From punk rocker and hip café owner to software maverick and internet entrepreneur, Cincinnati resident John Knodel has worn many hats. In his latest incarnation, Knodel is cofounder of Online Rewards, a one-stop online shop for incentive and customer loyalty marketing programs that is using innovative software and creative thinking to outbid long established competitors and put Cincinnati on the map in this highly competitive industry.
Large scale European immigration to Cincinnati may have tapered off by the late 19th Century. But today the Queen City attracting a new wave of euro-transplants who are plugging into the city and making it their own. Soapbox's Jon DeHart shares just a few of their stories.
Starting May 1, Cincinnati's diverse innovators have a chance to enter their original creations, ideas or inventions in round two of Cincinnati Innovates. With more and bigger prizes, and the bar set uber-high last year, the second installment of this showcase promises to be even bigger than last year's inaugural event. But before this year's contest begins, Soapbox's Jonathan DeHart offers a glimpse at some of last year's winners and their fabulous inventions to get your ideas flowing.
With Cincinnati's winning bid to host the 2012 World Choir Games, the city will get the chance to showcase its own musical heritage and boost its international profile like never before. How did Cincinnati become the first city in the United States to host the games that will draw 200,000 music fans to Cincinnati, and what will they mean for the city in 2012 and beyond?
Small science is becoming big business for the Queen City. The University of Cincinnati has joined forces with a local innovate businesses to transfer some of today's most cutting edge science in the nanotechnology field from lab to market.
After a decade of renovation and collaboration, Cincinnati's Fountain Square has recharged the heart of downtown. Now booming, the Square is attracting record numbers of locals and visitors alike. Soapbox takes a look at how solid planning and active residents have created this downtown success story.
Today, a growing number of Cincinnati-based creative solutions firms are using the far-reaching capabilities of digital media to transform advertising, marketing and print media. A potential windfall for Cincinnati, this digital media boom is forging ties across the country and giving the Queen City an edge in an emerging field that promises to revolutionize how companies and customers communicate and connect.
Pecha Kucha (PK), Japanese for chit-chat, is a global conversation taking place at the cutting edge of culture, which began six years ago in Tokyo. Now taking place in cities around the world, PK events bring together designers, academics and a host of other professionals, who network and share their ideas in a revolutionary format with a unique twist: all presentations must consist of 20 images, each of which must be described within 20 seconds. Ready to display its own creative powers, Cincinnati is in on the conversation now too.
These are exciting times for Cincinnati-China relations. Cincinnati firms are flocking to China, while key players are spreading Chinese business and cultural awareness in Cincinnati. Two such players – the Greater Cincinnati Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the Public Library of Cincinnati's innovative Ni Hao! program – share their thoughts here about the development of this important relationship.
Japan is the largest source of foreign direct investment in greater Cincinnati. However, it’s not all business. There is a thriving Japanese community that has grown up around the Toyota-centric northern Kentucky economic base, which has forged strong cultural ties between the Bluegrass State and the Land of the Rising Sun.
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