The Columbus Region: Harnessing Disruption

October 2018

Harnessing Disruption

Banking and Finance

Insurance

Automotive and Mobility

Retail

Healthcare

Manufacturing

Higher Education and the Public Sector

With new technology offering both risk and reward, the Columbus Region’s signature industries are embracing change and innovation.

In partnership with Columbus 2020

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H a r n e s s i n g

D i s r u p t i o n

With new technology offering both risk and reward, the Columbus Region’s signature industries are embracing change and innovation.

C o n t e n t s

B T F H F

President

Bradley M. Harmon Publisher/General Manager

Ray Paprocki Associate publisher/ Advertising Director

Rheta Gallagher Editor

Dave Ghose Chloe Teasley Contributors

Jeff Bell, TC Brown, Melissa Kossler Dutton and Evan Weese Production/Design director

Craig Rusnak Art Director

Yogesh Chaudhary Digital editor

Erin Edwards

File/Columbus Monthly/Rob Hardin

Staff writer

Co

Photo editor

Tim Johnson Associate photo editor

Rob Hardin Advertising manager

06 Letter from Columbus 2020 CEO Kenny McDonald

07 THE REGION Map of 11 counties

Susan Kendall

08 Columbus 2020 Board and Team

Advertising executive

10 Disruptive Days

Gail Fullerton Sales assistant

Lauren Transue Marketing manager

From startups to Fortune 500 companies, businesses are experimenting with bold ideas in the Columbus Region.

Lauren Reinhard Administrative & Financial analyst

Ryan Koenig Editorial/Advertising Offices

62 E. Broad St. P.O. Box 1289 Columbus, OH 43216 614-888-4567 Columbus 2020 special supplement produced by GateHouse Media, LLC. All contents of this magazine are copyrighted © 2018, all rights reserved. Reproduction or use, without written permission, of editorial or graphic content in any manner is prohibited. Publisher assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited materials.

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16 Banking and Finance A powerhouse industry embraces new ideas.

20 Automotive and Mobility

wh

wo

24 Retail

co

Companies tap into the Region’s unique retail innovation ecosystem.

Industry Profiles A look at how the Region’s key sectors are embracing change and innovation.

Hospitals, startups and corporate titans tap into a rich pool of talent.

Innovative companies are starting an “industry revolution” in insurance.

Manufacturers are disrupting how products are made, deployed and marketed.

32 Healthcare 36 Higher Education and the Public Sector Innovation extends into academia and local government in the Columbus Region.

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mi

Smart Columbus spawns a culture of experimentation. “The ‘Jetsons’ era is upon us.”

28 Manufacturing

12 Insurance

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H a r n e s s i n g

D i s r u p t i o n

With new technology offering both risk and reward, the Columbus Region’s signature industries are embracing change and innovation.

Building the Economy in Turbulent Times The Columbus Region is one of the leading metropolitan economic performers in the United States. More people are living and working in our region than ever before and opportunities abound for the workforce, entrepreneurs and institutions. Jobs, investment and income goals are being surpassed. Billion-dollar companies are being born out of a vibrant startup system. But the world doesn’t stand still for anyone or anyplace. Global economic forces, new business models enabled by ever increasing technological advancement, and political changes are all affecting our region and our economy. This is upending

entire industries, institutions and longheld truths about our economy. The people, businesses and organizations highlighted in this issue are some of the best examples of those that thrive in this environment. The Columbus Region has a diverse and dynamic economy, but what makes it work is its diverse and dynamic leaders.  We are also fortunate to have great civic leadership in the face of these changes—leadership within the Columbus Region that is not only invested in economic development, but demands that it be done collaboratively so that opportunities are created for everyone. As we begin to think about the looming end of this decade and the

beginning of another, we are poised for even more opportunities and the inevitable challenges ahead.

Sincerely,

Kenny McDonald President and CEO

The Columbus 2020 Regional Growth Strategy is an aggressive, decade-long plan to ensure economic vitality in the Columbus Region. Columbus 2020’s mission is to generate opportunity and build capacity for economic growth across the 11-county Columbus Region.

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ColumbusCEO l Columbus 2020

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The Columbus Region Complacency poses risks in a time of technological turbulence, transforming industries and modifying expectations. In this special section, we highlight Columbus Region businesses and institutions that are embracing disruption and building cultures of creativity and experimentation.

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H a r n e s s i n g

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With new technology offering both risk and reward, the Columbus Region’s signature industries are embracing change and innovation.

board of Directors

Columbus 2020 team

Pablo A. Vegas, Chairman

Administration

Executive Vice President, Gas Segment & Chief Customer Officer, NiSource Inc.

Eric Phillips, Secretary Executive Director Union County-Marysville Economic Development

Gregory R. Overmyer, Treasurer Chief Executive Officer Overmyer Hall Associates

Mark Berven, President and Chief Operating Officer

President and Chief Economic Officer

Mallory Donaldson Executive Assistant to the CEO

Sean Grant Chief Financial Officer

Jennifer Randall Senior Staff Accountant

Nationwide Property & Casualty

Tara Griffin

Marilyn Brown

Staff Accountant

County Commissioner Franklin County Board of Commissioners

Business Development and Project Management

Corrine Burger

Patty Huddle

Chief Control Officer, Consumer and Community Banking JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Alex R. Fischer President and Chief Executive Officer The Columbus Partnership

Andrew J. Ginther, Mayor, City of Columbus Michael W. Louge Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer OhioHealth

Robert H. Schottenstein

Senior Vice President, Economic Development

Matt McCollister Senior Vice President, Economic Development

Matt McQuade Managing Director, Business Development

Deborah Scherer Managing Director, Global Trade and Investment

Justin Bickle Director, Project Management

Chief Executive Officer and President, M/I Homes

Logan Dawson, Project Manager

Tom Shoupe

Tom Stipkovich, Project Manager

Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Honda of America Mfg., Inc.

Stephanie Bosco, Economic Development Coordinator

Julie Sloat

Economic Development Coordinator

President and Chief Operating Officer AEP Ohio, American Electric Power

Mark Smolik

Tegan Lehman Haley Young Administrative Specialist

Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, and Chief Compliance Officer, DHL Supply Chain

Tim Harman

Kristi Tanner, Senior Managing Director

Investor Relations

JobsOhio

David Williams, Ph.D., Sc.D., Executive Dean College of Engineering, The Ohio State University

Sue Zazon, President and Executive Vice President, Central Ohio Region, The Huntington National Bank

Director, Customized Workforce Recruitment and Training

Chip Holcombe Managing Director, Investor Relations

Marketing and Communications Amy Harman Director, Marketing and Communications

EX-OFFICIO

Diana Lolli

Patrick Cornelius, Partner Squire Patton Boggs

Marketing Coordinator, Marketing and Communications

Kenny McDonald, CEcD President and Chief Economic Officer Columbus 2020

Sean Grant, Chief Financial Officer Columbus 2020

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Kenny McDonald, CEcD

Research

At

Jung Kim Managing Director, Research and Business Intelligence

Th

Laura Hess, Research Manager Jay Knox, Research Manager

he

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At Big Lots, our mission is to treat everyone like family.

