Latest News

New and coming soon: a peek at some of the new and soon-to-be restaurants in Springfield

Monday, August 15, 2022

Springfield has no shortage of great restaurants already. From Stella Bleu Bistro to Speakeasy Ramen, and Bubby's Chicken & Waffles to La Torte Dolci - Springfield can easily be a foodie's paradise to explore. And now, with some new options - both local and chain - popping up, diners will have even more options to choose from. Read full article.

Clark State president appointed chair of higher learning commission

Friday, August 12, 2022

Clark State College President Jo Alice Blondin has been appointed as Chair of the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) Board of Trustees. Her tenure will be effective Sept. 1 to Aug. 31, 2024, according to the college. She has served the HLC since 2005 as a peer reviewer, contributor to the Assessment Academy Design Team, an institutional actions council member, a board trustee, chair of the committee on trustees, and most recently as vice chair of the board of trustees. Read full article.

Construction to bring 60 additional units of senior housing to start in August

Thursday, August 11, 2022

More affordable senior housing is slated for Springfield as the second phase of a project that aims to build a total of 110 of those units, representing nearly $25 million in investment, will began in August. The second phase of the Community Gardens project aims to build 60 one-bedroom apartments for seniors 55-years-old or older, and will add to existing affordable housing stock in the city. The first phase of the project built 50 two-bedroom units and was completed in 2018, creating a pocket neighborhood at the former Community Hospital site on Burnett Road and East High Street. Read full article.

How Ohio State is Training the Next Generation of 3D Printing Experts

Wednesday, August 10, 2022

Not too long ago, the list of people with access to a 3D printer was a short one. But over the last decade, 3D printing (or additive manufacturing) has gone from a fun novelty to an important new frontier in the world of manufacturing. Across Ohio, companies are using 3D printers for everything from food and prosthetics to military operations and custom industrial work. With all of those possibilities, the next generation of Ohio talent and entrepreneurs need a way to learn the ins and outs of 3D printing before they ever leave school, and The Ohio State University ha...

Black Tech Week Coming to Ohio

Tuesday, August 09, 2022

JobsOhio’s 2021 Annual Report highlights the record year for the organization and its network partners. In total, 414 total projects were recorded in 2021, resulting in more than 29,000 new jobs, $1.6B in new payroll and $6.9B of new capital investment. The Ohio Tax Credit Authority (TCA) approved assistance for two economic development projects in June. The projects are set to create 375 new jobs, resulting in more than $22.9M in new payroll and more than $213M in investment. Ohio recorded 14,596 new business filings in May. A total of 80,480 new businesses have been created in 2022 so far...

Attracting and Retaining Workers in Today's Challenging Market

Monday, August 08, 2022

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment has fallen to pre-pandemic levels, but that doesn’t mean the workforce is simply returning to normal. In March of 2022, a record 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs, leaving 1.9 job openings for every unemployed worker. According to the Institute of Supply Management, filling positions in the manufacturing industry is particularly challenging. According to a recent survey by CNBC, fifty-two percent of all small business owners report trouble finding workers. It’s safe to say that for every employee who resigns, others are contemplating quitting. Read full article.

Shaping Our Digital Public Spaces —And Why Democracy Depends On It

Friday, August 05, 2022

The impact of Big Tech on democracy has never been more apparent and regulators are starting to take heed. In the last few months, the European Union passed two of the most significant pieces of legislation aiming to regulate Big Tech companies and their impact on polarization. On the heels of these policy advances, Ashoka social entrepreneur Anna-Lena von Hodenberg — founder of HateAid — had a precedent-setting win of her own: a German court ruled that Facebook (now known as Meta) is accountable for removing “identical and core similar” illegal hate speech from their platform once detected. To fin...

A Look at Integrated Project Delivery From the Inside Out

Thursday, August 04, 2022

Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) is a project delivery strategy that focuses on transparency and collaboration, forming a cohesive team, and implementing methods to enhance efficiency and generate desired project outcomes. This isn’t just about a new contract relationship between design and construct — the owner is a key stakeholder. The culture of collaboration in IPD makes the most of all the project participants’ experience and insights and optimizes effective communication to mitigate risk and reduce changes late in the game. This approach saves time and money, reduces waste, and incentivizes participation through shared goals that unite the team. Read full article.

Rail Gains Advantage Amidst Supply Chain Snarls

Wednesday, August 03, 2022

For companies around the world, supply chain snags have been top-of-mind for much of the past year. Delays are common, and U.S. domestic shipping rates for moving goods are up approximately 23 percent over 2020 levels, according to Cass Information Systems, Inc. High demand continues to outpace logistics capacity, and the chronic U.S. truck driver shortage only exacerbates delays. Amidst these trends, rail has become an important option for shipping goods across the United States — especially as trucking costs rise, too. Many companies rushed to stock inventories in 2020, and they now need help distributing goods to consumers. Remarkably, internationa...

