Today, Tom Waltermire, CEO of Team NEO, and Brad Whitehead, President of the Fund for our Economic Future spoke at the City Club about Northeast Ohio’s economic outlook for the next decade. Below are themes and thoughts about business growth for 2020 and beyond.

It seems that 50 out of 50 states claim “bio” as their next industry. In Northeast Ohio, we already know we’re a healthcare hub, but this decade, we’ll become a biomedical business hub. We will build on current clinical and business hubs of excellence in Imaging, Orthopedics and Cardiovascular, capitalizing on the work started by groups such as BioEnterprise, the Austen BioInnovation Institute and Cleveland Clinic’s Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center. Many Northeast Ohio manufacturing companies are already diversifying their customer/industry mix to manufacture medical devices. This will exponentially increase by 2020.  By fully launching a Cleveland Plus biomedical business attraction program in 2010 that blends VC attraction, clinical/research global expertise and Third Frontier, the Northeast Ohio region will make this biomedical business growth a reality.

Advanced energy is just another “buzzword” to some, but with our current base of companies and focused efforts of innovation, we can create real hubs of sector excellence HERE.  Thanks to the efforts of groups such as NorTech, the Great Lakes Wind Network and the Cleveland Foundation, we know that hundreds of Northeast Ohio firms already supply to wind turbine manufacturers; this will only increase as demand for clean energy increases. If we build a wind farm on the lake (which has been predicted for 2020), then OEM presence here for wind turbines is a greater reality. In addition to wind, our region is already recognized as a nationwide hub for fuel cell research and development. Rolls Royce’s recent expansion announcement and Stark State’s Fuel Cell Prototyping Center are testaments to that, with huge potential for continued growth.

Innovation and technology-based economic development programs not only allow us to harness new opportunities quicker and more effectively, as noted with biomedical and advanced energy, but also lead us to new technologies such as flexible liquid crystal displays.  LCD technology was created here in Kent – we all know that.  But without the infrastructure and system in place, the region didn’t do the work to build the business cluster here.  With the next iteration of this flexible technology and manufacturing process being pioneered here, we’re not letting that happen as NorTech leads the charge to create a different outcome this time. 

University and college initiatives such as the Ohio Wind Energy Research and Commercialization Center and the Ohio Bioscience Workforce Training Program will continue to position our region’s workforce and industry base for the future.  Scientific R&D spending in our region doubles that of the United States.  Programs such as Third Frontier and the robust intelligent economic development system now in place are making this possible.

But perhaps the most important difference between making the “teens” successful for the NEO economy is the state and local commitment to economic development.  As Team NEO transitions into new campaigns and capitalizes on the successes of existing efforts, we still don’t stray from our credo that a strong region is made up of strong communities.  Mutual support and collaboration will be more important than ever in making these buzzwords a reality.  We will continue to have it all, together.

Team NEO. NorTech. BioEnterprise. Cleveland Plus. JumpStart. MAGNET. Fund for our Economic Future. Greater Cleveland Partnership. Sounds like Alphabet Soup, right?

If you’re one of the many Northeast Ohioans who have heard these names, but have no idea what we do – and worse yet, are pretty sure that we’re all just stepping all over each other, duplicating efforts, then you’re not alone.

Fortunately, I think each organization has done a pretty good job of publicizing our individual work. Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ve done a good job explaining how we all work together collaboratively as one cohesive non-profit regional economic development system that is helping to advance Northeast Ohio’s economy. Here’s the short-hand:

·         NorTech: Regional Think-Tank looking 10 years ahead to develop the region’s future high tech high-growth industry clusters

·         JumpStart: Enabling and increasing the region’s entrepreneurship with pre-seed and seed funding, and assistance

·         BioEnterprise: Generating hundreds of millions of dollars for biomedical start-up businesses in Northeast Ohio

·         Team NEO: Attracting expansions and relocations of medium and large sized businesses to Northeast Ohio

·         MAGNET: Ensuring Northeast Ohio’s manufacturing industry is globally competitive

·         Cleveland Plus: The external brand and marketing campaign used to promote Northeast Ohio as a tourism and business destination.

·         Greater Cleveland Partnership (GCP): Cleveland’s chamber of commerce.

·         Fund for Our Economic Future (FFEF/The Fund): Consortium of approximately 70 foundations collectively pooling resources to advance the region’s economy (funding above initiatives).

As the GCP and FFEF are funders of the regional economic development initiatives above, they ensure that we don’t duplicate efforts, but rather work within our own unique missions, and work together when appropriate (such as Team NEO working with BioEnterprise as industry experts when attracting a medical device company).

Having just come from a meeting with my peers from each of these organizations, I can tell you that the system is working. Not only has Team NEO attracted 25 new businesses and more than $80 million in new annual payroll to the region using the Cleveland Plus brand, but JumpStart has helped 300 entrepreneurs launch and funded 40. BioEnterprise has attracted more than $500 million in new VC $ for bio start-ups and MAGNET has helped dozens of Northeast Ohio manufacturers diversify their markets, products and enter into international exporting. Moreover, NorTech helped create JumpStart and BioEnterprise and is now working on advanced energy industry development. Collectively, with funding from the Fund, GCP, other chambers of commerce, businesses and sources, we are increasing jobs, payroll and tax base. Together, we are advancing Northeast Ohio’s economy.

I invite you to ask me questions, and engage in the process. Only by truly working together – across public and private sectors, leveraging the resources of Northeast Ohio’s 170,000 businesses, 4.1 million people and $170 billion economy will we continue to make progress toward the economic vibrancy we all seek.