(The Center Square) – Committing $35 million in taxpayer funds, Ohio announced its second planned innovation hub it hopes will grow the digital technology market in the state’s southeast corner.
Another $23 million in local tax dollars and up to $37 million in private investment are all part of the onMain Innovation Hub’s Digital Transformation Center on the former Montgomery County fairgrounds site in the greater downtown Dayton area.
One of the hub’s goals will be to support the Air Force’s digital transformation in designing and manufacturing airplanes, missiles, sensors, hardware, software and more.
“The Miami Valley has always been a place where big ideas take flight, and the unprecedented collaboration that will happen under the umbrella of the onMain Innovation Hub will lead to digital technologies that will impact lives across the world,” Gov. Mike DeWine said Monday in a statement. “This new collaboration will be transformative for this region, leading to more investments, more jobs, and more of the world’s most innovative thinkers calling Dayton home.”
The project is a collaborative between the University of Dayton and Premier Health. Other partners include Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the University of Dayton Research Institute, the city of Dayton, Montgomery County, JobsOhio and the Dayton Development Coalition.
The group expects to create 2,000 new jobs and add more than $39 million in additional state and local income tax revenue by 2031.
The state announced the first hub more than a month ago, committing $40 million in local and state tax dollars in northwest Ohio with an eye toward growing the state’s position as a global leader in glass science, engineering, technology and production.
The Northwest Ohio Glass Innovation Hub could build on Toledo’s legacy as the Glass Capital of the World, and officials believe it will spur job growth in both the glass and solar industry sectors.
They also say the hub will have an anticipated $284 million economic impact, 1,600 jobs, $25 million in tax revenue and 230 new STEM graduates.
The hub will be at the Glass Center of Excellence on the campus of O-I Glass in Perrysburg.
The Ohio Innovation Hubs Program was created as part of the state budget last year to grow investment outside the state’s major metro areas.