Grow Your Business in the Center of One of the Largest Laborsheds, Without the Traffic

Tuesday, August 02, 2022

Your business needs workforce - Clark County, Ohio has it. Springfield and Clark County is in the center of one of the largest laborsheds in the United States. Located between Dayton and Columbus, Springfield’s employers can draw from two major metropolitan areas, surrounding rural communities and Springfield itself. “We recognize that workforce availability is one of the most pressing challenges businesses are facing. Springfield has the large laborshed companies need, and we have a plan to expand it. The Greater Springfield Partnership has an entire team dedicated to recruiting employees, reaching high school students and upskilling current residents. We are 100...

Trends in Data Center Site Selection

Tuesday, August 02, 2022

What makes a good location for a data center? There are quite a few factors, and some of the most important are the availability of space, land, and power. However, emerging technologies that will require edge computing — such as 5G, virtual reality and metaverse applications, AI, and self-driving cars — and sustainability and access to green energy are increasingly important considerations for data center site selection. Low Vacancy Rates Market demand for data is constantly rising and must be matched by a dramatic rise in data center construction. Available data center space in major cities is severely limited. For example, popula...

Area Development’s 17th Annual Shovel Awards Recognize State and Local Economic Development Efforts — First Two Platinum Shovels Awarded

Monday, August 01, 2022

The national news headlines in 2021 shifted dramatically, from wall-to-wall pandemic coverage to stories of extraordinary economic growth and recovery. After a dramatic downturn in 2020, the economy came roaring back with unexpected gusto — and that enthusiasm is reflected in the economic development activity that was bringing smiles and applause across the country last year. The 2022 Shovel Awards recognize the best of all that good economic development news from the past year. These state honors are based on information provided by economic development officials, and though it’s always possible for plans to be revised or delayed by unforeseen circumstances...

Breaking the Cyber Color Barrier

Friday, July 29, 2022

The pronounced shortage of cybersecurity workers has been exhaustively chronicled, as has the low participation rate of Black people and other minorities among technology industry professionals. According to the 2021 Cybersecurity Workforce Study issued in October by the non-profit International Information System Security Certification Consortium — (ISC)2 — unfilled cybersecurity openings in the United States totaled 2.72 million in the year’s fourth quarter. A report issued in April by Zippia found that Black workers, who account for 13% of the U.S. workforce, hold but 8% of cybersecurity jobs, a share that’s actually declining. Read full article.

Industry Consensus On Sustainability Looks Fragile

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Pressed by a sense of urgency among scientists and the wider public, and by governments and investors who must fulfil promises made at COP (Conference of the Parties) summits, major businesses are facing ever more stringent sustainability reporting requirements. Big energy users, such as data centers, are in the firing line. Many of the reporting requirements, and proposed methods of reducing carbon emissions, are proving to be complicated and may appear contradictory and counterproductive. Many managers will be bewildered and frustrated. Read full article.

How Smart Is Your City?

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

How many Urban Planning 101 courses have begun with the instructor asking the class, “What is a Smart City?” It’s a question that’s sure to set the stage for a semester’s worth of theories, lectures, papers and exams aimed at introducing the students to the many notions and practices they will encounter and perhaps improve on in their budding careers in the field. It’s not a new notion. City planners and engineers have long been incorporating high-tech traffic sensors, data-driven energy management, use of the Internet of Things for infrastructure and other planning purposes and improved connectivity for citizens and cit...

Trading Goals For Pathways

Tuesday, July 26, 2022

"Make oil history.” That’s the slogan of Northvolt, the fast-charging Swedish battery manufacturer now employing more than 3,000 people as it aims to produce as 150 gigawatt-hours of battery cells by 2030, and use clean energy to power its operations. Read full article.

Smarter Cities

Monday, July 25, 2022

Over the past century, countries around the world have experienced rapid urbanization around their edges and deindustrialization in their cores. Cities worldwide will have to continue adjusting to climate change, large-scale migration, shifts in family structure, rapid technological changes, public health crises, and other powerful social and political forces. As they do so, they will have to address acute social needs, identify the underlying trends, and reassess patterns and systemic features of the built environment. Adjustments also bring new economic opportunities made possible by advanced technological changes, and social challenges as cities become ethnically diverse, persistently unequal, with aging infrastructure...

