Ohio becoming tech hub of Midwest, focused on expansion of development and IT education

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — Central Ohio continues on the path of becoming the tech hub of the Midwest. Companies like Google have announced major investments in Central Ohio, most recently, a 1.7 billion dollar commitment.

Meanwhile, construction on Intel's $20 billion semiconductor facilities is underway in Licking County and right around the corner is the New Albany Tech Park.

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In June 2022, commercial real estate developer VanTrust Real Estate announced plans for the new business park. It sits on approximately 500 acres located within The New Albany International Business Park, the region’s largest master-planned business park.

"When Intel was announced, there was a lot of interest and excitement about what was going to happen as part of their investment, and we decided to make an investment on the land that we are standing on now," Executive VP of VanTrust Real Estate Andy Weeks said. "It’s been talked about by everyone in Ohio, that desire to develop a whole eco-system. It’s not just about the Intel fab but everything that comes with it, including the suppliers."

It’s been talked about by everyone in Ohio, that desire to develop a whole eco-system.

In August, VanTrust secured its first client in the New Albany Tech Park.

Construction is now underway on a 1.2 million-square-foot building for DSV, a global leader in the transport and logistics industry based in Denmark. The company will act as a supplier for Intel and provide around 300 direct jobs for the area.

"We said, 'hey, we want to be there. Central Ohio is a place we want to be,'" President of DSV North America Michael Marlow said. "We really want to support Intel and the other semiconductor vendors that will be there supporting Intel and help them be successful."

Work on the project is expected to be completed by December 2024. The warehouse will be the largest industrial building in the City of New Albany.

"We want to operate with sustainability in mind," Marlow said. "That’s important to us. We want to be involved in the community. Not just from a jobs perspective, but we want to be involved in other aspects of the community and learn quickly from New Albany what that means to them."

VanTrust said DSV is the first of several companies that they believe will expand in New Albany Tech Park. Weeks said many of the companies they've been communicating with have a relationship with Intel.

"We have probably talked to about a dozen Intel suppliers over the past year of all sizes," Weeks said. "Some would be in very small buildings. Others in very large buildings. They are deciding what their investment is going to be in Central Ohio. But we have also had a lot of conversations with companies who have no relationship with Intel. But they want to be in New Albany."

New Albany's mayor, Sloan Spaulding sent WSYX a statement regarding the development.

“VanTrust has become a trusted partner in industrial business development in the New Albany area, delivering high-quality buildings that have attracted businesses like DSV Solutions to this area," Spalding said. "VanTrust shares our commitment to strategically planned development, and continues to work well with the City. We welcome DSV Solutions as our newest partner in the growth of the region.”

As the tech industry in Ohio continues to grow, there is enormous demand for IT training. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Technician jobs in STEM industries are expected to grow at double the pace of average U.S. job growth over the next ten years and Ohio colleges are ramping up their tech related courses to be able to fill jobs for companies like Intel, Google and Facebook.

Columbus State Community College has plans to lead the way with a National Information Technology Innovation Center (NITIC).

A $7.5 million federal grant will help the college launch a new center focused on creating and scaling up the high-demand training needed to fuel the country’s technology-enabled economic growth.

"Certainly, the fact that Intel is coming and we have had so much from Google and AWS in the area was a contributing factor," Larry McWherter, an Assistant Professor and Cyber Security Coordinator at Columbus State Community College said.

McWherter, a national leader in IT education who was named educator of the year by the High Impact Technology Exchange Conference in 2022, will lead NITIC as principal investigator on the grant.

"This particular center would be focused on training educators in areas that they have not worked in before," McWherter said. "That will translate into the students being successful. We are looking to inspire our students and provide them with the preparation that’s necessary to get a job, and we are looking to train our educator workforce to do that."

We are looking to inspire our students and provide them with the preparation that’s necessary to get a job.

NITIC will work with employers, community colleges across the country, and others to prepare highly skilled technicians through credential programs that take two years or less.

The grant is awarded for five years, with a potential renewal for a second five-year term.

Key components of the NITIC include:

• The development of a national Business Industry Leadership Team to align future community college curriculum with employer demand, scaling up relationships at super-regional levels to national collaboration.
• The creation of an IT Innovation Network to benchmark best practices and emerging ideas to advance IT education nationally, which will serve as an incubator for leading-edge curriculum.
• The syndication of instructor training resources to address current and future IT competencies.
• The promotion of recruitment best practices to increase the participation of women, underrepresented minorities and veterans in IT careers.