University Circle

go media is putting cleveland on the map as hub of art and design
Go Media is Here -- and luckily for us, they're here to stay. From its studios in a nondescript three-story brick warehouse on Lorain Avenue, the creative agency is putting Cleveland on the map as a burgeoning hub of art and design. In addition to creating good work, the firm does good work, promoting people and projects that are making Cleveland a better place to live.
guide book written for new arrivals and those who'd like to rediscover cleveland
A new Cleveland-centric book joins the slowly growing bookshelf of info-packed guides to our fair city. Written and self-published by Cleveland State University urban planning grad Justin Glanville, New to Cleveland: A Guide to (re)Discovering the City is targeted both to new arrivals as well as those who'd like to rediscover their city.
 
Readers will find general information about various Cleveland neighborhoods, including listings of restaurants, stores and cultural institutions. But also advice on where to send your kids to school, insights on the Cleveland real estate market, and the best neighborhoods for students, artists, professionals, retirees and those who want to live car-free or car-light.
 
The 250-page book includes more than 50 full-color illustrations by local artist Julia Kuo. The book is also printed in Cleveland.
 
The guide book is only the second to be written specifically about present-day Cleveland, the other being Avalon Travel's Moon Cleveland, penned by Fresh Water editor Douglas Trattner.
 
There will be a launch party from 7 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 14 at Happy Dog.
 
Books are available online and at this weekend's Bazaar Bizarre.
cuyahoga arts & culture announces this year's project support grants
On Monday, November 14th, the Board of Cuyahoga Arts & Culture (CAC) approved 88 grants totaling $1,029,164 for its 2012 Project Support cycle. The awards include traditional PS I grants and the new Project Support II, a small grant program that provides awards of up to $5,000. Grants range in value from $625 to $49,333.
 
This year garnered the largest number of applications in CAC’s history. A total of 131 organizations submitted Intent to Apply materials, of which 118 of were eligible. This is an increase of 45% from the previous year, which was also a record-setter.
 
The largest recipient is Scenarios USA, a nonprofit that that uses writing and filmmaking to foster youth leadership in under-served teens. The smallest is River Valley Ringers, a community handbell choir in Cleveland Heights. Others include EcoWatch, Building Bridges, LakewoodAlive, and numerous neighborhood development corps.

See all the grants here.
ny times calls uptown new downtown of university circle
A recent article in the New York Times titled "Cleveland Turns Uptown Into New Downtown," written by Keith Schneider, lauds the emerging Uptown arts and entertainment district in University Circle.

With the goal of "rebuilding the city’s core according to the new urban market trends of the 21st century -- health care, higher education, entertainment, good food, new housing and expanded mass transportation" -- the new Uptown project is becoming the new downtown for University Circle.

"When it is finished next year, the new $27 million Museum of Contemporary Art, designed by Farshid Moussavi, will perch, like a lustrous black gem, at the entrance to the district, at Euclid and Mayfield Road. A pedestrian plaza designed by James Corner Field Operations, a designer of the High Line elevated park in New York City, separates the new museum from two four-story, mixed-use residential buildings under construction on the north and south sides of Euclid."

“There are 5,000 more jobs here than in 2005,” Chris Ronayne, president of University Circle Inc., is quoted in the story. “About 50,000 people work here. The number of residents grew 11 percent since 2000. And there are 10,000 people who live here now.”

Read the rest of the good news here.
the talent dividend: how more college grads can add to cleveland's bottom line
What's the best thing a city can do to achieve more economic success? Increase its number of college graduates. Simply put: The most prosperous cities have the highest number of college grads. Efforts by CEO's for Cities and our own NOCHE -- dubbed the Talent Dividend -- are designed to up college attainment and thereby boost everybody's bottom line.
metrohealth and cia host aids memorial quilt
If a quilt panel were created to represent your life, what would it look like? Clevelanders have the opportunity to see panels that honor the lives of local people who have died of AIDS -- panels created by their family and friends for the national AIDS Memorial Quilt. The public is invited to view portions of the quilt at MetroHealth Medical Center until Wednesday, Dec. 7. 
 