Bradley Minerd is dedicated to equality, community, and service

Friday, July 22, 2022

A committed defender of equality, Bradley Minerd, is passionate about the Springfield community. A corrections officer with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, Minerd is dedicated to being a public servant both at his job and as the current president of Equality Springfield, a nonprofit formed in 2010 by a group of citizens who envisioned a greater Springfield in which LGBTQ+ people are welcomed and appreciated. Read full article.

Springfield to streamline utility billing, payments

Thursday, July 21, 2022

The city of Springfield plans to upgrade its utility billing and payment systems as city officials say the goal is to streamline those processes and improve payment options. The city announced this week that it has partnered with software companies SmartBill and Invoice Cloud in a bid to create a more efficient system of billing and payment for customers. City officials stated in a recent news release that SmartBill will provide bill printing and mail delivery services while Invoice Cloud will serve utility customers with online payment options. Read full article.

Springfield OKs zoning request for development that could bring up to 1,250 new homes

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

The city of Springfield has agreed to rezone a little over 378 acres of land along East National Road to a Planned Development District as that area could see up to 1,250 new homes built over a period of 10 years. The decision to rezone that land, which includes the former Melody Drive-in Theatre and the former Next Edge development site, will allow for a planned development called Melody Place that will include a mixture of single-family, multi-family and patio homes as well as retail property. Read full article.

Springfield, Ohio Shines At Mid-America EDC Conference

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

The Greater Springfield Partnership and the City of Springfield hosted the Mid-America EDC Conference July 13 - 15th, showcasing the city’s significant growth and highlighting best practices other Mid-America communities can incorporate into their strategic planning. “We were privileged to host the Mid-America EDC, fellow members, insightful speakers and sponsors. Mid-America EDC is composed of leaders focused on making an impact for their communities,” said Horton Hobbs IV, Vice President of Economic Development for Greater Springfield Partnership. “We have had that same focus in Springfield and the results have been phenomenal. Being able to showcase the growth of our community, ou...

Innovation Center's 2021 Economic Impact Report highlights continued success

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Ohio University’s Innovation Center supported 249 jobs that generated an estimated $18 million in employee compensation and $49.7 million in economic output in Athens County in 2021, according to a new economic impact report. Over the last seven years, the business incubator’s job creation numbers have increased 78 percent, and employee compensation generated from its client companies is up 211 percent. Read full article.

Corporate Investments Continue to Pour into Ohio

Monday, July 18, 2022

This report is a summary of third-party economic research and perspectives to foster communication with business and economic development stakeholders. Key Economic Insights U.S.: 390,000 jobs were added in May; U.S. unemployment rate remained at 3.6%. Ohio: Ford announced plans to invest $1.5B and create 1,800 new jobs in Avon Lake to assemble an all-new electric commercial vehicle for Ford Pro customers (debuting mid-decade), along with an additional 90 jobs and $100M investment between Lima Engine and Sharonville Transmission plants. Read full article.

How to Effectively Hire During the New Normal

Friday, July 15, 2022

The way businesses in the industrial sector approach hiring new employees has changed. Companies can no longer rely on posting a job ad and sitting back to wait for resumes to flood in. With unemployment rates at an all-time low after the advent of the Great Resignation, the best candidates are already employed. So how do you locate the best talent, and what are the best-recruiting tools? Internal recruitment, agency software, HR recruitment software, and recruitment service providers are just a few of the options available to you. Hiring Team-Focused Players in the New Normal How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed th...

Taking Action Now for An Increasingly Automated Future

Thursday, July 14, 2022

Recently, Elon Musk announced plans for the Tesla Bot, a humanoid robot that stands 5 feet, 8 inches tall. Musk said the robot “probably won’t work.” I hope he is wrong. Many people have an adverse reaction to discussions of automation and artificial intelligence. While I understand those fears, I believe we need to embrace automation. In fact, let’s put our foot on the gas — or set the autonomous electric vehicle at max speed. But as we accelerate toward automation, we must reposition our workforce for a successful journey. Read full article.

3 Ways To Solve Common Innovation Inefficiencies

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

It’s one thing to come up with clever business ideas. It’s another thing to get them smoothly from planning to execution. The road to innovation is paved with plenty of detours, potholes, and one-way streets. While some of them are unavoidable and unexpected—like a global pandemic—others can be anticipated. And that means they can be thwarted with a bit of strategic forethought. Read full article.

How Companies Are Bridging The Gap Between Profitability & Purpose

Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Today, consumers, investors, and even employees are expecting more out of the companies they support. It doesn’t take much browsing on social media to read about brands that have earned widespread ire for falling short. About half of all consumers admit to publicly skewering businesses. Even if those brands are profitable, they face a potentially devastating loss of reputation that could affect their bottom lines. In other words, it’s a very new type of environment. A full 62% of chief experience officers told Deloitte they were just as focused on positively giving back as on increasing profits. Accordingly, some business leader...