That’s why we strive to bring the values we developed here in Columbus to every community we serve.

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Harnessing Disruption With new technology offering both risk and reward, the Columbus Region’s signature industries are embracing change and innovation.

by Dave Ghose These are good economic days for the Columbus Region. Companies are expanding, property values are rising, and the city’s reputation is growing as a place for businesses, both large and small, to thrive and grow.

From billion-dollar unicorns like CoverMyMeds and Root Insurance to recordsetting profits in banking and other key industries, the Region’s business leaders have plenty to crow about.

In fact, the Region is on pace to have one of the strongest—if not the strongest—decades of economic expansion on record. Back in 2010, the Columbus 2020 Regional Growth Strategy set four ambitious targets for the next decade: Add 150,000 net new jobs, generate $8 billion of capital investment, raise personal per-capita income by 30 percent and earn recognition as a leader in economic development. Two years early, both the jobs and capital investment goals have been met, while the other two are in sight: Per-capita income has risen 24.4 percent since 2010, and the Region is earning acclaim for its collaborative economic strategies. Earlier this year, Site Selection magazine presented Columbus 2020 with a Mac Conway Award for Excellence in Economic Development, a

Megan Kvamme

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prestigious honor in the field.

“The Columbus Region’s differentiator is strength of leadership across our 11 counties,” said Kenny McDonald, CEO of Columbus 2020, after his organization received the Conway Award. “We share this honor with the companies, communities and Columbus 2020 investors that are committed to the Columbus Region.”

With all that success, Columbus Region corporate and business leaders might feel tempted to rest on their laurels. But complacency poses a unique danger these days, with seemingly every sector of the economy facing technological disruption. The phenomenon casts a shadow of uncertainty over the booming economy in the Columbus Region and elsewhere. “Technology is causing the same sort of disruption that the industrial revolution caused,” says economist Bill Lafayette, the owner of Regionomics, a Columbus economic consultancy. “There are major occupations that are in fairly significant danger, and they include white-collar occupations or routine work. So that could be a real problem for this economy that’s kind of founded on white-collar occupations.”

Central Ohio businesses recognize this risk. Fortune 500 companies,

Mark Kvamme

nimble startups, bold entrepreneurs and forward-thinking public institutions are all embracing innovation, experimenting with new ideas, adopting new technologies and discovering that the Columbus Region is a place with its eye on the future as well as the present. A culture of creativity and experimentation can be found in seemingly every important sector of the local economy.

“I think in the next five to seven years, we’ll see more change from an economic and technological perspective than we’ve seen in the last 30 years,” Drive Capital co-founder Mark Kvamme told Columbus CEO earlier this year. “Which is both an opportunity for a place like Columbus but also an area of concern. So we’ve got to stay ahead. We cannot rest on anything.”

A Silicon Valley transplant, Kvamme is using his Columbus-based $550 million venture capital fund to keep the Region moving forward. He also is receiving help within his own household. His wife, Megan, is the CEO and

Bill LaFayette

Kenny McDonald

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Photo courtesy Claire Coder

Claire Coder (left) founded Aunt Flow in 2016. co-founder off FactGem, a Columbus data integration and analysis firm that VentureOhio named one of Ohio’s 50 startups to watch in late August. Since its founding in 2013, FactGem has grown to include more than a dozen engineers and has clients in insurance, retail and consumer goods industries.

Megan Kvamme is thrilled with how the Columbus Region has embraced her company. “I see some of the companies and ideas that are sprouting up all over the place, and it’s mind-blowing and exciting,” she says. “That’s why I love having FactGem here. There’s a real culture around innovation, and it’s supported by business leaders and the business community.”

Claire Coder also finds the Columbus Region receptive to bold ideas. In 2016, she founded Aunt Flow, a startup that challenges a longstanding inequity in U.S. life—the lack of free sanitary products in bathrooms outside the home. Coder’s business offers organic cotton menstrual products to companies who then provide them for free to their employees and guests. Coder and her team have signed on more than 100 companies, from the Roosevelt Coffeehouse in Columbus to Stanford University in California, and were chosen to participate in a Techstars business accelerator program in New York City.

Coder is grateful for the grass-roots support she’s received in the Columbus Region. “There are so many people who have become advocates for our company,” she says.

Dave Ghose is the editor.

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H a r n e s s i n g

D i s r u p t i o n

With new technology offering both risk and reward, the Columbus Region’s signature industries are embracing change and innovation.

Insurance

File/Columbus Dispatch

Inventive companies are starting an “industry revolution” in the Region.

by Evan Weese

I n n o v a t o r s

Bold Penguin boldpenguin.com

Grange Insurance grangeinsurance.com

Nationwide nationwide.com

Root Insurance joinroot.com

State Auto Insurance stateauto.com Photo courtesy Root Insurance

Root Insurance

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The Columbus Region is widely considered one of the country’s top job hubs for insurance companies. And as the insurance field is transformed by driverless cars, smart-home technology, virtual reality and drone technology, among other sweeping innovations, Columbus continues to be on the cutting edge.

Such transformation is not lost on the Region’s entrenched companies, including Nationwide, Grange Insurance and State Auto Insurance. Nationwide, for one, has created a $100 million fund for investing in young companies in insurance and financial services, with an eye toward creating future-focused products.

The corporate giant is experimenting with wearable sensors, artificial intelligence, drone technology and vehiclemonitoring solutions to help customers stay ahead of evolving risks. It is deploying a pair of mobile units with high-tech cameras that can quickly scan vehicles for dents in the event of a hailstorm.

Amid the company’s evolution, the Columbus Region serves as more than just the site of its headquarters building. Already nearly half of Nationwide’s 33,000 associates work at the corpo-

rate headquarters in Columbus and in the surrounding areas. And to continue supporting an environment conducive to collaboration and cost-effectiveness, Nationwide is opening a new 31,000-square-foot innovation center in the Arena District. The company in May held a hackathon in California, bringing teams of engineers, entrepreneurs and computer developers together to come up with ways to help its insurance and financial-services customers.

Grange, meanwhile, sponsors Fintech71, a startup accelerator with access to the top financial-services companies and mentors.

State Auto, another entrenched Columbus insurer, has launched a $25 million corporate venture fund of its own, State Auto Labs, to find the “next great thing” in insurance. Through a collaboration with Rev1 Ventures, State Auto Labs recently made an investment in Matterport, a Silicon Valley company that does 3-D mapping of homes and businesses, which can help insurers better handle claims.

