Buzz

In rural Birmingham, Ohio, about 40 miles west of Cleveland, one of the world’s leaders in meat processing and food service is innovating in unexpected ways, reports Forbes.  

Bettcher Industries, founded in 1944 with $800 in a small machine shop in the Cleveland meat district, is innovating in very non-traditional markets and making an impact.

Read the full story here.

Amid concerns by some that a bevy of tech incubators are creating too many startups, JumpStart President John Dearborn says in a column for the Huffington Post that not all incubators are created equally.

Top incubators are built around founders who are serial tech entrepreneurs, have stringent acceptance standards and an established curriculum, and a schedule for moving the startup out of the incubator. He adds that Ohio could benefit from more incubators that support IT activity to the same degree as other core technical focus areas.

Read the full column here.

Ohio's Spangler Candy Co. is adding jobs and space to produce more candy canes sold under brand names such as Jelly Belly and Cinnabon, reports the Associated Press.

The company says it will spend $400,000 to upgrade and install two candy cane production lines at its plant in Bryan, an expansion that is expected to create up to 30 new jobs in time for the 2012 candy cane season.

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Ohio is eyeing workers’ comp rate cuts for new companies as a way to spark economic development, reports the Dayton Business Journal.

The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has unveiled a plan, dubbed “Grow Ohio,” that could discount a new Ohio employer’s premium by as much as 50 percent.

Read the full story here.

A Case Western Reserve University spinoff is planning to commercialize its high-resolution imaging technology that allows
researchers to see the exact location of single cells reports MedCity News.

Mayfield Village, Ohio-based BioInVision is kicking off the formal marketing launch of its “cryo-imaging” service at the World Molecular Imaging Congress this week in San Diego, president Debashish Roy said.  The technology is so sensitive that it allows researchers to drill down to view the location of single cells in an animal’s particular organ. That level of detail is desirable to pharmaceutical and stem cell researchers who’d like to see exactly how the substances they’re studying are distributed in the body.

Read the full story here.

Ohio hospitals gave $2.9 billion in free or discounted services to their communities in 2009, according to the most recent data from the Ohio Hospital Association, reports the Business Courier.

The figure included $1.1 billion in charity care, $1.1 billion in Medicaid subsidization and $1.3 billion in community benefit activities.

Read the full story here.

MacAulay-Brown has landed a $26 million U.S. Air Force deal, reports the Dayton Business Journal.

The Beavercreek-based defense contractor was awarded the deal for information technology and intelligence services by Air Force Special Operations Command in Florida. It was unclear if the deal would boost MacAulay-Brown’s employment in the Dayton area.

Read the full story here.

Heart testmaker CardiOx has closed an $8 million series C round of investment that the company plans to use to begin U.S. and European commercialization, reports WRAL Techwire.

The round was led by Michigan-based Lifeline Ventures and included contributions from existing investors Early Stage Partners, Glengary and Reservoir Partners, CardiOx CEO Larry Heaton says.

Read the full story here.

Chesapeake Energy will use downtown Canton as a center of operations in its bid to extract oil and natural gas from the Utica shale formation that lies under eastern Ohio, reports The Canton Repository.

The company has leased space in the Cornerstone Building at 400 Third St. SE, next to the Ohio Bureau of Worker's Compensation offices, where it will set up a field office with more than 70 employees.

Read the full story here.

Oil and gas well drilling reached a modern-day low in Ohio last year. But most experts see that trend reversing as development of shale formations in eastern Ohio begins to ramp up, reports The Plain Dealer.

Ohio Department of Natural Resource records for 2010 show a lull in new well drilling activity across Ohio, likely brought on by wholesale natural gas prices, which have dropped more than 50 percent since 2008. But many see a drilling boom on the horizon as energy companies fan out across the eastern Ohio countryside to sign leases for land atop energy-laden Utica and Marcellus shale formations.
 
Read the full story here.

Devicor Medical Products, a private equity firm and a GTCR company, has completed its previously announced acquisition of the neoprobe gamma detection system products and related assets from Neoprobe of Dublin, Ohio, reports HealthImaging.com.

Financial terms of the agreement included $30 million cash at close plus up to an additional $20 million in royalties based on revenue milestones. The sale was approved by Neoprobe's shareholders on Aug. 15.

Read the full story here.

The city of Huber Heights, along with developer 201 Corridor Management LLC, will launch a $223 million retail and office project projected to create more than 2,000 jobs, reports The Dayton Business Journal.

The Heights development at Interstate 70 and Brandt Pike is expected to create 2,175 jobs, including 200 temporary construction jobs. Huber Heights city documents list a potential total economic impact of $1 billion during the next 30 years from the project.

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Officials say a Chinese tire manufacturer plans to open a U.S. research and development center and sales offices in Ohio, with an initial 30 employees, reports the Associated Press.

The Triangle Group, based in Weihai, China, will locate in Akron. City Mayor Don Plusquellic says the facility results from a partnership between Akron and the city of Weihai, in eastern China's Shandong province.

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Cleveland, Ohio was unrecognizable even to his own citizens as it was transformed into a fake New York City street and then blown up on the first day of filming for The Avengers, reports the Daily Mail.

But the transformation only added to the excitement, as fans thronged to see the action -- filling rooftops to gasp at NYC cabs and cars being blown in the air near the city's Grand Central Market.

Read the full story here.

Eleven Ohio businesses in fields from manufacturing to software made Inc. magazine's list of America's 500 Fastest-Growing Private Companies, reports the Dayton Business Journal.

Product Movers, a manufacturing company in Holland, ranked No. 101 and was the top-ranked Ohio company with a 2,659 percent growth rate, according to the magazine's report. The magazine ranks companies by their three-year percentage growth rate.

Read the full story here.