If so, you should plan on attending the following event.

The Tuscarawas County Port Authority is pleased to extend a personal invitation for you to join us for the next “Going Global” International Trade Forum.  Our July forum focuses on doing business with the European Union and features Ken DeVore of the F-Squared Laboratories of Ohio and Maryland. We begin at 7:30 am and will end by 9:00 am on Friday, July 11^th.  We meet in the conference room of the Tuscarawas County Port Authority, 339 Oxford Street in Dover. Coffee and light refreshments will be provided. There is no charge to attend.

Mr. Devore’s expertise in this area does not generally come free, so if you are planning on selling into the EU, or would be interested in what is involved to do so, don’t miss this opportunity for a free primer on the topic.

F-Squared Laboratories is an International Product Certification company that provides Certification Training, Evaluation and Testing specializing in European CE markings. Mr. DeVore has a BS Degree in QA/QC & and a degree in Electronic Technologies. He has 26 years of experience in the Electronics, Electro-Mechanical and Quality Engineering & Management fields and experience with numerous product development projects, RF power measurement devices, running a profitable small business unit, setting up companies in China, England and Germany, and National and International Business Development Consulting. We hope you will join us for this informative and interesting presentation.

Please RSVP to the ITAC office by Noon Wednesday, July 9th

(330) 308-7521       itac@tusc.kent.edu

This program is offered free of charge by East Central ITAC, Northern Ohio ITAC, TechSolve and MTSBDC- Manufacturing, Defense, & Technology Small Business Development Center.  For additional information on international trade assistance contact Bob Cohen at 419 521-2651 or bcohen@braintreepartners.org

Some great news arrived late last week with an award of $2.1M from the Ohio Third Frontier Commission for the creation of the Center for Excellence in Advanced Materials Analyses at Youngstown State University in collaboration with the Ohio Supercompter Center and Fireline TCON, Inc., a portfolio company of the Youngstown Business Incubator.

Fireline TCON will utilize the new center to extend its research activities toward developing new refractory materials for the processing of liquid aluminum as well as new applications such as light weight vehicle braking systems and conformal body armor for military forces.

The is the second new multi-million dollar Center of Excellence to be announced in the past 12 months where a YBI portfolio company is named as a primary collaborator.

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.

Continued

The Materials & Processes for Medical Devices Conference & Exposition is coming to Cleveland, August 5th through the 7th.

From the website:

Learn about implant successes – and failures – from clinicians, surgeons, engineers and materials researchers during this highly interactive, cross-disciplinary conference.

By providing authoritative presentations and creating a unique opportunity for dialogue that cuts across the medical field. Materials and Processes for Medical Devices (MPMD 2008) will benefit both clinicians and engineers.

Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI) welcomes a special guest speaker to its Third Thursday at 3 (TH3) series on Monday, June 23^rd at 7:30 a.m. at Youngstown State University’s Moser Hall.  Dr. Arden L. Bement, Jr., Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) will discuss NSF’s role in industry, economic development and education. 

Dr. Bement heads the only federal agency that funds research and education in all fields of science and engineering. He directs a budget of more than $6 billion; hundreds of programs that support roughly 200,000 scientists, engineers, educators, and students across the country; and the development of world-class facilities and infrastructure. Since the launch of the American Competitiveness Initiative in 2006, he has overseen numerous initiatives that strengthen the U.S. innovation base and economic position and intensify the training of the U.S. workforce to operate in a high-tech global economy. He has expanded NSF’s centers of excellence program to encompass dozens of science and engineering disciplines partnering with industries and educators. 

YBI is partnering with the Office of Congressman Tim Ryan (D-17) and Youngstown State University’s College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics for this special TH3 presentation. Dr. Bement will also give remarks and view poster presentations on various research topics by YSU students in YSU’s Ward Beecher Hall following the TH3 speech. 

The program is free but reservations are required at 330-259-7644 or jmsmith@ybi.org. 

Third Thursdays at 3 is a networking and educational forum that brings together innovative and progressive people with a vision - to create and sustain an innovative and entrepreneurial environment in the Mahoning Valley.  TH3 events are for local companies to showcase new technologies, for technology organizations to share their resources, for entrepreneurs build relationships, for educators to highlight their initiatives. Sponsored by the Youngstown Business Incubator, the forum provides a place for innovative talk, robust debates and inquiring minds.

The MAGNET incubator has a new tenant today.  Halcyon Products is moving in over the next couple of days.

Halycon Products supplies innovative products for Fire & EMS, Law Enforcement, Military and Sports Industries to facilitate helping people in emergency situations or to train for emergency situations.  As they say on their website, their products save lives!

