Advanced Materials : Featured Stories

Providing funds to explore a cutting edge food processing technique, establish a national 3D printing innovation hub and attract a Global Technical Center are just some of the ways Ohio Third Frontier’s Industrial Research Development Center Program supports public-private collaboration in order to spawn innovation and create jobs.

Startup veteran and Ohio native Lisa Delp was recently appointed Ohio Third Frontier's new Executive Director. In this interview, she discusses how far we've come in creating a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem, and how Ohio Third Frontier's new focus areas will help grow our high tech economy.

Solon-based Aeroclay, is working to commercialize its advanced material made of clay, milk and water -- what some refer to as "a dirty milkshake." hiVelocity wrote about Aeroclay in February -- now, here's a video that shows a little more about the company, which also this year won a NorTech Innovation Award.

In 2009, Dayton was named the state's Aerospace Hub, a designation designed to prompt additional investments in the region's -- and the state's -- aerospace industry. Colleen Ryan, the Dayton Development Coalition's VP of aerospace and defense, discusses the traits that have made the Dayton region a center of attention for flight, research and commercialization of new aviation and aerospace technologies.

The Dayton region is on a roll. Earlier this year, Site Selection Magazine chose it as the nation's top metropolitan area for economic development for populations 200,000 to 1 million -- the second year in a row for the award. Soon afterward, the magazine named the Dayton Development Coalition among the 10 best economic development associations in the nation. hiVelocity sat down with Jim Leftwich, the Coalition's president and CEO, to find out what's driving activity in west central Ohio.

Of the 10,000 or so African American students who enroll in U.S. engineering programs each year, fewer than 3,500 graduate with engineering degrees. The National Society of Black Engineers wants to change that, and one of its targets is Ohio.

Big business doesn't always have to mean life in the big city. Some of Ohio's fastest-growing companies are proving that, becoming leaders in high-tech and service fields far from the outer-belts of Ohio's urban centers. And they plan on staying there.

Josh LaBonte can make a claim few graduating college students can these days: When he walks through Lorain County Community College's commencement later this month, he has two jobs waiting.