Columbus panel: local startup pipeline and university programs position the city to compete in the AI economy, panelists say

A panel of local tech and education leaders said Columbus has the pieces needed to compete in the growing AI economy but urged deliberate attention to workforce training, equity and governance.

At a Columbus Metropolitan Club forum held at the National Veterans Memorial and Museum, Sofia Pfiffner, the club's president and CEO, introduced a panel that included Shereen Agrawal, executive director of the Center for Software Innovation at The Ohio State University; Alex Froe, founder and CEO of Stack Health and chairman of Beam Benefits; Tim Grace, managing director of Techstars Columbus; and Carrie Ghosh, senior reporter at Columbus Business First, who moderated.

"We take on hard problems," said Shereen Agrawal, describing Ohio State's approach to AI fluency, which she said embeds applied AI training across more than 180 undergraduate programs so students learn how to use AI in specific domains rather than treat it as a purely technical subject.

Tim Grace described the local accelerator pipeline and cited recent program results: "we've invested in 42 companies for the past two years, and those companies have raised about $25,000,000 after our program and are valued collectively at over $140,000,000 now," using those figures to illustrate growing startup momentum in Columbus.

Panelists debated what it means to be "AI native." Grace said new companies now structure teams, data and product roadmaps around AI from day one, giving them a structural advantage in speed and efficiency. Alex Froe said the shift affects hiring and operations at incumbents too: "we should be hiring slower, smaller and senior" to combine human expertise with AI-driven tools, he said.

Panelists offered practical advice for non-tech local businesses: Shereen Agrawal recommended experimenting with AI in administrative areas such as finance and marketing and pointed to Ohio State's targeted courses for local employees and managers. Grace and Froe gave examples of legacy firms and staffing companies using custom AI to match skills to jobs faster and automate routine tasks.

Audience members raised concerns about equity and human impacts. Linda Key, a scholar working on multicultural equity studies, asked whether the region's growth would funnel tax benefits and gains to only certain communities and pressed panelists to talk about what companies "put back into the communities." Alex Froe acknowledged trade-offs and cited health-care applications as an example of human-centered benefits, arguing that AI could reduce administrative costs and accelerate drug development.

On governance, a student asked whether checks exist to "stop" AI misuse. Panelists said governance is a shared responsibility: major model developers must impose safety controls, and state and federal policymakers also need to act. "There's a tremendous burden on multiple constituents," Grace said, calling for balanced conversations about data privacy, environmental impact and job changes.

Pfiffner closed by thanking sponsors and noting the Columbus Metropolitan Library's recommended reading on AI startup strategy; she also announced the next forum, which will feature Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.

The forum combined examples of local startup success and university-led education efforts with repeated audience concerns about equity, workforce disruption and the need for governance. Panelists urged experimentation, deliberate education design and cross-sector engagement as the city adapts to rapid AI-driven change.