Ohio’s tech opportunity is now: Ohio Tech Summit unites tech from across Buckeye State

May 22

Hundreds of startup founders, tech professionals, and industry leaders from around the state gathered on May 16 in Columbus for the 3rd annual Ohio Tech Summit.

OhioX’s flagship event, presented by Verizon, was held at the Ohio Union on the campus of Ohio State University and marked the third-straight sell-out with well over 500 registered and a large, growing waitlist into the triple digits.

With the theme of “emerging technologies and their impact on Ohio’s leading industries,” panelists and attendees examined the impact of emerging technologies on Ohio and how our people, companies, and ideas are shaping the future.

Here are some of the highlights and remarks (edited for brevity in some instances) from the Ohio Tech Summit:

Opening Remarks + Keynote

Tonjia Coverdale: SVP, Chief Strategy Officer for Operations + Technology @ Associated Bank
Chris Berry: President and CEO @ OhioX

Coverdale on the state of Ohio’s tech ecosystem: We have now over 18,000 tech establishments in the state with over 270,000 tech workers. Our IT sector (is expected) to grow by 13% from 2022 to 2027, and we have nearly quadrupled our data center growth since 2011. So, seriously, when we're talking about how Ohio is the “Silicon Heartland” and the place to be, it's real numbers and real data behind it.

Berry on the growth and mission of OhioX: We've only been at it for a few years. Our work is around connecting, promoting, and advocating. And so today we're connecting, companies are promoting what they're up to, and we're advocating to make sure that we can give a voice to tech in our state because—as we'll get into, a lot of this work's been happening for a long time—we're trying to think about it as a statewide opportunity. Our member companies—and that's from Fortune 500 companies like Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T to Nationwide and Fifth Third Bank—they make this work possible. But we also have startups. We have small businesses, we have universities like Ohio State and John Carroll University. Hospitals and research centers like University Hospitals and Parallax Advanced Research out of Dayton. Every type of company and organization, they make this work possible through their membership and partnership, this coalition that we're building, as it grows, as these events get bigger, as our media gets bigger, as more companies are thinking about this work from a statewide perspective, so too does this Ohio tech voice. And we think that's incredibly exciting.

Panel 1: Corporate innovations reshaping Ohio’s industries

The opening panel session of the day featured technology leaders from some of Ohio’s most recognizable brands. Conversations dove into how Ohio’s leading companies are driving transformative change across various sectors in the Buckeye State. Panelists shared the latest advancements, disruptive technologies, and strategic collaborations shaping Ohio's economic landscape and included:

Shereen Agrawal: Executive Director, Center for Software Innovation @ Ohio State University
David Sylvan: Chief Strategy + Innovation Officer @ University Hospitals
Mimi Chizever: VP, Technology Innovation + Organization Strategy @ Nationwide
Ervan Rodgers: Chief Information Officer @ State of Ohio (former) and Designer Brands (former)

Sylvan on collaboration opportunities in healthcare: I traveled the country visiting other innovation hubs within life sciences, and there are a thousand different pathways to similar end results. And I think the power of force multiplication is lost in many regards. There are some formalized attempts at bringing us together, like the three innovation districts, for example in Ohio with Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland, to really try to use the inducement of measurable and outcomes to create synergies between organizations.

Chizever on education within tech: As we think about Ohio, we are very fortunate. Lieutenant Governor Husted is a great advocate and champion of AI education and computer science education. What we know to be very true is the pace of advancement that we have ahead of us, and that we've already seen, is more than any other technology era or technology cycle that we've been living through. And so the pace of change, these are step changes of advancements. As I talked earlier about the convergence of all of these and years to come when we see quantum sitting on top of all of this too, the pace of advancement is significant and we are fortunate… And so education becomes super important for everybody, whether they're the younger generation of folks in their careers right now or the older generation. How do we help enable that?

Rodgers on government: One of the things that I'm excited about is that having worked for Governor DeWine for seven-and-a-half years, and knowing Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted. They're so in tune with technology that that's rare. There's so many networking groups that are across Ohio that we share information in a way that is not done in other states. I've gotten a chance to see different states and different companies and organizations. We have something unique here. I'm excited about it and I think we have to continue to work together collectively as a group.