5 Tips for Creatively Going Green With Your Business

Monday, July 11, 2022

Going green is no longer just a niche catchphrase. It has become an increasingly mainstream part of doing business. In fact, in one recent study, 78 percent of Americans said they would be more likely to purchase environmentally friendly products, with 64 percent also willing to pay more for these products. Clearly, an environmental focus in business doesn't just help the environment — it can also have a direct impact on your bottom line. When you make sustainability a key focus of your business ventures, you will become much more appealing to customers who share similar values. Read full article.

3 Ways to Empower Everyone to Lead (and How to Do It)

Friday, July 08, 2022

If you ask managers, directors and executives to name the leaders of their company, most would be expected to point to themselves. They are the group who carry the formal, assigned responsibilities of leadership. However, if you ask those same leaders to name people in the organization with the biggest influence over culture, the most institutional knowledge or the greatest level of trust from fellow employees — qualities associated with leadership — the answers will often not be the same. Read full article.

Community Support is Essential for Creating Housing Opportunities

Thursday, July 07, 2022

Communities throughout the country are facing a housing crisis either due to a lack of housing units, as the result of prices skyrocketing past the level of affordability, or both. Solving this crisis requires creativity and the support of the entire community. As such, leaders who put forth policies without stakeholder support will find their proposals stalled while leaders who engage stakeholders from the very beginning will have partners willing to help bring about the necessary changes. Read full article.

Innovative and Collaborative Design Sets the Stage for Life Science Innovation

Wednesday, July 06, 2022

It is a thrilling time to be in the life sciences. Investment and employment in this sector have seen unprecedented gains, especially since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the speed of innovation has accelerated, as demonstrated by the rapid development and production of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, to name just one. Of course, there are a host of other medical conditions — ranging from neurological conditions, heart disease, and cancer to Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes — that require the attention and best efforts of life science innovators. These forces have thrown a spotlight on this critica...

Front Line: Performing Physical Tasks Remotely

Tuesday, July 05, 2022

One of the major societal effects of the Covid-19 pandemic — aka The Big Reset — has been rapid and widespread growth of remote work, as companies allow more employees to perform tasks from their homes…or elsewhere. The biggest shift has been among office-based businesses, which require fewer on-site workers doing physical tasks than manufacturing or supply chain operations require. But even in the latter categories, rapid advances in automation are enabling more workers to “go digital,” experts say. Read full article.

Meet Springfield's Community Navigators

Friday, July 01, 2022

The new Community Navigator Program has two years and $1 million to make as big of an impact as it can in Springfield and some of its most underserved communities, says Reggie Troutman, the program’s director. The pilot program, designed to help socially and economically disadvantaged business owners, began just a few months ago. Troutman says it focuses on two things: Trust and impact. Read full article.

Putting Your Best Foot Forward: Presentation of Incentives Information to the Media

Friday, July 01, 2022

Companies receiving economic development incentives often have a great story to tell. The projects championed by those companies bring much needed jobs and investment to a local community. In exchange, the companies may receive various forms of economic development incentives, such as grants, tax credits, or loans. However, these incentives are not giveaways. Instead, the incentives are typically awarded on the condition that companies receiving them achieve certain metric commitments (i.e., jobs, payroll, and investment) to benefit the local community. Read full article.

Foreign-Trade Zones: The Best, Zero-Cost Incentive for Your Business

Thursday, June 30, 2022

Even though the FTZ program was created in 1934, its relevance today is huge. After the year 2002, when Customs allowed for weekly entry (which greatly increased the demand for zones in warehouse and fulfillment centers), the FTZ program entered an even more lucrative incentive profile. This profile is enhanced by the fact that over the last five years the U.S. government has decided to manipulate global trade that results in imports into the U.S. by increasing duty rates by a factor of 10. Prior to the Trump administration, the average duty rate in America for most imported goods was ...

The State Theater prepares to come back to life

Thursday, June 30, 2022

When Rod Hatfiled thinks back to the years of his youth in Springfield, he has fond memories of time spent at The State Theater. And so do his business partners Nick Demana, Patrick Field, and Dr. Ash Ahmed, who together make up the local investment organization Altered State Group (ASG), which gained ownership of The State Theater at the end of 2021. In addition to being partners, the quartet are lifelong friends who all graduated from Catholic Central High School in the 1980s. Read full article.