Among the local stories behind the panels: Ana Rodriguez was a spirited young girl who found out she was born HIV positive just before her parents died of AIDS in the late 1990s. Instead of letting it get her down, Ana became the first child to openly have AIDS in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and toured the country helping others cope with the disease before her death in 2004.
 
Daily viewing of the quilt panels -- 8 panel sections measuring 12 square feet -- will hang from the ceiling of MetroHealth’s Rammelkamp Atrium through Dec. 7. The public is invited to view the display each day from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

For more info click here.
trial led by cleveland clinic touted in wall street journal
"A study involving Eli Lilly & Co.'s experimental drug evacetrapib showed it was able to boost good cholesterol levels while lowering the bad kind," writes Jennifer Corbett Dooren for the Wall Street Journal.
 
"The study was presented Tuesday at the American Heart Association's annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It was funded by Eli Lilly and led by doctors at the Cleveland Clinic."
 
Evacetrapib is designed to inhibit cholesteryl ester transfer protein, or CETP, which is involved in transferring cholesterol particles from HDL -- the "good" cholesterol -- to LDL, referred to as "bad" cholesterol.

Read the rest here.
q & a: larry miller, president of global cleveland
"My primary objective is to bring 100,000 newcomers to Northeast Ohio," says Larry Miller, newly appointed president of Global Cleveland. Miller brings more than 25 years of talent attraction and international human resources experience to the organization tasked with promoting the quality of life in and around Cleveland.
evergreen co-ops -- aka the cleveland model -- in the news
"Conventional wisdom holds that the forward-looking coastal enclaves of the United States are where we're supposed to expect cutting edge experiments in building a green economy," writes Andrew Leonard for Grist. "But if Ted Howard has his way, every activist who wants to promote green jobs and economic growth should turn instead to the city of Cleveland, Ohio, for inspiration."

In an article titled, "A co-op movement grows in Cleveland," Leonard writes of the Evergreen Cooperatives, which were launched by the Cleveland Foundation in collaboration with Ted Howard from the University of Maryland.

Evergreen is a collection of worker-owned green businesses that leverage the needs of Cleveland's largest institutions such as the Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve University, and University Hospitals.

Read the rest of the good news here.
cleveland clinic's focus on patient satisfaction lauded in wall street journal
In an article on the increased focus on patient satisfaction at hospitals, Wall Street Journal writer Laura Landro highlights positive measures taken at The Cleveland Clinic.
 
Titled "A Financial Incentive for Better Bedside Manner," the feature illustrates how a patient's opinion of a hospital is greatly shaped by how they are treated both in and out of the operating room.
 
"Cleveland Clinic Chief Executive Delos "Toby" Cosgrove, a heart surgeon by training, says he had an epiphany several years ago at a Harvard Business School seminar, where a young woman raised her hand and told him that despite the clinic's stellar medical reputation, her grandfather had chosen to go elsewhere for surgery because 'we heard you don't have empathy.'" Landro writes.
 
To improve the Clinic's patient-satisfaction scores, which ranked below the national average, the hospital opened an Office of Patient Experience, and began putting "caregiver" on the badges of all employees. More than 40,000 staffers -- from doctors to parking attendants -- were put through training programs on delivering ideal patient experiences. The hospital launched HEART -- hear the concern, empathize, apologize, respond and thank. It developed a Healing Services team to offer complimentary light massages, aromatherapy, spiritual care and other holistic services. There were more than 18,000 services offered in 2010.
 
Since 2008, the Cleveland Clinic's overall hospital ratings have increased by 89%. And compared to last year, the annual volume of complaints the hospital has received will show a 5% decline over last year.

Check out the rest of the report here.
we live here (now): deba gray and serena harragin, gray's auctioneers
The odyssey that led Deba Gray and Serena Harragin, the couple behind Gray's Auctioneers, to Cleveland is as fascinating as the work they do. The journey, which ends in Lakewood, meandered through Key West and Chicago. It includes a career change in New York, a heart-wrenching epiphany, and the convincing of a reluctant partner.
tiny giant studio helps local animators sharpen their skills
Dave Fleischer loves to draw. As a self-described “lifelong animator,” the creative director and president of Tiny Giant Studio has dreams of growing into a full-service animation production studio. And he’s using his passion to attract local talent to his company by hosting a speed-drawing class at Shaker LaunchHouse.
 