“The insurance industry is unique because it’s hard to innovate our actual product—car insurance is car insurance,” says State Auto President and CEO Mike LaRocco. “But the how behind everything we do is an endless

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File/Columbus Dispatch

Photo courtesy Root Insurance

Kumi Walker

Mike LaRocco opportunity ripe for innovation.”

The Region’s top insurers value the collaboration and support within the Columbus Region ecosystem. State Auto, founded nearly 100 years ago, credits the Region with playing a major role in its culture of innovation.

“We also look to the forward-thinking community outside the four walls of State Auto to help in our success,” LaRocco says. “With a number of toptier colleges and universities just miles away, we are leveraging the top talent and unique initiatives that take place in our own backyard.”

Adding to the Columbus Region’s rich history of insurance stalwarts are newer companies such as Root Insurance and Bold Penguin.

Root, founded in 2015, is expanding around the country as the first mobileonly insurance company—and the first to provide quotes based primarily on how customers drive. Root says it is ushering a fundamental shift in the way insurance works, by capitalizing on the ubiquity of smartphones.

“More and more companies understand mobile is where the world is going, but many are entrenched in old agency models or web-only experiences,” says Kumi Walker, senior vice president of business and corporate development at Root Insurance.

Root executives say the Columbus Region combines top-tier talent with business-friendly regulations and ample capital investment. “There’s no better city to start an industry revolution and no better place to call home,” the com-

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pany says. “We’re excited to help make our city the standard bearer for innovation and growth in the 21st century.”

Columbus serves as the base for all of the company’s operations, from product development to marketing.

“From the beginning our founders felt like having the entire company here was really important,” says Walker, who recently moved with his family to Columbus from San Francisco. “Columbus has a rich history of having some of the biggest insurance companies. We have access to the best talent in the world.” Walker adds, “I’ve just never seen this level of support for businesses like Root.”

Bold Penguin, a software-as-aservice provider, is using technology to streamline backend inefficiencies in quoting and purchasing commercial insurance. The company’s flagship

“The insurance industry is unique because it’s hard to innovate. ... But the how behind everything we do is an endless opportunity ripe for innovation.”

Mike LaRocco President and CEO, State Auto

product is its agent portal, a single destination for quoting and binding business insurance. While many insurance companies, agencies and brokerages rely on pen and paper, Bold Penguin provides a digital experience to help insurance professionals streamline and speed up the process of submitting applications.

Bold Penguin is a part of the 2017 class of accelerator Fintech71.

Even the company’s name, Bold Penguin, speaks to its identity as a courageously innovative company.

Groups of penguins will circle a hole in the ice. It’s one “bold penguin” that will jump in to find out if predator or prey is lurking beneath the surface. “And the scrappiness, the rigorous approach at problem solving, the inquisitive nature of everyone at Bold Penguin allows us to move fast, very fast and accurate,” says co-founder and CEO Ilya Bodner.

The Columbus Region is spurring the growth of more companies like these. “We live in a mini insurance capital,” Bodner says. “We have people that really understand insurance and are practical. This is huge for us as a startup, to be surrounded by so many customers and leadership in the space.

We use [those assets] to help shape our thinking and validate quickly our features that we roll out. Like so many others, we take advantage of more affordable cost of living, access to a booming economy and people coming out of the colleges.”

Evan Weese is a freelance writer.

ColumbusCEO l Columbus 2020

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OUR WORK CHANGES THE WORLD, BUT OUR HEART BELONGS TO COLUMBUS. At CAS, we enable groundbreaking research that improves people’s lives every day.

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H a r n e s s i n g

D i s r u p t i o n

With new technology offering both risk and reward, the Columbus Region’s signature industries are embracing change and innovation.

Banking and Finance

Financial and insurance-related activities are instrumental to the Columbus Region, employing more than 57,000 and leading all sectors for total economic output. From the multinational financial services company JPMorgan Chase and regional banks like Huntington Bancshares to fledgling startups, the banking and payments industry is a powerhouse in and of itself.

As this segment evolves, local businesses—new and old, big and small—are at the forefront of technological and strategic innovation, adapting to customer needs and demands in a 21st-century environment.

And the Columbus Region continues to be an important hub for the innovation taking place.

At the heart of innovation is the Columbus Collaboratory. The consortium of businesses, including financialservices companies like Huntington, focuses on rapid innovation to deliver business impact in advanced analytics and cybersecurity for finance and insurance, among other industries.

Embodying the Columbus Region

A powerhouse industry welcomes new ideas.

by Evan Weese

“We definitely have what I would consider to be a very strong technical talent pool.”

spirit of collaboration, the organization empowers companies to innovate exponentially faster than their own resources and bandwidth allow. The thinking is: The more the entire ecosystem grows, the more value customers can extract.

Columbus’ robust talent pipeline allows banking and finance to flourish, as younger people enter the workforce with fresh perspectives. There are more than 30 academic and vocational institutions with business, finance and communication programs, representing more than 6,500 degree completions annually. Throughout the Columbus Region, 52 college and university campuses collectively educate more than 134,000 students, with top-ranked programs and partnerships to ensure new talent for the finance and insurance industry.

Students learning at The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business and Denison University’s recently launched global commerce program— as well as both universities’ new data analytics programs—are at the cutting edge of business education. A number of career and technical schools offer IT,

jay parsons Columbus tech hub lead, JPMorgan Chase

I n n o v a t o r s

Columbus Collaboratory columbuscollaboratory.com denison.edu

Huntington Bancshares huntington.com

JPMorgan Chase jpmorganchase.com

Klarna klarna.com/us/

The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business fisher.osu.edu

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Photos courtesy Huntington Banchsares

Denison University

Huntington’s Gateway Center

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management and business programs. “We definitely have what I would consider to be a very strong technical talent pool,� says Jay Parsons, Columbus tech hub lead for JPMorgan Chase and head of technology for Chase Pay. The Columbus Region is JPMorgan Chase’s second-largest employment market in the world, and home to the company’s single-largest facility, which includes a Branch Innovation Lab shaping customers’ face-to-face experiences. Today, the firm is the Region’s largest corporate employer.

Chase employs nearly 19,000 across the Columbus Region, including 5,400 technologists who have a hand in developing digital solutions such as Chase Pay, QuickPay with Zelle, mobile banking, cardless ATMs and Finn, the company’s foray into all-digital banking.

Columbus serves as one of the company’s 16 tech hubs globally, where innovation takes place. “It’s turned out to be a really good culture builder,� Parsons says. “This is our 150th year being in Columbus, which we’re really proud of.�

Over the years, many of the company’s modern conveniences for banking customers had beginnings in Columbus, from depositing checks through smartphones to ATM technology. “A lot of that innovation happened here in Columbus,� Parsons says. “There’s some other things we’re doing in the

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way we do work, we’re really leaning in on organizing into smaller teams. That’s helping us decrease time to market for new features. We’re trying to automate as much as we can. We can run massive amounts of testing every day and it shortens our life cycle for new software.