Five Ways for Manufacturers to Manage Global Market Volatility

Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Supply chain struggles…labor shortages…rising costs…crises — These are just a few of the massive challenges today’s manufacturers face, paired with some of the greatest demand ever seen. Determining the best path forward for success now and in the future can be confusing and daunting. While there’s no perfect one-size-fits-all solution, by asking the right questions, anticipating how challenges will impact business, and taking a comprehensive approach to updating and building facilities, manufacturers can future-proof operations and better manage global market volatility. Read full article.

Stronger Together returns as major western Clark County event

Wednesday, June 29, 2022

With about $100,000 raised during the first-time event, Stronger Together is back this July with hopes of raising even more funds to support local community organizations and individuals. "Overall, we had a big success," says Scott Griffith, a New Carlisle Rotary Club member and a Stronger Together organizer. "We were able to write a check for $25,000 to each of the three organizations. We were hoping for that, but we didn't know if we'd make it because it was our first year, and now we hope this year will exceed our first year." Read full article.

Best of Springfield 2022: Nominate here for your favorites

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Tell us who’s the Best of Springfield for 2022! The Best of Springfield contest, brought to you by the Greater Springfield Partnership and the Springfield News-Sun, returns this year with 50 categories covering all the best aspects of live in the area. Read full article.

Retrofitting Office Space to Attract Life Sciences Companies

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

In recent years, record-breaking investment flowing into the life sciences sector has prompted unprecedented growth. As life sciences firms expand their facilities to keep up with demand, available space to accommodate these growing businesses — especially in well-known industry clusters like San Diego, Boston, and the San Francisco Bay Area — remains scarce. Leasing space in traditional office buildings can provide a solution for life sciences companies with dry lab needs, as well as those involved in cell and gene therapies and R&D. For office landlords grappling with uncertainty as other industries embrace remote and hybrid work policies, the life science...

OEDA 2022 Annual Excellence Awards – Call for Nominations

Monday, June 27, 2022

The Ohio Economic Development Association’s annual Excellence Awards program recognizes the achievements of individuals and organizations in Ohio in the areas of economic and workforce development. Submit your nominations today and have excellence in your community recognized statewide! A panel of judges will evaluate the nominations, determine finalists, and select a winner for each of the categories noted below. Award winners will be announced in conjunction with the 2022 OEDA Annual Summit, being held October 3-6 at the Exchange at Bridge Park in Dublin, Ohio. Read full article.

The Evolution of the Megasite

Monday, June 27, 2022

Competing on a national and global scale for large economic development projects — and winning — is a sure sign of a community’s vitality. A community’s ability to position large-scale, shovel-ready land tracts for investment consideration exponentially increases its ability to secure desired jobs and capital investment at the local level. For years, there has been a traditional understanding of megasite requirements. Originally created to meet the demands of the automotive OEM and allied industries, these sites were assumed to have consistent demands. Important factors have included fully contiguous land space; multimodal transportation, including access to rail; large-scale and redundant utilit...

Station to Station

Friday, June 24, 2022

Remember as a child trying to learn the difference between “electric” and “electronic,” two words separated only by that “ON” switch in the middle? Today — with a surge in EV demand and a shortage of semiconductors — they are the two most operative words in the automotive industry. How they twist together to alter the DNA of mobility is a story best told by an array of projects now flipping the “ON” switch. The billions of dollars in investment are coming in big chunks: Rivian’s $5 billion in Georgia; Mercedes’ 6 million sq. ft. in Alabama, Ford’s planned BlueOval meg...

Investors Help to Transform Downtown Springfield, Attracting New Businesses & Visitors

Monday, May 23, 2022

James (Jim) Lagos and his wife Nike have invested heavily in the revitalization of Downtown Springfield. “You have to take a chance on the community,” he said. “That’s what we have done to try and restore Springfield to the level of glory it once had.” As a result of investments made by them and others, Downtown Springfield has once again become a vibrant hub of activity that is attracting people to dine, shop, work and live within the downtown area. The Bushnell Building renovation was one of their biggest projects. Built in the late 1800s, the building was home to Wren’...

The GSP’s Advocates for Our Business Locally & Legislatively

Monday, May 09, 2022

The Greater Springfield Partnership advocates for over 800 companies who call Clark County home. Our services are comprehensive and range from talent acquisition and development support to site selection, funding solutions and legislative advocacy. “Ohio is an excellent state to do business in. The legislature is willing to listen to the concerns of businesses and to take those concerns into consideration when passing legislation. Our job is to make sure that Clark County businesses have a seat at the table, that their voices are heard and that laws are passed that benefit our businesses and the employees who work there,” sai...

