OHIO’S “SILICON VALLEY OF ALTERNATIVE ENERGY”

GETTING REAL

Over fifty people from 36 NE Ohio business organizations drilled into the business of Advanced Energy today (November 8, 2006), putting rubber on the road that leads to Ohio’s “Silicon Valley of Alternative Energy”, as our new Senator-elect, Sherrod Brown, puts it. They didn’t come to dissect policy or discuss legislation, but to identify opportunities to put NE Ohio’s manufacturing expertise to work in emerging advanced or alternative energy markets.

The event was cosponsored by WIRE-Net, the NE Ohio Campaign for American Manufacturing, the Cleveland Foundation, and Charter One Bank. Back in 2003, Ohio was in the thick of a vicious economic restructuring and had lost several hundred-thousand manufacturing jobs and over 1000 manufacturing firms. WIRE-Net’s Board stepped up and help create a public debate about the dire situation facing NE Ohio communities that depend heavily on manufacturing for jobs, taxes, innovation and economic health. That effort resulted in the formation of the NE Ohio Campaign for American Manufacturing or NEOCAM, which now includes a dozen organizations from across our region that speak for nearly 1000 manufacturing firms and their 60,000 employees. NEOCAM includes WIRE-Net, the major metalworking and metal finishing associations, the United Steelworkers of America-District 1, and others.

NEOCAM has pushed for legislative solutions to manufacturing challenges and has held several town hall forums that have looked at the impact of our inadequate trade policies on NE Ohio; we’ve held public forums with our candidates for Governor, including Governor-elect Ted Strickland; and candidates for Cleveland mayor, including Mayor Frank Jackson.

Today’s event was the second in our “Perspectives on American Manufacturing” series. This series kicked off in late September with a forum on Trade and US Manufacturing at the Union Club, where over 150 business leaders heard Dan DiMicco, CEO of Nucor Steel, deconstruct the myth of free trade.

Today we didn’t gather to debate policy, but instead to create practical awareness of opportunities in several emerging energy fields. The question was could we create meaningful links between NE Ohio companies, and new business opportunities in various segments of the energy field. Richard Steubi, of the Cleveland Foundation, an entrepreneur by nature, was willing to work closely with us to bring experts together with leaders from a variety of companies to bring new business to Cleveland.

So joining us today were leaders from many segments of NE Ohio’s business community, including lenders, law, economic development, investors, and, most importantly entrepreneurs and leaders of Ohio manufacturing firms of all sizes in

• precision metal forming,
  
• electronics,
  
• hydraulics,
  
• metalworking and machining,
  
• plastics and polymers,
  
• metal castings and others.

We can look backward and see great Ohio innovators in the energy field, like Charles Brush, who built perhaps the first functioning electricity generating windmill at his Euclid Avenue property in 1890 (check out the picture above from the December 1890 issue of Scientific American...taken at Brush's Euclid Avenue mansion. He used the windmill to recharge his batteries.) … but I’d rather look ahead to the great ideas and businesses that we can help generate out of the meeting held today. We’ve only started this “New Markets Initiative”, but we believe there is great potential, as expressed from the animated business-to-business discussions that Richard Steubi and his colleagues kick-started. And we already know companies that are doing great business building wind turbine gearboxes, and dryers for the PEM fuel cell industry. There is reason for optimism.

We also believe that this down to earth, face to face and “shoe leather” approach to economic development is what is needed to make the dream of a new kind of Ohio “silicon valley” a reality. We’re looking forward to working with our new Ohio leaders to make it real.