What's New

Ohio Third Frontier Research Incentive Funding Investment in OIEx

From ideation to introduction, the OIEx portal has grown in functionality, searchable assets, and partner universities now counting seven in number. The increasing visibility of OIEx as a statewide resource prompts several important considerations as it moves beyond design and development into the refinement and maturing phase of its lifecycle. Submitted by Tim Cain (Ohio University) and Kathryn Kelley (Ohio State University), a proposal entitled: "Sustainable Stewardship of the Ohio Innovation Exchange: Building Connections and Capacity Across the Ecosystem." secured funding for fiscal years 2022 and 2023.  Focusing attention and activities on advancing OIEx and its evolving network as a scalable, valuable and sustainable component of the broader, thriving ecosystem of innovation in the State of Ohio., the proposal details tactical approaches to be pursued that will: [AIM I] introduce efficiencies to improve data quality and richness; [AIM II] bolster promotional efforts that accelerate awareness and adoption; and [AIM III] integrate sustainability practices. Sustainable stewardship of the Ohio Innovation Exchange is vital as this maturing platform strives to accelerate access to needed information, building connections across sectors, and creating capacity while leveraging an ecosystem of knowledge innovation, translation and application for the State of Ohio.

OIEx Feature of National Conference

Jeff Agnoli of the OIEx team was an invited presenter the Expert Finders System (EFS) Forum on March 4, 2021. His talk was called, “Building and Leveraging Partnerships: How to Advance EFS from the Middle.” To listen to his presentation, access this website, choose March 4 and select the link for the morning session recording: Jeff speaks at 53 minutes.

Jeff will also participate in a panel discussion on Thursday, March 18 from 11-11:50am, entitled “Building University/Industry Collaboration through the Use of Statewide Expert Finder Systems: Revisited.” This session provides an update on an earlier study by Dr. Iryna Lendel of OIEx partner Cleveland State University, titled "Best Practices of Creating Innovation Exchange Web Portals across the States." Participants will share progress made and lessons learned.

Library Engagement

The Library Engagement, Advocacy & Planning Taskforce (LEAP) has formed, led by Jessica McIntosh, and will begin their work on building engagement in participating universities. Currently in the discovery phase, this group of library experts will devise strategic goals, create teaching and advocacy resources, assess institutional outcomes, and provide recommendations for future initiatives.

Welcome and thank you to our taskforce members:

• John Canter, Ohio University
• Florian Diekmann, The Ohio State University
• Jeff Franks, University of Akron
• Emily Kean, University of Cincinnati
• Theresa Nawalaniec, Cleveland State University
• Daniela Solomon, Case Western Reserve University
• Jason Wardell, University of Dayton
• Yuening Zhang, Kent State University

Social Media

The Ohio Innovation Exchange serves as a clearinghouse for research and innovation news from our six partner universities. To find out more, check out Research and Innovation News and follow us on social media!

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

Library Engagement

The Ohio Innovation Exchange team is beginning to form the Library Engagement, Advocacy & Planning Taskforce (LEAP), a new initiative to help inform and engage with librarians at participating OIEx universities. The LEAP will focus on helping develop and pilot a strategy for exploring how our partner academic libraries might help us grow campus awareness, institutional adoption and support for OIEx.

We’ve relaunched our site! After seeking input from our university and industry users, we’ve developed an exciting new user experience with rich new features and functionality. Try us out and let us know what you think.

OIEx 2 includes:

• Custom expertise tags that make the search easier
• Mobile-friendly experience for more flexibility
• Grant funding and patents now included
• YouTube media available for a “look” at the researchers in person and at work
• Network of faculty researchers’ past collaborators across featured universities in Ohio, to extend their collaborative potential
• News about STEM and medical research and innovation in Ohio

OIEx Secures Ohio Third Frontier Research Incentive Funding

 Higher education-driven, state government-sponsored, and industry-sought, OIEx is promoting collaborative research at Ohio’s institutions of higher education by providing access to the academic talent and resources for the State’s industry, commerce and business development. The increasing visibility of OIEx as a statewide resource calls for the need to accelerate developmental enhancements to the portal and its supporting human network of professionals.  A proposal submitted by Tim Cain (Ohio University) and Rajiv Ramnath (Ohio State University) entitled: "Accelerating System Capabilities of the Ohio Innovation Exchange to Advance Discovery, Bolster Commerce, and Catalyze Connections." garnered funding from the Ohio Third Frontier.  Detailed therein are strategies and solutions that once implemented will: (I) improve the OIEx Web experience; (II) grow participating university awareness, adoption, and support by leveraging academic libraries and; (III) increase Ohio industry awareness and use of OIEx.   Meeting these challenges will enable OIEx to meet its goals of advancing discovery, bolstering State commerce, and catalyzing connections.