Well, welcome to the halfway point of 2008.  That went quick, didn’t it?  What started out as a slow month, ended on a high note with lots of positive announcements throughout the region.  We’ve summarized a nice selection after the break.

June also saw one of the blogs we follow “going dark”, as they say.  Chris Varley’s Tech Futures blog, which grew out of a NorTech study around technology-based economic development, signed off this month with the following note:

The TechFutures site will remain up for some time to come, but this will be the last blog post in this forum.  As NorTech adapts to the changes around it, new priorities are emerging and new initiatives are being launched.  We invite you to revisit the stories and history of this project here on this site, but even more than that we encourage you to get and stay involved in the new projects NorTech and other economic development groups in the region pursue in the months and years to come.

There is a lot of positive change happening in the region, particularly around entrepreneurial activities and economic development.  NEOinc follows several regional blogs reporting on these topics.  Sometimes the posts shine a spotlight nationally (or internationally) on the region.  Every month we publish a short list of some of the stories we’ve noticed that embody the spirit of achievement, growth and change in our region.

Here is NEOinc’s June recap of the articles we feel speak to the growth and positive change that is happening quietly, every day, in our region.  

June ‘08 Recap

• Green technologies could benefit half a million Ohio workers
• Governor Strickland tours Akron accelerator
• Beachwood software company receives $13M investment
• Lorain County foundation gives, receives; Lorain Innovation Fund takes regional view
• Transforming workforce development 
• More wind power developments
• Akron wins All-American city award (for 3rd time)
• SageQuest closes $3.72M investment round
• Twinsburg company lands major power equipment deal 
• Timken gets $3.8M deal from China 
• Cleveland BioTech gets $1.35M
• Cuyahoga County creates $750K North Coast Technology Fund (we’ll have more details later)
• Morgan Foundation awards grants
• Neighborhood Progress wins $500K grant
• Goodyear outlines big investment plans 
• More help to grow your business (new fund announced)
• NE Ohio scores big with Third Frontier grants (ABJ story on how one grant helped keep a promising company in the region); More information on the specific entities getting grants
• Akron SCORE keeps growing
• Free workshops for entrepreneurs
• BioTech training gets $2M boost
• Willoughby firm gets contract for AEP work

This list certainly isn’t meant to be exhaustive, merely a representative sample of some of the more positive articles we saw throughout the month.  We want to hear from you too!  Please use the comment box below to share your thoughts with us here at NEOinc and our other readers.  Come on, you know you want to.

We’re also looking for other blogs to follow that report on positive entrepreneurship and economic development activities throughout Northeast Ohio.  You can review the list below of the blogs we currently follow.  Please post any additional recommendations via the comment box at the end of this post.

NEOinc’s blog reports regularly on entrepreneurial activities within the region, news and successes within the five incubators making up our collaborative, and resources available throughout Northeast Ohio.  If you found this post useful, please consider subscribing to our blog.  Our “Connect With Us” page will give you all the information you need to subscribe via your RSS reader or receive E-Mail updates.

Sources

NEOinc watches the following regional blogs.  Please use our “Contact Us” page, or the comment box below, to recommend a blog not on the list.

• Advance Northeast Ohio - the online home of our region’s economic action plan, which was inspired by Voices & Choices. Learn about the actions our region is taking to grow our economy and engage in conversations that shape the plan and evaluate our performance.
• Brewed Fresh Daily- topical, wide-ranging, and sometimes irreverant, George Nemeth’s blog is a clearinghouse for the pulse of Northeast Ohio.
• Cleveland Plain Dealer’s business blog
• Crain’s Cleveland
• NorTech - NorTech leads the region’s technology based economic development agenda. By supporting and nurturing Northeast Ohio’s most promising technology projects and initiatives, they help to create new technology industries and make the region ’s economy more globally-competitive.
• Ohio Means Business - The OBDC blog is a chance for Ohio executives to share their perspective on how locating in Ohio has enabled them to achieve both their professional and personal aspirations without having to sacrifice one for the other.