YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Ohio’s fourth innovation hub, like the three that preceded it, will build on existing community strengths and take what is happening here “to the next level,” Gov. Mike DeWine said.
DeWine, during a press event Thursday at America Makes, announced the establishment of the Youngstown Innovation Hub for Aerospace and Defense in the former Vindicator Printing Co. building on West Front Street. It will be funded with $26 million from the $125 million Ohio Innovation Hubs Program and $36 million in local, federal and private investment.
“The Mahoning Valley has had a lot of good news in the last few years. I’m just very optimistic about the future of the Valley,” the governor said.
“Youngstown has always been a city built on manufacturing,” said Jim Fisher, vice president and chief operating officer of the National Center for Defense Manufacturing & Machining, America Makes’ parent. “Once it was a steel town. We are now leading the nation in manufacturing, honoring the industrial past while shaping our future.”
In addition, the Youngstown Business Incubator, which will operate the hub, was awarded $1.2 million through the Abandoned Mine Lands and Economic Revitalization program administered by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, to support the project.
YBI has a lease-to-own agreement on the building, CEO Barb Ewing said. YBI can’t put anyone under contract for the building until it has the grant contracts finalized with the state, which could take six to eight weeks, she said. Design and engineering probably will take six to eight months.
The new hub “will bring together government, academia and private sector industry partners to transform the region into the global epicenter for additive manufacturing,” according to a news release sent Thursday afternoon. By 2029, the effort is projected to generate approximately $161.6 million in economic impact and create 450 new jobs, including 100 new construction jobs.
The hub will transform 3D printing research into commercialized products in the defense and aerospace sectors and help reduce the nation’s reliance on foreign manufacturing, DeWine said.
“If you look at the hubs, each one of them builds upon some strength of the community,” the governor said following the announcement. “Youngstown is specializing in [additive manufacturing], and so this just takes it to the next level. … It really is building on what this community has already done.”
Last year, the state established hubs in Toledo, Dayton and Akron.
“People are aware of our excellence in advanced manufacturing,” Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel said. “Now we’d really like to think we could take it to the next level.”
The hub designation and the grant award resulted from “a true partnership” that included America Makes, YBI, Youngstown State University, the city of Youngstown, the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber and several other partners, DeWine said. He praised the efforts of the Ohio General Assembly, which created the innovation hubs program at his suggestion to build on manufacturing strengths in communities beyond Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati.
Other partners credited during the announcement included the Western Reserve Port Authority, the Mahoning County Board of Commissioners, Lake to River Economic Development and the Youngstown Foundation.
“This isn’t just a win for Youngstown – it’s a win for Ohio,” said Lydia Mihalik, director of the Ohio Department of Development. Mihalik praised the “spirit of collaboration” she is seeing in communities around Ohio, as well as in the Mahoning Valley.
“Today isn’t just about announcing a new project. It’s about what happens when we invest in people, when we invest in ideas and in the future of this region,” Mihalik said.
“What will become the Youngstown Innovation Hub is so much more than just a building,” she continued. “Sure, it’s going to attract new business, create hundreds of jobs, provide lots of opportunities for the next generation of Ohio. But it’s also an absolute symbol of progress and partnership. And it’s what happens when you get industry pioneers and business and government and education leaders and you join them together with a shared vision.”
Up to 75,000 square feet of manufacturing space will be developed at the former Vindicator building, as well as an additional 30,000 square feet of demonstration equipment, office space and collaboration areas, according to Alexander Steeb, senior operations director at America Makes, the Youngstown-based additive manufacturing technology accelerator that was the first of the Manufacturing USA institutes.
Aspects of the hub’s operation will involve creating programming to increase the amount of intellectual property funding for commercialization of technologies, creating a talent pipeline for area manufacturers and strengthening area commercialization programs to get products to market faster, Steeb said.
Other efforts will involve attracting aerospace and defense companies to the area, securing capital investment for early-stage business development and new equipment for the existing manufacturing base, and establishing infrastructure for small- and medium-size businesses to enter aerospace and defense.
“Again, this is more than just an investment in the building. This is an investment in its people here. It’s an investment in innovation and the future of manufacturing,” Steeb said. “We’re proud to see Youngstown leading the way, and we can’t wait to deliver on the incredible impact of the hub for the community.”
YBI tenants JuggerBot 3D and Ursa Major will use acceleration space in the building, occupying about a fourth of the building, Ewing said. The hub also will have space for early-stage companies looking to move here or for local entrepreneurs.
“We’ll have workshops and seminars and networking events in that top floor. There’s space for visiting professors to come in and work out of that, like a lab space we’ve got,” she continued. “Because of how stout the building is, we can even put large pieces of equipment on the upper floors.”
Tressel – who previously had served as head football coach at Youngstown State University and later as YSU’s president, reflected how the region had benefited from state support in the past, from YSU’s establishment as a state university in the 1960s to state funding for building Stambaugh Stadium in the 1980s, and its role in YBI, America Makes and, more recently, the Excellence Training Center at YSU.
“It’s really extraordinary. And now it’s our charge to make sure, just like when that stadium was built, they expected us to recruit some good players and make some magical things happen. That’s why they built it,” he said. “The same with the university – recruit some great students and faculty and have some magical things happen. And I think that’s really the moment we’re at.”
Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said the new hub came about because area leaders, regardless of party affiliation, put their differences aside and came together. “We started focusing on the No. 1 thing that we all came here for – the people of this Valley, the future of the Valley,” he said.
“This is how we move forward as a community. This is exactly what it’s about – team effort. You see it up here today,” said state Sen. Al Cutrona of Canfield, R-33rd.
State Rep. Lauren McNally of Youngstown, D-58th, also commented on the potential impact of the hub.
“This isn’t just any project. We know this is a game-changer project. We know this is a legacy project,” she said. “We know that we’re building this together to leave a mark on this community for generations. This innovation hub is going to be a place where ideas can grow, where entrepreneurs will thrive, where people can come together to make things happen. It’s going to help bring new energy to our city and to put us on the map for the future of businesses and technology.”
Guy Coveillo, president and CEO of the Regional Chamber, applauded the establishment of the new hub, which will help existing local manufacturers to transition to additive manufacturing and become more competitive.
“Because we will have such a robust cluster of that technology here, we will be much more attractive to companies wanting to be close to that cluster,” he said.
Pictured at top: Gov. Mike DeWine announces the creation of Ohio’s fourth innovation hub in Youngstown.