OHIO Innovation Center boasts another year of job growth, economic impact in 2020
Summary
Ohio University’s Innovation Center supported 269 jobs that generated an estimated $23 million in employee compensation in Athens County in 2020, according to a new economic impact report. “This work is vital to the development of our region, and I commend for their continued efforts to support local businesses during these challenging times.” The Innovation Center’s economic impact figures represent the number of jobs created directly, indirectly or induced by the Innovation Center businesses, which also generated an estimated $62 million in total economic output. Stacy Strauss, director of the Innovation Center, is especially proud of these numbers given the challenges that arose for businesses in 2020. Additionally, many of our clients developed new product lines or launched other initiatives to combat the negative effects of COVID-19.” The release of the economic impact report follows the announcements of three major grant awards from federal agencies to the Innovation Center. The center attracted over $3.5 million dollars from the Economic Development Administration, the Appalachian Regional Commission and the United State Department of Agriculture in the last two years.