Higher Education : Featured Stories

The Fuse Factory makes digital beauty accessible for the masses through education and art space. If you haven't seen what this lab can do with technology and arts, you're missing out on something special.

It's not enough that cities have to compete with the rest of the world to attract business and jobs, they often face fierce competition from cities within a few hours' drive. Here's a look at how several of Ohio's metropolitan areas view their intrastate rivalries and market themselves.

Lester A. Lefton became Kent State University's 11th president in July 2006. Ranked by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching among the nation's best public research universities and among the best colleges and universities in community engagement, Kent State has been at the forefront of high-tech innovation in Northeast Ohio. hiVelocity asked Lefton about Kent State's role in Ohio's new economy and his vision for the region.

Big business doesn't always have to mean life in the big city. Some of Ohio's fastest-growing companies are proving that, becoming leaders in high-tech and service fields far from the outer-belts of Ohio's urban centers. And they plan on staying there.

"I came to Akron because I was quite impressed with the vision of what the BioInnovation Institute could become," says Dr. Frank Douglas. "There is a tremendous desire here to do something that improves the health of the economy in this region � and that's why this will succeed."

Ohio is at the forefront of a new economy, creating new ideas, innovative businesses and new jobs needed for the 21st century. It's an important story. Now, hiVelocity is here to tell it.