2015: Parker to invest in three local start-ups

Company continuing its strategy of nurturing new technologies by investing in small start-up operations.

2015: Fuel cell manufacturing plant opens near Canton

Access to graduates from Stark State program cited as main reason for operation locating in Northeast Ohio.

2009: Invacare invests in medical device startup

Manufacturer cites need for more innovative products as rationale for investing in company founded by Cleveland Clinic doctors.

2008: Bank of America invests $50 million in Cardinal Commerce

Increasing concern over identity theft makes Mentor firm’s security offerings more valuable to credit card giant.

2007: Medtronic buys Intelect

Clinic spinoff that focuses on deep brain stimulation will keep research and development team in Cleveland.

2006: E-books from Playaway hot Christmas seller

Success of new book format secures region’s leadership in electronic book market.

2006: Bank of America expands in Beachwood

Citing quality of life and low cost of living issues, bank giant announces plans to expand credit card operation.

This story, set in the year 2015, is designed to get you thinking about the impact this possible future might have from the perspective of just one type of person or group of people within the region. Think of it as a way of bringing home more concretely and in human terms the potential impact this future might have on our region.  

Look at the scenario description first; then consider the kinds of things that would be happening globally and locally if this really was our “world” in 2015. Then read the story and examine the possible headlines to the right of the story that you might see over the next ten years as this scenario unfolded.

You may or may not like or agree with everything you read here; but it should get you thinking. We hope you will share your thoughts with us through the Feedback link at the end of the story…

This is a business-like world in which social and organization change is more significant than technological and economic change. Plenty of new innovations happen, but they tend to be incremental, looking to create quality (hence the tag line, ‘Generation Q’) and productivity improvements, rather than radical transformational change. However, leadership become far more decentralized and distributed, facilitated mostly by technologies that connect a new generation of energetic players, who have emerged from unexpected and non-traditional sources.

• At the top of the S-curve for current technologies, the business environment emphasizes continuous improvement, rather than radical innovation
• Significant and steady growth rates, as step-by-step innovations provide existing industries (autos, financial services, consumer products, logistics, manufacturing) with big productivity and quality improvements
• Corporations use technology advances to promote decentralization and smaller scale production – IT outsourcing and steel mini-mills
• China continues its traditional role as a “fast follower” – still unable to develop into a truly innovative economy
• Retiring of Baby Boomers leads to a new generation of younger business leaders emerging
• Smaller scale businesses are supported by larger holding companies in a “studio” model

• Average age of Northeast Ohio CEOs falls from 57 to 50 – with new regional leadership groups like City Club’s New Leaders coming to the fore
• More clout for the wider business community as the influence of government actors declines
• Local financial services, logistics companies, consumer products and component manufacturers employ hundreds of new young engineers – some in Northeast Ohio, others dotted around the world
• With larger numbers of local entrepreneurs and small businesses, greater demand for business services (financial, legal, marketing support)
• Population and economic activity shifts more to the suburbs, strengthening calls for regionalism

The offices of GlobalCorp, Inc., seemed spartan compared to most multinational corporations, but that was just fine by Audrey Hoyczyk, the company’s 43-year old CEO—and sole full-time employee.

As Audrey waited for her coffee to finish brewing, she rolled out the morning news—one of her latest experimental projects involving the flexible display technology developed at the Liquid Crystal Institute.

The thing was still just a prototype, and Audrey wasn’t sure whether she preferred it to simply scrolling through the news on her computer screen and checking her alerts. This new, ultra-thin flexible LCD display almost gave her the feeling of reading an old-fashioned printed newspaper (something her father had always done each morning as he sipped his coffee), but there were still some kinks to be worked out.

As she took her first sip of coffee, however, she was pleased to see that two of her projects had made the news, even if her name and GlobalCorp weren’t mentioned anywhere: Sales for a new turbine design developed for Parker’s Wind Energy Group had just exceeded the original forecast and the rumor was a larger order from China was just about to be announced; another article touted the progress being made by a small water purification company that had relocated to the area as part of the Cuyahoga Valley Initiative.

