Featured Stories

Paul Havasi of Cleveland gets a lot of stares from fellow drivers on his way to work. His three-wheeled electric NmG is a rare sight. But laugh all you want; his choice of transport is the way of the future, according to the many businesses and researchers in Ohio developing technology and products for hybrid and electric cars.

Two years ago, Mark Rembert was a new college graduate working in a Philadelphia PR firm and thinking about joining the Peace Corps. He scrapped those plans when DHL Express announced it was shutting down its hub in Wilmington, costing thousands of local jobs. Instead, he and childhood friend Taylor Stuckert returned to help rebuild their hometown.

Think manufacturing is dead in Ohio? Think again. Nearly 20,000 manufacturing jobs have been added across the state during the last year, according to a report recently released by the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee. Companies are posting profits again in their quarterly reports. And all signs say the manufacturing uptick is likely to continue.

As president of TechSolve, Gary Conley knows what it takes to go from concept to commerce. His organization -- part of the NIST Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a national network of affiliated manufacturing extension centers and field offices serving small manufacturers -- is also one of Ohio's seven Edison Technology Centers. Lately, Conley has been incubating an idea for improving the exchange of a wide array of valuable information to help manufacturers throughout Ohio. It's OMNI: the Ohio Manufacturing Network of Innovation. hiVelocity caught up with Conley to ask him about the concept.

Ray Lugo has been around America's space program since he was a kid. Now, as director of NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, he could be at the epicenter of changes within the space agency as President Obama has proposed a redirection of NASA priorities. That shift in focus could propel the Glenn Center to the top of the agency's research centers, leading the development of new technologies that will be the foundation of future space flight, and feeding millions of science and technology dollars into Ohio's economy.

When it opened in 2005, Lorain County Community College's Fab Lab (think fabrication) was the second such facility in the country. The other was at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Today, students and community residents alike are making use of its collection of machines that can be used to "make just about anything with features bigger than those of a computer chip." hiVelocity takes you behind the scenes.

Late last month, Dayton Power and Light opened a new 1.1-megawatt solar array near its Yankee substation in Washington Township. Under construction for more than a year at a cost of $5 million, the Yankee Solar Array is expected to generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 150 homes a year. Here's a video from DP&L that shows off some of the bells and whistles.