Spotlights
JPMorgan Chase product designer Omari Hitson leads a global community of 400 experts to scale spatial computing and XR programs. As President of the VR/AR Association’s Ohio chapter, he is building a "Concept-to-Production Pipeline" to turn the state into a global hub for immersive tech.
Workforce + Education
From the GRID Lab to the global stage, Ohio University is proving to be a powerhouse in immersive tech. A new national ranking places the Bobcats among the top public schools for AR/VR, validating a pipeline that feeds talent to Disney and Google.
Workforce + Education
Google is accelerating American innovation right here in the Heartland with a $1M+ investment. By backing Central Ohio STEM and workforce pipelines, the tech giant is empowering local talent to drive the region's rapid growth and secure its future in the digital economy.
Meta inked a 20-year deal with Vistra to upgrade the Perry and Davis-Besse plants and tapped Oklo for a futuristic site in Pike County. This strategy locks in power for the Prometheus supercluster, turning Ohio’s atomic legacy into a decisive advantage in the AI race.
The Cleveland startup digitizing the DMV has raised $55 million in its largest financing round to date. CEO Shane Bigelow calls it a "Netflix vs. Blockbuster" moment for the public sector, as their platform cuts title processing times from 60 days to mere hours for over 35 million Americans.
Ohio’s economic narrative is shifting from industrial manufacturing to high-tech infrastructure. With Columbus now the 6th largest data center market globally, the state anchors a Midwest pivot toward AI through billions in venture capital and semiconductor investment.
Ohio’s future isn’t just a concept—it has names. We narrowed triple-digit submissions to the top 25 innovators 35 and under. From AI to medtech and beyond, these leaders are bridging the gap between legacy strength and the digital frontier. Meet the 2025 class defining Ohio’s next chapter.
Fifth Third Bank is bridging the gap to Silicon Valley, partnering with Brex to apply AI-native finance to $5.6 billion in commercial spend. The deal replaces legacy friction with intelligent automation, allowing businesses to kill the spreadsheet and scale globally with confidence.
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Patricia Colella leads SportsLand™, an initiative positioning Ohio as a national hub for sports tech. Her "moonshot" vision is the Human Performance & Sports Innovation Corridor, a statewide network linking hospitals and startups to accelerate healthcare discovery and economic growth.
Doubling its recent funding, this Cleveland Clinic spinout is scaling a robotic platform to replace animal testing. The technology creates consistent human cells that aim to solve pharma’s reproducibility crisis, cementing Northeast Ohio’s role in the "NAMs" revolution.
As Senior Product Manager at Hyland, Tyler Conn launched Knowledge Discovery, an AI platform turning unstructured content into actionable insight. His work enables healthcare and government sectors to move from static documents to fast, data-driven decisions in seconds.
Meta inked a 20-year deal with Vistra to upgrade the Perry and Davis-Besse plants and tapped Oklo for a futuristic site in Pike County. This strategy locks in power for the Prometheus supercluster, turning Ohio’s atomic legacy into a decisive advantage in the AI race.
Joby Aviation is betting big on Ohio’s advanced air mobility future, moving to acquire a massive Vandalia factory to double its aircraft production by 2027 and accelerate the shift from engineering to full-scale manufacturing.
Marking its fifth global tech hub, the insurer’s new Easton office joins major centers like Chicago and Hyderabad. The site will house 75 employees dedicated to AI and cloud architecture, signaling a strong bet on Central Ohio’s engineering talent to drive future innovation.
As Co-Founder of Aplos Innovation, Ian Ferré uses Palantir Foundry to turn data chaos into clarity. The Columbus tech leader and DevCon Fellow envisions Ohio as the nation's engine for operational excellence, proving that practical tech builds durable growth.
Ohio schools now have a regulatory roadmap for the AI age. The state’s new model policy sets clear standards for privacy, bullying, and cheating ahead of a mandatory July 2026 deadline. It’s a critical step to standardize how districts handle the tech transforming the economy.
The Cleveland startup digitizing the DMV has raised $55 million in its largest financing round to date. CEO Shane Bigelow calls it a "Netflix vs. Blockbuster" moment for the public sector, as their platform cuts title processing times from 60 days to mere hours for over 35 million Americans.
One year since its launch by Ray Leach and Mark Kvamme, The O.H.I.O. Fund has raised $238 million and backed 19 projects in AI and infrastructure. Leach discusses the fund's rapid sprint, the shift in investment culture, and why Ohio is poised for a major breakout year in 2026.
Our analytics revealed an undeniable trend: you care about the mega-builds. From defense hubs to crypto banks, the most-viewed stories of 2025 weren't about potential—they were about production. See how the physical and financial backbone of American innovation is being built in Ohio.
While CEOs invest in AI, employee anxiety creates friction. Shifting from a "Replacement" era to a "Reshuffle," Srini Koushik argues that AI unbundles skills from roles rather than making humans obsolete. Leaders must move beyond automation to integrate cognitive thinking partners.
