For the second year in a row, Amplified Wind Solutions competed in the Ohio Clean Energy Challenge. This year the company won $10,000 and a trip to Chicago for a chance to win $100,000 in the Midwest competition.

Amplified Wind Solutions has designed a wind amplification system that can produce up to six times more electricity than a typical wind turbine. The company is targeting the telecommunications industry.
 
AWS CEO and co-founder Niki Zmij ha... Read more >

Rene Polin founded his design consulting firm, Balance Inc., in Chagrin Falls. Yet as he grew, he felt cut off from creative opportunities in Cleveland. In October, he moved his eight-person, nine-year-old firm to 5,500 square feet of open, custom-built office space in the Tyler Village complex in St. Clair Superior.

"Tyler was the most interesting space we found," he says. "It had great character, an incredibly open floor plan and high ceilings. There was ... Read more >

The Cleveland Hostel on W. 25th Street in Ohio City recently acquired a collection of eight bikes for rental purposes. It plans to offer daily rentals to visitors and locals who want to explore the city on two wheels come spring (or now, if you're a snow rider).

"We just got 'em a week and a half ago," says Mark Raymond, the Geneva native who opened Cleveland's first hostel last August. "The Akron Bike Club came up for the West Side Market Cente... Read more >

Explorys, which offers a secure software platform that allows healthcare systems to summarize, analyze and manage data, has moved into the former home of MOCA. The Cleveland-based company currently has more than 80 employees and is expected to climb to between 110 and 125 by next year.

Within the past five years, the Kamm's Corners commercial district at Lorain Avenue and Rocky River Drive has transformed itself. This once-faded stretch of Irish bars and half-empty storefronts has become a diverse foodie destination, where you can as easily order a gourmet burrito as a pint o' Guinness.

The presence of restaurants like the recently opened Thai Elephant have created a buzzed-about cuisine scene that's a far cry from the West Park of recent me... Read more >

SafeCare, which provides continuous monitoring and background checks of employees in the healthcare industry, received a $25,000 grant in November from the Innovation Fund. The money will help SafeCare expand and refocus the company, which was formed out of Bizdom Cleveland’s inaugural class in April 2012.

The grant will allow SafeCare to concentrate more on the B2B market, rather than the consumer market. The company monitors employees on a monthly basis against na... Read more >

While spending his weekends crafting sauces and perfecting slow-smoked pulled pork, Bill Madansky used to joke around with his friends about quitting his day job to open a barbeque restaurant.

Five years after looking at an empty storefront on Waterloo Road, he's finally done it. Madansky has leased a space from Northeast Shores Development Corporation, which renovated a dilapidated building across from the Beachland Ballroom and Tavern, and recently opened Blitz Barb... Read more >

4 Walls, a Cleveland designer and manufacturer of digital wall coverings for residential and commercial markets, has partnered with Sherwin-Williams in a new program, SurroundDecor.

The program caters primarily to the health care, hospitality, retail and corporate markets, and features new original digital designs printed on premium recycled PVC-free material. Customers choose their designs, colors and sizes and SurroundDesign creates custom murals for their spaces.
&... Read more >

Wannabe downtown Cleveland residents who are on waiting lists for the hottest apartment buildings can expect some relief soon. MRN Ltd. plans to open the Lofts at Rosetta Center, an 85-unit building at 629 Euclid Avenue, within just a few short months.

The units, which start at $715 per month for a studio and climb to $1,600 for a spacious two bedroom, began pre-leasing on January 15. MRN already has accepted deposits on several units, and the first residents are expected... Read more >

Jenni Baker and three of her friends were talking one day and realized they all had some degree of background in event planning. The realization sparked an idea. “We decided to come together and form this company,” says Baker.
 
So, in January 2012, Baker, Holly Lauch, Timi Kormos and Jane Diemer started Cardigan Events. Baker and Lauch work on the development and business side of the company, while Diemer and Kormos apply their talents on the creative and... Read more >

In 2012, Northeast Ohio was a popular place for venture capitalists and angel investors to back startup companies. Investments nationally decreased by 10 percent last year, and decreased in the rest of Ohio by 33 percent, according to a study in The MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association.
 
But in Northeast Ohio, according to the Northeast Ohio Venture Capital Advisory Task Force, 105 tech-based companies in Greater Cle... Read more >

Call it a small business grant competition with a twist. The Downtown Cleveland Alliance 5th Street Arcades Retail Development Grant Competition will award $1,500 to $20,000 to startup businesses. Along with free and reduced rent for the first year, tenants will also have a chance to win matching funds and garner community support through online crowdfunding.

Downtown Cleveland Alliance and developer Dick Pace are hoping that the recently launched program, which is being ... Read more >

If you've enjoyed a drink at Lolita on a weekend night during the past two and a half years, chances are good Will Hollingsworth poured it. During that same period of time, Hollingsworth has been formulating his greatest recipe yet: The perfect bar, which will open this summer in Tremont.

CrossFit is a strength and conditioning program designed for people of all ages and fitness levels. Jillian Neimeister and Tricia Tortoreti, owners of the recently opened Birdtown CrossFit in Lakewood, believe the program can empower the lives of Cleveland's teenagers in ways beyond physical prowess.

During a fundraising campaign to help purchase equipment for the gym, the pair promised to donate a one-year membership to the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Clevela... Read more >

Phil Alexander and Mohit Ahluwalia realized something when they were earning their MBAs at CWRU: that people in all segments of businesses are charged with creating presentations at some point in their careers. However, not everyone has the talent -- or budget to hire an agency -- to create an eye-catching presentation.

“Thirty million PowerPoint presentations are made every day across America,” says Alexander.
 
So Alexander and Ahluwalia thought... Read more >

In another example of a fleeting pop-up becoming permanent, local artists Dott Schneider and Bryon Miller recently opened the Miller Schneider Gallery on Waterloo Road in North Collinwood to showcase seldom-seen artists and add to the district's growing visual arts scene.

In recent years, there's been a rotating gallery at 16008 Waterloo Road. When the landlord approached Miller about opening a space, he soon reeled in Schneider.

The first show features C... Read more >