The City of Delaware Department of Economic Development is dedicated to supporting businesses in the city to thrive domestically and internationally.

Halliday Technologies Inc is a local family-owned business that manufactures equipment to run friction testing on airport runways. The company has sold to airports across the U.S. and several countries.

During an annual visit to Halliday Technologies Inc, the company expressed a desire to continue expanding into new international markets. The city’s Economic Development team immediately connected the company to Roberta Winch at the Ohio SBDC Export Assistance Network at Columbus State Community College.

Through the follow-up consultation that the city and Winch provided, Halliday was advised to apply to take part in the Ohio Export Internship Program (OEIP). Finding the time to focus on developing a new market is a challenge for many businesses. OEIP is designed to help businesses overcome this challenge by matching them with highly motivated students from Ohio universities and colleges who have taken export-focused coursework.

OEIP helps companies that are looking to export for the first time or to improve their current export initiatives. The program provides a 50% reimbursement for the intern’s wages. It offers a mutually beneficial relationship to students and companies by providing real-world experiences where both can learn and grow.

Alex Wynne, a graduate of OEIP, was placed with Halliday from May through August to work full time as their export-trained intern. Wynne worked closely with Halliday’s VP of business development, Alexandra Sydney. During the internship, Wynne worked on multiple projects, like analyzing and presenting friction testing data to customers, performing in-depth market research for several potential international markets, and assisting Halliday with their first-ever participation in the Ohio booth at the Paris Air Show this past June.

Although the internship program has ended, Halliday has decided to keep Wynne part time during the school year to continue supporting their international expansion efforts.

“The program has been an invaluable experience,” Sydney said. “As a family-owned company, our resources are limited, so having an export-trained intern allowed us to work on projects that we didn’t have time for in the past andfreed me up to focus on other initiatives.”

The Ohio Department of Development will begin taking company applications for the 2024 Ohio Export Internship Program cohort later this fall. For more information, contact Wendi Howell, OEIP Program manager, at (614) 466-6811 or [email protected].

Submitted by the City of Delaware.