What's New

April 2024


Upjohn Study Details Strategies to Enhance the Impact of OIEx

The W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research (Kalamazoo, MI) released findings of its study examining, “Sustainability Practices, Policies, and Business Models of Web-Based Innovation Platforms” commissioned by the Ohio Department of Higher Education evaluating the OIEx statewide initiative.  

Upjohn Regional study of OIEx released in April 2024

Examining peer efforts across the United States that are similar to OIEx in scope and focus, economist and lead author Iryna Lendel, Senior Director of Regional Economic and Community Development at Upjohn, provides specific recommendations for achieving operational excellence and building broader awareness of this resource-sharing strategy and online knowledge management portal and its supporting ecosystem. 

The report notes that OIEx stands out as one of the pioneering multi-university initiatives in the United States.

In the report, Lendel’s team identifies opportunities to enhance the impact and sustainability of OIEx, with policy recommendations emphasizing the need for OIEx to transition toward a role as a knowledge broker bridging the gaps between the needs of industry and supply of university resources. The report details recommendations for refining marketing, communications, and business strategies of OIEx to achieve the next level of operational excellence.

Specific Recommendations:
  • Marketing and Promotion.  OIEx currently functions as a university product provider, offering a valuable resource that remains relatively unknown to most business and industry leaders. The program has a unique opportunity to proactively strengthen and grow new connections between the needs of businesses and the faculty and facilities of Ohio universities. To achieve this, OIEx should consider investing in additional marketing and promotional efforts, including actively promoting each business/university partnership it brokers on social media and through targeted marketing strategies.
  • Workforce Development. There is an opening for OIEx to increase workforce development opportunities by including internships, co-ops, and graduate placements in its research and innovation processes and projects.
  • Staffing Considerations. Based on reviewing the staffing of existing similar (often much smaller) initiatives, the report recommends adding staff to grow capabilities around core information technologies and communications/marketing.
  • Funding. Finally, while the current funding mechanisms are stable, securing diversified funding streams — including both the Ohio Department of Higher Education and the broader economic development sector — to optimally position OIEx for continued growth of its feature sets, discovery technologies, and broader awareness is imperative.

Conceived as a cross-sector initiative, OIEx is an industry-sought, higher education-driven, and state government-sponsored information solution focused on improving industry access to expertise, research services, and technology resources from a growing coalition of Ohio universities. 

Upjohn Regional provides applied economic research and technical assistance. It addresses issues in regional economies, economic development, workforce/occupational development, evaluation, public policy development, and economic impact modeling and analysis. It is a unit of the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

March 2024


Launch of the All-New Ohio Innovation Exchange Web Experience

New OIEx web design launch

From ideation in 2015, through its initial launch in 2018, to a growing coalition of 10 partner universities by 2023, the OIEx portal continues to grow in functionality, searchable assets, and partner schools.  With an eye towards improving the user experience, shining a spotlight on the great work of its partner universities, and enhancing access to a growing collection of networking events, a major redesign of OIEx was launched in February 2024.

FACILITATING COLLABORATIONS …

Tapping a rich collection of information describing available research expertise, state-of-the-art technologies, and research supporting services from a growing collection of Ohio universities, OIEx is ever improving the ways it provides access to experts and resources from a growing coalition of Ohio university partners.

IMPROVED USER EXPERIENCE …

  • Enjoy a mobile-friendly browsing experience with an intuitive interface.
  • Access key information directly from the home page, including campus liaisons, data requirements for partner universities, and the rich history of the OIEx initiative.

 SPOTLIGHT ON INNOVATION NEWS, EXPERTS, VIDEOS AND MORE…

  • Learn about experts actively contributing to Ohio's innovation and economic development.
  • Search our growing library of recorded content for valuable insights and discussions.
  • Explore diverse initiatives shaping Ohio's research landscape.

EVENTS AND NETWORKING…

  • Stay updated on upcoming events and networking opportunities that foster collaboration and idea exchange.
  • Utilize our platform to connect with like-minded professionals, expanding your innovation network. 