The Conscious Connect strives to improve equity and inclusivity

Friday, April 29, 2022

Karlos L. Marshall remembers as a kid gazing at his mother’s series of books about the achievements of black people who made history. He read them and aspired to be like them, even before he could understand just how great the subjects really were. When he and friend Moses B. Mbeseha co-founded The Conscious Connect and began distributing books to children who needed them, his mom mailed him that same series, comprised of dozens of books. They were the first that were given out. Read full article.

Growth of IndieCraft music festival a driver for tourism, continued expansion

Thursday, April 28, 2022

With the third IndieCraft just about two months away, the wider reach of the once one-night indie music and craft beer festival can be felt in the expanded venue space, the sought-after talent and the buzz both among the Greater Springfield community and people from other cities and states. “When we first started talking about IndieCraft about 4 years ago, we wanted it to be like the idea of South by Southwest in Austin … that was always our template,” says Chris Schutte, vice president of destination marketing and communication for the Greater Springfield Partnership. “We didn’t want to charge becaus...

Alcony Weavers brings a colorful mix to Downtown shopping

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

A new, brightly-colored view popped up along North Fountain Avenue in Downtown Springfield recently. Alcony Weavers opened its doors in the first of three storefronts along the Park at the 99 garage, with the other two spots soon to house Charlo’s Provisions & Eatery. The shop is a first for owner and operator Spensir Robinson, who has run the business online and through trade show set-ups for the past few years. Read full article.

Springfield Downtown Historic District more than just for show

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

A building or district doesn’t need to be officially recognized as historic to prove its value to the community. But recognition from the National Register of Historic Places does have its perks, says Kevin Rose, director of revitalization for The Turner Foundation. “It’s really about saying, ‘This is a landmark. This is important,’” he says. Read full article.

Clark State named a top military friendly school for fourth year in row

Monday, April 25, 2022

Clark State College has been named as one of the Nation’s Top Military Friendly Schools for the fourth consecutive year, according to a release from the school. “Supporting our veteran and military student populations continues to be a top priority for Clark State,” said Diana Seaman, registrar. “We are so excited that Clark State was awarded Gold this year as a Military Friendly school.” Read full article.

University of Dayton wins national supplier diversity award

Friday, April 22, 2022

The University of Dayton has received the Jesse L. Moore Supplier 2022 Diversity Award, a national recognition from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine honoring colleges and universities that take proactive steps to support and engage with minority-owned businesses. The publication selected winners for their efforts in recruiting, hiring and retaining suppliers from underrepresented groups through institutional supplier diversity offices, innovative programs and other initiatives. Winners will be included in the April 2022 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. Read full article.

Northeast Ohio seeks $75 million 'Build Back Better' boost for manufacturing, polymers

Thursday, April 21, 2022

Northeast Ohio is putting itself in the running for a $75 million infusion of federal cash intended to boost economic development, including growing a polymer industry cluster in and around Akron. A proposal aimed at securing the funding is now being polished and finalized, focusing on smart manufacturing and advanced materials and centered around eight projects with a strong diversity and inclusion theme. The goal is to improve the regional supply chain and economy while addressing structural inequities that cause individual and community distress. Read full article.

Innovation hub celebrates one-year anniversary at Dayton Arcade, plots future growth

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

The university-anchored innovation hub that jumpstarted the Dayton Arcade revitalization is celebrating a major milestone as it works to add new programming and partnerships to its existing slate of offerings. The Hub Powered by PNC — a joint venture between the University of Dayton and the Entrepreneurs’ Center — recently held a ceremony to mark its one-year anniversary in downtown Dayton. The Hub had an impactful first year as an incubator for local entrepreneurs and businesses, a place where students could take courses and gain hands-on experience in new ventures, and as a catalyst for the redevelopment of the downtown landmark. Rea...

Cast your ballot now for Inno Madness round two!

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Queen City? More like Upset City. That’s right, folks: Not one higher-seeded company from Cincy Inno Madness made it through to round two. That means the highest-ranked companies we have going into this week’s voting are No. 5 seeds, including Pay Theory, Hearty, Peerro and Homebuyer. Read full article.

Why Economic Developers Should Enter The Metaverse

Monday, April 18, 2022

Retailers from Samsung to Disney are buying 'virtual real estate' sometimes in the millions of dollars to have a presence in the metaverse. Make no mistake, the metaverse is going to be huge and it will happen much faster than the dawn of websites, social media, and smartphones. WHY JOIN THE METAVERSE NOW? Economic developers should enter the metaverse because if they don't - they, and their communities, will be left behind. Put simply, economic developers cannot afford to sit back and watch as the metaverse becomes part of people's everyday lives. Take, for example, workforce attraction. People looking for a ne...

