Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson announced on Thursday that Cleveland's Euclid Corridor would be designated a "hub of innovation and opportunity," with the road stretching between Cleveland State University and University Circle to be christened the Cleveland Health and Technology Corridor.

The hub, an urban revitalization partnership, will help catalyze the city and region’s world-class healthcare and biomedical device technology assets to drive sustainable growth for the community.

"The State of Ohio stands squarely beside the burgeoning local commitment to the bioscience industry," said Strickland. "When the public and private sectors collaborate together around regional economic anchors and a shared vision for the future, there is no limit to what we can accomplish. Cleveland’s expertise in the healthcare and bioscience field will fuel innovation and job creation in Northeast Ohio now and in the future."

The Cleveland Health and Technology Corridor partners include the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University, the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority, the Cleveland Foundation, the Cuyahoga County Department of Development, the City of Cleveland, MidTown Cleveland, Inc. and BioEnterprise.
 
The Cleveland Hub includes 75 biomedical companies, 45 high-tech companies and 50,000 healthcare and biomedical employees. The Cleveland Health and Technology Corridor will focus on promoting entrepreneurship, economic development and commercialization in the bioscience field, focusing on the development of medical devices for cardiovascular, imaging and neurostimulation applications.

"I join Governor Strickland and our local partners today to declare my strong support and commitment to the success of the Cleveland Health and Technology Corridor," said Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson. "Few places in Ohio have the concentration of educational, research and business assets needed to spur dynamic economic growth."

This is the second Ohio hub, after an aerospace hub that was announced in Dayton this past September. To be designated a hub, a region must identify core technological strengths that support a nationally recognized industry sector in a defined urban area that includes an anchor research institution. The designation consists of a commitment from both the state and region to work collaboratively and target economic development efforts toward building upon those identified strengths.
 
"Investments in key areas, such as biosciences and healthcare, accelerate our state’s ability to attract top talent in the field, retain innovative experts and build a stronger, more competitive regional and state economy," said Ohio Department of Development Director Lisa Patt-McDaniel. "This partnership will help to revitalize a core area of Cleveland into a corridor of innovative research and technological advances, bringing about positive change for the surrounding community."
 
Another recent investment in the corridor was by the Ohio Third Frontier Commission, an initiative meant to foster innovation and technological development, which approved $5 million in funding to support Philips Healthcare’s efforts to locate the Philips Healthcare Global Advanced Imaging Innovation Center in Cleveland’s Health and Technology Corridor in conjunction with University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University.
 
"We are pleased that the State of Ohio has awarded Third Frontier funding to our project," said Jay Mazelsky, senior vice president and general manager for Computed Tomography and Nuclear Medicine at Philips Healthcare. "The goals of this center will be to provide strategic research, development and clinical validation for advanced imaging technologies, further developing our presence in northeast Ohio and building on our existing partnerships with Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals."
 
He added: "The strength of our partners, the depth of medical imaging talent in the Cleveland region and the steadfast support from the State of Ohio made Cleveland the clear choice for this global innovation center."