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.

Wherever you happen to be today (3/14) at 1:59:26, pause for a moment and consider that not only is it the exact momoent that makes today Pi Day (3.1415926…), it’s also the anniversary of Alber Einstein’s birth.

Not a bad coincidence!

Just a little Friday levity before what will be for many the beginning of spring break, although unfortunately not for us at TechFutures.

 Have a great weekend!

TechFutures is going to take some much needed R&R for the rest of the year…enjoy the holidays however you choose to celebrate them.  We’ll see you again in 2008…

Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug.  Sometimes outsourcing hurts you, and sometimes it comes back around.  Remember Validis Kreb’s recent commentary on manufacturing?  Now Fortune has this report on a call center moving from India to–you guessed it–Ohio:

“It would be easy to imagine Reno, Ohio, as the type of place that would be hit hardest by outsourcing - a small American town losing out to the invisible hand shifting jobs to places like Bangalore and Guangzhou. Instead, outsourcing is bringing the jobs to Reno. Across the street from an Army Reserve center and next to a farm, a customer-service call center hums, its 250 workers answering phones for online travel agency Expedia. The center’s owner? Indian conglomerate Tata Group.”

Click here to read the rest of the story… 

OK, so this story doesn’t have anything to do with technology, but it has a lot to say about both the intelligence and the sense of humor we have here in Northeast Ohio.  From Crain’s comes the following story:

The honors keep coming for Mental Floss, the offbeat, bi-monthly magazine with business operations run from

The honor comes a little more than a month after the Chicago Tribune named Mental Floss to its list of the country’s 50 best magazines. 

From Kauffman’s  Public Forum Institute comes this news about broadband penetration in the US:

A new study of broadband use in California offers some useful insights for other regions around the country and overseas. The study, Broadband for All?, examines patterns of broadband adoption and availability across the state. It notes the presence of three broadband “digital divides” in the state. First, broadband availability varies widely. Not surprisingly, broadband is more readily available in wealthier and denser parts of the state. In terms of adoption, 47% of California households have broadband (compared to 39% nationwide). Finally, the study finds large racial and income disparities in terms of use – wealthier families are much more likely to adopt broadband. Hispanic and African-American families have much lower broadband adoption rates when compared to other Californians – even though the availability of such services does not differ by race. The report concludes by recommending that policymakers focus on two key goals: boosting broadband availability in rural areas, and boosting broadband adoption and use by Hispanic and African-American families.Access the July 2007 Public Policy Institute of California report, Broadband for All? Gaps in California’s Broadband Adoption and Availability, by Jed Kolko.

Richard Stuebi of the Cleveland Foundation sent along this interesting report from Money Online by Joel Kotkin on US migration patterns, but what’s even more interesting is the companion article about the Most Affordable Towns in the US.

Hmmm…notice any common threads in any of these???  You can check them out here.

A lot of discussion lately about plans for a possible Medical Mart in downtown Cleveland.  Several people in the industry (both in Cleveland and outside the region) have pointed out that we already get a lot of international traffic coming to town to see installations of cutting edge equipment at University Hospitals and the Cleveland Clinic–a Medical Mart would be the perfect complement and help drive even more of this kind of traffic.  Given the strength of our health care industry, the idea makes perfect sense.  Think of it as “one stop shopping” for docs–and a chance to capitalize on all the medical research and technology development we have here in the region.

 If you’re interested in learning more about the project, Christopher Kennedy’s Merchandise Properties, Inc. has a separate site devoted to it (registration required).  And tomorrow night the proposed sales tax increase to help fund the Mart will be the topic of discussion at the Cool Community Forum.

This week we’ve made several changes to both the TechFutures and NorTech web sites, in an effort to make it easier for people to learn about what is happening here in the region.

 The “Action Plans” section of TechFutures is the new “Current Projects” section, which will take you to the home page of NorTech web site.  Here you can read about the latest tech-based economic development efforts in the region.  A new browser window will open up, leaving both sites available to you.

We’ve also moved from Blogger to Word Press and will be adding categories to make it easier for people to read or search through past posts.  As with any switch, we may encounter a few difficulties along the way, but hope you’ll bear with us.

On the NorTech site you’ll find a greater emphasis on the specific projects each of our staff is working on, with brief updates provided as things advance or change.