Turning heads overseas

The award honors innovation in educational products.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
YOUNGSTOWN -- A downtown technology company that's been lauded locally for its rapid growth has won a prestigious award overseas.
Turning Technologies recently won a BETT Award in London. The local company's audience response systems won in one of 11 categories -- hardware for primary and secondary education.
The awards honor innovations in educational products. These are handed out annually by the British government's agency that promotes technology in education, a British trade association, and the organizers of BETT.
BETT is the world's largest educational technology show.
The award is expected to provide a significant boost to Turning Technology's sales in Europe because the BETT awards carry a lot of weight among technology buyers there, said Jim Cossler, director of the Youngstown Business Incubator.
TurningPoint
Turning Technologies sells its TurningPoint to schools, universities and businesses. The product can be integrated into Microsoft's PowerPoint so presenters can receive feedback from class or audience members who use small, hand-held devices.
The local company last year opened a sales office in England and has signed deals with distributors to sell its product globally.
The award also will benefit Youngstown, Cossler said.
"This prestigious, international award really validates for the entire community that we are able to build and launch world-class technology companies from Youngstown, Ohio," he said.
The company's three founders created Turning Technologies in 2001 and then moved into the incubator as a rent-free tenant. Today, the company's paying rent and taking up a lot of space with its 75 employees.
Turning Technologies will become the anchor tenant of a new technology center that's about to be built next to the incubator on Federal Plaza West. The incubator and other downtown officials hope eventually to create a cluster of technology companies.
shilling@vindy.com