NEOhio.org

OK, curious to know what’s up with the only major regional effort underway? With Governor Strickland as the keynote speaker, on April 22, 2008, The Fund for Our Economic Future held it’s annual meeting in downtown Akron at the Civic Theater. Brad Whitehead, President, talked about the last year of activities and gave a candid & optimistic assessment of where we’re going. Then Dave Abbott, new chairman of the Fund, gave his thoughts on what the region still needs to accomplish. Finally, Rob Briggs receives a little gift as outgoing Fund chairman.

Brad’s slide presentation is available in the link below the video window. Open it first then go back to this page on a new browser window to view the video. Resize the two browser windows so they’re side by side. Move forward in the slides as he talks. Yes, we make you do a little of the work but this way you’re more engaged, right?

Want to check out who our local investors are betting on? On November 9, the OVA held a panel entitled “The Quiet Recovery: The Role of Venture Capital in an Entrepreneurial Economy”. Looking at the NEOhio scene were Tim Biro-Ohio Innovation Fund, Jonathan Murray-Early Stage Partners & Mike Stubler-Draper Ventures. Moderated by Paul Cohn of Fort Washington Capital Partners. Doing the 5 Minute Forums were David Akers of Collaborent Group & Dave Senders of Centric Technologies.

OVA Panel

NOW:

Local Media Panel: SPJ/Cleveland, November 7

Regional Day - Government Panel, October 30

MAGNET Incubator - November

Media Panel:
Society for Professional Journalists held a local media panel recently which included Elizabeth Mcintyre and Jean Dubail of The Plain Dealer, David Molpus of Ideastream and Dan Solomone of WOIO/WUAB. Topic: Citizen & Backpack Journalism. It’s a little dark - the video, not the content - but you can still tell who’s who!

Regional Day:
On October 30, regional leadership groups gathered at Kent State, North Canton, for a packed day of presentations & field trips. Here’s just a slice of it: Mayor Currin of Hudson, Mayor Williams of Youngstown and Commissioner Dan Troy of Lake County talking about their perspectives on the whole NEOhio regionalism movement. Check it out…you’ll learn something!

MAGNET Incubator:
We released the first video of Aria Analytical last week, now here’s one about Stanton Advanced Ceramics, planning to penetrate a $500 Billion market - and with a good chance to do it. Also interviews with the guys behind the Incubator, Wayne Zeman & Dave Crain. Starting a business in the Cleveland area? Give ‘em a call!

Sat down with CEO Chris Vacca to discuss their “disruptive technology” acoustic measurement. Located in the downtown Cleveland MAGNET incubator, they just received a JumpStart investment. Check out the story in today’s Plain Dealer. And Chris says everything they need to grow is located right here in NEOhio. More MAGNET videos this Friday.

We recently sat down with Ed Morrison, NEOhio’s economic development pro, and talked about his background & just what he’s doing these days. It’s the first in a series of talks with Ed and next time we’ll get into some specific NEOhio issues.

Last month NorTech, NEOhio’s tech strategy organization, introduced TechLift, a way to specifically help entrepreneurs in key areas: advanced materials, electronics, biosciences, energy and info/telecomm. We talked with Chris Mather, the NorTech VP who heads up the program, the 3 recently hired entrepreneurs in residence, Darrin Redus, the JumpStart economic inclusion officer and Tiffan Clark, JumpStart marketing chief on Ideacrossing, the new entrepreneurial match-making web site.

Earlier this month, Gary Schoeniger, of the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative, spoke at the Ohio Venture Association luncheon in their “5 Minute Forum” program. The intent is to offer on-line learning for entrepreneurs - something we could use more of here in NEOhio. Check it out.

Visited the Incubator recently and talked with Jim Cossler & Julie Michael Smith, the two behind the operations. Also met with Green Energy TV, one of their newest tenants and Turning Technologies, rated by Inc. magazine as the fastest growing private software company in America.
Youngstown Business Incubator

No they’re not related except for the fact that they’re both NEOhio institutions:

The Greater Cleveland Partnership recently updated their video showing some of the many projects now going on in the City. Good use of Google Earth.

Caught the mention of the new Dennis Kucinich Second Life video on the blog of The Plain Dealers Sabrina Eaton. No word yet on what events might take place there but he’s not the first candidate in Second Life with Clinton & Obama having them too.

New this month are the following so see below on this page and also check out the videos from February-August in our Video Archives on the right:

NorTech CEO Dorothy Baunach
Former Tech Czar Michael DeAloia
Entrepreneur Bert Gray

If there’s one tech organization people that people don’t really understand in NEOhio it’s probably NorTech. They’ve always operated behind the scenes as a catalyst to help guide and plan our region’s technology clusters in a 21 county area - part of a $140 Billion regional economy. Long time President & CEO Dorothy Baunach recently spoke at the monthly luncheon of the Ohio Venture Association to give a run down of just where things stand circa Fall 2007.

Check out what she had to say here: Dorothy Baunach Presentation