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Tech Summit Addresses Northeast Ohio's Potential, Challenges

Explorys CFO Aaron Cornell (pic by Brian Bull)
Explorys CFO Aaron Cornell (pic by Brian Bull)

Roughly 150 regional leaders and executives gathered for the first “TechniCLE Speaking” forum today – a chance to discuss how Northeast Ohio can develop and keep a robust tech sector.  ideastream’s Brian Bull reports:

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Speakers at the forum discussed what was needed in order to build and sustain Ohio’s tech industry: long-term education, recruitment, and investment. 

Startups continue to sprout across Ohio, and existing companies are growing.  None perhaps more than Explorys, a six-year-old health data company that grew out of the Cleveland Clinic. 

Just last month, it was acquired by IBM.

Explorys’ Chief Financial Officer Aaron Cornell spoke on a panel at the forum.  Afterward, he discussed his company’s dramatic expansion.

“We have brought on at least 30 people or so in the last 40 days, which is significant compared to where we were in the last 6 months,” says Cornell. “We are evaluating our current facility, and looking at possible alternatives to move.  We’re basically…..we can’t fit in there anymore, we’re running out of space, so we need to find something quickly.” 

Explorys has been in the former home of the Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art.  Cornell says he’s not sure where they’ll go next, but they expect to have 300 employees within a year’s time, just over twice their current number. 

Since 2000, more than 70 startups have grown out of Northeast Ohio, through the Cleveland Clinic.


Photo by Brian Bull.

Preparing Northeast Ohio’s workforce for technical careers was one of the topics explored at the technology forum.  

The event brought together several dozen local leaders and tech CEOs to address how the region can grow -- and sustain -- a strong tech sector.

Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish spoke about his “innovation agenda”, an initiative to help boost interest in science and technology.  He said the latest venture involves teaming up with the Cleveland Foundation:

“To help us develop further in the innovation arena, we are hiring – with their help -- a Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) for the first time for Cuyahoga County,” said Budish.

“We are doing a national search and I’m very excited as to what promise that holds.”

A CIO would use new technology to help improve efficiency in county operations. as well as carry out Budish’s innovation agenda….which would include drumming up $15 -20 million in private capital for regional startups. 

Tech workers remain in high demand, nationally and in the region.  A hiring survey from tech career site Dice.com says 75 percent of recruiters expect to hire more tech professionals in the first half of 2015 than in the last half of 2014. 

And another Dice.com study shows wages for Ohio’s tech professionals increased 19 percent from 2008 to 2014. 

Meanwhile, Congress could help fix the shortage of high tech workers in the U.S., argued a local immigration lawyer. 

Speaking at the TechniCLE forum, Rishi Oza of the Robert Brown firm in Cleveland says currently, there’s an annual limit of H-1B visas.  Those are non-immigrant visas that let American companies hire foreign workers in specialized fields. 

There are 65,000 for professionals already working, and another 20,000 for those graduating with a Master’s Degree or higher.


Immigration lawyer Rishi Oza (credit Brian Bull)

Oza says this limits the hiring potential for tech firms and startups.

“The difficulty that not only Northeast Ohio faces but nationwide, is that the demand for these visas vastly outstrips the supply,” says Oza. 

“And so this year there was over 200,000 applications on the first day of filing for 85,000 slots.  So immediately you’re telling employers that (up to) 140,000 people simply aren’t going to be able to work in the United States under lawful status.”

There is currently bipartisan legislation in Congress to double the number of H-1B visas, called the I-Squared bill. 

Backers say it’ll help fill in employment gaps in tech sectors.  Critics say it’ll take jobs away from American workers.  

"TechniCLE Speaking" was hosted at the Cleveland office of the global law firm Jones Day. 

 

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