After the very successful 2024 Innovation Summit, Brian Wallace is already planning the 2025 event (May 20-May 22, 2025).

Innovation Summit is an action-packed conference that brings together industry experts providing thought provoking and game changing insights on innovation, leadership development, deep dives on the latest trends, and exclusive networking opportunities with many anticipated experts from around the nation.

Who is this event for?

If you're interested in speaking at the event, submit you info here

This is what the media has written about the event:

From left, Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval, chancellor of the Ohio Department of Higher Education Randy Gardner, Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, UC President Neville G. Pinto, UC Chief Innovation Officer Ryan Hays and UC Vice President for Research Patrick A. Limbach 

Awesome day for University of Cincinnati, and the Cincinnati Innovation District: the grand opening of the new, state-of-the-art UC Digital Futures building. (read more about it at UC News)

This 189k-sq-ft multidisciplinary research facility will house cutting-edge, collaborative innovation that will propel our city and our state forward, and will help to create high-paying jobs for our residents!

The collaboration between State of Ohio, City of Cincinnati, and University of Cincinnati, to make it all happen, was remarkable! We need more of this!

It's exciting to see Cincinnati participating in the Smart City USA Expo in Miami! 

Smart City USA Expo is a leading event for cities, focused on building Smart, Equitable, and Sustainable 21st Century Cities!

Congratulations to Lincoln Heights community for initiating an "Innovation Hub" with the goal to use Innovation to reverse Poverty in Lincoln Heights!

You can see the presentation here 

CINCINNATI, Ohio — Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, Lt. Governor Jon Husted, JobsOhio, the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center announced a first-of-its-kind partnership designed to build, retain and attract talent to Ohio by formally introducing the Cincinnati Innovation District™.

Anchored by the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s, Cincinnati Innovation District™ will serve as a ‘blueprint’ for the state and ensure Cincinnati becomes a magnet for talent that attracts Fortune 500, mid-size and developing start-up companies.

“In partnering with the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s to create this Innovation District, we are investing in opportunities for students and incumbent workers to build a successful career in Ohio, while unleashing the research and innovation happening on our university campuses and hospitals to help drive job creation,” said Governor Mike DeWine.

Talent is attracted to collaborative and innovative environments, and companies are attracted to locations that have this talent. Ohio’s research institutions are the state’s economic engines to fuel current and future needs of organizations. The University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s contribute more than $450 million annually in research. This research results in discoveries that become the basis for innovative startups in the tech and healthcare sectors.

“The three most important elements to developing a vibrant, modern economy are innovation, talent and investment,” said Lt. Governor Jon Husted. “Today’s announcement represents an aggressive effort to build our capacity and align these resources to create a world-class innovation district in Cincinnati. Great ideas must find a way from the lab to the marketplace if they are to improve the quality of life for the public and create jobs and economic opportunity. This innovation district will make this process faster and more effective.”

The catalyst within this partnership will be JobsOhio investing up to $100 million that aims to, over the next 10 years, result in up to 15,000 STEM graduates as well as the execution of $2 billion of research and real estate development within the Cincinnati Innovation District™, ultimately resulting in an estimated 20,000 new jobs and $3 billion of annual economic impact. JobsOhio investment will be paired with investments the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s will be making to scale their respective operations. The Cincinnati Innovation District™ positions our region to compete at a national and international level for talent and the companies that seek that talent.

“To compete and win, we must invest in research and talent while establishing vibrant, amenity-rich communities to realize our long-term vision of making Ohio the best place in the country for tech and life science jobs,” said J.P. Nauseef, JobsOhio president and chief investment officer. “We applaud UC, Cincinnati Children’s and the many partners who have stepped up and made significant new investments to drive these outcomes.”

“We are energized by JobsOhio’s commitment to research and innovation,” said Michael Fisher, president and CEO of Cincinnati Children’s. “This unprecedented investment will help us continue to attract, retain and inspire exceptional talent from around the world; accelerate new discoveries, treatments, and cures; and, most importantly, make a difference in the health and lives of children in Ohio, and well beyond. We are very grateful for this exciting new partnership.”

The University of Cincinnati developed an innovation district blueprint through the creation of the 1819 Innovation Hub and the developing Digital Futures complex. These sites have already attracted Fortune 500 companies, small- and mid-sized companies and generated significant start-ups. Through this co-located ecosystem, UC has leveraged its economic engine to strengthen the Ohio economy. The storied history of UC’s innovation expertise is long-standing, making the vision of attracting even more industry and the talent to serve them a reality.

“We are humbled and inspired by this historic investment in our Next Lives Here vision for talent, research and innovation,” said UC President Neville Pinto. “The nimble, forward-thinking, results-driven work of JobsOhio has never been more important or appreciated. Our highly innovative partnership with them, fully supported by the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, will transform the University of Cincinnati’s impact for generations to come.”

