The biomedical innovations taking place in Cleveland’s Health-Tech Corridor will soon be magnified as the state of Ohio designates the newly formed Corridor as a “Hub of Opportunity and Innovation.” This is great news for The Plus region, which has emerged as a leader in the biomedical sector. The new hub status is expected to help Northeast Ohio attract more bioscience companies and create jobs.

Already a vital contributor to The Plus region’s economy, the Cleveland Health-Tech Corridor boasts 75 biomedical companies, 45 technology companies and seven business incubators. The Health-Tech Corridor represents a biomedical and health care cluster, which leverages distinguished institutions such as the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center and St. Vincent Charity Medical Center. Aligned primarily along Euclid Avenue, the Corridor incorporates some of Northeast Ohio’s finest academic establishments like Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University and Cuyahoga Community College.

While recognition as a “Hub of Opportunity and Innovation” brings a level of prestige to the Health-Tech Corridor it also brings a new form of financing. Officials said that having hub status will ensure a $250,000 matching grant and priority status for millions of dollars in loans and grants given by the Ohio Department of Development each year.

In fact, one institute in the Health-Tech Corridor has already attracted a sizeable influx of funding. Recently, the Ohio Third Frontier Commission awarded $5 million to Case Western Reserve University to create the Global Advanced Imaging Innovation Center. The Center, which is scheduled to open in the spring of 2011, will be located at University Hospitals Case Medical Center’s Cancer Hospital. Phillips Healthcare, a global leader in medical imaging technologies, will provide a $33.6 million match for the grant. The center “will provide the latest imaging technologies and treatments to patients with cancer, neurologic conditions and heart disease.”

As the Health-Tech Corridor continues to attract funding, organizations like BioEnterprise work to attract biomedical companies to the region. Having hub status will further promote an atmosphere of collaboration and innovation, resulting in more biomedical companies setting up shop in the Health -Tech Corridor. BioEnterprise will head up business development in the corridor, building upon the work that has already been done.

For more information on the Cleveland Health-Tech Corridor’s hub status and the Global Advanced Imaging Innovation Center, please read the articles below.

+CWRU, UH get $5 million Third Frontier grant for new imaging center

+Ohio awarding ‘hub’ status to Cleveland’s Health-Tech Corridor

+Philips Healthcare to invest $33M in imaging center at UH Case Medical Center

Tags: Bioenterprise, cleveland plus, Economic Development, medical devices, medical imaging, midtown cleveland, ohio department of development, philips, Team NEO

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