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

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.

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

 Innovation Fund Media Announcement 

Presenting awards to technology-based start up companies in Northeast Ohio
and announcing a generous contribution to the
Innovation Fund from First Place Bank!

 Wednesday, June 4, 2008
12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Entrepreneurship Innovation Center on the
campus of Lorain County Community College.
(Lunch will be provided.)

The Innovation Fund, administered by the Lorain County Community College Foundation, cordially invites you to a media announcement where the newest recipients of the Innovation Fund will be presented.  In addition to these awards, we will be celebrating a significant contribution towards the Innovation Fund from one of our newest partners.

Please RSVP by visiting www.lorainccc.edu/ifund. 

For directions, please visit:  www.lorainccc.edu/map. 

For questions or more information please contact the LCCC Foundation at 440-366-4039.

 Funding support provided by Ohio’s Third Frontier ESP Program
as well as our newest partner, First Place Bank! 

If you are a technology entrepreneur that could benefit from learning more about the supercomputing resources available through The Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC),  NEOinc suggests you strongly consider attending this event.  Not only is OSC making it’s supercomputing facilities available to a widening audience, the presenter, whose bio is below, has an entrepreneurial background and could be a valuable contact for your startup. 

CIO Luncheon

The Mansfield Richland Chamber of Commerce and the Northern Ohio IT Alliance invite you to join other Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, and Information Technology Managers as we bring together IT leaders from throughout the area.  Our guest speaker will be Ashok K. Krishnamurthy, Ph.D., Senior Director of Outreach at The Ohio Supercomputer Center.  Mr. Krishnamurthy will be discussing the Blue Collar Computing Initiative and the Ralph Regula School of Computational Science programs.

 MONDAY, May 19, 2008
11:30am to 1:00pm
Downtown Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites
116 Park Avenue West
Mansfield, OH 44902 

This luncheon is being offered free-of-charge to CIO and CTOs to make it easy to interact with other IT professionals to promote our area’s technology resources and infrastructure.  Please RSVP to the Northern Ohio IT Alliance by May 13, 2008 at 419-525-1614 or by email at bleach@braintreepartners.org.

How is NEOinc Involved?

The Northern Ohio IT Alliance (NOITA) was formed out of desire to provide an IT organization to represent the areas of northern Ohio not represented by NEOSA and not actively engaged by OhioITA.  NOITA is sponsored by NEOinc incubator Braintree and Bob Leach, Braintree’s Director of Operations, serves as its Director. 

The Northern Ohio IT Alliance sponsors several types of events each year to promote networking and interaction between IT companies and individuals in IT departments.  NOITA has been the organization facilitating Richland County’s interaction with the Ohio Broadband Council for expanding broadband services within the area.  NOITA also works with several technology entities as board members and on steering committees.  

About the Presenter 

Ashok K. Krishnamurthy, Ph.D. is the Ohio Supercomputer Center’s Senior Director of Research and is an associate professor in The Ohio State University (OSU) electrical and computer engineering department.  Krishnamurthy conducts research in signal/image processing, high performance computing and computational models of hearing.  He serves as the academic lead for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) High Performance Computing Modernization Program in the area of integrated modeling and test.  Ashok has designed and provided numerous training courses for the DoD User Groups on all aspects of the MatLab programming language.  

On an entrepreneurial leave of absence from OSU, Krishnamurthy started a design center in Dublin, Ohio for Ecrio Inc., a Silicon Valley startup.  He led a team of engineers at the design center developing wireless and handheld communication applications.  As a consultant, he has worked on the development of micro-controller and microprocessor based products, and has assisted in the development of strategic plans to introduce Application-Specific Standard products for multimedia and telephony applications such as speech coders, caller-ID receivers etc.  He earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, India in 1979.  He received his master’s and doctorate degrees in electrical engineering at the University of Florida in 1981 and 1983, respectively.

The Youngstown Business Incubator’s Third Thursdays at 3 events are always popular programs.  TH3 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 – it is a place for innovative talk, robust debates, inquiring minds. It is an opportunity to learn about the “cool things” going on – right here in the backyard of the Mahoning Valley!

