About:

NorTech is a nonprofit technology-based economic development organization that champions growth in Northeast Ohio’s high tech economy. NorTech marshals resources and forges collaborations to put economic growth on the fast-track by: accelerating technology development and moving innovations from the lab into the marketplace; driving growth in the region’s high tech industries (with a current focus on Advanced Energy and Flexible Electronics); and expanding state and federal funding to support early-stage technology commercialization and industry building.

Fund Support:

$10.28 million

Performance:

Federally sponsored research spending in Northeast Ohio is growing at a rate about double the national average. High-tech employment in Northeast Ohio grew 4% from 2004-2008, compared to a 1% decline for the economy as a whole. For the first time, Northeast Ohio has a coordinated effort to secure federal support for its regional economic competitiveness efforts and NorTech is leading that effort. The state of Ohio is supporting technology-based economic development through the Third Frontier program. Since 2007, Northeast Ohio institutions and companies have received nearly $424 million in Third Frontier investments, and NorTech is playing a lead role in advocating for the renewal of the Third Frontier program.

2010 Update

  • NorTech issued Northeast Ohio’s High-Tech Economy report in July. Read the report.
  • In July, it participated in a national conference on the off-shore wind industry in Cleveland. Read more.
  • It collaborated with Tech Belt partners to apply for $129.7 million in government funding to develop a regional energy innovation cluster in Northeast Ohio, western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Read more.
  • NorTech announced in May that GE had entered partnership to provide direct-drive wind turbines to the Lake Erie Energy Development Corp. offshore wind project in Lake Erie.
  • Karen Allport, vice president of strategic outreach, and Byron Clatyon, vice president overseeing NorTech’s Flexible Electronics cluster initiative, were added to the executive team.