At Lorain County Community College, fostering entrepreneurship and supporting businesses is not an abstract goal — it is work we do every day, alongside the companies that choose to build their future in our region. Driving economic growth through these partnerships is a central pillar of the college’s new THRIVE 2035 vision, which focuses on advancing economic mobility for individuals and families, and creating a thriving economy and community for all.
Business leaders across Northeast Ohio know that innovation depends on access: access to talent, capital, specialized facilities and partners who understand what it takes to scale a company. LCCC has intentionally built an entrepreneurial ecosystem designed to deliver exactly those resources.
A powerful example is p-Chip Corporation, a globally relevant company whose microchips — each about the size of a grain of salt — help businesses trace and authenticate just about anything from automotive parts to health care devices and luxury items.
When Bill Eibon, the company’s chief technology officer and an LCCC alumnus, searched across North America for a location to test and manufacture their technology, he ultimately chose LCCC. The college’s evolving business support infrastructure — including advanced lab space, workforce training and commercialization support — made a familiar community college a national standout. Through GLIDE, LCCC’s business incubator and cornerstone in its entrepreneurial support system and facilities like the Richard A. Desich SMART Commercialization Center for Microsystems, high-tech companies like p-Chip gain access to infrastructure, strategic guidance and funding connections that help transform ideas into scalable enterprises.
And of course, being a college campus that launched right into the microelectronic manufacturing (MEMS) and sensors industry more than a decade ago, p-Chip has access to a pipeline of highly trained, motivated students. In p-Chip’s case, co-locating within the very building that LCCC’s MEMS program is taught in has been a win-win: our students gain hands-on experience with cutting-edge technology, and the company gains talent ready to contribute from day one.
Since 2021, p-Chip has provided earn and learn opportunities to several interns within LCCC’s MEMS programs. Whether they are pursuing LCCC’s associate of applied science or our Bachelor of Applied Science program, these students build practical skills in microelectronic manufacturing, design, assembly and prototyping — precisely aligning with the company’s workforce needs.
The experience interns gain at fast-growing companies is invaluable. This fall p-Chip announced a new collaboration with Avantor, Inc., a global provider of products and services in the life sciences and advanced technology industries.
This is what entrepreneurship-driven economic development looks like in practice: companies grow, high-quality jobs are created, and a skilled local workforce is prepared to fill them. Supporting business expansion while building the talent base to sustain that growth is not simply good for individual companies. It is a long-term strategy to strengthen the entire regional economy.
As we move into the next decade of supporting innovation and economic mobility, led by our THRIVE 2035 vision, LCCC remains deeply committed to serving as a trusted partner for innovators and entrepreneurs. By helping companies launch, scale and remain in our region, we are not only supporting business success, we are building a resilient, more prosperous future for the communities we serve. ●
Marcia J. Ballinger, Ph.D. is President of Lorain County Community College