Creating Workforce Ambassadors Will Make Talent Attraction Easier

Friday, April 15, 2022

Making talent attraction easier, and more effective is top of mind for many economic developers and the businesses they support. Talent attraction has been a challenge post-pandemic, whether that means getting people already in the community to work at their highest potential or attracting talent from outside of the area. Golden Shovel Agency works with clients from throughout the country that has put in place successful workforce recruitment programs. THESE BEST PRACTICES can be implemented by any community, but most require some level of funding. What if you don't have any? Read full article.

Use This Innovation Philosophy to Build a Better Product Every Time

Thursday, April 14, 2022

Have your team been in a situation where you invested a lot of time and resources in building a product that ultimately didn’t work for users? Most product teams have been there at one time or another, but happily there are multiple ways of avoiding this situation. One is investing time and effort in market research — and only after that building a prototype of a product — because it’s simply not true that startups and small businesses don't have enough resources to conduct solid research. So, how should they go about this? The answer, in my experience, is to practic...

This Secret Weapon Will Convince Investors to Fund Your Startup

Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Investors are busy people, and many have seen thousands of pitch decks in their careers. They ultimately choose to invest in very few, however, regardless of how interesting some might seem to the average person. The truth is that a good idea isn’t enough; it’s only part of the equation. It’s necessary to convince an investor that you have the right idea, that you’re the right person and that this is the right time. That last factor is vital: Venture capitalists won’t invest in something which seems to have little urgent need in the world, and wouldn’t have gotten to wher...

35th Annual Corporate Survey: Effects of Global Pandemic Reflected in Executives’ Site and Facility Plans

Tuesday, April 12, 2022

The challenges faced in 2020 were unlike any other confronted in our lifetime. The global pandemic wreaked havoc on our personal and professional lives and the U.S. and global economies. The Commerce Department reports that U.S. GDP declined 3.5 percent in 2020, with the economy falling into recession in February 2020 — a month before the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic. The 3.5 percent decline is the worst year for the U.S. economy since at least the end of World War II, as reported by CNBC. Read full article.

17th Annual Consultants Survey: Consultants Are Optimistic About the Year Ahead

Monday, April 11, 2022

Profile of the Consultants Survey Respondents At least 80 percent of those responding to our 17th annual Consultants Survey work with manufacturers of durable goods, with some of these consultants also working with other manufacturers, and three quarters are working on distribution/logistics projects. Nearly half represent clients in data processing/computer-related sectors as well as finance/insurance/real estate. About 70 percent of the respondents work with companies that are large in terms of their employment numbers, i.e., 500 employees or more. Since 74 percent of those responding to our 35th annual Corporate Survey represent firms with fewer than 500 employees — and only 2...

The 2021 Top States for Doing Business Reflect Their Locational Advantages

Friday, April 08, 2022

When we last took stock of Area Development’s Top States for Doing Business, it was a bit hard to gauge what “doing business” was even supposed to look like. In 2020, the country was riding one wave of COVID-19 after another, mixing times of turmoil and concern with ripples of reassurance and optimism. A year later, the country has undergone significant economic recovery, followed by another time of coronavirus concern. Still, amid the roller-coaster ride, there have been some significant high points and positive business headlines. Plenty of companies continue to grow, some of them dramatically, and with growth comes th...

Front Line: U.S. Automakers Look to Semiconductor Partners

Thursday, April 07, 2022

Covid-19 has resulted in wild gyrations in the supply chain with the hard-hit semiconductor industry having a major impact on U.S. auto manufacturing. From its beginning, Covid-19 resulted in auto plants closing around the country while sales of computers and other consumer products skyrocketed. When automakers resumed production, they found fewer chips available to them. In addition, the pandemic and related supply-chain problems depressed sales and drove up prices for new and used cars. However, market analyst IHS Markit sees U.S. auto production stabilizing in 2022 and attributes this to a stabilization in the semiconductor supply chain. Read full article.

Innovation Corridors Have Economic Assets Driving Business Growth

Wednesday, April 06, 2022

It’s no secret that the recipe for economic success usually includes generous portions of innovation and technology. That has been part of the economic development story for many years in such places as Boston, Seattle, the Research Triangle, and Silicon Valley. But just as you can find more and more cutting-edge restaurants and exceptional craft breweries in sometimes surprising places beyond the most obvious locales, the innovation-based recipe for success is being served up in smaller communities, too, far beyond the places that may first come to mind. When it comes to building an innovation corridor or innovation district, the traditiona...

