A: The Akron Global Business Accelerator, of course (well, at least according to Governor Strickland).

The Governor made the remarks when he was visiting Echogen Power Systems (formerly ReXorce Thermionics) in the accelerator.  Echogen is developing an engine that turns the heat thrown off by industrial processes into useful electricity.  The company, a tenant of the Akron Global Business Accelerator, employs 20 people, many of them engineers at ”good paying” jobs, Strickland said.  Echogen expects to hire an 45 to 65 office employees and 50 to 75 manufacturing employees in the next five years.

Echogen received a $4.3M Third Frontier grant in 2008 that their CEO credited with shaving a year and a half off their development timetable.  The company has also attracted millions of dollars from other investors, including the regional business development group JumpStart Inc.

The full story is available over on Ohio.com’s website as reported by Paula Schleis.  Paula can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.

Akron Global Business Accelerator tenant rexorce Thermionics, while still a tenant of the accelerator, has also established it’s own headquarters in Akron and has big plans for the coming year, as reported recently by Crain’s Cleveland Business:

• The 18-person company expects to grow out of its 18,000-square-foot headquarters by January 2011
• The company in January is scheduled to install a 250-kilowatt pilot version of its Thermafficient heat engine at a power generating plant owned by a large utility
• In about a year, rexorce aims to install a 6-megawatt version of its heat engine at an industrial site

Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI) is proud to announce that BizVeo, a virtual YBI Portfolio Company, has graduated from the INSPIRE! program to a become a tenant in YBI’s Incubating facility.  INSPIRE! is a flexible office space created for early stage companies in the initial phases of business development that are not ready for full incubation services, but can benefit from the direct assistance of YBI.  INSPIRE! opened in May of this year and BizVeo is the first graduate of the program.

BizVeo began when Bob Adduci, a retired Delphi Packard Electric engineer, shared his idea of online video training with marketing expert Alex Milne.  Working in a home office, they quickly found they needed a professional office with access to business development assistance. INSPIRE! provided BizVeo with entrepreneurial guidance and a professional space to demonstrate its software to potential customers. Alex Milne, Chief Executive Officer, states, “YBI’s INSPIRE! provided the space and resources that we used to successfully build our management team and plan for a successful launch. In addition, Jim Cossler and Julie Michael Smith were instrumental in all of BizVeo’s development phases and continue to offer valuable support and leadership.”

Currently, BizVeo is Beta testing its software at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Youngstown.  Chief Technical Officer Bob Adduci notes, “Having a Beta client in the field to provide product testing and feedback is crucial to preparing for a successful launch. BizVeo, through YBI, has greatly benefited from the cooperation and efforts of Humility of Mary Health Partners.”

INSPIRE! was funded by the Youngstown Foundation, the Dominion Foundation, the Kennedy Family Foundation which is managed by the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley and the Philip Thompson Charitable Trust.

About BizVeo

BizVeo is Beta testing its internet-based, secure video networking solution that allows the sharing of information through streamed video technology in either public broadcast or controlled, confidential environment. Focusing on healthcare, workforce development and industry training needs, it will provide online tools for users to create dedicated and private video share communities. For more information, go to www.bizveo.com

Just in case you live down the hole with Phil and didn’t hear about this one, here’s Jim Cossler to fill you in:

So…I  heard yesterday from some childhood friends I had lost touch with who are now living in Chicago, Houston and Phoenix.

And we probably heard, based on an eyeball estimate of my email in-box, from another 500 people from places like New York City, Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, San Jose and Denver. All thanks to National Public Radio nationally broadcasting a story yesterday morning to its 13 million listeners on the amazing software technology cluster being built by our organization in Youngstown, Ohio.

But, here’s what we’re most excited about.

We received countless numbers of emails from people who grew up in Western Pennsylvania or Northeastern Ohio, but who are now living in places across the country. They told us how thrilled they were to hear the story. They told us they wanted to learn more about what was going on. They told us that they wanted to visit with us the next time they came “home”.

That’s great, but we’re going to go one step further.

We’re going to be working very hard to get them all to move “home”.

