M.B.A. Student Explores Data Center Opportunities with UToledo Business Incubator

M.B.A. Student Explores Data Center Opportunities with UToledo Business Incubator

Alex Li is familiar with the common criticisms of data centers - that they use up too many resources and that they create too few jobs.

Li worked in the industry for years, most recently scouting sites for centers in northern Ohio, before beginning a master of business administration degree in information systems at The University of Toledo's John B. and Lillian E. Neff College of Business and Innovation.

His professional experience is what inspired the business plan he's developing with the support of the UToledo Business Incubator. He wants to improve the sustainability of data centers by using the heat their cooling systems produce to support greenhouses.

"A lot of data centers use water to cool their equipment," Li said, referring to the servers, routers and other technology that hum throughout the typical data center. "When that water comes out of the cooling system, it's hot.

"So why not recover that heat? Why not use it to heat a greenhouse?"

Li brings a wealth of real-world experience to his master's program. After he graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics from Binghamton University, part of the state university system of New York, in 2014, he established himself as an entrepreneur with a study-abroad agency that he founded and ran from 2016 to 2019. Then he found his niche in the emerging cryptocurrency industry in 2019, ultimately following industry currents from his native China back to the United States - specifically, Ohio - in 2022.

He enrolled at UToledo in 2025 to advance his career in the States.

"I want to learn how to do business in the United States," Li said. "There are a lot of cultural differences in how people think, in how people do things in China and the United States. The M.B.A. program is helping me to learn about these differences, and hopefully it's setting me up for a stronger professional future."

Entrepreneurial inspiration struck during his first semester on campus, with his fledgling business plan drawing a connection between two major industries in Ohio.

The first is data centers, with Ohio ranking fifth nationally in its number of centers, according to Data Center Map, and hosting major players like Amazon, Google and Meta. The second is greenhouses, with the Buckeye State among the top ten states for the floriculture industry as of 2023 per the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"We have long winters in Ohio, so greenhouses need to be heated," Li said. "We can save energy by drawing that heat from the data centers."

Li first brought his idea to Dr. Robert Yonker, an associate professor of management, who suggested he connect with the UToledo Business Incubator. The incubator aims to foster innovation and regional economic growth by providing support, resources and development opportunities to local businesses and entrepreneurs, including undergraduate and graduate students at UToledo.

Incubator staff have since been helping Li to navigate next steps for his idea, including his search for a site to host a data center-greenhouse facility to demonstrate the viability of his idea, and to connect with resources like the Lightship Bootcamp.

"Alex has taken meaningful ownership of the entrepreneurial process," said Kristen Shinaver, a brand development advisor who works with Li at the UToledo Business Incubator. "His willingness to learn from feedback, adapt his approach and take advantage of introductions to resources throughout our Ohio partnership network has helped him develop a stronger understanding of what it takes to build a scalable, sustainable business. He's working with our team to build a sturdy foundation, but as the venture continues to take shape, Alex will have the confidence to move forward strategically, and that kind of founder-driven growth is exactly what we aim to support."