Regional View at Lorain Innovation Fund

I noted before how the Lorain County Community College Foundation Innovation Fund sees no borders when it comes to investing in Northeast Ohio's most promising startup companies. And the Fund proved it again earlier this month when it invested a total of $150,000 into three companies.

None of the companies are based in Lorain County. They are RadioCarb of Fairlwan, Endotronix of Cleveland and Sensor Development Corp. of Rocky River. LCCC President Roy Church takes a regional view when it comes to the college and the fund. And he knows that many of the companies the fund invests in will consider relocating to Lorain County to join the cluster of emerging, high-tech companies based there. You can read more about the investments in this story from Scott Allyn of the Lorain Morning Journal.

The Innovation Fund is one of a growing number of sources of early stage capital for entrepreneurs with great ideas. And the Fund got a boost when First Place Bank of Warren committed $110,000 to the Fund.

"We believe that innovation is the engine of corporate and community growth,” said Kenton Thompson, First Place Bank’s Regional President.  “But if you’re relying solely on internal innovation—new products and services developed by your own R&D team—your engine may be sputtering. A better approach to innovation? The connect and develop method, as the Harvard School of Business points out. Through this approach, you connect the sources of new ideas with university or government labs, talent markets and suppliers. Then you develop those ideas into profitable new or refined products that create jobs and help the local economy. As a community bank, we know that we are only as successful as the communities we serve, so investing in champions of growth like the Innovation Fund is a natural fit.”

One of the companies that LCCCF invested in earlier, CutterCroix LLC, is getting ready to launch its construction bid software product. Scott Allyn of the Lorain Morning Journal profiled the company in a recent story.