We are making a pretty large invest-

We can run massive amounts of testing every day and it shortens our life cycle for new software. We are making a pretty large investment in the technology organization.” jay parsons Columbus tech hub lead JPMorgan Chase

Photo courtesy JPMorgan Chase

JPMorgan Chase’s Branch Innovation Lab ment in the technology organization.”

Columbus-based Huntington Bancshares says it focuses on innovating to meet the needs of its customers, all under the bank’s overarching “Welcome” philosophy. Innovation also happens through creative uses of real estate.

Huntington’s latest physical

investment is in The Gateway Center, a new $35 million, 210,000-squarefoot facility in the Northland area, adapted from a former Meijer store.

Developing this site and creating a new employment center were collaborative efforts with JobsOhio, Columbus2020 and the Columbus

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Development Department.

The exterior of the building is equipped with solar trees and electric vehicle charging stations—and there are solar panels on the roof. Huntington also implemented daylight harvesting technology throughout the building so that the lights will automatically dim on sunny days. Active skylights track the position of the sun and adjust to angle in natural light.

Among newer players to the financial-services industry in the Columbus Region is Klarna, a Stockholm-based online payments processing company founded in 2005 and which set up North American headquarters in Columbus. Klarna says it was built with innovation from the ground up and, in fact, CNBC recently listed Klarna as one of the eight most disruptive companies in the world.

The company’s HR policies are among its most innovative practices.

It has a generous parental leave and benefits policy that includes 20 weeks of leave at full pay, a flexible, part-time work week “ramp-up period” on their return and a two-year child care subsidy.

Columbus helped fuel the company’s entrance into the U.S. market and, through partnerships with local organizations and the strong talent pool, the Region has played a pivotal role in the organization’s growth.

“I got significant pushback from the Klarna board,” an executive told the Columbus Dispatch of the decision to locate U.S. operations in Columbus.

“In Europe, three cities exist in the U.S.—New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles—and they had launched in Germany in a secondary city. But New York or the [San Francisco] Bay area are not really centers for payment operations. It’s places like Chicago, Baltimore, Columbus.”

“Once we got them over here, by the end of their visit, they loved Columbus,” the executive said. “Sebastian [Klarna’s CEO] in particular flew over and met with [Les] Wexner, the CEO of L Brands, the executives at the Schottenstein group, a lot of people.

By the time Sebastian left, he said, ‘Columbus reminds me of Stockholm.’

Like Stockholm, people here do what they say they’re going to do; there’s a work ethic.”

Evan Weese is a freelance writer.

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H a r n e s s i n g

D i s r u p t i o n

With new technology offering both risk and reward, the Columbus Region’s signature industries are embracing change and innovation.

File/Columbus Dispatch

and industry shared that Ohio enjoys great name recognition in his country.

Honda’s success has helped establish that distinction, said Hiroshige Seko, who was in Columbus as part of an event organized by the Japan External Trade Organization.

Today, other companies have joined Honda in spearheading efforts to drive innovation. They’re helping shape the industry’s future and continuing to attract attention to the Region’s capacity for important contributions to the automotive industry. Pillar Technology, the local and smart-embedded software company created in 1996, recently garnered national attention when it was purchased by Accenture, the internationally-known, San Francisco-based professional services company. An early player in the smart car technology field, Pillar expects to see many of its safety innovations play a role in the car of the future.

The efforts of Honda, Pillar Technology and others are fueled by a growing commitment from Columbus-based American Electric Power to assist with the Smart City initiative. In April, the

Automotive and Mobility Smart Columbus spawns a culture of innovation.

“The ‘Jetsons’ era is upon us.”

By Melissa Kossler Dutton

I n n o v a t o r s

American Electric Power aep.com

Honda honda.com

Pillar Technology pillartechnology.com

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The Buckeye State—and the Columbus Region, in particular—have long played a key part in revolutionizing the automotive and transportation industries. That role was recognized and expanded in 2016 when Columbus—with its holistic vision of how technology can help residents move more efficiently throughout the city—won the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Smart City Challenge.

The plan—which calls for deploying electric, self-driving shuttles, equipping traffic lights to communicate with city fleet vehicles and addressing climate change by increasing access to electric vehicle charging stations, among other things—builds on the Region’s reputation as a transportation disruptor that began in 1979.

That’s when Honda opened the Marysville Auto Plant and became the first Japanese automaker to manufacture products on American soil.

The state’s reputation as a recognized leader in the transportation sector—and its relationship with the Japanese car manufacturer—was reaffirmed this summer when the Japanese minister of economy, trade

Photo courtesy Pillar Technology

Honda’s Marysville Auto Plant

Pillar Technology AEP charging station

Photo courtesy AEP

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Photo courtesy AEP

Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approved AEP’s plans to expand its smart technologies and develop micro grids to maintain power in areas where critical public service facilities, such as police and fire stations, hospitals and emergency shelters, are located. The plan includes a program to expand the use of electric vehicles by increasing access to charging stations and renewable generation opportunities. AEP expects to invest about $175 million to improve energy efficiency, advance clean energy and energy storage and usher along the electrification of transportation systems throughout the state.

“I believe the future of the auto industry is electric,” says Ram Sastry, AEP’s vice president of infrastructure and business continuity. He also directs the company’s Smart City Program initiative. And that’s not just wishful thinking because he works for the electric company, Sastry says.

In the not-so-distant future, Sastry anticipates that Columbus residents will use electrified ride-sharing services to travel around the city. The service will alleviate congestion and parking issues. Riders will share the roads with

I believe the future of the auto industry is electric.” ram sastry Vice president of infrastructure and business continuity, AEP

driverless fleet vehicles making deliveries on established routes, he adds. “The technology is much closer than most people think,” he says.

Aside from building the charging stations and providing the electricity to power the vehicles, AEP also is exploring how its utility poles could be utilized for other purposes and how to extend the life of electric car batteries, Sastry says.

The utility is working with automotive manufacturers to find a “second life” for automotive batteries—perhaps applications as back-up power sources for restaurant coolers or basement sump pumps, he says.

Given that utility poles line most streets and tower above cars and people, AEP and others are looking at what role they could play in improving traffic flow, crowd management or other services, he says. “They’re a valuable untapped asset,” he says.

It’s likely that the cars of the future also will help regulate traffic flow and avoid collisions, adds Bob Myers, CEO of Pillar Technology. The Columbus company received a $2 million grant earlier this year to develop a driverless

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Photo courtesy Pillar Technology

vehicle research center.

These cars will relay information about traffic back-ups or other problems to a centralized source that could then disseminate the information. He expects that the switch to autonomous vehicles will begin in the trucking industry, where vehicles have established routes and predictable schedules, and then shift to personal vehicles. The vehicles also may be able to communicate with one another about traffic slow downs and dangerous incidents, such as when a vehicle runs a red light. The challenge isn’t producing the technology to make these advances possible; it’s coordinating all the parties to ensure its smooth adoption, he says.

