Information and Communication Technologies

Information and Communication Technologies has been at the heart of the world’s technology revolution over the past 30 years, and entrepreneurial companies have driven it. Household names like Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and literally thousands of others did not even exist before the PC/Internet revolution. Others, like Hewlett Packard, Xerox and IBM have taken the industry to new heights. By far, IT is the number one area for venture capital investments over the past 20 years, and any region that hopes to be thought of as “high tech” needs to have strong representation in the software, internet and communications sectors.

Northeast Ohio competes with every other region in the United States in this software and internet boom -- and we compete well. Hyland Software, for example, began in Westlake, OH and recently received an investment of $265 million, valuing the company at nearly $500 million. Other Northeast Ohio software powerhouses include Brulant Software, Brand Muscle, PreEmptive Solutions and many others. In the internet space, Northeast Ohio played early with Telxon and others, and continued with the incubation of Insurance.com.

True to its manufacturing roots, Northeast Ohio is home to many logistics, supply chain and distribution management solutions companies, including, GE Penske Logistics, Banyan Technology and others.

TechLift’s close partner, JumpStart, is certainly doing its part to grow entrepreneurial IT companies, as 40 percent of its investments have been in IT companies like Ayalogic, Banyan Technology, Embrace Pet Insurance, Inspherion, and Knotice.

Another TechLift partner, the Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI) has made strides in creating, nurturing and growing an impressive software cluster in a once steel-dominated economy. YBI’s efforts have incubated impressive companies like M-7 technologies and Turning Technologies. The Northeast Ohio Software Association (NEOSA) and the Ohio IT Alliance (OITA) also provide key networking and industry support for our IT companies.

The availability of unique communications infrastructure (miles of unlit broadband fiber) in Northeast Ohio due to our unique location in the country, has also allowed the region to create a national model for digital infrastructure initiatives. Northeast Ohio’s OneCommunity network has received numerous awards for its innovative approach to connecting, enabling and transforming our region.

TechLift’s Role

Entrepreneurial companies in the Information and Communications Technology space are vital not only to our region’s success in the largest technology entrepreneurial space, but also to Northeast Ohio’s reputation as a “high tech” region. The opportunities are endless, but so is the competition TechLift plays a key role in making sure that we have both the quality and quantity of entrepreneurial ideas and companies playing into this most important of sectors.

We are focused on Northeast Ohio's signature technologies:

Advanced Materials, BioSciences, Electronics, Information Technology, Advanced Energy