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Douglas Craver · Tech study tells different story about Ohio
June 19th, 2008
Does anyone care to comment on this report? I find the Milken Institute Report interesting since it seems to tell a different story that what we’ve been told about our rankings, etc. Maybe I’m missing something.
Ohio also fared badly as the state plummeted from 24th to 36th place. The erosion largely reflected the state’s struggles to reduce its reliance on manufacturing, the report said.
Massachusetts shines in tech study, California loses luster - San Jose Mercury News
June 20th, 2008 at 6:28 am
I’m pretty much over blogging about reports. You went to Startup Drinks, didn’t you, Doug? I’d rather hear stories about what people are doing then the regurgitated massaged data some beancounter at Milken produced.
June 20th, 2008 at 9:27 am
I’m finishing a Ph.D. right now in Cleveland in a tech-y sort of field, and I can tell you there’s no economy here built around tech, no matter what reports you read. Especially if those reports come from something like NEObio, just don’t believe them. In fact, I’m a little surprised anyone *ever* believed them– I always thought they were just propaganda for the media.
Don’t ever believe “what you’ve been told:” go to Cambridge or Palo Alto sometime, and just gawk at the thousands of startups… it makes you realize why Cleveland’s tech workforce is leaving as soon as they can.
June 20th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Yes I did George. First, I mention the report because I think transparency is extremely important in any efforts to create an ecosystem for tech or any kind of startup. There is nothing worse that trying to convince people of something and then having a report totally discount what you’ve been telling people.
Second, the Cleveland Startup drinks gathering last night was very enjoyable. It was a solid group of talented individuals slugging it out on the front lines. Kudos to Andrew Kavanaugh for being the catalyst for this group. I plan on attending future meetups and I hope it can become an open source based support system for startups of any kind so sorely needed in NEO.
And based on some of the questions that were asked last night by people who have moved to this area, perception isn’t reality. But the great thing about the power of the Net is we can create our own reality on our own that isn’t based on location, but ideas. And the fact we can get together, where ever, to discuss them on a regular basis is just a bonus.
I encourage anyone involved with a startup or thinking about one to join the next meetup: http://cleveland.startupdrinks.com
June 20th, 2008 at 10:59 am
P.S. Andy, I hope you’ll join us next time.
June 20th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Doug:
In my view, composite indexes like Milken’s (or the FFEF Dashboard) are not very useful. To gain simplicity, they sacrifice insight. (What does it mean that Ohio’s ranking on the “Risk Capital and Entrepreneurial Infrastructure Composite Index” dropped twenty places?)
The University of Michigan is working on some measures of regional innovation that look promising. I’m part of a working group at Purdue and Indiana University also working on this challenge. It’s a tough nut.
Far more valuable are approaches that focus on specific datasets that can yield some insights. So, for example, the Lowe Foundation is working on a new approach at Your Economy. This site will continue to roll out over the next nine months or so.
We got a briefing during our I-Open work session this week. Their methodology is, in my view, more accurate and reliable. Further, it will yield insights that can be more easily translated into pragmatic strategies.
June 21st, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Andy, I think it’s a little strong to say there’s no tech-based economy in Northeast Ohio. If that were the case $300 plus million wouldn’t have been invested in the region’s startups last year. One tech-based industry that doesn’t get a lot of attention is fuel cells. Check out this link to see a fairly good list of companies - large and small - that are in the fuel cell industry.
I’m not suggesting the economy is strong, or even healthy. But there are assets here we can build on and the fuel cell industry is one such asset.
June 22nd, 2008 at 7:35 am
Here’s a good report from the Toledo Blade on the Milken study. It goes into some depth on the reasons for the drop in rankings, especially when compared to Michigan.
June 22nd, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Andy, can you be more detailed as to why you think Cleveland’s tech force is leaving?
Ed, I see your point but perception is still reality and I wonder of this stigma can be overcome. Key constituents take this report seriously.
Chris, $300+ Million invested in the region’s tech startups? WOW! Can you provide a link to a report on this. I’d love to see what companies are on the list. Also, when you say region do you mean NEO?
June 22nd, 2008 at 2:25 pm
P.S. As I’m finding out I don’t think Andy (correct me Andy if I’m wrong) and his peers necessarily associate money with a tech-based economy. That’s just one of the drivers. It seems to me that what they want is a start-up culture based on tech or tech-enabled.