The CVI had been launched some ten years ago to clean up the river by attracting companies to locate in the area who would view the heavily polluted sections of ground and water as a kind of “test bed” for developing and improving their products—products that could be used to clean up polluted sites. It was taking much longer to get going than anyone had hoped or expected, but “sustainability” and “green energy” were no longer foreign concepts in the region. In fact they were catching on as themes globally, leading to much more competition for the firms that had moved in that direction in Northeast Ohio. Still, things were slowly improving, and the region had made something of a name for itself from its efforts to put the images of a burning river behind it by demonstrating a “burning passion” for a healthier environment.

Audrey still found it difficult to explain to people just exactly what it was she and GlobalCorp did. The best explanation she’d been able to come up with so far was when a friend from Hollywood had come for a visit. “I’m like an agent, I guess,” she’d said to her friend, a struggling actress who’d moved away from Ohio right after college in order to pursue a career in film and television. “I put deals together and package up projects for some of the bigger companies here in town. Sort of like your agent does for you. None of the big companies can afford to do all their R&D in-house anymore, and its hard for them to get out of the businesses that aren’t working and into something new. But now some of them are acting like Hollywood studios. They offer all the back office services where being big matters—marketing, legal, distribution, those kinds of things—and work with people like me to put together projects and deals to develop new lines of business.”

It was an exciting life for Audrey. A lot of the companies and independents she brought into her deals were regionally-based, but nearly as many were scattered all over the world—her work took her to Boston, Delhi, Calcutta, Beijing, Tokyo, Edinburgh, all amazing places, and all the more amazing that in this age of ultrbroadband connections, the personal ‘touch’ of a face-to-face meeting was still important from time to time. Especially since there would inevitably be some friction and hurt feelings whenever she chose a partner at Cambridge University over one at CASE or the University of Akron.

She hardly ever found herself downtown, though—most of the action had moved to the suburbs. While she supported the efforts to revitalize the urban core cities, there just didn’t seem to be a reason to go there herself, with plenty of good restaurants nearby. She liked her home in the suburbs. It was a good place to raise her kids. It just felt right for her and her family.

The only negative side to her travels was the time it meant away from family, but it wasn’t as if she had to make that many trips—the Internet video connections were often good enough for follow-up meetings. When it worked right, they would wind up coming here more than she would need to go there. It was getting that way with Boston already.

Audrey was spending less and less time in and with people from Boston—the area seemed to be falling into decline. It was actually getting easier to get researchers and entrepreneurs to leave there and come to Northeast Ohio. The weather wasn’t all that different, but the opportunities were: Major corporations in the materials and power/alternative energy industries using this “Hollywood studio model” were creating more opportunities in Ohio than in other places. She was most proud of the role she played in helping the World Trade Center convince a Kazakhstan oil company to set up a small R&D facility in the region to work with companies here. But China was demanding more and more of her time, and it was still difficult to get them to come here as often as she would like. The saber rattling in Washington and rumors of war certainly didn’t help.

Nor did the continuing consolidation in banking and finance that had seen several large companies leave the area completely and head to Delaware. The slow collapse of both Ford and GM had had a damaging ripple effect on small manufacturers in the area. Toyota, Honda, and Cheri, the Chinese auto manufacturer, were more focused on vertically integrated production. The South continued to offer labor cost advantages over the northern states, and only Columbus, Ohio, seemed to be able to attract any facilities in-state. “You can get better sushi in Columbus than you can in LA!” her friend had told her in an email some time ago, shortly after she’d moved west. “I miss Ohio—believe me, they don’t call this place Hollyweird for nothing—but you just can’t get my kind of work there.”

Audrey poured another cup of coffee and turned her attention to the 156 emails that were awaiting her in her in-box. There certainly was plenty of her kind of work here in Ohio—but it was nearly 6:30AM already, and no way she could get through all of these before it would be time to take her daughter to school. She’d handle the London ones first—it was lunchtime there—then deal with the local emails after dropping her daughter off. The ones from Japan and China could wait until after dinner, which still gave her time to reply before their next business day began. While school was in session she’d head over to Kent to see what progress was being made on the next version of the prototype—and on the deal to get Samsung to locate an R&D facility here…

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