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The Fund for Our Economic Future’s support for growing the region’s advanced energy industry has garnered nearly immediate national attention. On Sept. 1 the Funders Committee approved a grant of as much as $1.7 million to NorTech to support its new advanced energy initiative. That support was cited by MSNBC.com in its decision to list Ohio as one of the nation’s “7 green energy hot spots” that will grow Northeast Ohio’s advanced energy industry.

NorTech identified advanced energy last year as a key focus area for its work, building on the leadership of the Cleveland Foundation over the last several years in developing the region’s advanced energy industry. The new initiative, developed collaboratively by the foundation, the Fund and NorTech, will have two primary roles:

>> Build stronger connections among companies, institutions of higher education and the public to accelerate and strengthen the development of new commercial opportunities, expand existing companies, develop and attract new companies, and attract more state and federal support for the industry.

>> Lead or support select advanced energy projects that have the potential to create more commercial activity, generate jobs and attract investments to the region.

“The Fund’s grant to NorTech will help our region become a major force in the rapidly evolving advanced energy industry,” said William R. Seelbach of the George W. Codrington Charitable Foundation and co-chair of the Fund committee that recommended the grant. “Our region has tremendous energy-related assets that are generating job growth and attracting investment. We believe this collaborative initiative led by NorTech can help leverage those assets by linking them together, fostering new partnerships and leading innovative projects.” Throughout September, NorTech traveled across Northeast Ohio, presenting the initiative to the region and gathering input to make refinements as it gains momentum. The presentations, which were held in Akron, Elyria, Warren, Cleveland and Mansfield, received strong press coverage from throughout the region.

Advanced Energy Initiative Receives National, Regional Attention

22 51 150

Northeast Ohio by the Numbers

VXI Global Solutions Inc. is opening a call center in

Youngstown, creating 150 jobs by October

Fortune magazine named Cleveland-based TransDigm Group

the 51st fastest-growing company in the world

Enrollment at Cuyahoga Community College is up 22%

compared to Fall 2008

“Ohio was ranked among the top five states with the most green jobs in a recent report by the Pew Center on the States, a Washington, D.C.-based research group,” MSNBC.com said. “Spurring the growth are programs such as the Cleveland-based Fund for Our Economic Future, which is making grants to initiatives seeking to grow the state’s advanced energy industry, including battery technologies.”

41,300

200 40

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4,500Northeast Ohio by

the Numbers

A team of Cleveland State University entrepreneurs won $4,500 in the third annual

Entrepreneurship Immersion program for their idea

of edible eating utensils

JumpStart recently invested in its 40th company, Catacel Corporation

of Portage County

Case Western Reserve University received a $4 million

National Institutes of Health drug research grant

Ohio’s Third Frontier program generated 41,300 jobs in seven

years according to an independent research institute

Advanced Energy Initiative Receives National, Regional Attention

Attendees included representatives from public, private and higher education entities. All were excited to take advantage of emerging opportunities in all areas of the advanced energy sector, including wind, fuel cells, biofuels, energy efficiency and biogas. “This is very worthwhile, and we need it,” said Bruce Bille, president of Technical Staffing Professionals. Bill Ullom, founder of Vadxx Energy of Akron added, ‘’Right now in the private industry, many of the available resources are stretched so thin, without an organization like this, private industry can’t respond. They’re busy taking care of their own business.’’

EfficientGovNow Voters Weigh In On Next Round of Competition To help plan for and shape the potential next round, the Fund for Our Economic Future recently sent a survey to EfficientGovNow voters to collect their ideas on how we can improve the program, which awarded nearly $300,000 to three government collaborations in August. The survey sought feedback on the design of the program in four areas:

>> Number of projects that should receive grants >> Types of projects deserving of support>> Whether projects must achieve a minimum level of cost savings>> Whether EfficientGovNow should encourage the use of the grant for a specific purpose

Of the 1,005 voters who responded:

>> 64% prefer two or three grant winners>> 39.8% would prefer a program limited to collaboration among education institutions, while 39.2% would prefer projects focused on economic development>> 44% said no minimum level of cost savings should be required of projects>> 60% believe the program should encourage the use of savings for specific purposes, such as attracting and growing companies

For complete survey results, visit www.efficientgovnow.org. Government officials who participated in the first round of EfficientGovNow are being asked to complete a separate survey to help the Fund’s Government Action Team shape the next round of the program.

9.4

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35,540

Northeast Ohio by the Numbers

Pierre’s Ice Cream Company of Cleveland plans to expand

its operations by building a new 35,540 square-foot building

Immediate Pharmaceutical Services will add

200 jobs in Avon Lake

Three Northeast Ohio companies and the University of Akron will share $12.5 million in federal money for military-related

research and development

The Civic Innovation Lab generated $9.4 million in economic impact last year

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New Investment Fund Supports Bioscience Companies This month Northeast Ohio welcomes a new health care investment fund organized by a group of successful bioscience company executives with the goal of investing in the region’s next generation of bioscience companies. A group of 20 successful biomedical entrepreneurs, organized by Fund grantee BioEnterprise, announced plans to invest together by pooling $5 million of their own money into the newly created Medical Growth Fund. The fund will make seed-level investments in start-up companies that are close to profitability. It will focus on medical device, health IT and health care service businesses and provide an initial investment of as much as $500,000. The group expects to fund six to eight companies. BioEnterprise will administer the fund and review potential investments. Executives investing in the fund include CEOs of BioEnterprise portfolio companies such as Ray Dalton of PartsSource, Geoff Thrope of NDI Medical, and Jim Hummer of Whole Health. Baiju Shah, president of BioEnterprise, believes the development of the fund is a signal of the growth in the region’s biomedical sector. “Seven years ago, the region did not have enough successful medical entrepreneurs to create this kind of fund,” said Shah. “With the success and growth in recent years, we are able to organize this type of initiative to help Northeast Ohio.” The entrepreneurs investing in the fund believe in the potential that Northeast Ohio has for the biomedical sector. “There are smart people with great ideas who just need a little extra adrenaline, and we’re going to help,” Dalton said.