And they want this culture to be open and transparent where they can focus on ideas and relationships and not on raising money. They feel like the money (the individuals vested with the money and decision making) should find the ideas by participating in the culture from a support standpoint. Not the other way around where the ideas have to knock on doors for 2 years trying to justify a business plan.
June 22nd, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Jumpstart’s “The 2007 Venture Capital Repot for the Cleveland Plus Region” may be relevant here. It discusses $318 million in VC investments.
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:03 am
I know there are numbers and rankings and dollars and stuff that’s thrown around like it’s important to someone. I don’t know– maybe it is.
I know that I’m graduating from the best engineering school in the region– Case– with a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering (where Case’s grad program is ranked top-5 nationally) and can’t find a job here. There *are* some jobs that could be close enough, but salaries are 10-15% under other offers from other areas, even when accounting for cost-of-living.
The bigger picture, though, is that Case’s BME program is graduating about 15-20 Ph.Ds this year, and all of them are leaving town (I think).
The difference between companies here and Other Places is obvious– companies here are run by older white men wearing suits and clinging to the old economy ideas that got them where they are. In the Other Places, companies are run by young, bright, energetic people from all over the world who value education, workplace environment, and are willing to take the huge risks that this region seems so, so scared of taking.
I *like* it here. I’m going to start a company with the technology that we’re developing in our lab, but I’m not doing it here. It’s because I could never entice the kind of people I need to move here. In the Other Places, the people I need are there and looking for the newest thing, all floating about in a rich milieu of knowledge, experience, and networking.
I don’t know the answer, but I bet it involves finding leaders in business and government who are willing to take huge, huge risks: Convert the Flats in to a protected wetlands park. Develop the entire Cleveland waterfront in to a beautiful ecologically robust tourist mecca. Demand the wind farm. Build a light rail from Sandusky to Ashtabula. Build a bike locker and shower structure downtown for commuters. Become the first region in the country to have most of it’s food grown regionally. Build it all together in a cohesive 30 year plan and the *implement* it.
I was offered a job in Denver recently, and I asked about relocation expenses. Their reply was that they didn’t have to pay people to move there. When I get *that* from an interview in Cleveland, we’ll have made it.
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:05 am
@Vincent:
In Jumpstart’s report, note that every single company in the region that got funding fits on *half a page* in two columns.
If we don’t start thinking of that as pathetic, maybe we’ve already lost!
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:10 am
I can’t figure out how to edit my comment about Jumpstart’s report, but I wanted to add that there are more *VC firms* in Boston alone than all the companies that got venture funding in all of NEO last year.
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:38 am
@Andy,
Thank you for your views. It’s great hearing about the biotech industry from someone on the inside. I love your ideas and hope that we can get some leaders with vision in the Cleveland area to help implement them.
Right now, though, I think these changes have to start with us, the citizens of Cleveland metro. Cleveland has a _great_ tech community. We have vibrant user groups in many areas of computer-based technology (I can’t really speak for biotech). It’s these user groups that need to start speaking out and putting pressure on the city’s leaders to lead the change. Startup drinks could be the catalyst we need. It’s bridging the gaps between these (and other) groups to bring together the best and brightest entrepreneurs in the city. I’m very excited to see where this will take us in the next 10-20 years!
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:57 am
Doug:
I’m with you on perceptions. From a policy viewpoint, though, broad indexes are not all that helpful, because they do not focus us on strategic initiatives to alter the underlying dynamics.
Andy:
I’m with you about the leadership challenges. Overwhelmingly, Cleveland has a business and civic leadership living in an alien century.
(Look at the bright side: We have some wonderfully colorful characters, though: Fred the Fixer, Sam Miller, Jimmy Dimora. You cannot invent these people.)
We might also look at the Bio 2008 report released last week. Cleveland does not yet rank in the top 25 bio metros. (And, frankly, it’s hard to see how a med mart show room will make much of a difference.)
Download the report from this page.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
This report should not be discounted. Instead it quantifies the failure of Cleveland’s economic development groups to affect any positive change. We all know the acronyms and have read about their bloated salaries. And the only result is a 12 spot decline.
Economic development groups should not be a safe haven for people between jobs. Their actions must be coordinated and rigidly measured. These are our tax, tobacco-settlement, and bond dollars at work after all.