You can listen to the story here:  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100762987

Our special thanks to Ideastream/WCPN and the Center for Working Class Studies at Youngstown State University for helping to make this a national story.

Jim Cossler
CEO and Chief Evangelist
Youngstown Business Incubator
www.ybi.org

As reported by the Akron Beacon Journal, AGBA tenant Summit Data Communications recently announced two new partnerships:

Summit Data Communications, an Akron Global Business Accelerator tenant that makes wireless cards for mobile computers in challenging environments, has announced partnerships with two industry leaders.

Opticon Inc., a provider of barcode scanning and data-collection technology, selected Summit Data’s cards for a mobile computer that just earned a ”Cisco Compatible” seal - an industry standard, since Cisco products are in nearly two-thirds of wireless infrastructures.

Also, Janam Technologies chose Summit’s card for its new hand-held bar code scanner for use in warehouses, distribution centers and loading docks.

As reported recently by the Akron Beacon Journal, year-end newsletters from area economic devleopment non-profits showcase plenty of bright spots.  Highlighting JumpStart, TeamNEO, Akron ARCHAngels, NorTech and Akron SCORE, reporter Paula Schleis presents a recaps of highlights.  (Look for NEOinc’s Akron Global Business Accelerator within JumpStart news.)

NEOinc will also be publishing a recap of 2008 achievements of note.  If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to our updates and you’ll receive it automatically when it’s published.

It’s easy these days to write about what’s going badly in the world.  Thank you Paula for pointing out there are other stories out there.

As published recently by the Plain Dealer (online only), Northeast Ohio has done an excellent job in the area of Technology-Based Economic Development.  The article, posted by Dorothy Baunach (President and CEO of NorTech), and Les Vinney (Chairman of NorTech), the article ticks off several impressive statistics showing how Northeast Ohio is fast becoming (has become?) a hotbed for technology innovation, high wage job creation, and rising investment dollars. 

So much so that the region just last week played host to the 12th annual State Science Technology Institute conference where 400 professionals in public policy, government, academia, technology transfer and economic development heard our story.

These are serious times and it seems every day brings more bad news.  Positive regional news is out there, you just need to look for it a bit.  This article is a great place to start.

reXorce Thermionics, a tenant in the Akron Global Business Accelerator, just received a $5M deal with an European investor.

According to the article in the Beacon Journal, reXorce plans to use the money to hire up to 12 new engineers and locate a new base of operations.  While the Akron location has been “incredibly supportive in handling their growth” it simply isn’t big enough to handle the demonstrations systems reXorce plans to build.

reXorce is not looking for a new building however.   Their plan is to locate an old, unused building and renovate it into an advanced energy showcase.

COO Phil Brennan, as quoted in the article:

We are surrounded by resources we misuse.  The cost in energy to tear down a building and put up a new one is irresponsible. We’d rather bring an old building back to life.

Wait - an advanced energy company in Northeast Ohio gets a $5M investment and they not only want to stay in the region, but are socially responsible too?

NEOinc sure knows how to pick ‘em!

(Thanks to Paula Schleis, Beacon Journal business writer, for her continued focus entrepreneurial activity in the Akron area.  We need a few more Paula’s around the region!)

Knotice, a tenant in NEOinc’s Akron Global Business Accelerator, was profiled over the weekend by the Akron Beacon Journal.

Knoticedelivers integrated marketing communications across email, web, mobile and emerging digital channels and is a JumpStart portfolio company.  Knotice is adding customers and growing quickly.  The Beacon Journal story provides some background on the company founders, why they are here in Northeast Ohio, and how bright their future looks.  (This is a 3 page story - be sure to click the page numbers to advance and read the entire article).

Congratulations Knotice!

19 Action News recently featured MAGNET incubator tenant Torex, in their “Does it Work?” series.

The verdict?  It Works!

Torex makes a family of innovative hot and cold therapy products.  You can view the Does it Work? segment featuring Torex by clicking this link.  Of course, this is no surprise to us as the Torex team have been honing their products over the past few years, and are well on their way to graduating out of the incubator.