On October 28, the Refugee Services Collaborative (RSC) released its first-ever study of the economic impact Cleveland’s 4,500 refugees have made on the region since 2000. Refugees are legal U.S. residents who have come here to avoid persecution in their home countries.
 
"We felt there were a lot of negative misconceptions about refugees, so we commissioned the economic impact study to uncover the facts," says Luanne Bole-Becker, RSC’s special p... Read more >

Since 2008, the Cuyahoga County North Coast Opportunities (NCO) Technology Fund has been helping high growth technology companies thrive and create jobs, and the deadline for the latest round of funding is November 18.
 
NCO provides deferred loans ranging from $25,000 to $125,000 at an interest rate of five percent. Repayment is deferred for five years or until the company receives $1.5 million in follow-on funding. NCO offers six rounds of funding per year, awarding... Read more >

Cleveland Clinic Innovations (CCI) has named seasoned Health Information Technology (HIT) veteran Gary Fingerhut as its new executive director. Fingerhut has more than 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur in IT, co-founding a global software company and as a senior executive of a software development and technology consulting firm.

CCI is the commercial arm of the Cleveland Clinic, responsible for company creation and business development of medical technology develo... Read more >

Team NEO, MAGNET, Wire-Net and Medina County Workforce Development came together as a group to secure a $1.8 million federal Make it in America grant, one of only 10 groups nationwide to receive such funding.
 
The money will be used to help local companies that show the potential to bring manufacturing jobs to the region.
 
“We will use the money to boost the growth of 25 medium-sized companies in Northeast Ohio in many areas, from product developm... Read more >

When Sharie Renee opened Cosmic Bobbins on Shaker Square last November, she originally intended for it to be a temporary pop-up shop for the holidays that showcased her handbags made from recycled magazines and other items from local artisans.

A year later, Cosmic Bobbins not only is still going strong as a permanent Shaker Square presence, the store's owner has expanded its offerings and the number of artists it features from 10 to 20 and again to more than 30.
&... Read more >

Ann Onusko doesn’t leave the house without first putting on some perfume. “I’ve always been a perfumista,” she says. When she travels with her husband to his native Holland, she hits the perfumeries. “When we go there, the first thing I do is search out the local shops. Same when I go to LA or New York. But Cleveland doesn’t have any perfumeries.”

The fact that Cleveland lacks a perfume shop with scents by small, artisan companies... Read more >

Brittany Gonzalez and Alicia Candelario started La Banana Frita on a dare from friend and comedian Ramon Rivas. He was having a show at the Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights last May and he wanted his guests to have food. The childhood friends accepted Rivas’ dare and began selling fried plantains, or tostones, at the show.

“We’re by no means chefs,” says Gonzalez. “We just make them like our grandmothers and mothers made them.”  The ... Read more >

The Cleveland Clinic marks its 50th year of successful kidney transplants this year. While the Clinic was not the first to successfully transplant a human kidney, the hospital was, and continues to be, a pioneer in the field.

“There were two earlier transplants,” explains Robert Heyka, interim chair of the department of nephrology and hypertension at the Clinic’s Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute. “One was in New Jersey, but it only lasted 1... Read more >

Abeona Therapeutics, a small biotech startup company that develops therapies for lysomal storage diseases, earned the Global Gene’s Champion of Hope award, along with its partners, for its work in developing therapies for children with Sanfilippo Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder.
 
Abeona, founded earlier this year in Cleveland as a spinoff of Columbus-based Nationwide Children’s Hospital, is developing two products that came out of research at Nationwide... Read more >

Researcher J. Mark Brown and his team at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute have discovered a protein that might promote obesity and diabetes. Therefore, blocking that protein, called ABHD6, might prevent these diseases.

ABHD6 regulates the brain’s endocannabinoid system, which is involved in metabolism, cravings and hunger.
 
Brown discovered ABHD6’s role in fat storage while studying a mutation in a different protein in the same grou... Read more >

As a graphic designer, Brian Andrew Jasinski wanted a creative outlet to express himself outside of his work at Epstein Design Partners. So he started Grey Cardigan, which features a whimsical collection of Jasinski’s fine art prints and stationery.
 
Grey Cardigan debuted in summer 2009 at the annual Made in the 216 event. “Grey Cardigan was my need to return to my roots as a fine artist and illustrator,” says Jasinski, who earned his BFA at the Cle... Read more >

Michael Seifert and Jake Fader have had a lifelong love of music. Seifert grew up in his father’s recording studio on E. 61st Street. “It was all I wanted to do growing up,” Seifert says of hanging out in the studio. “Jake is the opposite," Seifert says. "He had more formal training.” Fader has studied guitar since he was 14 and has performed around the world in various bands.
 
Both have experience in commercial production work... Read more >

NovelMed Therapeutics, a biotech company founded in 2003 that develops treatments for macular degeneration, announced that it has developed an antibody compound that is effective in treating wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and possibly the dry form of the disease as well. AMD affects more than two million people in the United States and is a leading cause of blindness among adults.

Two independent pre-clinical investigations showed that NovelMed's lead comp... Read more >

When Terry Frick opened Frickaccio’s at the West Side Market in 2004, she began with the widely popular pizza bagels, a market staple for countless fans. The snacks even made an appearance on the Food Network when Jeff Mauro, aka The Sandwich King, stopped by Frickaccio’s last year to sample them.
 
Business went well, and soon Frick expanded into pizza dough balls. Frick offers more than 10 different flavors. She caters to the dietary needs of her custome... Read more >

NEOSA’s latest quarterly survey of 80 to 90 tech companies in Northeast Ohio reveals an industry that continues to be optimistic about future business growth and success in the region. Sixty-nine percent of the respondents reported business performance was good or very good for the second quarter of 2013.

Hiring expectations continued to be strong, with two thirds of the companies reporting that they planned to increase staff in the next year. “We’ve see... Read more >

"Failure" is a tough word, particularly for entrepreneurial types throwing so much of their lives into a venture that might go belly up within a few months. However, Paul McAvinchey, creator of TechPint, believes valuable lessons can be learned from disappointment.

Such is the theme of this fall's TechPint conference, a casual gathering for entrepreneurs and investors in Internet technology. Coordinator McAvinchey expects more than 250 of the region's mo... Read more >

Cleveland's economic leaders have worked hard to parade the city as a hub for innovation. A chance to further show off Northeast Ohio's entrepreneurial acumen is a driving force behind Shaker Heights accelerator LaunchHouse's sponsorship of Cleveland Entrepreneurship Week (Cleveland EW), an upcoming four­-day celebration of business success.

The event, scheduled for November 4-­8, was created to give entrepreneurs and investors the knowledge and resour... Read more >

Micro-lending organization Bad Girl Ventures (BGV) wants Cleveland to connect with the next generation of entrepreneurs and small business owners. That hopefully beautiful friendship will begin on Thursday, October 3, when BGV Cleveland hosts its kickoff event introducing the 10 finalists of its fall business plan competition.

The 10 women will present themselves at Battery Park Wine Bar, pitching their ideas to an audience before embarking on BGV's nine-week course t... Read more >