The class, held on Thursday nights, is designed to help potential animators hone their skills. Actors from the CWRU theater department silently act out a skit -- holding each pose for two minutes -- while participants sketch out the poses. The sketches are then transformed into an animatic skit using animation software.
 
“The more comfortable you are about drawing fast and not really caring about any one drawing, the better you will be as an animator,” explains Fleischer. “It’s a wonderful tool for building animation skills.”
 
While local animators sharpen their skills, Fleisher scouts out local talent. “Our goal is to grow in size as an animation studio,” he says. He currently runs Tiny Giant with five of his former Cleveland Institute of Art students. “The best way to grow talented people around you is by planting a seed and nurturing it. If I spot really talented people, they can freelance with us or, if they’re young, they can intern.”
 
About 15 people attended the first speed-drawing event held in October. Fleischer plans to continue to host the event twice a month.

 
Source: Dave Fleischer
Writer: Karin Connelly
cleveland clinic unveils top 10 medical innovations for 2012
Unveiled during the recent 2011 Medical Innovation Summit, the Cleveland Clinic announced the Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2012. The list of breakthrough devices and therapies was selected by a panel of Cleveland Clinic physicians and scientists.
 
Nominated innovations were required to: Have significant potential for short-term clinical impact; Have a high probability of success; Be on the market or close to being introduced; Have sufficient data available to support its nomination.
 
Among them are:
 
Genetically modified mosquitoes to reduce disease threat.
 
Novel diabetes therapy that represents a paradigm shift in diabetes treatment.
 
Harnessing big data to improve heath care.
 
Active bionic prosthesis with microprocessors and computer chips that can rival the functionality provided by biological limbs.
 
Implantable devices to treat complex brain aneurysms.
 
Next-generation gene sequencing to get to the root cause of serious illness.
 
Medical apps for mobile devices.
 
Concussion management system for athletes that provide patient-specific guidance about when athletes can return to play without risk of further harm.
 
CT Scans for early detection of lung cancer.

Read the full report here.
 
midtown tech park and health-tech corridor designed to stem outward flow of medical start-ups
Every year, Cleveland’s emerging healthcare economy nourishes dozens of successful medical start-ups. Unfortunately, as many of these firms grow, they are forced to relocate to the 'burbs or out of the region entirely because of a lack of flexible, tech-ready urban space. Now, thanks to the MidTown Tech Park -- and Health-Tech Corridor -- start-ups have good reason to stick around.
cleveland clinic's cole eye institute receives $3m endowed chair
Cleveland Clinic’s Cole Eye Institute received a $3 million gift from Barbara and A. Malachi Mixon III in recognition of the sight-saving care Mr. Mixon received at the Institute.

The gift establishes the Barbara and A. Malachi Mixon III Institute Chair in Ophthalmology. Daniel F. Martin, MD, Chairman of Cole Eye Institute, is being honored as the first physician to hold the newly established chair. As chair holder, Dr. Martin will continue his research initiatives to better understand eye diseases and to pioneer new treatments.

“We are grateful for the generosity of the Mixon family,” Dr. Martin said. “This gift will provide resources to advance our research efforts, including increasing involvement in clinical trials and serving as a catalyst for cutting-edge research programs.”

Read the rest of the good news here.
the write stuff: new breed of creative writing workshops inspires next gen of indie thinkers
In Cleveland, some wide-eyed literary activists are launching a new form of creative writing workshops. Not only will these programs measurably improve the writing and verbal skills of the students who enroll, they are inspiring youth to discover worlds beyond their own. In turn, these programs very well might be providing the keys to future success.
3rd frontier funding helps company increase donor kidney odds, cleveland jobs
Quality Electrodynamics (QED) was one of the local recipients of Ohio Third Frontier funding for the development of an imaging system that will improve the way doctors evaluate whether a kidney is viable for donation.
 
The Cleveland-based company, working with the Cleveland Clinic’s Glickman Urological Institute, CWRU, Toshiba Medical Systems and Canon, received $1 million for the development of specialty MRI coils for imaging donor kidneys before transplant to determine viability.
 
