Tech Futures

Changes

2008-06-25T11:16:02Z

What better way to go out than on the heels of Jim Cramer declaring that the next wave of innovation would come not from Silicon Valley, but from “Cleveland Valley.”

TechFutures began a little over three years ago as part of an effort to build better coordination and collaboration among economic development groups in Northeast Ohio. We wanted those groups to consider multiple possible futures for Northeast Ohio, and to adapt both their strategies and their actions to accommodate the social, technological, economic, environmental and political factors that were beyond their control. We focused heavily on the need to be more innovative. We refused to predict what specific technologies would rise or fall, but we knew that if we planned for multiple possible futures all our organizations and all our companies in the region would be better prepared to adapt to an ever-changing environment. Lately it is the environment itself that has taken center stage.

The last three and a half years have seen dramatic, large scale changes none of us could have imagined at the time. JumpStart has become a national model for how regions can increase the number of start ups and the flow of venture capital funding that is necessary to grow new industries. National attention has been paid to efforts in the region to develop both on- and off-shore wind power as an alternative source of energy. The fuel cell industry here continues to grow, with Rolls Royce acquiring a local start up and setting up shop in Canton.

Youngstown has gained national attention for its approach to sensible, smart redevelopment focused on quality of place as opposed to quantity of residents. Environmental watchdog Grist.org calls Cleveland one of the cities to watch because of its many environmentally-friendly development efforts. And as water quality and availability grow ever more important as both a national and a global issue, The Brookings Institution chose Cleveland as the place to kick off its latest project concerning Bi-national Great Lakes freshwater technology and policy leadership.

Attitudes and actions are changing—and those changes are affecting the future of our region. Our industrial and agricultural legacy led to many of the images of the rust belt as a dying, polluted wasteland as attention turned to sunny California and the shiny bright glow of the computer screen with its vast, seemingly limitless possibilities. And yet, as we come face to face with the true challenges of our times—better healthcare, cleaner, more reliable sources of energy, water quality and scarcity, sustainable growth and development—we see computer games for what they are—just games—and our region for what it can be: home to the next wave of technological innovations in biotech and healthcare, advanced energy and fuels, new materials and manufacturing processes, and a sustainable regional community where people are proud to live, learn, work and play.

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. To see what NorTech is up to today, click here and you’ll be taken to the NorTech site.

Cleveland Valley vs. Silicon Valley

2008-06-17T14:11:00Z

Yes, it’s true. TheStreet.com’s Jim Cramer sees Cleveland and the surrounding rust belt environs as harboring the next wave of true innovation, trumping even the much vaunted Silicon Valley. From ValleyWag:

At a breakfast event to conclude New York’s Internet Week this morning, TheStreet.com’s Jim Cramer said Valley innovation is all about creating “fancy ways to deliver music and videogames.” The obstreperrific stockpicker said videogame makers Take-Two and Activision are tech’s two most successful companies, other than Apple and Google — and that’s fine, but it’s also a sign Silicon Valley won’t save us from the economic woes the markets gave a hint of last week. Instead, he predicts the Rust Belt — “Cleveland Valley,” Cramer calls it — will. The region, better known as the Cuyahoga River Valley, has had to reposition itself as the home of what Cramer calls “New Tech,” building such marvels as “windmills with blades the size of 747 wings.”

About time…

Midwest Floods Impact the Cost of Ethanol

2008-06-16T14:10:45Z

From MIT’s Technology Review:

“Heavy rains, flooding, and cool weather in the Midwest will likely lead to much lower corn yields this year, especially in comparison with the bumper crops seen last year. This week, the United States Department of Agriculture lowered its predictions for this year’s corn crop by 390 million bushels, from 12.1 billion to 11.7 billion. If its predictions are right, corn supplies for next year will be the lowest since crop shortfalls in the mid-1990s, likely driving already record-high prices for corn even higher.

“In recent months, demand for corn used to make increasing amounts of ethanol has driven up corn prices, and to some extent food prices. But now bad weather in the Midwest, which has delayed corn crops, could further drive up corn prices and lead to significantly more expensive food, particularly meats. The weather problems could also cause some ethanol plants to shut down.”

Click here for the rest of the article.

Ohio Poised To Approve Great Lakes Compact

2008-06-11T10:13:58Z

From the Columbus Dispatch:

“State legislators are poised today to approve a $1.3 billion construction budget and a multistate compact designed to protect Great Lakes water from being siphoned to dry states in the South and West.

