The Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence includes partner facilities across Northern Ohio to assist from prototyping to market readiness.

Youngstown Business Incubator supports startups from validation through capital readiness, offering product analysis, early customer acquisition support, and access to advanced additive manufacturing tools through its campus and America Makes partnership.

Lorain County Community College’s GLIDE offers technical support and access to LCCC’s cutting-edge facilities, including the Campana Center for Ideation and Invention, Fab Lab and SMART Microsystems. Startups benefit from LCCC’s extensive network of manufacturers and connections with major corporations.

Lakeland Community College provides resources for mechanical and electrical prototype validation, including CNC machining, welding, and quality testing equipment.

Cleveland Water Alliance (CWA) is enabling founders to prototype, test, and pilot technologies in real-world water environments, providing access to industry standards for benchmarking and direct interaction with end users for validation.

SUPPORT AT EVERY STAGE OF THE JOURNEY

Ideation: Exploring and shaping an idea

Lakeland Community College Facilities

Extensive prototyping facilities, with equipment ranging from 3D printers and CNC machines to foundry and ceramics tools are available.

YBI Early Stage Support

Guidance is provided on securing SBIR/STTR funding specialized for DoD-related manufacturing opportunities, workshops on government funding, and commercialization, customer discovery and market research tools like TurboInnovate and Geoflow.

YBI Shark Tank

A pitch event for early-stage startups from ideation through Pre-Seed/Seed+, offering up to $50K in non-dilutive funding. The program helps founders strengthen their pitch materials, gain exposure through marketing and press, and connect with investors and potential customers.

GLIDE Business Development

Advanced manufacturing startups are provided with customized business development services, including strategic planning, market analysis, and proof of concept support.

Cleveland Water Alliance Entrepreneurial Mentorship

Early-stage water innovators are assisted with assessing their value proposition and core technical innovation, ensuring that they are building a solution that is feasible and matched to a concrete market need.

Validation: Proving the Concept

YBI Facilities

The 65,000 sq. ft. of advanced manufacturing space is equipped with state-of-the-art 3D printing, scanning, and prototyping systems. Startups can access rapid prototyping, tooling production, and a wide range of additive manufacturing technologies – including polymer, fiber-reinforced, metal, and ceramic printing.

YBI Validation and Funding Assistance

Founders receive help to define product concepts, validate technical and financial feasibility, and identify target markets through tools like ManufactureGrow. This can include support developing prototypes with in-house engineering, testing, and data collection, along with sales strategy, financial projections, and mitigation plans.

International YBI

Founders receive support with legal, housing, banking, and warm introductions to marquee customers to help establish and grow their businesses locally.

YBI Internship Program

Advanced manufacturing startups are connected with interns to provide low- or no-cost business and development support, helping companies scale faster while offering students valuable real-world experience.

Lakeland Community College Facilities

Specialized facilities for validating mechanical and electrical prototypes, including electronics labs, quality and CMM testing equipment, Fero-Arm for precision measurement and tensile testing equipment are available. These resources support complex validation needs for functionality, quality, performance, and testing.

GLIDE Facilities

4,000 sq. ft. of customizable office space, 2,700 sq. ft. of lab space, and the 5,000 sq. ft. Fab Lab for prototyping, design, and testing is available to access. These facilities support product development and connect startups with a talent pipeline aligned to advanced manufacturing workforce needs.

Cleveland Water Alliance Water Accelerator Testbed

Technical infrastructure, legal support, and industry connections to prototype, test, and demonstrate water technologies at TRL 5–9, is available to bridge the gap from lab to market through benchmarking and direct end-user collaboration.

Cleveland Water Alliance Open Innovation Challenges

A structured innovation competition to tackle water tech market gaps. This includes partnering with industry leaders to define a specific challenge and test/validate relevant TRL 2-5 solutions, culminating in prize packages awarded together with industry end users.

Additional programs in this stage: GLIDE Business Development, YBI Early-Stage Support, YBI Shark Tank

Traction: Early customers and measurable momentum

Cleveland Water Alliance Growth Services

Office space, product development, legal support services, manufacturing and supply chain partnerships, business advising, Federal grants, and other resources are available to help accelerate path to market.

GLIDE Growth Services

Connections to supply chains and regional business networks helps to accelerate commercialization and job creation via access to critical resources for growth and scale. GLIDE also provides support for business planning, presentations, marketing, sales, IP protection, and connections to early-stage funding.

YBI Growth Services

Startups can benefit from warm introductions to investors, access to Crunchbase, and curated networking events designed to address funding needs and build strategic relationships. YBI also facilitates introductions to marquee customers to support lead generation, customer acquisition, and recurring revenue.

Additional programs in this stage: Cleveland Water Alliance Water Accelerator Testbed, Lakeland Community College Facilities, GLIDE Facilities, YBI Validation and Funding Assistance, International YBI, YBI Internship Program, YBI Facilities

Pre-Seed to Seed+: Securing early funding to scale

Cleveland Water Alliance Customer Connections

Water tech innovators can gain exposure to potential collaborators and clients through:

  • Pilot Partner Circular – A quarterly newsletter sharing a blinded selection of CWA’s portfolio with utility, government, and private sector end users
  • Lending Library – A repository of tech that can be loaned to end users to trial
  • Innovator Webinars – A virtual series highlighting tech to potential customers

Additional programs in this stage: Lakeland Community College Facilities, GLIDE Facilities, GLIDE Growth Services, International YBI, YBI Internship Program, YBI Facilities, YBI Growth Services

Series A: Accelerating growth with investment

Cleveland Water Alliance Export Support

CWA has been on the US Department of Commerce’s Environmental Technology Trade Advisory Committee (ETTAC) for nearly a decade, providing unique access to US Government export programs including financing, trade missions, market insights, and specific trade leads. Partnerships with international water tech hubs in Europe and Asia further amplify this support capacity.

Cleveland Water Alliance Corporate Partnerships

CWA’s network of corporate leaders can be leveraged to identify relevant licensing, M&A, manufacturing, and other partnerships to amplify founders’ capacity to deliver their water tech products at scale.

Additional programs in this stage: Lakeland Community College Facilities, GLIDE Facilities, GLIDE Growth Services, YBI Growth Services

Don’t Know Where to Begin? Start Here.

Every entrepreneur starts somewhere, and you don’t have to figure it out on your own. Fill out the form below and we’ll connect you with a Regional Startup Ambassador who can help you find the right resources, programs, and next steps.