Companiesfor research + innovation / Cincinnati

While Brian Hock trained for the Louisville Ironman in 2010, he had an idea for a way to stay hydrated along the way. That idea evolved into Simple Hydration, a start-up company with an innovative product that is being manufactured in the US.

Charlie Hall’s first job after getting a degree in finance from Miami University, was selling copiers in Chicago. His boss told him he had to make 50 cold calls a day to keep his job. After six months, Hall got fired. Two days after he got fired, Spring Valley, a bottle watered distribution company that had been one of his cold calls, offered him a job.

David Brecount and Mark Miller started US Digital Partners with a bold vision: they wanted to embrace the way the internet was changing business interaction and help Cincinnati companies develop and market their brands.

Brian Burke started IBuyCells in 2006. Alone, he was buying and selling used Verizon phones out of his house in Loveland. In 2008, he saw much more potential in selling Apple computers and iPhones. In October of 2009, he founded sellyourmac.com and generated $1 million of revenue in the first year.

Though Kaleidoscope has been around for 22 years, in its last decade, its focus has shifted to four distinct areas of product development. By keeping a clear eye on consumer goods, electronics, healthcare and transportation, Kaleidoscope takes the process from research to ideation.

Cincinnati-born Copper Mountain Beverages developed and sells Hot2Go, a packaged latte that has real milk, is ready to heat and drink and tastes as good as more expensive coffee beverages.

Cincinnati-based dunnhumbyUSA has raised consumer research to a science by finding out exactly what consumers want. It's information that major retailers are very interested in and it's why dunnhumbyUSA has grown so rapidly with offices in Cincinnati, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, New York and Portland, Oregon.