Ohio garners Top 10 spot in two technology rankings

Columbus – Ohio is one of the best places to be for technology, and The Ohio State University plays a key role, according to two new rankings. For the second year in a row, Small Times magazine has named Ohio one of the nation’s top 10 nanotechnology “hot spots,” while Popular Science magazine ranked Columbus 7th among top tech cities in America.

Experts cited Ohio State’s recent $12.9 million grant from the National Science Foundation to create a Nanotech Science and Engineering Center as one of the state’s pluses. Among national and international collaborators on that project are in-state partners such as the University of Akron, Battelle Memorial Institute, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Wright-Patterson Air Force Labs.

“Ohio does it again,” the Small Times editors began. “The state\'s diversity extends from border to border with an array of micro and nanotech research initiatives and companies. NASA, the U.S. Air Force, Cleveland Clinic, Ohio State University, Case Western Reserve University all offer research programs. Collaborations among these groups are on the rise, which could lead to some novel products.”

Based on data from more than a dozen federal research agencies and commercial analysis firms, Small Times rated each state in six categories. Ohio held on to the 10th spot in the overall rankings, while rising four spots from last year to claim 10th in the research category.

Meanwhile, Popular Science ranked the nation’s cities based on technology indicators such as the R&D budgets at universities and local hospitals’ use of robotic surgery. Columbus placed 7th on that list, while Cincinnati took 38th, Cleveland 72nd, Dayton/Springfield 93rd, and Toledo 101st. Ohio State received more than a half-billion dollars in research funding during 2004, and in 1999, OSU Medical Center was the first in North America to use a new minimally invasive heart surgery technique utilizing robotic technology.

Small Times and Popular Science both detail their rankings in their March 2005 print issues, but summaries are available on the Web: http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=89221 and http://www.popsci.com/popsci.