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When Columbus Area Technician School opened with 67 students in the basement of Central High School in 1963, no one had any idea what it would become because it was an experiment.

With 25,000 students today, the school, now known as Columbus State Community College, will celebrate its 50th birthday at the end of this month. It is the front door to a college education for more central Ohioans than any other local school, officials say.

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Dayton-based Van Hoose Associates Inc. is getting some traction with its software product and looking to raise $600,000 for its growth plans. The firm expects to get formal approval this month from the government on its off-the-shelf software product, FlowVU.

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The Akron area is among 25 “hidden gem” markets when it comes to investing in single-family rental property.

So says a report with Summit County ranked No. 11 nationwide. The report was released Thursday by housing industry research company RealtyTrac.


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The Lorain County Land Reutilization Corp., or land bank, has completed about 178 demolitions around the county. It is a “wildly successful” outcome that has earned praise from state officials, said Lorain County Administrator James Cordes. More money could be in the pipeline soon to tear down blighted houses around the county.

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In a lengthy Forbes feature titled "City Surgeon: Can The Cleveland Clinic Save Its Hometown?" writer Matthew Herper reports on Delos “Toby” Cosgrove's tenure at the Cleveland Clinic and his efforts to leverage healthcare to improve the Clinic's neighborhood and the region's economy.
 
"The rough old neighborhood is a distant memory, replaced by a gleaming testament to modern medicine stretching out over 46 buildings and covering 167 acres. Protected by a dedicated 141-trooper force of state police, there is a conference center, a fancy hotel and a farmers’ market. Over Cosgrove’s tenure the clinic’s revenues have nearly doubled to $6.2 billion."
 
But Cosgrove's biggest brainstorm was to build a "giant mall for hospital buyers." 
 
"Think about the things that go into a hospital. Shades, televisions, chairs, tables, wall coverings, all the medical gear, the operating tables, you name it,” Cosgrove is quoted in the piece.
 
"What is emerging is an Epcot Center for med tech. GE Healthcare, Siemens, Philips Health Care and Cardinal Health are among the 22 confirmed tenants in the soon-to-be-completed center. Next door, Bennett has already booked conventions that will bring 89,395 attendees this year and 100,400 next. By the end of 2016, he says, bookings should be enough to pay back the $465 million it took to construct both buildings."
 
“It will begin to influence the city as it comes back and make it a destination medical city,” Cosgrove predicts.
 
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The digital design and marketing company, Dynamit Technologies LLC, has added six of the 30 new jobs it pledged over three years in an income tax incentive deal the city of Columbus approved this spring.

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The Beavercreek Chamber of Commerce’s annual Business Expo will be held Oct.10 at the Wright State University Nutter Center from 5 to 7 p.m. This free event is open to the public, although exhibitors must pay a fee. The chamber anticipates about 500 attendees and more than 60 businesses to participate.

More information and registration details are available here.

The Brookings Institution released an extensive report that detailed several key export trends in which the Youngstown metro area was among the country’s top performers, ranking it No. 1 in export growth between 2009 and 2012.

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The rise in the number of Cincinnati entrepreneurs getting money from local venture capital firms has been “dramatic,” according to venture capital lawyer David Willbrand, who is with Thompson Hine. The law firm has been putting together an annual update of local venture capital firms’ activity for the past decade. Earlier this week, Willbrand told a crowd of investors and entrepreneurs at the Greater Cincinnati Venture Association meeting that the difference between then and now is stark.

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In recognition of National Honey Month, Scott Cockerell, director of business development, Wannemacher Total Logistics, will talk about various issues within the honey industry, including production, supply, bee shortage and competition at the monthly Northwest Ohio Ag-Business Breakfast Forum on Thursday, Sept. 19 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. The program is hosted by the Center for Innovative Food Technology at the Agricultural Incubator Foundation, 13737 Middleton Pike (St. Rt. 582) in Bowling Green. Cost is $10.

Get all the details and registration information here.

The University of Dayton Business Plan Competition boasts nearly $190,000 in cash prizes and other support and is open to anyone in the Miami Valley region. The submission deadline is October 12.

Get all the details and significant dates here.

A special thanks to the TECDayton newsletter for putting this item in our editor's inbox.

In a new report released earler this week, Manpower of Milwaukee said that of the Toledo-area companies it surveyed, 24 percent indicated that they plan to increase staffing levels in the fourth quarter.

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A company from the Netherlands, Quest Medical Imaging, that makes a camera system used to locate lymph nodes and make cancer tumors visible during surgery is setting up a base in downtown Akron to expand further into the U.S. market.

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Dr. Janine E. Janosky, vice president of the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron’s Center for Community Health Improvement, was one of eight national “Champions for Change” for prevention and public health. She was recognized during a ceremony at the White House earlier this week for her efforts to improve the health of Akron-area residents.

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