Cleveland/Northeast Ohio : Featured Stories

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates once said his biggest competitive fear was "someone in a garage who is devising something completely new." Now, across Ohio, collective tinkering is taking place in hackerspaces -- for all practical purposes, modern, uber-garages where trained engineers, tech enthusiasts retirees and casual DIYers, work on what could be the "Next Big Thing."

It was a bot battle to end all bot battles when some 60 high school teams from Ohio and elsewhere descended on Cleveland State University's Wolstein Center March 25 - 27. The object? To win a game called Breakaway. hiVelocity was there.

In January, Gov. Ted Strickland announced that Ohio had received $400 million in federal stimulus money to develop a "3C Corridor" passenger rail system linking Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati. Immediately, questions flew: Will the trains go fast enough? How many stops? Who will ride it? Will the benefits be worth the money?  hiVelocity caught up with James E. Seney, who served as executive director of the Ohio Rail Development Commission under former Gov. Bob Taft. Seney, who oversaw the Taft Administration's original Ohio Hub rail plan to link Ohio to midwestern and east coast lines, says all questions are valid -- but that Ohio has an opportunity that's too good to pass up. 

President and CEO of BioEnterprise Baiju Shah never stops moving. And neither does BioEnterprise. Shah's organization has been a part of a growing campaign that -- in the last eight years -- has developed 120 biomedical companies, attracted $925 million in funding and created more than 2,100 jobs (and counting) in northeastern Ohio. hiVelocity recently caught up with Shah to get the inside scoop on how BioEnterprise is helping to define an industry and a region.

Ohio neighborhoods are finding a second � or third � life as hip, new attractions for business, families and young professionals. Drawing on a combination of historic preservation and interest an urban lifestyle -- and tapping into corporate investment and state aid -- more than a dozen such neighborhoods have risen from the ashes

For years, Ohio has been a quiet powerhouse in the worlds of industrial design, architecture, communications design and brand marketing. Problem was, few people outside the state noticed. No more. The Buckeye state's reputation, particularly along the I-71 corridor from Cleveland to Cincinnati, is charging to the forefront.

Jim Cossler, an entrepreneurial expert, is chief executive officer of the Youngstown Business Incubator. He is also known as an "Chief Evangelist." His gospel? Spreading the good word about the growth and development of small businesses in the Youngstown area.

Most decent home brewers, it seems, are buoyed by an entourage of encouraging friends who think they've actually got a shot. The brutal truth? Almost none ever manage to turn a passion for home brewing into a viable enterprise. Matt Chappel appears to have bucked those odds.