The Labor Challenges of Site Selection

Tuesday, April 05, 2022

You’re evaluating a new site. It checks all the boxes when it comes to the property, local infrastructure, and business climate. You have one more box to check — labor supply. You’re presented with a hodge-podge of numbers. How can you make sense of it all? And what’s the bottom line? Understanding Labor Data, Availability Before considering the outside numbers, you first need to understand your own data. You should know how many workers you’ll need by job title as well as the estimated wages you can budget for each. Labor data are typically available by occupation, so you’ll want to translat...

Driving Into An Electric Vehicle Future

Monday, April 04, 2022

It seems like the ultimate good-news story. The shift toward electric vehicles will greatly improve the long-term climate health of the planet. It’ll improve human health, too, by reducing pollution. It’ll create thousands of jobs in new industries, with new manufacturing operations lifting local economies. What’s not to like? Don’t forget that disruptive technologies are, well, disruptive. One person’s opportunity, one community’s economic development win, quite often means disruption for someone else’s livelihood and some other community’s economy. The story is only starting to unfold, but the transition to electric vehicles, or EVs, is shaping up to be the automotive industry’...

An Evolving Incentives Environment

Friday, April 01, 2022

For nearly two years, the predominant COVID-19 driven incentive compliance issue looming over companies has been the difficulty to achieve and report on headcount performance as part of economic development incentive agreements. The evolving workplace landscape precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic adds another wrinkle to this process. With the trend toward remote work — whether a hybrid scenario or fully remote — our clients, particularly those with an office-based workforce, are evaluating their long-term footprint needs. Seemingly nothing is off the table with respect to the workplace, including hoteling models, employer choice models, flex-worker models, or pure remote worker strategies. Al...

Fully Enrolled: Esports and Video Game Programs Power Up on Campus

Thursday, March 31, 2022

The digitizing of the economy is pervasive, whether you’re performing quality control in an automated manufacturing plant; undergoing a medical procedure; operating a container crane at a backed-up West Coast port; launching fabrication of a 3D-printed prototype; or putting the finishing touches on a breakthrough architectural design. Could using our own digits, senses and synapses in the pervasive playing of video games deliver a competitive advantage to a world hungry for IT skills, systems thinking and interdisciplinary creativity? Video game development and competitive esports programs at colleges and universities around the world are counting on it. Read full article.

Fields of Plenty: The Promise of Solar Energy

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Chances are high that if you’ve been traveling around various regions of the United States in the past few years, you have noticed a solar array where one was not previously. I have had a similar “ah-ha” moment. You may have been struck by the fact that there are vast solar developments in more rural areas — where site selection for solar installations is more favorable, land is cheaper and larger land tracts are available. You might be further surprised to see that solar farms are popping up in most regions of the country. It’s not just your region. Read full article.

The 2021 Governor’s Cups

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Site Selection’s 2021 winners illustrate exactly why a per capita Governor’s Cup was added to this annual facilities race with the 2013 Governors’ Cups. The original Cup always recognized the state with the most qualified capital investment projects the previous calendar year. For eight years now, Site Selection has also recognized qualified projects per capita, bestowing an equally prestigious Cup on the state fitting that bill. As this year’s project tallies show, a state such as Kansas that would appear well outside the Top 10 states in total overall projects can find itself atop the per capita ranking with 139 projects...

How States Lure the Big Fish

Monday, March 28, 2022

Governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Laura Kelly of Kansas are covered extensively in this issue as the winners of the 2021 Governors’ Cups — the former for total qualified capital investment projects last year and the latter for total per capita projects. The governors of the other ranking states in these facilities races also deserve recognition. All governors are their states’ main salesmen and women when it comes to landing the transformative projects that add billions of dollars to their economies and create hundreds or thousands of jobs. Read full article.

The Rise of the Silicon Heartland

Friday, March 25, 2022

The ink on Intel’s $20 billion investment deal in Ohio was barely dry in January when experts started weighing in on the long-term impact of the deal. Much of the analysis in the press centered on Ohio’s $2 billion incentives package for the $200 billion California-based company, but the ramifications of this project in New Albany on the outskirts of Columbus go much further than that. Read full article.

Why Developers Are Investing in Springfield, OH (Hint: We’re #1)

Friday, February 25, 2022

Developers are investing in Springfield, Ohio, helping to meet our strong housing demand. USA Today named Springfield, Ohio one of the Top 5 housing markets in the country based on the number of people viewing each property for sale and the average days on the market. And, the Wall Street Journal named Springfield, Ohio the #3 Emerging Housing Market and Economic Growth in the US and #1 in the Midwest. Springfield and Clark County have seen a flurry of development activity. DDC Management is one of the lead developers in the county, responsible for the Bridgewater housing development that is no...

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