“The technology is never the issue,” he says. “The ‘Jetsons’ era is upon us.”

While the idea of riding in a driverless car may sound exciting, the real win is enhanced safety opportunities, Myers says. “Computers don’t get sidetracked. They don’t make phone calls.

They don’t text each other.”

At Honda, consumer safety and the environment have driven much of the company’s desire to innovate, says Rob May, plant manager at the Marysville

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Auto Plant and also the company’s regional leader for environmental vehicle strategies. While safety advancements like braking when the car senses a front collision or adjusting the steering if the vehicle crosses a line will play a role in the autonomous vehicles of the future, they are making a difference on the roads today, May says. “Every year, we evolve that farther,” he says.

In order to help reduce emissions, the company has put money and effort into researching vehicles powered by hydrogen and electricity. “The environment is very important to Honda,” May says. That, coupled with the customer demand for electric vehicles that can drive longer distances, is pushing the company to experiment with how the vehicles will operate and look, he says.

Among the considerations: where to place the heavy batteries that run the vehicles and add considerably to their weight. “We’re learning more about electrification every day,” he says. “It’s not just the technology, it’s how these cars are built.”

Melissa Kossler Dutton is a freelance writer.

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H a r n e s s i n g

D i s r u p t i o n

With new technology offering both risk and reward, the Columbus Region’s signature industries are embracing change and innovation.

Photo Rob Hardin

the ideal place to grow during a time of economic and technological disruption.

One of those companies is Gwynnie Bee, a clothing subscription business that considers itself a technology company first, not a fashion one. Founder Christine Hunsicker used a childhood experience to shake up consumers’ thoughts on how to interact with retail.

With a seamstress for an aunt, Hunsicker was often given newly-sewn outfits— an experience that planted seeds for an idea: Why not offer a way for women to have an ever-changing wardrobe without the exorbitant cost? That’s exactly what Gwynnie Bee does, buying looks from retailers to ship to customers for a flat monthly fee, through a “virtual closet” where subscribers can flag their top clothing picks to be sent to their doorsteps. Clothing is returned, cleaned and repaired at the distribution center near Rickenbacker.

“I believe [this model] is the next thing, because, let’s be honest—people just don’t want to go to the store anymore,” says Ericka Ponte, Gwynnie Bee’s regional director of operations.

Gwynnie Bee offers clothing from size 0-32—it is one of the only retail companies in existence to do so. It relies on proprietary algorithms to help users get the looks they want, even developing a tool called Size Advisor to let users know what size to choose from each clothing brand offered, as retail sizes are hardly ever static. That

Retail Companies tap into the Region’s unique retail innovation ecosystem.

by Chloe Teasley

I n n o v a t o r s

BARK bark.co

Gwynnie Bee closet.gwynniebee.com

zulily zulily.com

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The Columbus Region’s retail industry is so robust that Columbus 2020 has a name for the network of businesses, manufacturers, designers, researchers, IT specialists and logistics companies that make it up—the retail innovation ecosystem. Included in the ecosystem are many companies that were born and raised in the Region—L Brands, Big Lots! and DSW, among others.

Also in the mix are one-of-a-kind operations such as New Albany’s Personal Care and Beauty Innovation Campus, where each part of the consumer products supply chain is housed for extra-quick speed to market, and Rickenbacker International Airport, an efficient, cargo-dedicated airport that differs greatly from larger, more congested ports. These innovations seem to be working, as the ecosystem is continuing to attract retail and technology companies to the Columbus Region.

And a creative attitude is just what the retail industry needs. Some companies are embracing e-commerce and other moves to mesh with the changing desires of consumers. With its innovative culture and unique amenities, many companies are identifying Columbus as

Photo courtesy BARK

Ericka Ponte at Gwynnie Bee’s fulfillment center in Groveport

BARK co-founder and CEO Matt Meeker with Hugo

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Photo courtesy Columbus 2020

zulily’s distribution center in Columbus information then provides a better experience for customers, Ponte says.

Although Gwynnie Bee hails from New York, Ponte says the search for a distribution center four years ago came down to Indianapolis and Columbus.

“For us, especially as we start bringing on other retailers onto our platform, I think [Columbus is] a great place to be located,” she says. “There’s a lot of important retailers in Columbus, Ohio, so it allows that ease and that flexibility to be close and connected to those retailers. … We want to build our team, and we want to find good people that we can grow with and that can grow with us. Having that atmosphere of retail logistics in Columbus really supports us.”

Another company impressed by the Region is BARK, an innovative manufacturer of dog toys and treats offering monthly subscription boxes—BarkBox and Super Chewer—and an online store called BarkShop. BARK stands out because of its relentless passion—the word employees use is “obsession”—for dogs and dog parents. All employees must be dog lovers themselves, and tapping into the niche of pet owners who dote on their dogs is what BARK does best.

Hernan Giraldo, the vice president of customer experience operations at BARK, says that the company is so much more than your everyday pet supplies manufacturer. “Not [merely] buying things for your pet,” he explains, “but curating an experience that speaks to dog parents—people [who] humanize their dogs. … We see customers much differently than a dog

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owner. … That’s the catalyst to why BARK was founded.”

Giraldo says customers have close, authentic relationships with customer experience team members. “Trying to achieve this authentic connection with our customer has really gone far for us—to the point, I would say, that it’s not uncommon that our dog parents would share pictures of their dogs [to BARK employees], like any proud parent would,” he says. “There’s kind of almost like a pen-pal relationship that forms between members of our team and our dog parents.”

Three and a half years ago, when New York City-based BARK wanted to scale out its customer experience team and chose the Columbus Region, it hired eight employees. Now, it has 240 in Columbus, and revenue company-

ericka ponte

wide is expected to more than double in 2018. “This aggressive growth plan— Columbus has been able to keep up with that,” says Giraldo.

Seattle online retailer zulily, now a billion-dollar company after nine years, also has made a second home in Columbus. The Ohio fulfillment center’s general manager, Daniel Shepard, says that the Columbus Region was zulily’s No. 1 choice after weighing such factors as location relative to customers and vendors, transportation availability, size and local talent. The fulfillment center was opened in Lockbourne in 2012, and a corporate office opened in Gahanna in 2016. zulily is not a typical e-commerce company. It works by launching hundreds of new 72-hour sales every day while holding minimal inventory. Its goal is to offer an experience, rather than a transaction—and its 91 percent repeat-order rate suggests the tactic is working.

“We offer … our customers an incredible breadth and depth of product, personalized by using data science and machine learning to deliver millions of versions of the app/site that serves our customer and helps our vendors grow their businesses,” says Shepard.

“Our mission has been to find and deliver value, and ultimately change the way people shop,” he adds. “For example, many retailers focus on driving transactions based on needs … We instead offer a fun ‘browse and discover’ experience.”