Next Thursday, April 17th at 3 pm….

David Karpinski, Vice President of Technology Innovation, NorTech, will present the Innovation Accelerator, a program designed to help small and mid size manufacturers develop innovative solutions and ideas.  Developed in conjunction with MAGNET, the program includes monthly programs led by innovation experts, peer groups for networking and idea exchange, and innovation guides which connect companies with other resources to spur innovation and growth.

 Also, Mark Your Calendar for May 15th at 3 pm….

Dick Wilk, President, Refractory Specialties, Inc, will discuss RSI’s evolutionary and extraordinary transition from a basic manufacturer to a leading edge visionary that has developed innovative applications of industrial insulation components in automotive, appliance, HVAC, metals, fuel cell, solar energy and petrochemicals industries as well as industrial process furnaces, solid fuel appliances and high temperature gaskets.  It recently was awarded a $400,000 Third Frontier Grant from the Ohio Department of Development for its High Purity, Robust Kiln Furniture for Low Cost SOFC Manufacturing project. Wilk led the management acquisition of this former division of Ferro Corporation in 1992 and will also discuss the opportunities for international trade for small and mid-size businesses.

Questions? Suggestions? Reserve your seat!
Julie Michael Smith, Chief Development Officer
Youngstown Business Incubator
241 Federal Plaza West, Youngstown, OH  44503
jmsmith@ybi.org   330-259-7644

The Cleveland Professional 20/30 Club is proud to host its first annual Business Plan Competition Face-Off Event. After three rounds of judging, the two finalists of the 20/30 Business Plan Competition will have ten minutes to present their business plans on April 24th.

After considering each presentation, our experienced panel of judges will then choose the winner. The judges are not the only ones who get to express themselves; the audience will also get to share their opinions. Thanks to COSE’s real-time audience participation system, members of the audience will be able to provide their views on how well each team performed and on each of the two business plans.

This will be an excellent opportunity to hear the next generation of Cleveland entrepreneurs present their business ideas. The event begins at 6:00 p.m., Thursday, April 24, 2008, at:

The Forum Conference Center
One Cleveland Center
1375 East Ninth Street
Cleveland, OH  44114

Networking and appetizers will begin at 6:00 p.m. with presentations at 7:00 p.m. Cost of the event will be:

$10 for 20/30 members
$15 for members of partner organizations (including SME, COSE, MAGNET, and OVA)
$20 for non-members.

Food and a cash bar will be available. Full business attire will be required. More details will be available as the event date nears. Please visit www.cleveland2030.org for more info and to register for the event. Space will be limited, so register early. For more information, contact Dan Young, Networking Director - Networking@cleveland2030org.

Support for this event comes from:

COSE
The Civic Innovation Lab
MAGNET
The Ohio Venture Association

The Cleveland Professional 20/30 Club is a non-profit organization created to retain young professionals in Greater Cleveland by providing events focused on both personal and professional development. The Club offers Educational events including speakers and presentations, Networking events, Philanthropic opportunities and Social events.

These SBIR / STTR Workshops will show you how

The Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI) and TechLift are presenting a series of workshops on the Federal SBIR and STTR programs.  The Department of Defense (DoD) SBIR and STTR programs fund a billion dollars each year in early-stage R&D projects at small technology companies - projects that serve a DoD need and have commercial applications.

• The SBIR Program provides up to $850,000 in early-stage R&D funding directly to small technology companies (or individual entrepreneurs who form a company).
• The STTR Program provides up to $850,000 in early-stage R&D funding directly to small companies working cooperatively with researchers at universities and other research institutions.

Small companies retain the intellectual property rights to technologies they develop under these programs.  Funding is awarded competitively, but the process is streamlined and user-friendly.

