BioInnovation Center of Excellence Launches in Akron

10/16/2008

As its old heavy industry base has declined, Akron, like other old manufacturing cities, has been searching for powerful vehicles that can transform and sustain the local economy. Today, a partnership of five local institutions unveils the BioInnovation Institute, a project the partners view as a dramatic catalyst for economic development.

Working together, the University of Akron, the Northeast Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy (NEOUCOM), Summa Health System, Akron General Medical Center and Children's Hospital seek to build on the strengths of each partner to create a center of excellence in research and education, clinical services and enterprise in biomaterials and medicine. The institute will concentrate on orthopedics, wound care and related specialties.

Further strengthening the collaboration is the broad base of support the project has garnered. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has stepped forward with an impressive investment, (an initial $20 million over the next five years). Equally important has been the foundation's leadership, especially in defining the project's focus. Additional funding sources include Ohio's Third Frontier fund, the city of Akron, Summit County and private organizations.

BioInnovation typifies the bold initiatives required to forge new directions for the local and regional economy. It recognizes and promises to build on assets already in place, from health-care and educational programs to the growing biomedical industry and the developing entrepreneurial support system, such as the BioEnterprise Corp.

Make no mistake, BioInnovation is an ambitious project. Encouraging is its clear fit into the larger strategy for rejuvenating the Akron community. It complements the efforts of Mayor Don Plusquellic to expand educational options for residents (the ''sewers-to-scholarship'' plan, for instance) and develop a skilled and versatile work force. The Knight Foundation's keen interest points as well to the project's capacity to enhance the quality of life in the city, a most welcome priority of the foundation.

If BioInnovation has the potential to leave a large footprint in health care, education and biomedical enterprise in Akron, the partners face significant challenges in pursuing the project's goals. They expect to develop an institution with a distinctive national reputation in orthopedics, attracting the essential high-powered talent and boosting total research funding in the community from the current $40 million or so a year to $150 million within the next 10 years. The scale of the initiative is nothing any one or two or three of the institutions could pull off.

The BioInnovation Institute has vast potential for Akron's future. That translates into sustaining the well-defined focus, in short, the money, energy, knowledge and commitment to compete at such a high level.

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