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Some of us may have thought about an invention that could help make life a little easier. But without the resources or connections to make it happen, the bright idea goes dark and it’s left for someone else to create.

At Ohio State University, the Technology and Commercialization Office helps students and faculty turn their idea into reality. This year, the TCO expects to double the number of start-up businesses fostered by the office. WOSU’s reports on a couple of OSU innovators whose ideas are well on their way to success.

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A new scholarship program is being launched to encourage Ohio students to become high-tech inventors and entrepreneurs.

Believe in Ohio will be a youth commercialization and entrepreneurship program offering incentives for achievements in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

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Ever had to collect thousands of applications and whittle them down to find the best hundred candidates? Universities and businesses do it all the time, and it’s not an easy task.

New York and Cleveland-based DecisionDesk wants to change that. The company takes the application and selection process into the cloud, promising to make the lives of administrators a lot less stressful. And it just raised $1.75 million in new funding to keep innovating.

Through the convergence of technology development and design thinking, the IDEA Studio will focus on identifying important gaps or critical problems needing addressed and create technologies and solutions to solve these vexing problems.

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In 1804, Ohio University became the first university established in Ohio. The ninth oldest public university in the United States, OU set up camp in Athens, Ohio, and the 20,000 students who call it home each year swell the population of the city only to leave once summer arrives.

But not Geoff and Michelle Greenfield. After completing their master’s degrees at OU, the couple decided to make Athens their home. They installed some solar systems on their off-the-grid home in 1997, and the community took notice. People started inquiring about how they did it and if they would help on new projects. What started out as a hobby job grew organically into a small solar business for the Greenfields.

Read the full story here.

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The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year awards recognize the men and women who put everything on the line in order to translate an idea into a viable, sustainable enterprise. A nominee can be the founder, president or chief executive officer of a private or public company who is primarily responsible for the recent performance of the company and an active member of top management. A nominee can't be a past Winner within the same company but can participate again as the leader of a new company - the recognition goes to the person, not the company. Finally, the nominee's company must be at least three years old.

The deadline for South Central Ohio is March 8th. Click here for more information and to nominate someone.

Ohio is making history as a leader in the fuel cell industry from the perspective of technology development and manufacturing, including both system integration and supply chain.

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President Obama touched on a number of policy initiatives during last night's State of the Union Address ranging from job creation and clean energy to troop drawdowns and gun violence, but it was his shoutout to the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute that caught the attention of the Mahoning Valley and lawmakers who represent the region.

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On Facebook, Allan Karl has 642 friends, 128 likes and 405 photos. But you wouldn’t know this if you searched for him by his actual name: Allan Smith.

Smith, a sophomore at Ohio University, switched to using his first and middle name on Facebook to carve out more privacy and make himself harder to find, especially for employers.

As more people like Smith seek more privacy, two Ohio State students have created a new social media site that revolves around providing it.

Dustin Studer, a junior in biomedical engineering, and Suprasanna Mishra, a junior in neuroscience, launched Capstory.com on Oct. 1.

“We wanted to give complete control to the user so they can do whatever they want with their content and not have to worry,” Studer said.

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We told you about Impulcity lo’ these many months ago, way back in May 2012, under the unapologetically hyperbolic headline, “Impulcity the next Facebook?”

Today, the Louisville-born app went live on the iTunes app store about noon, Louisville time.

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Cincinnati-based enterprise social network startup Batterii, which describes itself as a co-creation software platform, has closed a $2.5 million seed round let by public-private seed stage investor CincyTech – which contributed $500,000 to the round. Other investors include Batterii CEO Kevin C. Cummins, Los Angeles-based investor Ken Salkin, and undisclosed individuals.

As well as offering enterprise collaboration tools such as real-time chat, activity tracking, tagging search and so on — it describes one of its software tools as “like Pinterest with a purpose”  – Batterii also offers in-person brainstorming sessions as a service to clients.

Read the full story here.