The third Next Lives Here platform is: the Innovation Agenda. You may recall that in October of last year we opened the 1819 Hub. Its goal is to grow all aspects of talent - talent development, talent attraction, and talent expression – in an era of innovation
Two major objectives were pursued to accomplish this goal:
- Recruitment of businesses and organizations that would partner with us to provide the experiential component for teaching innovation; and
- A structure and culture that encouraged faculty to translate new knowledge and ideas quickly to commercial or societal value.
In one short year, the results have been nothing short of superb. As of today, the following companies have established innovation centers within the 1819 Hub: Procter & Gamble, Kroger, Cincinnati Insurance Companies, Cincinnati Bell, Worldpay, and Kingsgate Logistics.
Most recently Fifth Third Bank has announced that it, too, will open an innovation center in the building.
In addition, the Live Well Collaborative and Village Life, a social innovation organization, are located in the 1819 Hub.
Also, housed in the building, and under the leadership of Dr. Jason Heikenfeld, is UC’s Accelerator.
To enhance synergy, Cincy Tech, a regional venture development organization and seed investor, has also co-located at 1819.
In this new environment, the Accelerator’s success in 2018-19 has been remarkable. The number of start-up companies from UC has jumped from 7 over the past four years to 6 in a single year.
The 1819 Hub is now close to full occupancy. It’s attracting a great deal of attention locally and nationally. In its first year, it had over 50,000 visitors.
It is thus no surprise that UC made Reuter’s list of the 100 World’s Most Innovative Universities this year.
I will call on our Chief Innovation Officer, David Adams, to stand and be acknowledged for his leadership and his team’s hard work to successfully launch the 1819 Innovation Hub.