Spectrum News highlights progress at UC's 1819 Innovation Hub

Spectrum News 1 highlighted the University of Cincinnati's effort to connect students to the real world in its 1819 Innovation Hub.

UC's 1819 Innovation Hub opened in October of last year with a mix of collaboration and maker spaces for students, UC's Venture Lab pre-accelerator, and commercial tenants that include the Procter & Gamble-backed UC Simulation Center, Kroger Technology's incubation lab, the nonprofit Village Life Outreach and the Live Well Collaborative.

The facility is a major part of UC's $3.3. billion regional economic impact. Its goal is to help UC students and faculty partner with industry to find practical solutions to real-world problems.

The 1819 Innovation Hub occupies the former Sears building at 2900 Reading Road. It serves as the university's "front door" for companies seeking to tap into UC's talent, research and educational expertise.

UC engineering professor Jason Heikenfeld, who serves as assistant vice president of commercialization for UC's Office of Innovation, told Spectrum News that the 1819 Innovation Hub creates a feedback loop: UC deploys its talent pool in collaboration with companies that want to maintain their competitive edge in technology and can provide opportunities to eager students willing to help.

“If I'm a big corporate partner and I'm looking to expand into a new market but I need the talent to help me do that, we have 46,000 students here at the University of Cincinnati and we are committed to help you find that talent you need,” Heikenfeld told Spectrum News. “Or, conversely, let's say we have an innovation inside the University of Cincinnati, how do we make that into a big disruptive market changer itself. It's the same thing, we've got to make that connection to talent and resources and that's our entire model that's been built here at the innovation hub.”

UC's 1819 Innovation Hub is home to several commercial partners, including CincyTech, Cincinnati Bell, Kroger Technology and Cincinnati Financial Corp.

Featured pic at top: UC engineering professor Jason Heikenfeld holds a sweat sensor he developed. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Creative Services