Regional director of operations, Gwynnie Bee

We want to find good people that we can grow with and that can grow with us. Having that atmosphere of retail logistics in Columbus really supports us.”

Chloe Teasley is staff writer.

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Individually we’re successful. Together we’re unstoppable. That’s why so many excel as One of US. Will you be next?

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H a r n e s s i n g

D i s r u p t i o n

With new technology offering both risk and reward, the Columbus Region’s signature industries are embracing change and innovation.

Manufacturing

File/Columbus Monthly/Tim Johnson

Columbus Region manufacturers are disrupting how products are made, deployed and marketed.

by Jeff Bell

Tanisha Robinson, CEO, BrewDog USA, at the company’s Canal Winchester brewery

We’re making it easy enough that any factory can unleash the power of automation.” benjamin gibbs CEO, Ready Robotics

I n n o v a t o r s

BrewDog brewdog.com/usa

Ready Robotics ready-robotics.com

Smartrac Technology Group smartrac-group.com

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The Columbus Region has long been a hub for manufacturers, whose innovative ways have helped shape their industries. It’s no different today with plenty of companies looking to disrupt the way products are made, deployed or marketed, tapping the Columbus Region as the place best-suited to take their ambitious plans to the next level.

Manufacturers, especially small to mid-sized ones, face a major challenge when deciding whether to add robots to help address an ever-increasing shortage of skilled workers. The problem, says Ready Robotics CEO Benjamin Gibbs, is that it typically takes four to eight weeks to program industrial robots before they can be deployed.

That is a big issue for smaller manufacturers, whose production runs are often completed in two to four days. “It is far more difficult than it needs to be,” Gibbs says.

Ready Robotics, which moved its headquarters to Columbus earlier this year, has created an operating system that makes it easier and faster to get robots up and running. The goal, Gibbs says, is to make it as simple to program a robot as it is to use an iPhone.

He adds the sky is the limit when it

comes to the size of the market for Ready Robotics’ technology. There are the small and mid-sized manufacturers that want to gain the benefits of automation, plus big companies looking to make their products closer to where their customers are located instead of overseas.

“We’re making it easy enough that any factory can unleash the power of automation,” Gibbs says.

That is critical since there are an estimated 700,000 unfilled U.S. manufacturing positions as baby boomers retire and many younger workers aren’t interested in factory work. Gibbs says that number is expected to rise to 2.2 million by 2025, making automation even more critical.

Gibbs and robotics engineer Kelleher Guerin founded Ready Robotics in 2015 in Baltimore, where the two worked at Johns Hopkins University. Gibbs helped researchers like Guerin transfer technology from the lab to the marketplace.

The co-founders decided to move most of the company’s operations to Columbus because of its proximity to the heart of the country’s manufacturing sector. Ready Robotics has about 25 employees working in offices and research and development

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Photo courtesy Ready Robotics

Chief technology officer Smartrac Technology Group

Ready Robotics labs in a building off Steelwood Road near The Ohio State University. They focus on creating disruptive technology to help factories and the people who work in them. “[Factory workers] are incredibly smart and do very complex stuff with a high degree of precision day in and day out,” Gibbs says. “They just need the right tools to execute their jobs.”

BrewDog isn’t ready to rest on its laurels even after taking crowdfunding to the next level and shaking up the Columbus Region’s craft beer market when it opened its first U.S. brewery and taproom in Canal Winchester in 2017.

Now it’s on to broadening the Scottish company’s footprint in the U.S. and globally, diversifying its customer base and doing good things in the communities where it operates, says Tanisha Robinson, CEO of BrewDog USA. “From a global perspective,” she says, “BrewDog is pushing to bring craft beer to everyone.”

That’s an ambitious goal for a company whose founders, James Watt and Martin Dickie, got their start by brewing beer in Dickie’s mother’s garage a little over 10 years ago. But since then, BrewDog has made craft beer all the rage in the United Kingdom and Europe and now sells its brews in nine states in the United States, too.

Much of the credit goes to its “Equity for Punks” crowdfunding platform in which craft beer enthusiasts buy shares in the company. In return, they receive perks that include discounts on BrewDog merchandise and at its taprooms, first access to limited-edition beers and a say in how the company is run.

Robinson says BrewDog has 80,000 Equity for Punks investors worldwide who have put up more than $70 million

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dinesh dhamija

sharing and high-quality health insurance. It is also committed to donating 10 percent of its profits to nonprofit groups chosen by its employees and Equity for Punks investors.

Already an industry leader in the development and manufacture of radio frequency identification (RFID) products, Smartrac Technology Group is counting on a new office in the Region to help drive its ambitious growth plans. The company, headquartered in the Netherlands, began looking for office space here during the summer.

Plans call for hiring 20 to 30 employees over the next three years with a focus on innovation and technology development in the RFID and Internet of Things (IoT) spaces.

Smartrac already designs and supplies so-called “smart” solutions that use RFID tags and inlays as well as the company’s IoT platform Smart Cosmos.

The next big thing, says Smartrac Chief Technology Officer Dinesh Dhamija, is to further develop broader IoT and RFID solutions aimed at digitizing everyday products to benefit the customers buying them.

As an example, Dhamija said tags and sensors placed on wine bottles could be used to authenticate the vineyard where the wine was produced, show the bottle has not been tampered with during shipping and even make suggestions on how and where to find locally produced beef to pair with the wine. Consumers can access the information by tapping or scanning the tags with their cellphones.

“Once digitized, you’re now instantly engaging with your product,” Dhamija says. “A lot of companies are starting to utilize these new possibilities. The wave has just started as our customer and consumers see the real benefit of it.”

Dhamija has been putting together a software development organization in the Region that will continue to build the platform for IoT solutions for customers. The Columbus office will have research and innovation labs to do the work.

“They will mainly do two things— imagine the future and make it possible,” he says. “It’s really about combining the power of IoT devices and software to showcase what the solutions can do for customers.”

to help the brewer grow. That includes 10,000 investors in the U.S. and more than $8 million in crowdfunding. “That’s been the center of the universe for a big part of our growth,” Robinson says.

She says the company wants to make the Canal Winchester complex—which includes the brewery, taproom and a 32-room hotel—“one of the greatest craft beer destinations in the world.” It also has taprooms in the Short North and Franklinton.

The Columbus Region operations are the hub for a regional growth strategy with BrewDog looking at adding taprooms in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Detroit. The beer maker also wants to become an even bigger industry disruptor by connecting with more women and people of color—two groups that Robinson says have been slow to embrace craft beer.

Additionally, she says BrewDog plans to build on its philosophy of treating its employees right by paying a living wage and providing profit-

It’s really about combining the power of IoT devices and software to showcase what the solutions can do for customers.”

Jeff Bell is a freelance writer.

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H a r n e s s i n g

D i s r u p t i o n

With new technology offering both risk and reward, the Columbus Region’s signature industries are embracing change and innovation.

