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.

LineStream Technologies is growing by leaps and bounds in the automated software control market. The company was created in 2008 as a spinoff out of research done by CSU’s Zhiqiang Gao, director of the Center for Advanced Control Technologies and focuses on commercializing and simplifying control software.
 
Basically, LineStream products increase efficiency, are easy to implement, and therefore improve the performance of automated systems.
 
&ldquo... Read more >

Justin Bibb, special assistant for education and economic development for Cuyahoga County executive Ed FitzGerald, was looking for a way to make sure his generation is heard in the business world. That’s when he founded YP Nation, a group of young professionals who want to play an active role in the nation’s policies and views.
 
“There’s a movement as baby boomers retire to engage millennials,” Bibb says of his generation. “Rarely ... Read more >

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.

Bizdom U, a business accelerator that trains, mentors and funds innovative, growth-oriented startup companies, kicks off its inaugural class in less than two weeks. Based on a similar program in Detroit that was launched three years ago by Quicken Loans owner Dan Gilbert, Bizdom U hopes to kindle a new wave of entrepreneurial spirit in Cleveland.

Ryan Clark and Nathan Lambert know how to sell advertising. They also figured out a way to help libraries offset printing costs. The co-founders of Knowta, a Shaker LaunchHouse portfolio company, have created a unique print ad system that runs ads at the bottom of a page that users print out at the library.
 
The concept is brilliantly simple: Users elect to receive the advertising in exchange for free or discounted printing. Instead of receiving documents on typical ... Read more >

There's no quibbling that Dan Moulthrop is one of the "smartest guys in the room." What many of us don't know is that he was also a high school English teacher. Unfortunately for his students, he couldn't afford to continue teaching them. His experiences led him to pen a book titled "Teachers Have It Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America's Teachers." That book was the impetus for the documentary "American Teacher," whi... Read more >

With its youth-friendly atmosphere, vibrant arts and culture scene, and main drags lined with restaurants, bars and funky shops, Lakewood has long felt like a college town without possessing a single university.

That's about to change. This week, Lakewood city officials are celebrating the opening of a new University of Akron satellite branch in the heart of that city. It will occupy an 11,000-square-foot space in the newly renovated Bailey Building at Warren and Detr... Read more >

CEOs for Cities, a global nonprofit network of urban leaders focused on making American cities more successful, has opened an office in Cleveland. Lee Fisher, former Ohio Lt. Governor, Ohio Attorney General, and director of the Ohio Department of Development, was named president and CEO of the organization earlier this year and insisted his offices be in Cleveland.
 
“I told them I was a lifelong Ohioan and did not want to move out of Ohio,” Fisher says. T... Read more >

Imagine if we'd all had a crash course in Cleveland -- a tutorial, administered while we were still young and impressionable, on all the great things this city has to offer. Each year, hundreds of high-school and college students are getting just such a lesson. Thanks to internships offered by dozens of local firms and non-profits, students from within and without our region's borders are learning about Cleveland and its potential as a place to live, work and play.

"We're taking boarded-up schools in Cleveland's neighborhoods and bringing them back to life," says Alan Rosskamm, CEO of Breakthrough Schools. "This is about keeping families in the city." With a lofty goal of opening 20 new charter schools by 2020, Breakthrough is on a mission to provide quality education to Cleveland students regardless of zip code. Opponents, on the other hand, argue that charters create a two-tiered education system that siphons off the best students.

A team of researchers has developed an artificial lung that uses regular air, not pure oxygen, and is portable, marking a huge step forward for people with acute and chronic lung disease. The research is a result of collaboration between CWRU and the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center. "The most significant finding is that we have demonstrated a small scale, prototype artificial lung," says Joseph A. Potkay, research assistant professor in CWRU's department of electrical e... Read more >

The bunker-like concrete building at the corner of Euclid and E. 22nd was built in 1971 as a Holiday Inn. It became Cleveland State University's first dormitory in 1986. Over the years, Viking Hall has come to be seen as something of a relic -- and a barrier to the new, outward-focused identity of the university.

Now, after being closed since 2010 when CSU opened the nearby Euclid Commons residential development, the Campus District eyesore is set to be demolished. CSU h... Read more >

The Cleveland Design Competition, an open ideas challenge that aims to spur fresh architectural thinking in Cleveland, will soon showcase ideas for a new K-12 public school in downtown Cleveland.

The event organizers, architectural designers Michael Christoff and Bradley Fink, plan to showcase the designs and announce the competition winners at a public ceremony that will be held at the Cleveland State University Student Center beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 19th. <... Read more >

The Civic Commons, a nonprofit organization that helps foster civic engagement through creating community conversations, has relocated its offices to a street-level storefront at Trinity Commons.

"We wanted to be accessible to the community, and a place where people can just drop by," says Dan Moulthrop, Civic Commons Curator of Conversation, of the move. "We don't want to be hidden in an office building somewhere; we want people to feel like the Civic Commons is a place... Read more >

Mike Belsito and Bryan Chaikin sprouted a business idea after a death in Belsito's family. Both were working at Findaway World, a digital products company, when Belsito's cousin died and he went through the arduous process of planning a funeral. The two started talking about how difficult it is to find the right funeral home in a time of crisis... and an idea was formed. They started FunerAlly, an online resource for selecting the right funeral home.
"It's nearly impossib... Read more >

Local entrepreneur and Cleveland State University alumnus, Monte Ahuja, has donated $10 million to his alma mater to fund scholarships and an endowed professorship in business. The announcement was made during a special celebration on June 24 in the university's student center, marking the largest gift in the university's 47-year history.

The founder of Transtar Industries, a $600 million a year global leader in transmission replacement parts, Ahuja got his start at CSU ... Read more >