Halycon is a past recipient of the Cuyahoga County New Product Loan Fund, administered by MAGNET.  Halycon used the funds to help bring to market their Fireground Compass product:

Halcyon Products, Inc. is now offering the first ever FireGround Compass, a tool designed by firefighters and incident commanders.  Both affordable and easy-to-use, this life saving tool can be used by any firefighter to orient themselves at an emergency scene thereby reducing the possibility of becoming lost, trapped, injured or killed.

Another entrepreneur looks ready to take off with the help of NEOinc resources.

On July 1^st, Ohio Department of Development staff will travel to Northeast Ohio to announce and discuss the FY 2009 Third Frontier Program Plan and requests for proposals that will be issued within the next 12 months.  Norm Chagnon, Executive Director of the Third Frontier Commission will present the FY 2009 plan.  John Griffin, Director, and Deb Cummings, Assistant Director of the Technology and Innovation Division from the Ohio Department of Development will also be available to answer questions about the FY 2009 plan.

Some of the programs that will be discussed include: Research and Commercialization, Wright Projects, Advanced Energy and Fuel Cells.    

The programmatic offerings should have appeal to a very diverse regional audience.  We hope you plan to attend the briefing to learn more about Third Frontier funding opportunities available in 2009. There is no cost to attend this meeting, though pre-registration is requested. Please RSVP to Olivia Robinson Bulls at orobinson-bulls@nortech.org by June 27^th.

Third Frontier Public Briefing: 2009 Funding Opportunities

Date:  July 1, 2008
Time:  8:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast;  9:00 a.m. -10:30 a.m. Presentation and Q&A
Location:  Doubletree Hotel, 6200 Quarry Lane, Independence, OH 44131 Get Directions
RSVP:  Olivia Robinson Bulls at orobinson-bulls@nortech.org by June 27^th
Questions?:  Contact Kelly South at 216-241-8458

Sponsored by: NorTech

Akron Global Business Accelerator tenant MAR Systems was in the news over the weekend.  Read the full story here.

MAR Systems is developing a new process for removing dangerous heavy metals from industrial waste streams and drinking water.  They have received around $1M in investment capital to date and are looking to bring on a CEO and technical staff.  With obvious huge potential, this is a company to watch.

You might also enjoy reading this article recognizing Akron’s award from the National Civic League as an All-American City.  This is the third time Akron has received the award and this year the momentum generated by the AGBA was featured on the application.

As an entrepreneur, your “pitch” is one of your most important assets, and one that you should be constantly refining and practicing.  Yet many of the entrepreneurs we at NEOinc work with, either haven’t even developed a pitch, or never practice it.

A pitch, or elevator speech, is a unique, compelling profile of the business opportunity your start-up represents.  It needs to be short, typically around 60 seconds or less.  It’s only goal is to intrigue a potential investor that you deserve a follow-up meeting.

Good pitches are short on details and long on the big picture, especially the financial opportunity represented.  Your presentation style, comfort and passion are important intangibles that can help prop a so-so pitch up or kill a great pitch.

So how do you develop a great pitch?  There are no shortcuts here, just good old-fashioned, roll-up-the-sleeves, hard work and practice.  You develop your pitch.  You practice it; over and over.  You pitch your family, your friends, even complete strangers.  You ask for feedback, particularly criticism.  You video yourself and watch to see how good you actually come across. 

A good pitch is a lot like true love; hard to find, but you know it when you see it.

Now there’s a tool to see bad and good pitches alike, and get some independent (read: brutally honest) feedback on your pitch.

TechCrunch, a weblog dedicated to profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies, has rolled out Elevator Pitches, a community video project that allows entrepreneurs to pitch their start-ups to the general public.  Visitors then have a chance to comment and vote on the pitches they like the most or least.

This About page gives a few more details, including how to submit videos for review.  It’s pretty simple; even an engineer can do it.  (We’re kidding).

Your pitch is absolutely vital to your start-up.  Investors typically have around a 15 second attention span when you get in front of them.  Developing a solid pitch, that speaks to why they should be interested, delivered with passion and in simple terms is ironically one of the hardest things you will do as an entrepeneur.  Here’s one more resource for you to use as you develop yours.

With nighttime lows that have dipped into the 30’s recently, it’s hard to believe we are making the turn into Summer, but here we are in June already.  The temperatures are quickly on the rise (if only the Indian’s bats were heating up as well), and the Summer Solstice is only a couple weeks away.

Lot’s of good economic development news hit in May.  Selfishly, we here at NEOinc are most proud of Mike LeHere’s award by the National Business Incubation Association as the top incubator innovator of 2008.  Mike is the CEO of the Akron Global Business Accelerator (AGBA) and the innovation was the Global Technology Commercialization Initiative in conjunction with the City of Akron.  Three links to separate articles are in the list below, but since we write this blog, we’re linking here too.  Follow this link to read our original article on Mike. 

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 May recap of the articles we feel speak to the growth and positive change that is happening quietly, every day, in our region.   Continued