At a recent gala held at the Toledo Museum of Art, the American Institute of Architects Ohio Convention announced its 2010 AIA Ohio Honor Awards to honor outstanding work in the field. Nearly four dozen Ohio firms submitted twice that amount of design work in hopes of snagging top honors.

Cleveland-based firm Westlake Reed Leskosky was a big winner, securing two out of three available Honor Awards for work both in and out of state. Claiming a Merit award for its design of... Read more >

While Jonathon Sawyer and Greenhouse Tavern failed to come away with the top Burger Bash prize at this year's Wine & Food Festival in New York, he did manage to make a meaty impression on Wall Street Journal reporter Charles Passy. In his post following the well-attended burger bonanza, Passy wrote, "To us, a great burger can be a creative affair, but it still has to retain its essential burger identity -- namely, 'a big warm bun and a huge hunk of meat,' to quote Jim... Read more >

In this paper by Brookings Think Tank fellows Vey, Austin and Bradley, the Great Lakes region is described as being uniquely suited for growth in the New Economy.

"As the American economy works its way slowly out of the Great Recession, a consensus is developing among public and private-sector stakeholders that simply re-constructing our old economy, one based on highly-leveraged domestic consumption, would be a serious mistake," the report argues. "The nation must instea... Read more >

Greater Cleveland-based MesoCoat, an advanced materials company, has teamed up with NASA Glenn to produce a breakthrough nanotechnology that protects metal parts from wear and corrosion in extreme environments. Potential uses for the high-tech coating includes protecting the nation's water, transportation and energy infrastructures.

MesoCoat is working to incorporate a new reflector design on NASA's 200 kW arc lamp system to produce an extremely hot light that melts stain... Read more >

In a recent "Impulsive Traveler" article in the Washington Post, reporter Maryann Haggerty makes the short seven-hour drive to Cleveland, where she discovers that the city is no longer strangled by its "rust belt."

Using the Ohio City B&B J. Palen House as her home base, she beholds the glory that is Great Lakes Brewing Co., Flying Fig and the West Side Market. "It's huge," she notes, "vastly outsizing Capitol Hill's beloved Eastern Market. It's sparkling clean, putti... Read more >

Described by the Wall Street Journal as the centerpiece of an "ecosystem to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship," Cleveland's JumpStart Inc. is praised for its ability to help early-stage start-ups attract crucial venture funding.

With economic assistance from Ohio's Third Frontier program, JumpStart provides entrepreneurs in the fields of technology, health-care and clean-technology with much-needed financing and professional mentoring.

In the WSJ article... Read more >

Power is king. To hear Kevin Goodman repeat that mantra again and again, one might imagine him standing in front a dozen snarling transformers spitting out noise and smoke, sucking up all the juice from here to Katmandu.

Instead, Goodman, director of business development at BlueBridge Networks, is standing in front of a row of four sleek Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) towers in the Cleveland company's electrical staging room. These towers will help BlueBridge ensure ... Read more >

Now it's cool to think inside the box.

EventWorks, Inc., a Greater Cleveland event-planning and audio-video production company, has become the sole U.S partner for a 3D design technology that has already taken Europe by storm. The technology combines holographic, free-floating images that are displayed with a physical product inside a glass case. The result is a unique and visually stunning way for companies to market their brand or product.

"We jumped into the t... Read more >

What's a fashion store without a fashionable nest? Cleveland architecture and interior design firm Vocon was tasked by Dots to devise a new Glenwillow-based headquarters facility that reflected the fashion retailer's penchant for innovation.

Vocon's design of the 192,000-square-foot office and distribution center oozes hip femininity and panache. Pink, the company's corporate color, is splashed across the modern lobby and used as an accent everywhere from the conference r... Read more >

You would think that something as vital as a cardiac catheter designed specifically for children would have been on the market years ago. Sad truth is, a lack of financial incentives previously prevented such a device from being produced.

"There aren't many players in the pediatric medical device space because there isn't huge cash-out potential," explains Tim Moran, founder of Cleveland-based nonprofit PediaWorks. The issue, he notes, is simply a matter of market share... Read more >

There's more to feast on in Cleveland than Iron Chef fare, says Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writer China Millman. In fact, there's enough great chow to plan an entire culinary vacation around.