Center could generate hundreds of jobs in the Athens area

by Colleen Schmidt
Staff Writer

Ohio University officials say the move to a larger Innovation Center at the West State Research Park could add more than Athens 450 jobs.

"We hope to have approximately 460 jobs developed by the sixth year at the new center," said Linda Clark, OU assistant director for business and technology development. "Our goal is for them to move out into the community to create more jobs."

OU officials previously had been unsure whether they would close the current Innovation Center at The Ridges, said Gary Meyer, director of the Innovation Center Program, in a Feb. 5 Post article.

But Clark said Feb. 8 that the Innovation Center will close, and the businesses it houses will move to the new location. She said she is uncertain how the old building will be used.

The Innovation Center serves as an incubator for small businesses that are growing or expanding, said Pamela Parker, OU assistant vice president for external relations.

"Start-up businesses can come, reside here and receive advice," Clark said.

The new Innovation Center, at 32,500 square feet, will expand the center by about 11,000 square feet, Parker said.

Clark said she is unsure how many additional businesses the new center will house.

"It's hard to predict," she said. "It depends on how many existing companies come with us."

Once companies have reached financial stability, they leave the center, Clark said. This usually takes three to four years.

The center, which has a budget of $113,000, includes 16 companies, three of which joined the center just last week, Clark said. Companies include Onslot Productions, a video production company, and Redlock Industries and Functional Media, both companies that provide Web services.

"We're looking forward to working with everyone here," said Michael Cornmiller, one of three owners of Functional Media. "We've been really happy with it so far."

The center accepts technology, service and light manufacturing start-up businesses, Clark said. The companies have access to shared office equipment to keep their costs low.

"We try to create networking opportunities so that entrepreneurs can swap information," Clark said. "A new building will be more conducive to that."

The Innovation Center moved from the building that now houses the President Street Academic Center, 1 President St., to the Technology and Enterprise Building at The Ridges in March 1994, said Jane Taggart, secretary at the Innovation Center.

One of the center's clients, Diagnostic Hybrids Inc., a biotechnology company that sells diagnostic tests to labs, still is housed in the academic center because a move would be too costly, Taggart said.

"They are still a company within the program, however," she said.