The Akron Biomedical Corridor is an "Innovation District" bounded by Akron General Medical Center on the west, by Akron City Hospital on the east, and includes Akron Children’s Hospital near the district’s center. Around the country, such "Innovation Districts" are being used to attract and market clusters of like-minded technology companies. see map (1,100k pdf)

"We all appreciate from a quality of life perspective that these three great health care institutions comprise some of the city’s greatest strengths," said Plusquellic. "Today we are emphasizing that these three medical centers also constitute an engine for economic development and the growth of new jobs."

Concurrently with his announcement, Plusquellic said the City of Akron is applying to the State of Ohio for a $5 million grant in support of the project through the Ohio Job Ready Sites Program, which seeks to attract new investments with high-wage employment opportunities. The new program is funded with bond proceeds from the state’s Third Frontier initiative approved by voters last November. Grant funds can be used to assemble land, make improvements to property, fund the environmental clean-up of properties and pay for design studies. $60 million is available for the first round of funding.

The mayor will later submit a proposal to the Akron Planning Commission and Akron City Council to create a Unified Plan District (UPD) that will identify the first Innovation District in the city to encourage the growth of biomedical companies within the corridor.

"We already own a significant amount of land in this district," said the mayor. "By launching this initiative, we are declaring our intention to find developers and businesses that will benefit from the proximity to these three institutions. These include businesses that provide materials or services to the hospitals, or who can offer product research and manufacturing, and it will certainly include housing and amenities for the people who work at the hospitals. "

Within the Akron Biomedical Corridor, the three medical systems employ more than 11,000 professional including some 1,000 physicians. Combined, the three hospital systems attract more than 1.5 million outpatient visits each year and almost 80,000 patient admissions. This places the Akron hospitals’ combined total ahead of the Cleveland Clinic.

"Akron is privileged to have access to some of America’s finest hospitals, all of which also support significant medical education and research," Plusquellic said.

In 2006, both Akron General and Summa were named on the prestigious America’s Best Hospitals list published by U.S. News and World Report.

Summa ranked nationally in three specialties: respiratory disorders (28); digestive disorders (48); orthopedics (49). Akron General was the second highest ranking heart program in northeast Ohio and ranked 30th nationally.

Children’s Hospital is recognized nationally in multiple disciplines. Its highly acclaimed burn unit was the first in the world to grow human skin to treat burns, and it was the first pediatric facility in the country to have an MRI solely dedicated to children that allows neurosurgeons to do image-guided brain and spinal surgery.

Plusquellic said a principal reason that Akron can lure new research and product development to the Akron Biomedical Corridor is the strong presence of the University of Akron and the Northeast Ohio Universities College of Medicine.

The mayor noted that, within the past week, the University of Akron Research Foundation announced the licensing of new technology to a Massachusetts company that will produce and market innovations relating to polymer nanofibers for the release of pharmaceuticals through a skin patch.

"Akron remains a global center for materials research and fabrication technologies," the mayor said. "This is why we are positioned to attract innovative technology companies that can combine materials research with the perfect test-market for their biomedical products. Akron needs to market itself as a biomedical research and development center as well as a new materials research center."

Plusquellic also called attention to the need for increased collaboration among the three health care institutions as recommended in the Imagine.Akron:2025 report published in 2000. This past January, representatives of each hospital accompanied the mayor to Israel where the city entered into an agreement with an Israeli incubator that will send new scientific developments to Akron for "acceleration" in the United States market.

"With all of the patient care that is spread across many medical disciplines in Akron," said the mayor, "our hospitals may be the perfect laboratory for trials of new medical products and processes."

While much of the future development will be dependent on the willingness of the health care systems to collaborate on projects, the mayor said he is confident that there is a new spirit of cooperation that will lead to new announcements in the coming months.

The city is a major landowner in the new Innovation District. The Planning Department will acquire additional real estate for land banking in the corridor, and the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development will concentrate new efforts on finding companies that want to locate close to the hospital community.

A key part of the newly-identified Innovation District is the Akron Innerbelt. The city has undertaken studies to provide alternatives to replacing up to eight expressway bridges within the next decade. "We are looking at ways to not only save tax money," said the mayor, "but we think we can open-up land for future development along Route 59 that will fit the purposes of the Akron Biomedical Corridor."

The Innovation District also includes existing medical facilities such as physician offices, two dialysis centers and the headquarters of Summacare Health Plan and Apex Benefits Co.

Plusquellic also pointed to recent developments that have seen biomedical companies choose Akron for headquarters operations:

• Theken Medical has consolidated many of its national operations at Fulton Airport Terminal. The medical device maker designs and manufactures spinal implants using high- tech materials, including metals and polymers that are derived from the new materials research being conducted in the region. The company is looking at the possibility of constructing a new building for engineering.
• Mempro, a ceramic polymers manufacturer that uses polymer spin technology developed at the University of Akron. The company’s filtration process has applications in pharmaceutical manufacturing. Mempro has relocated its corporate headquarters from Colorado to Akron. City Council has approved a loan guarantee to assist the growth of jobs in Akron.