Dr. Frank Douglas, President and CEO of the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron

Today in Akron, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland officially designated the city as a “Hub of Innovation and Opportunity," as leaders announced a new headquarters for the  Austen BioInnovation Institute.

The two-year-old BioInnovation Institute will be moving into the first three floors of a county-owned building on the corner of Main Street and Perkins Avenue. The site will host a healthcare training facility offering patient-centered simulation programs.

The hub, which also will be located at the institute's new facility, will be focused on biomaterials for orthopedics and wound healing

Dr. Frank Douglas, the institute’s president and CEO explained why the BioInnovation Institute has moved to a new home. “We are creating more than just office space; we are building a 21st century hub allowing us to recruit great talent, and to provide an environment that will push discovery and commercialization forward."

The institute, named for former Knight Board Chairman and trustee Dr. Gerald Austen, was originally launched in 2008 to encourage research in biomedical commercialization and improve prevention, treatment and disease management. The project, jump-started by a $20 million grant from Knight, will also help to secure the region’s economic future by creating jobs and attracting investment.

I’m in Akron today, announcing more than $700,000 for arts projects that enrich and engage the community, as part of our national arts program. The largest grant – for $200,000 – is to renovate and expand the Summit Artspace, in order to strengthen it as a headquarters for arts and culture.

I love the idea and the space, but there is also an interesting Knight Foundation connection. The Summit Artspace is located in a 1927 Art Deco building once home to the Akron Beacon Journal, a Knight newspaper. On the day the offices opened, President Calvin Coolidge actually pushed a button in the White House, sending pulses across hundreds of miles of telegraph wires to start the presses churning in Akron.

We announced the funding in that very space – a great convergence.

Here’s a look at the other projects we funded in Akron, as part of Knight’s new national Arts Program:

• Greater Akron Musical Association: $150,000 to produce and present a semi-staged performance of Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess by the Akron Symphony, along with community engagement activities, in conjunction with the University of Akron and the Gospel Meets Symphony Chorus.
• Akron Art Museum: $107,500 to digitize the museum’s art collection in online archives that will be accessible via the Internet for a wide range of educational purposes.
• YEPAW – Youth Excellence Performing Arts Workshop: $100,000 to expand the group’s summer programming by creating the YEPAW Institute, a yearlong arts education program for urban high school students.
• Akron Civic Theatre: $50,000 to enable the theater, founded in 1929, to expand programming opportunities for community-based arts and non-arts groups who otherwise could not afford to use the venue.
• Cleveland International Film Festival: $30,000 to bring underserved Akron high school students to FilmSlam, the annual student film festival presented as part of the Cleveland International Film Festival.
• City of Akron: $30,000 to bring entertainment to Akron area residents through Lock 3 Live and to support the Lock 3 Summer Arts Experience for high school students who display an aptitude in the arts.
• Tuesday Musical Association: $50,000 to support educational outreach that matches the classically trained young musicians and composers of the FUZE! series with school-age and college students to inspire interest in the arts. Clara Knight, mother of Jack and Jim Knight and a Knight Foundation founding donor, was an enthusiastic supporter of the association.

Jennifer Thomas

Jennifer Thomas, who has helped fund and develop innovative ways to revitalize Northeast Ohio, is Knight Foundation’s new Akron program director.

Previously, Thomas headed the Cleveland-based Civic Innovation Lab, which funds civic, social and technology start-ups. In 2008 alone, the lab’s investments and activities generated $9.4 million in economic output.

Thomas also founded ClevelandClicks, a social networking group for tech entrepreneurs.

“Jennifer has spent the last decade turning creative business and social ideas into reality. At Knight Foundation, she will find and create opportunities to inform and engage this community in its ongoing transformation,” said Trabian Shorters, Knight Foundation’s vice president for communities.

Dennis Scholl

Great news for the national arts scene: Dennis Scholl, Knight Foundation’s Miami program director and a longtime arts advocate and philanthropist, will head up Knight’s new national cultural arts efforts. Dennis was just named vice president/arts for Knight Foundation. He’ll work with arts leaders in different communities around the country where the Knight brothers owned newspapers – from Detroit, Akron, Charlotte and Philadelphia to Macon, Miami, San Jose and St. Paul – to promote the arts and find innovative cultural programs that enrich people’s lives. He has already has helped transform the South Florida arts scene with Miami’s Knight Arts Challenge, $40 million initiative that aims to unite the region through the arts (finalists will be named in May in the contest’s third round).

With one of the top contemporary art collections in the US and experience leading local and national philanthropic efforts in the visual arts, Dennis’s passion and energy for the arts makes him particularly well-suited for his new post at Knight. He has also ventured into the role of creator as writer and co-producer of a short film, Sunday’s Best, which was just shown at the Aspen Shortsfest 2010. Besides his broad involvement in the arts, Dennis co-founded Betts & Scholl, an international wine venture, and has practiced law, worked as a CPA and restored Art Deco properties on South Beach. We at Knight are looking forward to continuing to transform communities with Dennis’s leadership.

Vivian Celeste Neal, Knight Communities Program Director to Akron and Northeast Ohio, was featured in the Akron Beacon Journal today. She will be retiring Feb. 26.

