WINNER
Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center
PROJECT: Overall impact in 2009
Globalization is a buzzword. We know that business has globalized, but what does that mean for a community? Can globalization help a community or will spreading business worldwide only hurt local opportunities?
The Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center (GCIC) has figured out a way to leverage globalization to Northeast Ohio’s advantage. The GCIC, a $250 million public-private partnership led by the Cleveland Clinic and funded through a $60 million grant from the state of Ohio’s Third Frontier program, works to advance the state’s economy by leveraging cardiovascular expertise to build a business cluster. As such, the organization promotes the commercialization of new health care products in Northeast Ohio and thereby attracts national and international medical companies to the area.
Since 2007, the GCIC has been instrumental in attracting nine such companies to establish new operations here. Companies from Israel, Ireland, Brazil, Japan and Switzerland have invested in the region because of the introduction and assistance by the GCIC. Collectively, these companies will create more than 150 higher paying jobs in the region.
For example, the GCIC recently helped two Israeli companies invest in Northeast Ohio. CardioStar, which is developing non-invasive blood pressure measurement devices, and VasoStar, which is working on a catheter that would break up arterial blockages, are both recipients of grant money provided through its Commercialization Funding Program.
This program provides support to new companies in the early stages of product development on the way to commercialization. On a semiannual basis, the GCIC accepts applications from companies in the cardiovascular space and chooses about a half a dozen for development grants.
“In order to qualify the company has to have a plan,” says Mark Low, managing director of the GCIC. “They have to execute on that plan and execute a location of operation here within Ohio.”
CardioStar, which received $200,000 for its endeavor, and VasoStar are partnering with Frantz Medical in Mentor to develop their products.
Similarly, GCIC has been instrumental in attracting established international companies to the area. Through the Relocation Incentive Program and the Commercialization Funding Program, the GCIC has committed almost $3 million toward the attraction of international companies to Ohio.
For instance, a few years ago, Ireland-based Proxy BioMedical Ltd., a firm that makes biomaterials for the repair and regeneration of tissue for advanced surgical procedures, decided that it needed to open a U.S.-based operation to be closer to its customers here. The company was looking for a location with access to clinicians who could do clinical trials, says Peter Gringas, managing director of the company.
Medical clusters including Minneapolis, Boston and San Francisco were under consideration. Yet Proxy BioMedical opened its doors in Cleveland in 2009 after considering its location and the financial incentive package that the state, city and Cleveland Clinic put in place.
“Even [the incentives] wouldn’t have meant anything if the infrastructure wasn’t here — if there weren’t world-class medical institutions like the Clinic and University Hospital as well,” Gringas says.
The GCIC works with partners such as BioEnterprise, the state of Ohio and clinical institutions to help companies like Proxy receive forgivable loans, secure new funding and apply for state incentives to set up U.S. operations in the Cleveland Plus region.
“We are building, if you will, our cluster, and we have other models to look at and aspire to,” Low says.
“The clusters in Minneapolis, San Francisco, Boston — these areas have been evolving for years,” he continues. “We are relatively early in our evolution to develop our cluster in Cleveland. But cost of living, lifestyle and proximity to the Cleveland Clinic make this place a very attractive market.”
In May, the GCIC opened a new 50,000-square-foot incubator facility with state-of-the-art labs to house up to 25 young cardiovascular companies. So far about seven leases have been signed, and companies are moving in.
Companies in the incubator can rely on the experience of the GCIC, which is housed there.
The staff has about 60 years of combined experience and has contributed about 30 patents to the cardiovascular field. The GCIC is putting Northeast Ohio on the global map.