New ODHE-sponsored Web Platform Drives Innovation, Connecting Ohio’s Research Universities with Industry Partners

Ohio Innovation Exchange

In September, the Ohio Department of Higher Education, along with six Ohio universities and support from the Ohio Manufacturing Institute, launched a new online research portal to more efficiently deliver research and innovation opportunities to both industry and Ohio’s academic institutions.

The Ohio Innovation Exchange (OIEx), found at www.ohioinnovationexchange.org, connects industry with faculty, students, equipment, and facilities available at Ohio’s research universities. The goal is to expand workforce and funding opportunities and foster economic development throughout the region. By consolidating academic resources from multiple universities into a single, searchable web portal, industry can more easily find expertise to advance products, services, and research.

“It is critical to our state’s economy that we utilize every aspect of our knowledge and innovation talent across the public and private sectors,” said ODHE Chancellor John Carey. “We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve created with OIEx – better connecting the experts and resources at our state research universities to the industries that can utilize them to push their breakthrough ideas to fruition.”

OIEx was originally developed by four Ohio universities, and today provides industry in search of expertise with access to more than 8,250 faculty and 200 resources from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University, The Ohio State University, Ohio University, The University of Akron, and the University of Cincinnati. From research partnerships, intellectual property, laboratory and testing access, to business development and even student internships, OIEx jump-starts the partnership process to deliver new innovations.

Because academic research and expertise is often siloed and hard to discover, it’s typically difficult for leading industry minds with new ideas to find experts and technology at individual academic institutions for support. But now OIEx, with the OIEx Rapid Response Team of active university liaisons to ensure those connections happen, will make it much easier to quickly develop working partnerships, while creating opportunities for collaboration.

“Ohio’s industry leaders are looking for ways to advance their ideas, products, and solutions, but haven’t always been able to utilize university partnerships to assist them,” said Kathryn Kelley, director of the Ohio Manufacturing Institute. “Working with our university partners, we’re excited to introduce OIEx to provide that bridge and connection, giving industry quick access to the resources available at Ohio’s research universities.”

To learn more visit www.ohioinnovationexchange.org