“A joint conference committee worked out differences between the House and Senate and unanimously approved the two-year construction budget, which provides more than $18 million for projects in Franklin County and includes provisions to help fill a projected $733 million operating-budget shortfall next year…

“Also yesterday, Democratic and Republican legislative leaders reached a deal on a proposed constitutional amendment that ultimately should lead to Ohio’s ratification of the Great Lakes Compact, in which eight states and two Canadian provinces agree not to divert water outside the region.”

Click here for the rest of the article.

Deep Water Wind

2008-06-10T10:00:05Z

As Northeast Ohio continues to explore the viability of offshore wind in the relatively shallow waters off Cleveland (creating opportunities to develop lower cost foundations), Europeans are experimenting with a radically new design for deep water wind off the coast of Norway. From MIT’s Technology Review:

“The notion of floating wind turbines far offshore may have come a nautical mile closer to reality late last month, with the announcement of a collaboration between Norwegian oil and gas producer StatoilHydro and Germany’s Siemens, a major wind-turbine producer. The new partners plan to install what could be the world’s first commercial-scale wind turbine located offshore in deep water. StatoilHydro has allocated 400 million NOK ($78 million) to floating a Siemens turbine in more than 200 meters of water–10 times the depth that conventional offshore wind-turbine foundations can handle–atop a conventional oil and gas platform.”

Click here for the rest of the story.

Cleveland’s Green Movement Getting Good Press

2008-06-09T13:41:41Z

Our thanks to the Generation Foundation’s Bob Miller for the following from www.grist.org:

Most people — if they give Cleveland much thought at all — probably see it as a Rust Belt city, a victim of white flight and the decaying industrial economy, and of environmental gaffes in the 1970s when Lake Erie was declared dead and the nearby Cuyahoga River was so choked with pollution that it caught fire. But this Midwest metropolis is also home to a surprisingly forward-looking sustainability subculture. The city hired a sustainability programs manager in 2005; last year, its transit system was named the best in the nation by the American Public Transportation Association. A focus on energy-efficient, affordable housing has seen new town homes and cottages springing up in a formerly depopulated neighborhood, and community gardens sprouting along with them. Cleveland also ranks second only to Los Angeles in the number of projects per capita seeking certification under LEED-ND, an expanded version of the notorious green-building guidelines that applies to entire neighborhoods. Its biggest problem may be convincing people to move there — or move back — but even in that realm, there are signs of hope: one activist reports that Cleveland natives currently working on green programs in other cities have begun calling to find out how they can help back home.

Click here to read more about the greening of Cleveland.

Ohio Would Benefit From Green Economy

2008-06-05T14:00:16Z

From Crain’s:

Sometimes it is easy being green — especially if you are blue-collar.

A report released this week from the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst says Ohio’s blue-collar workers stand to benefit from a greener economy.

According to the report, which takes a state-by-state look at job opportunities in a green economy, more than 551,000 jobs in Ohio could see both job growth and wage increases as the state implements global-warming remedies.

The report identifies six types of positions — carpenters, electricians, operations managers, machinists, welders and industrial truck drivers — that could transfer existing blue-collar skills to the manufacture and installation of clean energy equipment.

Click here for the rest of the article.

Water: The Next Battleground

2008-06-04T10:15:46Z

From the New York Times:

FORTUNA, Spain — Lush fields of lettuce and hothouses of tomatoes line the roads. Verdant new developments of plush pastel vacation homes beckon buyers from Britain and Germany. Golf courses — dozens of them, all recently built — give way to the beach. At last, this hardscrabble corner of southeast Spain is thriving.

The land of southern Spain has dried, leading to rationing and disputes over water.

There is only one problem with the picture of bounty: this province, Murcia, is running out of water. Swaths of southeast Spain are steadily turning into desert, a process spurred on by global warming and poorly planned development.

Click here for the rest of this article.

Update on Offshore Wind Project

2008-06-03T10:33:15Z

Cuyahoga County has updated its website to make access to the procedings and progress on the offshore wind feasibility project easier for people to find. Click here to open a new window that will take you to the updated site, where you can not only find out about past and upcoming meetings, but also see the video the task force has put togther on the project (click the link on the right hand side of the page).

More Powerful Fuel Cells

2008-06-02T14:51:51Z

From MIT’s Technology Review comes news of a potyential polymer-based breakthrough in fuel cell technologies:

“Methanol fuel cells have the potential to replace batteries as a lightweight power source for portable electronic devices. But fuel-cell materials are expensive, and fuel cells that consume methanol are inefficient. In particular, the membranes used in methanol fuel cells are expensive and waste fuel. Now researchers at MIT have developed a cheap membrane material that increases the power output of methanol fuel cells by 50 percent.”

Click here to read the complete article.