Third Frontier will be on May ballot. Voters will be asked to OK issuing $700 million in bonds over four years to continue Third Frontier. [Ohio Tech Bits Blog]
2009 TechColumbus Innovation Awards held Thursday night. Press release with winners here. EdHeads wins in Innovation in Non-Profit Service Delivery category. Congrats to all the winners! [TechColumbus]
ICYMI:TOT merges with other coalitions to form Midwest Consumers for Choice and Competition. [Ohio Tech Bits Blog]
Facebook Gets Another Facelift. Facebook began rolling out a new design, with various tweaks to encourage people to use the popular social network in new ways. [Digits (Wall Street Journal)]
Reminder: NorTech Innovation Awards 2010. Feb. 24 at the LaCentre Conference and Banquet Facility in Westlake. Ticket info here. List of finalists here. [NorTech/Crain's Cleveland Business]Â
A proposal to extend Ohio’s Third Frontier technology initiative by $700 million is in the hands of voters.
Both chambers of the General Assembly approved legislation Wednesday afternoon that will appear on the May 4 ballot asking voters to OK issuing $700 million in bonds over four years to continue Third Frontier. The resolution cleared the Republican-dominated Senate in a 30-2 vote and passed in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives 83-14.
The vote comes after legislators late Tuesday reached a compromise on divergent versions of the Third Frontier resolution. The House in January approved a resolution to OK $950 million in bond funding but the Senate’s version cut the total to $500 million.
Wednesday is the last day to file with the secretary of state’s office to get the measure on the May ballot.
TOT merges with other coalitions to form Midwest Consumers for Choice and Competition. [Ohio Tech Bits Blog]
Tech news from State of the State address. Gov. Strickland touched on new high technology advancements in the State of the State address, highlighting the success of the Ohio Third Frontier program and also announcing a new advanced energy program. [Ohio Tech Bits Blog]
Anticipation is high for today’s Apple event in San Fransisco, where the company will announce its “latest creation,” widely expected to be a tablet PC.
Check out live blogs of the event, which starts at 1 p.m. Eastern:
Gov. Ted Strickland touched on new high technology advancements in his fourth State of the State address on Tuesday, highlighting the success of the Ohio Third Frontier program and also announcing a new advanced energy program.
We have continued the vital work of the Third Frontier – which has made 150 million dollars in energy technology investments…
Third Frontier effort has created 48,000 jobs for Ohioans and leveraged more than 6.6 billion dollars in outside investments. And the Third Frontier is a major reason why venture capital investments in Ohio have been growing more than 20 percent a year, well more than twice the rate of growth nationwide.This ten year investment in revitalizing Ohio – launched in 2002 under the leadership of former Governor Bob Taft and with the bipartisan support of elected officials and voters – is set to expire. I want to thank the legislature for working toward the renewal of this vital program and I am hopeful that we will meet next week’s deadline for placing the Third Frontier on the ballot for voters’ consideration in May.
The Governor announced the creation of the Energy Gateway Fund, which would use $30 million in federal and $10 million from Ohio’s job stimulus program to offer funding for investment in fuel cells, solar, wind and energy storage.
This 40 million dollar commitment will offer access to capital for new and expanding advanced energy companies. And we will at least double the impact of our efforts by requiring those seeking state funds to, at a minimum, match our investment dollar for dollar with new private funds. Revenue generated from the fund’s investments will keep powering Ohio‟s economy because it will be reinvested in additional energy companies.
Click here to watch the State of the State address.
It is with great excitement that we are announcing plans today to merge with Illinois Technology Partnership and Wired Wisconsin to form the Midwest Consumers for Choice and Competition (MCCC), a non-profit organization comprised of state chapters and individual consumers. MCCC will focus on promoting and supporting broadband access and deployment, innovative technology and economic job growth throughout the Midwest region.
We have come together, through our similar goals, to advocate for a Midwest where technological innovation can thrive.
Our organization’s primary goals are to educate policy-makers and advocate for technological advancement in order to have an environment that supports and promotes the emerging technologies of the future.
This announcement demonstrates collaboration on behalf of consumers, non-profits and corporations in the Midwest to focus on policies and issues that will result in improved access and broadband deployment in the region.