Healthcare

Photo courtesy Columbus 2020

Hospitals, startups and corporate titans tap into a rich pool of talent.

by TC Brown

Nationwide Children’s Hospital

I n n o v a t o r s

Aver aver.io

Cardinal Health cardinalhealth.com

CoverMyMeds covermymeds.com

Nationwide Children’s Hospital nationwidechildrens.org

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center wexnermedical.osu.edu Photo Rob Hardin

Fuse, Cardinal Health

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CoverMyMeds blazed a trail through the healthcare industry with a straightforward formula: solve a sizeable problem in a way that everyone wins.

When it opened its doors in 2008, the Columbus Region healthcare IT company focused on a nettling question posed by patients: “Why won’t my health plan cover my meds?”

The company dove in, creating an electronic platform that tackled the burdensome issue. Within 10 years, CoverMyMeds reached an eye-popping milestone: The company has helped 100 million patients receive needed medication.

Matt Scantland, company co-founder and CEO, compares the operation to a social network, developed similarly to an internet company. An electronic prior authorization links pharmacies, payers and doctors to ensure patients aren’t rejected and get medications quickly.

“We helped solve one of the most vexing problems in the healthcare system,” he says. “When we started, the industry had been trying to solve the problem for decades, at least. We were the first to create a system that doctors used at scale.”

CoverMyMeds serves 62,000

pharmacies, more than 700,000 physician offices and 80 percent of the nation’s health insurers. And the company is consistently ranked as one of the best places to work in local and national polls.

“This is a great Region to build a business, and it starts with the people who live here and are incredible employees,” Scantland says. “It’s a workforce that cares, is educated and has great values.”

Nick Augustinos, president and CEO of Aver, echoes those sentiments.

Aver, which focuses on simplifying value-based healthcare, moved from Wisconsin to the Region in 2014. “We wanted to tap the rich pool of engineering and analytics talent available here. The work ethic of the people here, who have Midwest values, is excellent,” Augustinos says. “And there are great, multiple financing partners that are open to embracing new companies, like Drive Capital, NCT Ventures and Cardinal Health.”

Aver designed a patented system that supports its customers—health plans and healthcare providers—to design, implement and administer valuebased contracts and bundle payments.

Bundle payments reimburse providers for clinically defined episodes of care.

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This type of payment has been proven to reduce cost and improve quality of care, and it provides price transparency for everyone involved, including the patient. “What we are disrupting is how healthcare gets reimbursed,” Augustinos says. “We reimburse for the bundle as opposed to the activity, and we assign a certain risk and reward to make sure the quality of care is what it needs to be. That puts the risk in the hands of the specialist who is taking care of the patient.” The Aver system is gaining steam and is becoming a national movement, he says.

When it comes to noticeable innovation, Dublin’s Cardinal Health, Ohio’s largest company based on revenue, also draws attention to the Region with its enterprise known as Fuse, a four-yearold technology lab designed to improve lives by applying out-of-the box thinking and technology to healthcare.

The lab’s goal is to engage customers in new ways, while creating novel and streamlined solutions for the healthcare industry. The lab’s work and software focuses on providing up-to-date data to doctors and pharmacies, especially for patients changing providers, integrating care systems and advancing treatment, while delivering effective care, says Brent Stutz, senior vice president of commercial technologies.

“When we built this, a lot of people said this is something that should fit in Boston or Silicon Valley,” Stutz says.

“But we are firm believers in Midwest innovation, and you don’t have to locate in one of those places. Collaboration happens easily in Columbus, and

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Matt Scantland, CEO, CoverMyMeds

CoverMyMeds File/Columbus CEO/Tim Johnson

it is one of the best areas in the country for startups.”

Fuse was opened in Dublin’s Shoppes at River Ridge less than two miles from Cardinal headquarters. It operates as an open culture of “curiosity and experimentation,” with light-touch management and an entrepreneurial spirit, Stutz says.

The operation builds upon traditional design-thinking and forges it into an explore, experiment and pilot methodology, according to Fuse’s website. “To do that, we had to get out of headquarters,” Stutz says. “Our senior leaders said, ‘We want you to feel like you can break the rules, use different technologies and give people incentives and rate employees on their willingness to disrupt the old ways.’ ” Nationwide Children’s Hospital also has disrupted its internal cultural—in a productive way—with its Office of Technology Commercialization, which works on turning scientific innovation, invention, ideas, research and technology into products with commercial value.

By harnessing these endeavors, the office has helped launch 14 startup companies in the last six years, including five gene therapy businesses. Two of those have gone public and one was acquired this year for $8.7 billion dollars. Its location in central Ohio is a strong contributing factor to success, says Matt McFarland, the hospital’s vice president of commercialization and industry relations.

“This area can be a hotbed for biotechnology and pharmaceutical activity,” McFarland says. “This is an area

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File/Columbus CEO/Rob Hardin

with so many resources when it comes to life sciences, and the pipeline for commercialization here is huge.”

Researchers and clinicians are increasingly pitching ideas. In 2012, they submitted 28. Last year, 80 were proposed, and halfway through this year, 48 have been presented, McFarland says. “By having these successes, not only does it help our reputation, but it increases our ability to recruit world-class talent to the Region,” he says. “Meanwhile, the community and patients are fortunate to benefit from the work of our researchers.”

Research can often probe unique and unexpected domains, and the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center has launched one such venture, seeking an answer to this question: What are the cognitive and physical skills needed to be an elite player of e-sports?

This scrutiny is no laughing mat-

brent stutz

ter considering the numbers: millions worldwide play these video games; the games are expected to draw 299 million viewers this year; revenue is expected to top $2 billion by 2021, according to research firm SuperData.

Some consider the sedentary behavior of gaming to be the new cigarette, harming young people, says James Onate, an associate professor of health and rehabilitation sciences, who is leading the research.

“People always ask if players simply load up on Cheetos and Red Bull, but some high-level performers have nutritionists and massage therapists,” Onate says. “That is what I am interested in checking out. What makes these guys elite performers? We are trying to put the whole brain-body behavior thing together.”

Ohio State was expected to announce a gaming studies curriculum in September, and Easton already has a popular Major League Gaming arena, he says. Meanwhile, in August, Planet Oasis, the $2 billion entertainment development, announced plans to build a $10 milling e-sports arena in the 350acre project in Delaware County. “The disruption here is looking at something that is an international activity with more and more gamers every day,” Onate says. “Beside the physiological and cognitive pieces involved in training, we want to know the sociological phenomena of gaming.”

Likely there’s much more to discover from these “athletes,” than from the early competitors of Atari’s Pong.

Senior vice president of commercial technologies, Cardinal Health

Our senior leaders said, ‘We want you to feel like you can break the rules ... and rate employees on their willingness to disrupt the old ways.’ ”

TC Brown is a freelance writer.

