From finding ways to treat sickle cell anemia to carbon footprint reduction through the construction of zero-energy buildings, the following Cincinnati companies are helping change the world for the better by taking big swings. Some may say they're aiming for the moon with their biggest ideas. But since when does any innovator worth their salt think small?
Melink Corporation — Zero Energy
Melink Corporation, centered in Clermont County of Cincinnati, has been helping companies save energy and thereby helping to keep the world a safer, better place for over 30 years. They work with some of the world’s largest companies, including Target, Walmart, McDonalds, and Starbucks. Melink provides services such as the Intelli-Hood HVAC and the HVAC test and balance.
The company’s mission, according to founder, owner and president Steve Melink, is “to change the world one building at a time, through helping their customers save energy and reducing their carbon footprint, helping to make them more strategically competitive for the long term.”
Melink Corporation is currently working on a second headquarters (HQ2) which is half-completed, with walls, floors, and the roof installed. With completion aimed for November, the building will, on average over the course of a year, provide its own clean power, thanks to a solar PV system mounted over the parking lot.
“We hope to inspire countless architects, engineers and building owners around the country on how to design and construct affordable zero-energy buildings in 2020 and beyond. And as the innovator of various new building technologies, we want to be a key solution provider that makes it easy for these stakeholders to mainstream zero energy,” said Melink.
Most importantly, though, Melink and Melink Corporation recognize the importance of more clean energy leadership in the world and helping to make the world a better place for the future by helping to reduce climate change.
Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center — Hydroxyurea Pill For Sickle Cell Anemia Treatment
While Cincinnati Children’s was neither the first hospital to discover hydroxyurea nor market it, doctors and scientists at the hospital have been testing the drug for numerous years. It's a treatment option that's considered a far cheaper alternative to blood transfusions when handling sickle cell disease.
Children's blood disease expert Dr. Russell Ware led a New England Journal of Medicine-featured study on hydroxyurea earlier this year. After working with children between the ages for 1 to 10 in four sub-Saharan African countries for six months, he found that treatment reduced sickle cell pain by 55 percent, infections by 38 percent, malaria by 51 percent, transfusions by 67 percent and death by 70 percent.
“Hydroxyurea was safe and offered many benefits to these young patients,” Ware said.
Regardless, the new approach has taken awhile to hit the ground running in the U.S. and has taken even longer in Africa. There, the disease is killing many children at young ages due to lack of proper diagnosis and great limitations in treatment.
Ware is working with partners in Africa to help speed up the process of getting hydroxyurea to be adopted as a new treatment. The project aligns with the medical center’s mission, which is to “improve child health and transform delivery of care through fully integrated, globally recognized research, education and innovation.”
Editor's Note: To check out moonshots in all 13 Inno markets, click here.