Panel #2: Built in Ohio - Ohio companies building industries of the future

The second session of the day explored the groundbreaking work of local startups as they revolutionize industries and carve out new pathways for growth. From cutting-edge tech to sustainable solutions, panelists highlighted the dynamic ventures shaping Ohio's tomorrow. Panelists inspired attendees with stories of entrepreneurial spirit and bold visions driving the state's startup ecosystem forward. Speakers included:

Duane Mancini: CEO @ Project MedTech
Shane Bigelow: CEO @ CHAMP Titles
Peter Coratola Jr.: Founder, President + CEO @ EASE Logistics
Dr. Tim Lucas: CEO @ NeuroTech Institute

Bigelow on access to venture capital in Ohio: The money will come here. The money absolutely will come here. This isn't 10 years ago where venture had no idea that the Midwest exists. They absolutely know and they will travel here, or you can travel there. The access to that capital probably was assisted by all the video conferencing that's available now, their willingness to realize that driving from San Jose to Palo Alto can take an hour while flying from Chicago to Cleveland can take an hour. It really doesn't make any difference. So our experience has been that if you tap into the capital regardless of where it is, you have to look for an investor that understands the thesis of what you're offering.

Coratola on local resources: I can say from starting a company and growing it, we still keep that entrepreneurial spirit and Ohio has been able to provide all the resources that we need to grow. And when you get to the community level, the city level, there’s a tremendous amount of resources out there.

Dr. Lucas on the state’s trajectory: I believe that in Ohio we are right at the beginning of an inflection curve. If you were an investor, where you would want to invest in Amazon is when Jeff Bezos was a one-person operation and just about to explode, and that's the largest return for you. And I think that's where we are in Ohio.

Statewide startup pitch program, OhioXcelerate

Four groups of startup founders shared their work with the live audience for the 2024 OhioXcelerate competition.

Jason Martin: CPO/CTO @ Five Star Fans - 1st and only collegiate sports fan engagement experience.
Isaiah Kaiser: Founder and CEO @ Auxilium Health - low-cost and smart biomaterials for hard-to-heal wounds.
Andrew Cothrel: Co-Founder and CEO @ Kilele Health - real time Diagnostic Monitoring for Chronic Disease Management.
Neil Kidner: Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer @ Adena Power - sustainable energy storage for our Net Zero Future.

Breakout Sessions #1: Industry

The Summit's early afternoon programming featured three separate breakout rooms focused on leading industries and the technologies shaping Ohio's future.

HealthTech

Dr. Brian Rothstein: Chief Medical Officer @ University Hospitals Ventures
Emma Scharfenberger Off: CEO, President, and Partner @ CincyTech
J.D. Whitlock: CIO @ Dayton Children's Hospital
Ashley Barrow: Founder + CEO @ RE-Assist

FinTech / InsurTech

Ron Rock: Managing Director, Financial Services @ JobsOhio
Kate Lybarger: Head of Payments Innovation @ Discover
Aud Jucaitis: SVP, Service Digitization @ KeyBank
Lynn Sautter Beal: VP, Lender Services @ Upstart
John Piazza: Head of Product, Newline @ Fifth Third Bank

ManufacturingTech / Industry 4.0

Joe Waina: Senior Innovation Principal, Advanced Manufacturing @ Verizon
Aaron Chow: CEO @ Voxel
Alex Lonsberry: Co-Founder + CTO @ Path Robotics
John Dyck: CEO @ CESMII - The Smart Manufacturing Institute

Breakout Sessions #2: Emerging Technologies

The late afternoon programming featured three separate breakout rooms focused on specific technologies and their impact across all sectors and industries.

AI / ML

Ben Blanquera: VP, Technology and Sustainability @ Rackspace Technology
Rob Zwink: CTO @ Razi Exchange
Mukul Saha: Senior Director Tech Strategy & Advisory @ Gartner
Sean Erikson: VP @ Grange Insurance

5G + Beyond

Ray Bauer: Senior Director @ Verizon
Sophia Mohr: CIO + CTO @ COTA
Anthony Joy: CIO @ Cleveland Metroparks
Frank Kohstall: Managing Director, Connectivity Center and 5G Broadband State Sector Partnership @ Ohio State

Blockchain

Andrew Burchwell: Executive Director @ Ohio Blockchain Council
Mimi Heinlein: Client Operations Manager @ River Financial
Lisa Scott: Co-Founder and General Counsel @ Synota
Doug McCollough: CIO @ City of Dublin
Kara Calvert: Head of US Policy @ Coinbase

OhioX is a nonprofit coalition of companies and organizations that are passionate about Ohio's tech opportunity and increasing this part of our state sector and economy. For information about attending or sponsoring an upcoming event, please visit OhioX.org.