Knowing the ins and outs of how the program works, how best to apply, and what you need to do in order to increase your odds of an award is the basis of the OAI/TechLift workshops.  In each of the workshops, you will learn:

• How to use SBIR and STTR as a business development tool in your company
• The basics of the DOD SBIR/STTR Program, its breadth and potential reward to you
• How to develop a DOD SBIR/STTR proposal that answers the need with logical flow
• What DOD SBIR reviewers look for, pitfalls to avoid & pointers to better your efforts
• How to access technical information about prior R&D awards
• Decide whether you can/should compete for SBIR/STTR or other government funds 

• How to partner with TechLift and OAI to increase your commercialization opportunities

Three workshop dates are being offered:

Fri., April 4th, 2008
10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Akron Global Business Accelerator
526 S. Main Street
Akron, Ohio 44311

Thu., April 10th, 2008
10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise (GLIDE)
Lorain County Community College
151 Innovation Drive, Suite 210
Elyria, Ohio 44035 Fri., April 11th, 2008
10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
The Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI)
241 Federal Plaza West
Youngstown, Ohio 44503

EVENT INFO:

Lunch will be provided. Cost: $25 for OAI Members & TechLift Partners; $40 for Non-Members.  NEOinc is a TechLift partner.  If you are a tenant in one of our incubators, you are eligible for the reduced pricing.

Online registration will be available soon, please visit http://www.oai.org/ (networking and events)
By e-mail: patriciagrospiron@oai.org and monicadumitriu@oai.org
By phone: Patricia Grospiron, 440-962-3216 and Monica Dumitriu, 440-962-3141

Ready to take the next step?

OAI and TechLift are also offering an Intensive Workshop on SBIR / TTIR & Grant Funding Proposal Preparation.  This workshop is a day and a half and will focus on:

• Detailed instruction on proposal preparation

• Technical & commercialization plans
• Proposal submission procedures
• Overview of all agencies, including DOD, DOE, & NSF

This intensive workshop will take place April 28th and 29th at the OAI facility (click for directions).  Registration contacts are the same as above.  There are four options for this workshop:

• Option 1: One day of SBIR training, Mon., 12-5 p.m. or Tue., 9 a.m. – noon
  Cost: $125 for OAI Members & TechLift partners; $250 for Non-Members
• Option 2: One day of SBIR training + 1/2 day on commercialization
  Cost: $150 for Members & TechLift partners; $300 for Non-Members
• Option 3: One day of SBIR training + project summary review*
  Cost: $175 for Members & TechLift partners; $350 for Non-Members 
• Option 4: Same day + 1/2 day on commercialization + project summary review*
  Cost: $200 for Members & TechLift partners; $400 for Non-Members

*Note: The outline details for the project summary will be provided during the workshop.

If you didn’t attend last week’s Ohio Venture Association’s Venture Capital Summit III last week at Corporate College East, you missed a great event.  Panels included a conversation with leading Northeast Ohio angels, representatives of three VC firms that have recently set up shop in Northeast Ohio, and a panel on how to present to VC’s.

The last panel was especially interesting as Jerry Frantz, an EIR from JumpStart, was tapped to “present” to three area VC partners.  The presentation was a real proposal for funding, courtesy of an area entrepreneur.  What was interesting was that at any time during the presentation, you could yell “freeze” and ask any of the VCs a question.  It was fascinating to hear what actually goes through their mind during one of these presentations. 

There were lots of great suggestions and tidbits throughout the morning, but two really stuck out.

First, a VC partner was asked what he looks for in the “30 second elevator speech”:

1. Does the technology work?
2. How good is the jockey?
3. Is there a clear path to market?
4. Can you sell it, and when?

Keep these points in mind not only in the elevator, but in your presentations as well.

The second gem may be a bit self-serving, but a recurring question throughout the morning was how best to get a proposal in front of a partner for consideration.  Cold-calling and unsolicited E-Mails were confirmed by the panelists as not effective.  The answer that was given time and again is that proposals that are forwarded to VCs from trusted partners are assumed to be worthy of closer review.  The review may not end up in funding, but if you want a shot, work through a trusted partner like NEOinc.