ColumbusCEO l Columbus 2020

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ADVANCING COLUMBUS THROUGH EDUCATION AND RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS Ohio State brings the full strength of our interdisciplinary teaching and research to address complex problems.

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Ohio State is proud to be part of a city where private and public partners collaborate in ways that few others can match.

Together, we are moving Columbus forward.

A MEMBER OF THE COLUMBUS PARTNERSHIP

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H a r n e s s i n g

D i s r u p t i o n

With new technology offering both risk and reward, the Columbus Region’s signature industries are embracing change and innovation.

Higher Education and the Public Sector

File/Columbus Dispatch

Ohio State University graduation

In the Columbus Region, innovation extends into academia and local government.

by TC Brown

I n n o v a t o r s

City of Dublin dublinohiousa.gov

City of Marysville marysvilleohio.org

Columbus State Community College cscc.edu

The Ohio State University osu.edu

Otterbein University otterbein.edu

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When Amazon Web Services officials sought an academic leader to address innovation at their global educational conference in Seattle in early August, they plucked an authority from the Columbus Region’s backyard. David Harrison, president of Columbus State Community College, along with administrators from universities in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, analyzed transformative programs at their respective institutions.

Coincidentally or not, all three cities at the time were finalists for Amazon’s new headquarters, dubbed HQ2. Despite size differences of the metropolitan areas, the Region made the cut to 20 cities from 238 applicants, speaking volumes about how disruption and innovative practices have raised the Region’s visibility across the country.

“Columbus is unique,” Harrison says.

“Disruption, done in the right way, can be a positive thing. As a Region, when we look at our ability to deliver, we are right up there with everybody, and it is because of many collaborative relationships.”

Harrison should know. When he moved here from the University of Central Florida in 2010, he contacted

academic leaders across the Region to start a dialogue around affordability and access to higher education. That action prompted the creation of the Central Ohio Compact, a regional strategy backed by government, business and economic development leaders to ensure that 65 percent of Ohioans have a post-secondary degree or certificate by 2025.

Several programs have since emerged, including Preferred Pathway at Columbus State, which allows students to pursue a bachelor’s degree at the much-less expensive community college before transferring to one of nine area universities. Another measure, College Credit Plus, lets high school students enroll in college courses at no charge.

“We see our role as being the fence makers of disruption for the community and for students,” Harrison says. “Students often get lost between transitions, but with everyone working together, it eases those transitions. The ability of the community to have this relationship infrastructure is an advantage to the Region.”

That same mindset also led to the creation of The Point, a science, technology, engineering, arts and

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math (STEAM) innovation center at Otterbein University. Since July 2016, students from multiple disciplines have interacted with educators and business and industry leaders who work out of a 60,000 square-foot warehouse, converting ideas into commercialized products and services.

“We believe this is the first of a kind in the nation connected with a liberal arts institution,” says Erin Bender, The Point’s executive director. “Lots of places have business incubators, but we chose to include all levels of business so there is access across the board.”

Partners include a variety of small to large companies, from Worthington Industries and Nestle, to Nikola Labs and edgeThingZ. The center houses labs and classrooms for students and industry and professional service tenants.

And during the past two summers, more than 140 high school students attended programs ranging from mosaic tile art to engineering solutions, Bender says.

“This was intended to be a disruptor.

The way we’ve taught higher education in the past will no longer suffice,” she says. “This provides students with

We are right up there with everybody, and it is because of many collaborative relationships.” david harrison President Columbus State Community College

an opportunity at a very early stage of their careers, and we are trying to make sure we remain relevant to the Region and stay an active member of the community.”

Industry advisers guide many of the academic programs and that is a plus for the Region, Bender says. “Having them at the table helps create a curriculum that prepares students and helps convince them to stay in the Columbus Region after they graduate to work for employers here,” she says. “A lot of cities and universities ask how to replicate it, but I’m not sure they can.

It all comes down to relationships and opportunity in this region.”

Both of those factors propelled the Ohio State University to embrace a novel way to improve campus sustainability and energy management last year when the university turned over campus heating, cooling and power to ENGIE Services.

In return, ENGIE gave more than $1 billion to the school for a 50-year partnership, including a $150 million commitment to support academics, the largest-ever single investment for OSU scholastics. That money led to a $700

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Fiber optics are the new infrastructure cities need to be able to provide to industry.” colleen gilger Director for economic development The City of Dublin

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The Pointe at Otterbein University

Photos courtesy OTTERBEIN UNIVERSITY

million Strategic Initiatives Endowment Fund and includes plans for a $50 million Energy Advancement and Innovation Center for energy research and technology commercialization.

“We are the only university in the country doing this at this scale and for such a long term, which gives us a very long runway to think strategically,” says Serdar Tufekci, CEO of Ohio State Energy Partners LLC. “We have been contacted by a number of other universities and we get invited to speak about this at conferences. We expect more universities to create similar structures going forward.”

The aim is to reduce energy capital costs and improve infrastructure quickly, while helping the university reach its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, Tufekci says. “This helps create more efficiency and resiliency for energy sources,” he says. “It creates an environment where infrastructure in terms of capital and operating costs and sustainability are more superior to the traditional top down approach.”

For instance, while changing 2,000 campus streetlights to LED bulbs, ENGIE created a 3-D model of campus and is installing antennas on 250 poles

to boost campus Wi-Fi. “We read in The Lantern the university hoped to improve Wi-Fi coverage outdoors and we were able to do this at only a fraction of what it might have cost otherwise,” Tufekci says.

Connectivity is also a centerpiece for innovation and change north of Columbus along 80 miles of the U.S. 33 corridor with the installation of fiber optics cable from Dublin through Marysville, which should be complete late next year or early 2020.

Businesses along the route will have access to the power and speed they need to be a major player in a globally competitive market. The project will also open the door to automotive research and development to test smart transportation and connected and autonomous vehicle technologies on a highway that carries up to 50,000 vehicles per day.

Area officials call this development a game changer that will attract businesses and more employees to the area. Dublin was also an early adapter when it installed 125 miles of fiber op-

tics throughout the city and surrounding communities.

“Fiber optics are the new infrastructure cities need to be able to provide to industry,” says Colleen Gilger, Dublin’s director for economic development. “We’ve invested for 20 years in building a fiber optic network in the city to give large companies their own dedicated line.”

Much of the success can be credited to the Region’s willingness to collaborate and work hard for success together, says Eric Phillips, the economic development director for Union County and Marysville.

“It’s good old-fashioned rolling your sleeves up and going to work, and this goes to the Columbus Region, which has a great history of working together,” Phillips says. “We’ve tried to embrace opportunity and grow this sector and attract new companies. With the U.S. 33 Smart Mobility Corridor, we are creating a playground for the automotive sector.”

TC Brown is a freelance writer.

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Connect with the Economic Development Division at columbus.gov/econdev or 614.645.8616.

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