Michael Christoff and Bradley Fink are all about using imagination to create the unthinkable. That’s the idea behind the Cleveland Design Competition. Now in its fourth year, the competition invites people to address the city’s underused sites and come up with new architectural ideas for their uses.
 
Every year, the competition has brought entries from around the world. This year’s project was the Cleveland K-12 schools of the future. “Our int... Read more >

Cleveland’s young professionals are charged with shaping the future of the city. And while there are more than 70 organizations catering to the 15,000 young professionals in the area, there isn't one dedicated to uniting these groups to make a difference and make a change. Engage! Cleveland is striving to do exactly that.
 
“These organizations are extremely important because they integrate young professionals with the community,” says Andrew Ben... Read more >

Cleveland State University is part of an economic impact study of shale in Ohio and its potential to give a big boost to the state’s economy. Ohio State and Marietta College are also participating in the study, commissioned by the Ohio Chamber of Commerce on behalf of the Ohio Shale Coalition.
 
The study focuses on the economic impact of drilling for gas and oil in the Utica Point Pleasant and Marcellus shale formations that run along the eastern half of the st... Read more >

The Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE) is holding its seventh annual small business conference on October 19th and 20th at the I-X Center in Cleveland. The event is the only one of its kind designed specifically for small business owners looking for an opportunity to learn, network and work together with other small businesses.
 
“Basically we put this together because we saw a gap in the marketplace for this kind of conference,” says Steve Millard, COS... Read more >

Young, tech-based companies have a major impact on Northeast Ohio’s economy. In a report created by Cleveland State University and commissioned by JumpStart, 90 startup companies generated $155 million in revenue and created 1,000 jobs in 2010.
 
“Our objective with this report is to make sure people know why entrepreneurship is important to the community,” says Cathy Belk, chief relationship officer with JumpStart. “These are all early-stage c... Read more >

SironRX Therapeutics, which spun out of Juventas Therapeutics and the Cleveland Clinic almost a year ago, is finding marked success in healing wounds. The company received $1 million in Third Frontier funding to continue clinical trials in wound healing.
 
“What we observed at Juventas in treatments for heart disease, we have observed in wound treatment with the same product,” explains Rahul Aras, SironRX president and CEO. “With SRX100, we accelerat... Read more >

Although just barely eight months old, ImageIQ has found a niche in the medical imaging field. The company, which is a spinoff of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, takes a qualitative approach to diagnostic imaging.
 
“Anybody who acquires an image during a bio-science event, it’s a subjective process for anyone who looks at that image,” says ImageIQ CEO Tim Kulbago. “We build custom solutions to get quantitative scientific data.&... 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 >

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 >

The Cleveland Council on World Affairs (CCWA) will once again be hosting former U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce, Frank Lavin tonight in its speaker series at the Union Club of Cleveland. Lavin, who recently co-published the book "Export Now," will talk about strategies for success in exporting to a global market.
 
“He is a great speaker and a great resource for organizations in the area,” says Jana Krasney, director of speaker programs for CCWA.... Read more >

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... Read more >

OnShift has found its groove. The Cleveland company continues to build success as a software developer for the senior living market.

“We specialize in healthcare organizations who want to manage their staffing and labor costs,” says CEO Mark Woodka.
 
Tapping into the senior living market happened by accident for the company, which was founded in 2007.

“Our founder (Gene Groys) was building a communications platform and was hosting ... Read more >

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... Read more >

Theravasc, a Cleveland based research and development company that focuses on repurposing existing drugs for other uses, has just completed a phase I clinical trial on reversing the effects of peripheral artery disease (PAD) in diabetic patients.
 
Patients with PAD have in the past had little hope for treatment, let alone a cure – until Theravasc started researching the effect of a drug used to treat cyanide poisoning. The drug, called TV1001, showed promise in... 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 >

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 >

JumpStart will celebrate the region’s entrepreneurs at the Northeast Ohio Entrepreneur Expo and JumpStart Community Meeting on Tuesday, October 25 at the John S. Knight Center in Akron. The event will feature high-growth entrepreneurs, student entrepreneurs and investors. 

Organizers have signed up 20 entrepreneurs to exhibit their companies, and expect almost 80 by the time of the event. Three hundred people have already signed up to attend the event.
&nbs... Read more >

Aeroscena is tapping into the world of aromatherapy with Ascents -- little sachets of essential oils that creators say not only smell nice, but help with everything from weight loss and insomnia to energy and relaxation. Aeroscena CEO Mark Kohoot says the idea was inspired by the 18th and 19th century trend of women wearing their own personal scents around their necks.
 
“Ascents are an innovative way to experience aromatherapy in a portable diffuser,” exp... Read more >

Christopher Celeste and Blake Squires have business in their blood. Over the course of their careers, each has made his way through the political world, the marketing and digital music world, and everything in between. Together they founded and fostered Solon-based Findaway World before each eventually left the company.
 
The two came together again when they realized they most liked forming businesses, and wanted to put their knowledge to work helping others do the s... Read more >

Coffee aficionados at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport were at a loss when Banjo’s closed its door last year. The coffee shop was the only stop in the C concourse for Phoenix Coffee junkies to get their fill. So when Auntie Anne’s approached the local roaster about supplying their coffee, Phoenix decided to introduce a unique blend that is all Cleveland: CLE Blend.
 
“It’s a Cleveland pride thing,” says Phoenix CEO and self-describ... Read more >