CAPABLE AND AGILE PARTNERS …

The OIEx team worked with Three-12 Solutions and its web development partner Kosada Inc. to deliver the new web experience.  Three-12 Solutions is a systems integration IT consulting firm based in Dublin, Ohio who has distinguished themselves with the novel data management, curation, and analytical solutions they brought to bear across the lifecycle of OIEx. Kosada, an agile web development firm whose expertise with Drupal--a highly customizable, open-source content management system-- has yielded a portfolio of work with clients including nonprofits, small businesses, and universities.

JOIN THE COMMUNITY …

Visitors are invited to explore the new features of the Ohio Innovation Exchange and actively engage with our community. Partnerships and collaborations play a pivotal role in advancing Ohio’s innovation agenda.  Begin your innovation journey with us and follow us on LinkedIn as Ohio’s history innovation story continues to flourish.

November 2023


OIEx Garners Ohio Third Frontier Research Incentive Funding  

As the scale, scope, and awareness of OIEx continue to evolve, a proposal submitted by Tim Cain (Ohio University) and Jeff Agnoli (Ohio State University) entitled: "A Roadmap for the Ohio Innovation Exchange towards Operational Excellence, Transformation of Cross Sector Collaborations, and Sharpened Discovery Powered by Artificial Intelligence." secured funding from the Ohio Third Frontier.  The proposal details a roadmap on specific aims towards: [AIM I] achieving operational excellence by optimizing OIEx operations and broadening support to its partner universities; [AIM II] securing OIEx as a premier resource for the primary drivers and conveners of Ohio's knowledge economy and [AIM III] sharpening discovery by harnessing the power of generative artificial intelligence.  Continued stewardship of the Ohio Innovation Exchange is vital as it enables access to needed information, seeds connections across sectors — universities, business, government, and economic development agencies — and creates capacity across the State of Ohio’s ecosystem of knowledge innovation, translation and application in ways that expand workforce opportunities and foster economic prosperity.

October 2023


Cain Shares OIEx Update at North American User Conference

Tim Cain of the OIEx team presented "The Ohio Innovation Exchange: a ten-university collaborative supporting Ohio’s knowledge economy", at the Figshare & Symplectic North American User Conference, Pittsburgh Energy Innovation Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

July 2023


[OIEx|OhioX] Artificial Intelligence and Talent Development Strategies. 

A July 2023 stop on the Ohio Innovation Tour explores the rising tide and application of artificial intelligence and explores Talent and Workforce Development Strategies for Businesses. Check out the recorded 12-Jul-2023 OIEx-sponsored Webinar hosted by OhioX.

The AI-EDGE Institute is an NSF-funded research program that is conducting cross-disciplinary research to leverage the synergies between artificial intelligence and communications networking technologies. The Institute is led by The Ohio State University and is comprised of experts in network theory, network systems, machine learning, statistical signal processing, distributed computing, and data sciences, from 11 leading research universities in the US; experienced technology industry partners, and three of the nation’s top DoD labs. In addition to conducting research, the Institute is also developing novel, efficient, modular, and scalable education courses to help build a large and diverse workforce in the fields of AI and networking.

Nexcepta is a technology leader providing cutting-edge R&D solutions, commercial products, and engineering services to federal and commercial customers. Nexcepta offers a broad portfolio of interdisciplinary solutions in NextG communications and networks, cybersecurity, cloud and edge computing, machine learning, and data analytics.

Panelists include:

  • Doug Faber, Director, Research Development Partnerships, The Ohio State University
  • Sastry Kompella, Co-Founder and Chief Scientist at Nexcepta
  • John Sherwood, Director, Talent Strategy, JobsOhio
  • Karen Tomko, Director of Research Software Applications - Ohio Supercomputer Center | AI Boot Camp for Cyberinfrastructure Professionals
  • Michael J. Sharp, Ed.D. in Urban Educational Leadership | Associate Professor, Educator | University of Cincinnati Director of Service-Learning | College of Cooperative Education and Professional Studies