be told, they did a passable job playing construction workers, although the sign marking the occasion and sporting a rendering of the building was a casualty of their big dig.

(Dawson, by the way, is a UNCC grad and a serial entrepreneur. His latest venture is WanderPoint, which develops mobile applications for tourism. Learn more at www.wanderpoint.com.)

Even UNCC Chancellor Philip Dubois got into the act, donning a pair of shades on the sunny, windy afternoon and dubbing himself the school's "coolest chancellor." That drew a laugh from his predecessor, Jim Woodward, who was in the audience.

Yes, the dignitaries were out in force for the PORTAL ceremony. PORTAL, by the way, stands for Partnership, Outreach, and Research for Accelerated Learning. The $37 million, 95,000-square-foot project is envisioned as a hub of research and innovation for the region. Among other things, the building will house the Ben Craig Center, which will move from its current location nearby when PORTAL opens in late 2013 or early 2014.

BCC President Paul Wetenhall used the occasion Thursday to single out two Charlotte-area startups that just won grants from NC IDEA: InfoSense (www.infosenseinc.com) and mailVU (www.mailvu.com). Both have ties to the BCC.

InfoSense was founded by a UNCC professor, Ivan Howitt, who has been a client and affiliate of the center for three years. The company uses acoustic technology to help fix sewer pipe blockages and breakages.

MailVU won the BCC's Five Ventures competition this year and received a $10,000 check in April. Now housed in Packard Place uptown, mailVU is a full-featured video platform that allows businesses and individuals to record and distribute video content.

Business is booming for InfoSense and mailVU, thanks to recent cash infusions. How's business for you?