There are good ideas and then there are good ideas with a plan. The former often die on the vine, having nowhere to go. The latter create companies. More and more Ohio entrepreneurs with good ideas are now developing their business acumen through university business plan competitions. They are turning heads. And creating the kinds of enterprises that lead to jobs.read on…

Melvin Gravely II sits at the intersection of race and business -- an important place to be as the nation's minority populations rise within a rapidly changing economy. Founder of an engineering firm, author of seven books and a sought-after keynote speaker, Gravely is managing director of the Cincinnati-based Institute for Entrepreneurial Thinking, which works to bridge the gaps in reasoning that hinder minority entrepreneurship and community access to talent. hiVelocity asked Gravely about his work.read on…

Since 1995, the Center for Innovative Food Technology (CIFT) has helped companies involved in some of Ohio's largest and most economically significant industries: food production, processing, packaging. But the center's work reaches all across Ohio's agribusiness universe and it seems no part is left untouched, from research, to local food initiatives to advanced energy. David Beck, CIFT's president and CEO, spoke to us about some of the work CIFT is doing. read on…

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."read on…

The risk of starting a new business is great, the rewards uncertain. But some people enjoy the process. These "serial entrepreneurs" do it over and over again. Lather, rinse and repeat.read on…