CLEVELAND Cleveland business leaders say after hosting a conference centered around Blockchain technology for two years in a row, the third annual conference could be showing off parts of a new co-working space in the heart of downtown Cleveland.<\/p>\n
Right now, Charisma Curry's start-up, Parents in Motion , works from a co-working space called StartMart in Tower City with other entrepreneurs often just a few feet away.<\/p>\n
See News 5's previous coverage of Parents in Motion here .<\/p>\n
\"Where one or two or more entrepreneurs are gathered, the ideas and the possibilities are endless,\" said Curry.<\/p>\n
But those possibilities are limited by the size of Cleveland's start-up community right now, which isn't nearly as large as it is in other nearby cities.<\/p>\n
In Columbus, local corporations started funds to support start-ups. <\/p>\n
In Cincinnati, Cintrifuse is a nonprofit that guides businesses through their early stages.<\/p>\n
In Pittsburgh, universities like Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh embraced technology development decades ago, offsetting lost manufacturing jobs.<\/p>\n
\"Technology-based economic development is never about just supporting today's status quo,\" said Cleveland State University's Albert A. Levin Chair of Urban Studies and Public Service Dr. Bob Gleeson .<\/p>\n
He works at CSU now, but he helped get Pittsburgh's tech revitalization off the ground while at Carnegie Mellon years ago.<\/p>\n
\"It's about understanding the possibilities for what the economy can look like 10, 15, 20 years out into the future and putting your loyalties into that future.\"<\/p>\n
Dr. Gleeson says it was a risk worth taking. <\/p>\n
Cleveland tech company Chairman Bernie Moreno says it's a lesson Northeast Ohio needs to learn.<\/p>\n
\"I don't want to say that we're risk-seeking, but we have to be risk-tolerant, meaning that we try different things and are OK that failure occurs,\" said Moreno.<\/p>\n
That's why he has pushed to make Cleveland a Blockchain Technology hub through his Blockland Solutions Conferences in 2018 and 2019.<\/p>\n
\"I think we use that as a catalyst to become a relevant tech city and beyond that, a relevant tech city for innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity,\" said Moreno.<\/p>\n
The next step is to give tech start-ups a work space that Moreno calls City Block.<\/p>\n
See the latest rendering of City Block here .<\/p>\n
\"We really have to fortify our city core, so that's the mission of what City Block is about,\" said Moreno.<\/p>\n
City Block would take Tower City's relatively quiet shopping area and turn it into a place where start up businesses, like Parents in Motion, can work. It would put many entrepreneurs in the same building, creating the kind of communities that exist in other cities.<\/p>\n
Outside the business community, it could also change the impression Cleveland gives to visitors who land at the airport and can take a train directly to what could one day be City Block.<\/p>\n
\"You land in this extremely vibrant center for entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation and that's your impression of Cleveland,\" said Moreno.<\/p>\n
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The rest is here: <\/p>\n
Growing Cleveland's start-up culture could come from new technology and a new place to work - News 5 Cleveland<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" CLEVELAND Cleveland business leaders say after hosting a conference centered around Blockchain technology for two years in a row, the third annual conference could be showing off parts of a new co-working space in the heart of downtown Cleveland. Right now, Charisma Curry's start-up, Parents in Motion , works from a co-working space called StartMart in Tower City with other entrepreneurs often just a few feet away. Continue reading