Building the Ohio Innovation Economy Summary of a Symposium (2013) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 3-22
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From page 3... ...
"We're making investments to maintain the level of economic activity that we've become accustomed to, and to adapt to the changing global economy." 1 These initiatives include a wide range of public-private organizations to bring industry, academia, state and regional governments, and federal agencies together with a common goal of fostering innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic growth. To document these initiatives, the National Academies Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy convened a conference to discuss the variety of initiatives underway to strengthen Ohio's innovation and technology infrastructure and identify areas where federal, state, and foundation contributions could generate positive synergies.
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corporation.a Cyrus McCormick of Cincinnati invented the McCormick reaper; Dayton was home to the National Cash Register Co.; Herbert Dow, a chemistry graduate of Case Western Reserve, founded Dow Chemical with financing from Cleveland investors. All three of the nation's giant tire companies, Goodyear, Firestone, and Goodrich, grew up in Akron.
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Speaking at the conference, Dr. Lavea Brachman of the Greater Ohio Policy Center called the economic decline of northeast Ohio "unparalleled." a Wikipedia, "History of Ohio," Accessed on November 9, 2012.
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In her conference remarks, Lavea Brachman of the Brookings Institution noted that, on one hand, the extent of economic decline in Ohio was "unparalleled." On the other hand, she observed, the state's economy is highly diverse, covering seven or so major metropolitan areas with long traditions in manufacturing. (See Figure 1 for a map of Ohio.)
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We can also make good use of multiple anchor institutions rooted by place, such as the University of Cincinnati, the Uptown Consortium, and University Circle in Cleveland." Ohio's Innovation Challenges James Griffith of Timken, a large Ohio-based manufacturer of steel bearings, noted at the conference that the state and its regions no longer benefit from the wealth and leadership of its heavy industries to the degree they once did. Their workforces, accustomed for many years to the presence of established industries and production practices, have not always developed the new skills 3 See Jennifer Bradley, Lavea Brachman, and Bruce Katz, "Restoring prosperity: transforming Ohio's communities for the next economy," Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 2010.
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Traditional economic development strategies call on policy makers, political leaders, or community members to strengthen the standard of living and economic growth through more human capital, financial capital, and business infrastructure.5 Analyses by MIT economist Robert Solow and others emphasized that knowledge, along with capital and labor, is an essential driver of economic development.6 More specifically, they showed that scientific and engineering knowledge, generated largely by research universities with funding from the Federal government, is a primary driver of new ideas that find value through the invention, innovation and commercialization at scale. This process further 4 Kent State University's Liquid Crystal Institute helped pioneer LCD technology and patented the first LCD wristwatch in 1971.
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Elements of what is sometimes called the industrial commons" include engineering R&D, materials, standards, tools, equipment, and scalable processes, components and manufacturing competencies. These elements underpin the "platform technologies" needed to produce cost-effective, safe, and reliable products.10 As Sridhar Kota, then of White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, noted at the conference, a weakening industrial commons erodes strength in manufacturing, and without 7 According to EDA, "Because regions compete in a global economy, they must have an economic base of firms that constantly innovate and maximize the use of technology in the workplace." For this reason, "Technology-based economic development is the approach used to help create a climate where that new economic base can thrive." Economic Development Administration, A Resource Guide for Technology-Based Economic Development, Washington, DC: Economic Development Administration, 2006.
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The conference presentations also emphasized the importance of regional clusters and multi-party partnerships in developing state and regional innovation ecosystems. Representatives of some of Ohio's leading innovation intermediaries described the mission of their organizations at the conference: NorTech is a nonprofit economic development organization that champions growth in northeastern Ohio.
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Describing northeast Ohio's evolving innovation ecosystem, Lisa Delp of the Ohio Department of Development remarked that "the collaborative nature of the organizations here is frankly phenomenal." Rebecca Bagley, executive director of NorTech, agreed, saying that the region's economic development strategy "includes all the partners: Jumpstart, BioEnterprise, Magnet, and NorTech." Similarly, its cluster strategy involves forming a partnership of companies, building relationships, and "reducing the time required to strengthen a given sector." D THE ROLE OF INDUSTRY Illustrating the positive role that industry can play in the revival of the region's economy, Mr.
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At the conference, Lorry Wagner described the initiatives of LEEDCo, the Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation, to make Cleveland a national and perhaps an international leader in offshore wind power. Created by the Great Lakes Energy Development Task Force, LEEDCo is supported by a diverse partnership including the Cleveland Foundation, NorTech, Lake County, Ashtabula County, Cuyahoga County, Lorrain County, and the city of Cleveland.
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THE ROLE OF OHIO'S UNIVERSITIES Ross DeVol of the Milken Institute reminded the conference audience that "universities are the most important assets of an innovation economy," and that "among high-tech clusters, those most successful in building a regional economy have universities that recognize that role." Effective university participation is most often determined by the leadership of the president or chancellor.
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From page 14... ...
They had to try to protect that technology base. And they have done so, by creating friendly approaches to IP and making it easy to contact and work with the faculty." He called this "a major disconnect in our innovation ecosystem," which he and several colleagues worked hard to change.
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They must also support more entrepreneurship. For example, he said, some professional interdisciplinary degree programs at Case Western Reserve provide joint training at premier health care and corporate partner sites.
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Church. After five years of helping young businesses, the Lorain County Innovation Fund won the support of the Ohio Third Frontier program, which funded GLIDE as an Edison Technology Incubator.
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The state's voters were sufficiently impressed by the results of the Third Frontier's first phase that they voted in 2010 to spend another $700 million on the program and extend it for another five years.13 At the local level, Roy Church cited as an example the work of the Lorain County Board of Commissioners who, along with the Lorain county Chamber of Commerce, were instrumental in founding the Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise (GLIDE)
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Nevertheless, Ohio's innovation intermediaries are working hard to make these structures more "permissive," in the phrase of Lavea Brachman of the Greater Ohio Policy Center. NorTech, in particular, has had success in developing regional innovation clusters by attracting new members, building relationships, creating market-driven roadmaps, engaging with government, and utilizing data and metrics.
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We have the leadership now, and we should claim it, hold it, and have the vision for the future." The first companies in the world to manufacture flexible electronic products by roll-to-roll manufacturing are part of the FlexMatters cluster, he said. The cluster includes partnerships throughout the value chain: universities, community colleges, small businesses, large businesses, potential end users, economic development organizations, and others.
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If only 5 percent of these funds were invested in new Ohio businesses, one participant speculated, they would create a powerful $5 billion driver for new business formation in the state. Indeed, despite several decades of gloomy economic news, many conference participants expressed cautious optimism about the future of the state.
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From page 21... ...
Dan Berglund noted that raising state income levels requires a long-term commitment and effort by all involved. Research Triangle Park has made significant contributions to North Carolina's economy, he said, but it took thirty years of sustained commitment to accomplish this goal.14 Reflecting on his own firm's experience with renewal, James Griffith noted that Timken's transformation "came after 10 years of hard work, including a strong focus on innovating and the need to rip out the infrastructure and habits that inhibited innovation within a 100-year-old company." The key lesson from the northeast Ohio experience, he said, is to restructure existing assets to take advantage of regional strengths and new opportunities, to reinvest in the skills and technologies of the future, to create the right incentives for innovation and entrepreneurship, and to stay the course.
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From page 22... ...
22 BUILDING THE OHIO INNOVATION ECONOMY This overview has highlighted many of the key issues discussed over the course of the conference. The proceedings of the conference, summarized in the next chapter, provide rich detail on the new policies, institutions, and initiatives now underway in Ohio.
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