Columbus : Buzz

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"For investors looking to go off the beaten track to find quality deals, Ohio might be the answer," Mitchell Rosich, partner at Athenian Venture Partners, writes in VentureBeat.

"According to the most recent Ohio Venture Capital Report, venture capital activity in Ohio was up more than 80 percent in 2010, surpassing the national average, which was up only 20 percent."

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WALKING isn’t just good for you. It has become an indicator of your socioeconomic status. Read the full story here.

Last year, more than $710 million in federal funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) flowed into Ohio by way of its major research institutes including the Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State, Battelle, OhioHealth and the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s. The state ranked 10th in the nation in NIH funding, which is a closely watched metric in academic, business and political circles.  Now civic, business and economic development leaders are focusing their attentions on how to translate these research dollars into jobs and revenue.  Click here to read the full article.

TechColumbus announced this week its commitment to invest $500,000 from its Pre-Seed Fund in Nanofiber Solutions LLC to advance innovations in cell culture technologies and regenerative medicine. Click here to read the full article.

On Wednesday, April 18, the crowdfunding industry’s 13 top debt and equity crowdfunding platforms and industry experts met to create a Statement of Intent for a lasting organization that will champion, advocate for, and represent the global crowdfunding industry. Two days later, this group—the Crowdfund Intermediary Regulatory Association, or CFIRA—presented its Statement of Intent to the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC).  CFIRA’s complete Statement of Intent can be found on www.Crowdsourcing.org.

A new accelerator program for startups in New Albany will help them continue to grow.  At the March 20 meeting of New Albany City Council funding was approved for creation of a new 7,100-square-foot "business accelerator" space. Read the full story here.

Manta, the largest online community dedicated entirely to small business, announced that it has received a $44 million minority equity investment from Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), a leading global investment firm. Read the full story here.

TechColumbus’ fifth annual report to the community highlights the progress Central Ohio has made in cultivating talent, catalyzing new businesses and creating the type of entrepreneurial ecosystem that is driving the region’s success in the 21st century global economy. Read the full story here.

Physician-scientist Clay Marsh is one of the indisputable rising stars in the constellation of personalized health care (a term he doesn’t fancy), and a genuine innovator in devising preventative health care as opposed to “sick care,” and in pursuing novel translational research and pilot projects that find new ways to engage patients in the nation’s largest academic health care system. Read the article here.

The Angel Capital Association (ACA) and Angel Resource Institute (ARI) have named John Huston as the recipient of the 2012 Hans Severiens Award. For more info, click here.

Chrysler's recent turnaround signals good things for Ohio's auto industry. Check out the full story here.

Southwestern Ohio is the newest breeding ground for the United States military high-tech defense mechanism--the drone. At the Springfield Air National Guard base, they're working on becoming ground control operations for the MQ-1 Predator after being awarded a new mission from the Department of Defense and Air Force.

Drones, or pilotless jets, are the newest weapon of choice for the U.S. Read more here.

A Central Ohio business is creating a niche market in the world of social media by offering small businesses a chance to connect with each other and then track that interaction. By measuring how a small business interacts with other small businesses, it can create a more powerful connection. Read more here.