2022 Strategic Initiative: Innovation
JobsOhio seeks to establish Ohio on the leading edge of healthcare, life sciences, and technology and attract the best and brightest companies and talent to drive Ohio’s future.
Our innovation initiatives boost Ohio’s competitiveness and leverage the state’s quality of life to make Ohio the midwest’s magnet for entrepreneurs, inventors, and industries.
Placemaking for Innovation Excellence
With our partners, JobsOhio is committed to establishing three nationally competitive Innovation Districts encompassing leading academic, healthcare, and research institutions to develop STEM talent and stimulate new discoveries and enterprises — while capitalizing on each community’s unique assets, to promote health, happiness, and well-being.
2022 RESULTS
- Met all anchor institutions requirements in the Innovation Districts of Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus
- Since JobsOhio’s investment in the three Innovation Districts, NIH funding, the key metric for research in the life sciences, has increased 5.7% from $890.3M in 2020 to $941.3M in 2022 across the nine anchor institutions
2023 GOALS
- Ensure that anchor institutions continue to meet the stated requirements in their respective Innovation District agreements while attracting business investment, creating jobs, and nurturing the type of communities that attract top talent
- Evaluate, set timelines, and draft agreements to drive real estate investments in the Cincinnati and Cleveland Innovation Districts
Fueling Ohio’s Scale-Up Companies
The JobsOhio Growth Capital (JOGC) Fund co-invests with venture sponsors to fuel scale-up healthcare and technology companies and drive positive ROI. From 2020-2022 we have 65 portfolio companies and have invested $102 million.
2022 RESULTS
2023 GOALS
The Research & Development Center Grant
In 2022, JobsOhio continued to support strategic corporate R&D Centers across Ohio, including projects with Bullen Ultrasonics, Eve Energy, Plastilene, J.M. Smucker Company, and Trew. In 2023, JobsOhio plans to vet at least ten more R&D Center proposals as part of JobsOhio’s broader three-pronged Innovation strategy.