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The development of innovation hubs around the state's colleges and universities represents one of the key initiatives within Ohio's new economic develoipment strategy. Read more.
(The article quotes my brother, Hunter Morrison, who guides campus development at Youngstown State University. He is also a consultant to a number of other universities and he has been active in developing Ohio's new economic strategy. He is focused on the opportunity to create hubs of innovation around college and university campuses.) i
This approach to economic development -- putting universities in the center of a regional strategy -- is relatively new. For a few years, Michigan has been promoting Smart Zones. Pennsylvania has been promoting Keystone Innovation Zones. More recently, the State of Washington has been promoting innovation zones.
The basic idea and cause accelerating the formation of new companies and clusters around college and university campuses. Research suggests that "spillover" effects take place within about 500 meters. Geographic proximity is important in order to build trust necessary for innovation to take place.
About a year ago, i designed a pilot project for cuyahoga county (cleveland) to create local incentives for innovation zones. The graphic below outlines the basic structure of the incentive program.
I have included a copy of the guidebook as an attachment to this post. I am hopeful that more regions will start to explore the innovation potential of focusing on their colleges and universities.
![>](http://images.strategy-nets.net/images/space/<img alt="File" src="http://images.strategy-nets.net/images/space/resource/pdf-16-16.png?1275059349" title="File" />)
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