Currently, potentially viable kidneys are sometimes rejected for transplant, or there are complications after transplant. This technology will improve the chances of success as well as reduce the number of kidneys that are thrown away.
 
“The program will result in a turnkey system of equipment, analysis software and clinical protocols which will be marketed to transplant centers on a worldwide basis,” says John L. Patrick, chief technical marketing officer for QED.

“Recipients of kidneys from deceased donors would benefit in several ways: Higher confidence level that the transplanted kidney can be viable and better knowledge of its condition; increase of transplanted kidneys by reducing the number of viable kidneys discarded will increase the number of patients able to benefit from transplantation.”
 
Patrick says the technology should be on the market in less than two years, depending on how clinical trials go. QED expects to begin hiring additional people for development of the technology in the next few months.

“In the proposal we stated that 38 jobs would be created at QED within 3 years,” says Patrick. “In fact, we believe that number to be quite conservative.”
 
 
Source: John L. Patrick
Writer: Karin Connelly
in preparation for sale, contents of pnc smarthome up for bid
For the past four months, visitors to the PNC SmartHome exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History enjoyed a prototype of an ultra energy-efficient abode that stays comfy year-round without need of a furnace. In Cleveland.

In preparation for the home's move and eventual sale, many of the interior artwork and furnishings -- much of it sustainably produced -- will be offered for sale to the public. Designed by Cleveland-based Doty & Miller Architects, the house was as attractive inside and out as it is green.

Items include work by artists such as Susie Frazier, Judith Brandon, Nicole McGee, Liz Maugans and Charlotte Lees.
The sale will be help Sunday, October 9, noon to 4 p.m.

For a more info, including a list of items up for sale, visit here.
four neo organizations score $37m federal grant
Four Northeast Ohio organizations are one group of just 20 national winners of the Obama administration's $37 million Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge, a multi-agency competition to support the advancement of high-growth industry clusters across the country.
 
NorTech, JumpStart, MAGNET and Lorain County Community College came together to cooperatively apply for the $2 million grant that will help create jobs in the region. The program, the Northeast Ohio Speed-To-Market Accelerator (STMA), is designed to accelerate the speed-to-market for near-production or pilot-production prototypes in the advanced energy and flexible electronics industry clusters in Northeast Ohio.
 
The fact that the groups collaborated on the project is no surprise.

“There’s a history of organization in this region -- we work together collaboratively all the time,” says Cathy Belk, chief relationship officer with JumpStart. “The fact that we already knew each other made it easy to identify the needs and work together on the proposal.”
 
Each organization will assist in its area of expertise, from company advising to workforce development. The STMA consists of three components, explains Byron Clayton, vice president of NorTech. “The first step is holding outreach workshops to let companies know the service areas we are targeting. The second step is one-on-one counseling and a path-to-market analysis. The third step is to deliver the services.”
 
Aside from offering expertise and guidance, the four groups plan to speed up the jobs creation process within new companies. “We are asking what can we do to help you to speed this process up,” says Clayton. “We’re working together as a region, as a network of nationally-recognized organizations.”

 
Sources: Cathy Belk, Byron Clayton
Writer: Karin Connelly
china-based investment of $100m will go to american and cleveland biomeds
A new partnership between a leading China-based biomedical development company and the Cleveland Bio Fund (CbF) will result in a $100 million fund to invest in U.S companies, including those in Cleveland. The Cleveland Bio Fund will help identify and invest in small- to mid-size medical device companies looking to enter the Chinese market.

“[Cleveland Bio Fund] will provide both capital and know-how for device companies looking to expand their products into China. It is a unique boutique style investment strategy needed for that market,” explains Eddy Zai, CEO of CbF

Executives are traveling to Cleveland this week to meet local officials, tour the Health Tech Corridor, and meet with companies that could take advantage of this unique business model.

Cleveland Mayor Frank G. Jackson welcomes the investment in Cleveland from China.

"Investments in the City of Cleveland are good, whether they are made locally or by foreign investors. We welcome the opportunity to partner with the Cleveland Bio Fund as it will better connect Cleveland to the global economy," said Mayor Frank Jackson.

Read the rest here.