BioEnterprise Client Highlighted by Forbes Northeast Ohio has a growing portfolio of promising companies that reflect the region’s progress toward a more vibrant economic future. Forbes magazine endorsed the strength of the region’s portfolio by naming one of those companies, Quality Electrodynamics (QED) of Mayfield Village, as one of America’s 20 Most Promising Companies. QED, which has received assistance from BioEnterprise, manufactures patent-protected detectors used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines made by Toshiba and Siemens, two of the five largest MRI manufactures. Founded in 2005, QED has a staff of 45 and is growing. QED founder and CEO Hiroyuki Fujita told Forbes that the company is seeking funding to develop a new business line and penetrate the emerging health care industry in Asia with new products. “My ultimate goal is to create a company that grows with the future generations of mankind. For example, Toyota, Sony and Panasonic (to name a few) are respected globally as companies with integrity that make a positive impact on our society,” Fujita said. “QED aspires to become the world’s leading medical device company with state-of-the-art business lines that can possibly identify diseases at earlier and earlier stages and with the finest level of detail, with the hope that someday we can identify and eliminate cells before a disease begins to form.”

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The Fund regularly features Northeast Ohio companies being helped by our grantees. These companies, including the one featured here, are part of the region’s portfolio of growing businesses that are building Northeast Ohio’s economic future.

Kent Displays Developing New LCD Technologies

Kent Displays Inc.

Location: Kent, OH

Industry: Liquid crystal displays

What makes Kent Displays special?Its focus on developing new LCD technologies and products will help redefine and rebuild the economic base of Northeast Ohio, and establish a technology corridor in the bigger Great Lakes region. These technologies and products not only deviate from those traditionally developed by many companies currently forming the economic base of Northeast Ohio, but are unique to the market in general. Additionally, Kent Displays is committed to manufacturing products in Northeast Ohio. By manufacturing here, the company is not only positioned to keep and create jobs in the United States, but reverse a trend by selling high tech products made in the United States to foreign markets. How NorTech helped Kent Displays:Kent Displays has utilized the resources and expertise of the FLEXMatters Accelerator, a partnership formed by Kent State University and NorTech. The FLEXMatters Accelerator is designed to produce a new generation of advanced materials and promote regional economic development.

Why Northeast Ohio is good for Kent Displays:• Extensive university research community, especially the Kent State Liquid Crystal Institute and University of Akron’s Institute of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering• Availability of technical talent produced by the many regional post-secondary institutions• Low cost of living and overall quality of life to attract and keep technical talent• Synergies with other members of the region’s growing high-tech business community• Support/promotion/funding of region’s high-tech industry by numerous regional and state economic development organizations such as NorTech

Learn more about this company at www.kentdisplays.com.

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Northeast Ohio by the Numbers

More than 350 companies are in NorTech’s advanced energy

industry directory

Fast Company magazine ranks Oberlin College the 10th

greenest higher education institution in the nation

More than 14,500 students enrolled in Youngstown State

University this fall; the highest enrollment since 1993

Forbes magazine names BioEnterprise grantee Quality

Electrodynamics America’s 11th most promising company

Measuring the Power of State’s Third Frontier

According to a new research report, the Ohio Third Frontier program, championed in Northeast Ohio by Fund grantee NorTech, has created $6.6 billion in economic impact and 41,300 jobs in seven years. The Third Frontier initiative is a multi-year effort by the state to expand Ohio’s technological strengths and promote commercialization that leads to economic prosperity throughout Ohio. Designed to build world-class research programs, nurture early-stage companies and foster technology development that makes existing industries more productive, Third Frontier creates opportunity through innovation. State funding has been targeted at the biomedical, advanced energy, advanced materials, instruments-controls-electronics and advanced propulsion industries. From 2003 through 2008, the Third Frontier and Ohio universities invested $681 million in research, development and commercialization projects at academic institutions, research and development institutions and companies, entrepreneur-development organizations and venture capital funds, said SRI International, the Menlo Park, Calif., firm hired by the Third Frontier to do the economic impact study. Northeast Ohio has received nearly $424 million of the $681 million handed out by Third Frontier. In addition to the initial state investment, Third Frontier awardees attracted an additional $4.2 billion from private, federal, foundation and local sources. So far, each dollar invested by Third Frontier has generated $10. “That the impact is already being seen so well, so quickly is an important story to tell,” said Fund for Our Economic Future President Brad Whitehead. This research comes at an important time, as the program is set to end in 2012 and the state will ask voters to approve a renewal in May of 2010. SRI determined that Third Frontier shares all the elements, such as strong commitment to the public sector and research commercialization, that are considered best practices in technology cluster development worldwide, and recommended the renewal of the program as it continues to respond to changes in Ohio’s economy and industries. To read the full report, visit www.development.ohio.gov/ohiothirdfrontier.