The Silicon Valley of the Midwest: Youngstown, Ohio

by Nathaniel Whittemore · 2009-02-18 14:15:00 UTC
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YBI's biggest success, Turning Technologies, produces response technology to make presentations more interactive

There was a terrific story on yesterday's "Morning Edition" on National Public Radio about the Youngstown Business Incubator in Youngstown, Ohio.

In the Rust Belt city of Youngstown, Ohio, a high-tech incubator is producing successful software companies. Nearly 300 people are working for a cluster of companies that have huddled together to create cutting-edge products. Even in this extremely depressed area, in the midst of a deep recession, entrepreneurship is flourishing and creating jobs.

The Incubator is funded almost entirely by the state government, and potentially offers lessons for other states looking to small business incubtators as part of their strategy to bolster and grow their long-term local economies.

It sounds like the big turnaround for the YBI happened in 1998 when the current CEO (or Chief Evangelist as he lists himself) Jim Cossler decided to focus specific on business-to-business software applications, rather than the hodgepodge of business types that had been supported before. This has allowed for more specific types of support and mentorship and lower overhead costs due to the nature of web startups.

At least one of their startups has demonstrated that you don't have to be based in Silicon Valley to be succesful. In 2007, Inc magazine ranked Turning Technologies the fastest growing software startup in the country.

Are there other examples of states funding projects like this? Have they been succesful? I'd love to hear what people thing the special sauce might need. Is it connections? Mentorship? The focus on a specific type of enterprise?

Listen to the full story.

Nathaniel Whittemore is the founder of Assetmap. Previously he was the founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement.
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