When Neal came to the foundation, ''she not only brought a lifetime of insight and experience, but a love for Akron, her community,'' said Alberto Ibargüen, president and chief executive of the Knight Foundation. ''She has been a player in Knight's involvement in Team NEO, the University Park Alliance, the Austen BioInnovation Institute, education projects with Akron's school board and superintendent and countless other small and big projects around town. She understands Akron, she loves Akron, she wants Akron to succeed. And her work always showed it.''

You can read the entire story at Ohio.com

OneCommunity is an organization located in Akron (and Cleveland!), Ohio, devoted to expanding the use of broadband to spur economic development in Northern Ohio. The organization operates the Knight Center of Digital Excellence, which helps communities across the country take advantage of digital technologies. Last week, US Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and FCC Chair Julius Genachowski visited OneCommunity's backyard to highlight the work being done by groups like OneCommunity and how this work fits into the Obama administration's plan for the federal stimulus funds:

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke emphasized that many of the programs delivered through OneCommunity in Northern Ohio will serve as an example for the Commerce Department’s work across the country. Locke also stated how important broadband is to the Obama administration, with pervasive high-speed availability laying the groundwork for a better future.

“Imagine a country where students can take classes from anywhere, where you can have access to world class doctors through the web,” said Secretary Locke. “Not only will this broadband initiative is put people to work immediately building the network, it will enhance the lives of our citizens by providing high speed access at a low cost to provide life-long learning.”

Read more about Locke and Genachowski's visit to Akron and about the Obama administration's plans for the stimulus at the Knight Center's Community Connection.

Clarification: OneCommunity is based in Akron and Cleveland. Locke and Genachowski visited Cleveland for their press conference.

Marc Fest is Vice President of Communications at Knight Foundation.

Robert W. Briggs

Knight Foundation vice chairman Robert W. Briggs today received the 2009 Sir Thomas More Award. The Catholic Diocese and St. Bernard Church in Akron sponsor this award each year to recognize a member of the legal profession who is concerned for the community and has provided outstanding service in furtherance of justice and humanity.

Find out more about the award here.

The five founding medical and educational institutions (Akron Children’s Hospital, Akron General Health System, Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy (NEOUCOM), Summa Health System, and The University of Akron) announced the BioInnovation Institute in Akron earlier this week along with a $20 million grant from Knight Foundation.

Knight CFO Juan Martinez helped put together the plan for the BioInnovation Institute:

Dr. W. Gerald Austen, chairman of Knight Foundation, said he hopes the Institute "will make Akron a world-class center for bioinnovation.”

Per William H. Considine, chairman of the BioInnovation Institute and president and chief executive officer of Akron Children’s Hospital, goals of the Institute include:

* Creating a nationally distinctive center of excellence at the intersection of biomaterials and medicine
* Translating leading edge research into life-saving medical devices
* Improving the health of the community
* Rapidly growing annual biomaterials-related research funding across the partners
* Increasing investment by national firms into regional biomedical start-ups and companies
* Increasing employment opportunities for those educated locally and drawing talent from around the globe
* Adding thousands of new jobs in the region by 2018.

For more, please see the press release and the BioInnovation Web site.

What do you think about the new BioInnovation Institute in Akron?

Flickr image from rockyradio

From the 6.28 press release:

Proving once again that it indeed deserves the title “world renowned,” the Akron Art Museum, designed by the Viennese firm Coop Himmelb(l)au, was chosen as one of three finalists for the highly prestigious Lubetkin Prize from the Royal Insitute of British Architects (RIBA) in London. After winning one of RIBA’s 2008 International Awards, following a visit by a jury of architects and lay judge, the Akron Art Museum was honored further by being chosen as one of only three worldwide finalists for the Lubetkin Prize.

...

"It is an incredible honor for all of us in Akron who worked on the museum's John S. and James L. Knight Building to have it singled out by the world's leading architectural organization as one of the three most important new buildings outside Europe,” said Mitchell Kahan, director and chief executive officer of the Akron Art Museum. “When I think of all the great structures unveiled last year around the globe, from Asia and Africa to North and South America, this recognition underlines the success of our goal to create an innovative design of worldwide significance."

Find more images (and interesting manipulated photography) of the Akron Art Museum's Knight Building on Flickr.

Have you visited the Akron Art Museum? What is your favorite museum building?

In a recent speech, Knight CEO and president Alberto Ibargüen announced a new media innovation strategy and four projects that are part of this strategy.

You can read the entire speech here; abbreviated descriptions of the four projects (they share similar names) are below.

Knight News Challenge (newschallenge.org)

The Knight News Challenge funds ideas that use digital media to deliver news and information to geographically defined communities.

This is a yearly contest about the future of local news delivery (and includes projects in a range of media areas such as mobile, video, and microfunding).

Knight Commission on Information Needs (knightcomm.org)

The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy, in partnership with the Aspen Institute, will propose public policy that will facilitate meeting those needs.

This is a new group with fifteen members that will make recommendations in 2009 about core community information needs.

Knight Center of Digital Excellence (knightcenter.info)

The Knight Center of Digital Excellence is a not-for-profit consultancy to help communities across the United States ensure digital access to every citizen.

This is sometimes called "universal access," and the goal is to accelerate digital access projects across the U.S.

Knight Community Information Challenge (informationneeds.org)

Community Foundation initiatives to meet the information needs of their communities are matched by funds from Knight Foundation.

This is to help community foundations use media and technology to deliver information to their communities.

Questions? Leave a comment below.