The Austen BioInnovation Institute is making progress. The effort to create patient-centered innovation at the intersection of biomaterials and medicine will move into a new headquarters in the coming year. Leaders of the four centers for research gave updates to over 350 area leaders during an annual community update breakfast at the John S. Knight Center in Akron on April 18.

According to a report in Crain’s Cleveland, President and CEO Dr. Frank L. Douglas talked about

plans with city leaders to develop an incubator that will cater to startup biomedical companies. The BioInnovation Institute is preparing a proposal to submit to the Department of Commerce to help fund the project, he said. The institute also is continuing work to lead a national effort to develop quality medical devices that can be made more cost-effectively, he said.

Knight provided $20 million in seed funding for the institute, in an effort to help transform Northeast Ohio’s economy.

Meanwhile, a new report says Akron’s University Park area has major economic potential.

The study showed that major anchor institutions located in or near University Park have a direct total economic impact of $2.5 billion within the area and an indirect impact of $3.5 billion within Ohio. The  University Park Alliance will hold a lunch on May 11 detailing new strategic and master plans for the 50-block area.

”When the numbers came out, it validated what most of us knew: these pieces combined really represent some significant economic horsepower for the city of Akron and the region,” Eric Anthony Johnson, the alliance’s executive director, told the Akron Beacon Journal.

Read more in the Beacon Journal.