EoW July 2013

Transatlantic cable

Mr Smith reported that researchers at the Brookings Institution, one of Washington’s oldest think tanks, “see a bigger splash and a model to be championed.” They say the quest for discovery sends ripples across a regional economy and does more than just about anything else to promote prosperity. (“Patent Study Finds Venerable Cleveland Companies Innovating Like Startups,” 27 th May) As it studied the pace of patenting across America, Brookings found that patents and their pursuit spark investment and innovation, which in turn leads to wealth creation, higher wages, and often new jobs. There is not a shopping mall or a stadium project that does all of that, said Jonathan Rothwell, a Brookings researcher and the lead author of “Patenting Prosperity: Invention and Economic Performance in the United States and its Metropolitan Areas.” “What we’re saying is that innovation is a fundamental part of long-term economic growth,” Mr Rothwell said. “The value that comes out of these inventions has widespread public bene ts.” For Greater Clevelanders, the work of Thomas Edison, born in Milan, Ohio, is a ready example. Edison’s inventions did more than light the night, wrote Mr Smith: they kindled General Electric Company. A hundred years later, GE Lighting remains one of the region’s major employers and taxpayers.

Northeast Ohio

A surge in patents obtained by manufacturers is seen as a harbinger of new prosperity in Thomas Edison country “As tech companies amass the lion’s share of patents in the New Economy, some of America’s oldest manufacturers are matching them stride for stride, invention for invention. In manufacturing centres like Northeast Ohio, some companies as old as their industries are continuing to innovate like startups.” Writing in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Robert L Smith noted the year 2011, when Diebold Inc, a company that began as a safe maker in 1859, earned more than 100 patents on innovations in areas like computer software and cryptography. Rockwell Automation also passed the 100-plus mark that year, for discoveries made in its Cleveland-area research labs. The century-old Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co took out no fewer than 128 patents. The quickening pace of patenting by manufacturers is a sign of economic recovery; but according to experts consulted by Mr Smith it is also a critical step toward future success. Research and development allows companies like Diebold, Rockwell and Goodyear to compete and often de ne the state-of-the-art in global industries, said Tom Waltermire, the president of the regional business-attraction agency Team NEO. He told the Plain Dealer , “It’s why they’re alive.”

Dorothy Fabian USA Editor

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July 2013