Tech Transfer : Featured Stories

Cincinnati's thriving, bench-to-bedside health care ecosystem has nourished the success of many prominent startups, among them AtriCure, Blue Ash Therapeutics and AssureRx Health. These firms are growing the city's startup community, creating jobs and fostering the success of the entire region.

It's never been easier to validate an idea and launch a new company. Yet access to capital remains a critical issue for entrepreneurs. The upcoming National Association of Seed and Venture Funds Conference, to be held in Cleveland from October 15th-17th, will bring together a community of aspiring entrepeneurs and investors to explore ways to advance innovation capital.

Open innovation partnerships between universities and companies can spark new ideas and possibly inventions, says Dr. Luis Proenza of the University of Akron. Recently, hiVelocity spoke with Dr. Proenza about key changes in U.S. patent law, the role of universities in Ohio's entrepreneurial ecosystem, and the catalytic potential of university partnerships.

In the past, the idea of a company turning to a competitor for outside expertise just wasn't done. Today both small and large companies realize they can't do everything in-house, and that holds true for the growing biomedical industry where innovation through collaboration has become the norm.

As president of TechSolve, Gary Conley knows what it takes to go from concept to commerce. His organization -- part of the NIST Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a national network of affiliated manufacturing extension centers and field offices serving small manufacturers -- is also one of Ohio's seven Edison Technology Centers. Lately, Conley has been incubating an idea for improving the exchange of a wide array of valuable information to help manufacturers throughout Ohio. It's OMNI: the Ohio Manufacturing Network of Innovation. hiVelocity caught up with Conley to ask him about the concept.

"I came to Akron because I was quite impressed with the vision of what the BioInnovation Institute could become," says Dr. Frank Douglas. "There is a tremendous desire here to do something that improves the health of the economy in this region � and that's why this will succeed."