The district is expected to attract significant investment in mixed-use buildings that will provide office/lab, retail, housing and nightlife that will make the area attractive to job creation, private investment, and talent seeking an urban experience.

“The Cincinnati Innovation District is the next big thing for Cincinnati’s growth,” said Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley. “This partnership among the state, JobsOhio, the city, the University of Cincinnati, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital will pay dividends for decades to come.”

Great presentation today at Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber about Cincinnati Jobs Outlook 2028, which provided a data-driven picture of where the Cincinnati economy is expected to produce new jobs through 2028—and provides insights into the projections. In addition to charting the fastest-growing occupations in our region, this new report—an update of the Jobs Outlook 2020—looks at the entire job landscape through the lenses of income, education, gender, and race.

You can download the report from here 

The University of Cincinnati announced that it plans to lease a new building in the Uptown Innovation Corridor to promote the "digital future of tech innovation."

This is definitely a great news for Innovation in Cincinnati, bringing us closer to remaking our city as a "City of Innovation" 

UC President, Neville G. Pinto, shared this:

"Building on our Next Lives Here vision, the University of Cincinnati has signed an agreement to lease a 180,000 square-foot building to be constructed within Uptown Cincinnati’s Innovation Corridor. The building is part of a development on 5.8 acres on the southeast corner of the intersection of Martin Luther King Drive and Reading Road, adjacent to our 1819 innovation hub at 2900 Reading Road.

Our multi-year commitment will anchor this development, which is planned as a major mixed-use project by the joint team of Terrex Development & Construction and the Messer Construction Company. Conceived as an environment for innovation, education and technological advancement, the entire project consists of a hotel with a potential residential component, two parking garages and three office buildings. Our agreement addresses the first of these office buildings, which we have, for now, dubbed the “digital futures” building.

As you may recall, the Innovation Corridor has been a decade in the making — a vision growing out of a strategic partnership of Uptown institutions, the City of Cincinnati, the OKI Regional Council of Governments, the Ohio Department of Transportation and the surrounding neighborhoods. Following the opening of the new I-71/Martin Luther King Boulevard interchange, the assembly of over 100 parcels of land, and the renovation of the historic old Sears building into the anchor tenant of the district (our 1819 hub), it is exciting to see this vision is now becoming a reality.

The first Smart Cincy Summit served to launch Regional Smart Cities Initiatives throughout the Greater Cincinnati's Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Region. The second summit will highlight the organizational leadership, active projects, and community goals.

Contact hello@smartcincy.org to learn more or to get involved.

The Smart Infrastructure Challenge will launch during the Smart Cincy Summit on April 26th, 2018. The challenge calls for regional teams to create a project vision and planning framework leveraging smart and connected technologies and innovative strategies that will serve to optimize or altogether replace outdated infrastructure and systems. Top teams will be awarded support resources, funding, and access to project financing following presentations at the Smart Regions Conference on October 25th.

The next frontier of 3D-Printing is additive manufacturing, and Cincinnati's GE Aviation is leading the way! We need to make Cincinnati a center of expertise in this area and attract businesses from around the world to be part of it!

This GE article does a great job explaining  3D-Printing and additive manufacturing used inside GE, and showcasing the incredible opportunities for the future!  

Join us on Wednesday, October 25th at BB&T Arena for the first Midwest IoT Showcase and Smart Regions Conference!

The Smart Regions Conference will include speakers and featured presentations in the morning, an open IoT Showcase and Expo throughout the day, and Smart City leadership workshops and awards in the afternoon. Oh, did we mention drones? Yeah, professional drone racing and exhibitions, too! Tickets and Sponsorships are available but limited.

For more info, visit the Smart Regions Conference Website 

TechRepublic spoke to 11 smart city experts at the Smart Cincy Summit, ranging from Cincinnati city officials, to executives at Cintrifuse, Nexigen, Cincinnati Bell, TransitX and ET3 and more.

Here are the videos with their thoughts on what it takes to become a smart city - you can view them on TechRepublic Website 

It is always great to read about accomplishments of Cincinnati's residents, especially when it is mentioned in the national media.

Last week the publication Quarz reported that our own UC Professor, Dr. Tomasz F. Stepinski used NASA data to make an insanely detailed map of US racial diversity. You can zoom in and see detailed information for each neighborhood. 

You can read the article here

To see the map, click here

GovTech Website published an article about Cincinnati and our approach to use Data Analytics: "Cincinnati Retrospective on Data-Driven Efforts Shares Methodologies, Successes"

The article was about a recent paper published by the City Manager, Mr. Harry Black: "Now, some three years on in this process, he has released a retrospective paper on the methodologies behind the efforts and just what they have meant to Cincinnati government. The paper, published April 18, is, as Black detailed, a look how the municipal government went from missing opportunities for public service to improving efficiencies and holding departments accountable."

Congratulations to Harry Black, our City Manager, and his team, for building Data Analytics into the fabric of our city!