The Beta District’s Collaborative Approach Serves as a Model for the Columbus Region

The Northwest U.S. Route 33 corridor that stretches from Dublin to Marysville and through Union County is one of the most innovative ecosystems in the country. It hosts global brands such as Cardinal Health, ScottsMiracle-Gro and Honda Development & Manufacturing of America. More than 70 automotive companies call the region home, as do the nonprofit Transportation Research Center Inc. (TRC), Nestlé, OhioHealth, the Ohio State University, Ohio University and Columbus State Community College. Marysville’s 33 Innovation Park is home to the Automotive & Mobility Innovation Center (AMIC), a tech incubator operated by Lextant.

To leverage this powerful blend of industry and academia, a group of representatives from different community governments along the corridor began meeting in 2014. Their discussions focused on how they could work together to help companies continue to innovate and drive economic development across their shared region. In 2016, they formed the NW 33 Innovation Corridor Council of Governments to oversee the creation of the fiber network and so that multiple agencies could collaborate to accelerate innovation and remove silos and red tape.

In 2020, the COG, which includes Dublin, Marysville, Union County and the Marysville-Union County Port Authority, formally branded this innovation hub as The Beta District. Doug McCollough, who was hired as the organization’s first executive director in July 2024, says the COG model continues to work well today.

COG Vice Chair and Dublin City Manager Megan O’Callaghan says the COG was designed to be flexible and business friendly so private companies can engage with multiple public leaders through one entity to speed up deployment of their projects.

“A great example is instead of each community building its own isolated fiber network, we all share the regional fiber loop,” O’Callaghan says. “That means it is more cost effective, scalable and more attractive to businesses that now don’t have to deal with each individual community government separately.”

 

COG Chair and Marysville City Manager Terry Emery says the COG model “ensures that businesses can focus on innovation, supported by shared assets like the fiber infrastructure. That is really what ties The Beta District together.” This shared network allows organizations working on projects to be on the cutting edge of technology and move data with the speed and reliability that’s needed for vehicles and infrastructure to talk to one another in real time.

The Connected Dublin and Connected Marysville smart mobility projects rely on access to the fiber network to collect data that is making street operations in these communities safer for residents.

Moving forward, McCollough’s goals include expanding the district’s Business Advisory Group to make sure more companies have a seat at the table to guide regional priorities and projects. He also plans to strengthen industry and research partnerships involving universities, Battelle and the Ohio Aerospace Institute. Other goals include promoting the district on a national and global scale and engaging residents so they are aware of how projects benefit local communities.

“I’ll be working to raise the profile of The Beta District,” McCollough says, “so it’s known not only as an innovation zone but also a deployment zone where technology moves from the lab to the street.”

Business Advisory Board member Chris Berry, CEO and founder of Dublin-based automotive software and services company Echelle Resources, says McCollough has done “an outstanding job leading and elevating The Beta District in Ohio.”

“His vision and commitment to innovation have transformed the district into a hub for technology, mobility and community partnerships,” he says, “driving meaningful progress for our region.”

• Doug McCollough, Executive Director
• Terry Emery, Chair, NW 33 Innovation Corridor COG; Marysville City Manager
• Megan O’Callaghan, Vice Chair, NW 33 Innovation Corridor COG; Dublin City Manager
• Eric Phillips, Secretary, NW 33 Innovation Corridor COG; Executive Director, Union County-Marysville Economic Development Partnership; CEO, Union County Chamber of Commerce
• Bill Narducci, Member, NW 33 Innovation Corridor COG; Union County Administrator
• Keith Conroy, Member, NW 33 Innovation Corridor COG; Vice President, Hicks Partners

Public Sector/Government

• City of Dublin
• City of Marysville
• DriveOhio (Ohio Department of Transportation)
• Logan County
• Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission
• Smart Columbus
• Union County
• U.S. Department of Transportation

Private Sector/Corporate

• AECOM
• Accenture
• AGC
• Augustwenty Inc.
• Avaap
• Bosch
• Cisco
• DartPoints
• Deloitte
• Derq Inc.
• Ease Logistics
• Echelle Resources
• Expedient
• Forward Momentum
• Hicks Partners
• HNTB
• Honda Development & Manufacturing of America
• MH Corbin
• Michael Baker International
• MinebeaMitsumi Inc.
• Modular Assembly Innovations
• MurphyEpson
• NMB Technologies Corp.
• Oliver Wyman
• OmniAir
• P3Mobility
• ParaWave
• Parsons Corp.
• Perrone Robotics Inc.
• PNC Bank
• Solclusion Energy Group
• STV Inc.
• T-Mobile
• Taft Law
• Transform Labs
• Trihydro Corp.
• Verizon
• Vessel
• Visibility Marketing
• The Wendy’s Co.
• Woolpert
• WSP

Nonprofit/Industry Organizations

• One Columbus
• Rev1 Ventures

Academic/Research

• Battelle
• Lextant
• NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)
• The Ohio State University
• Ohio University
• Parallax Advanced Research
• Transportation Research Center Inc. (TRC)