Biomedical Industry in Cleveland Area Growing

Team Northeast Ohio (Team NEO), a business recruiting firm, released an economic report yesterday morning on the burgeoning biomedical industry throughout Northeast Ohio.

Team NEO's research group found:

• The market value of goods and services produced by Northeast Ohio's biomedical industry has grown 37% in the past five years. That's an average of 7.4%, compared with a national rate of 6.8%.

''We've gone from about $3.6 billion in 2003 to just under $5 billion'' in inflation-adjusted revenue, Team NEO researcher Jacob Duritsky says. ''And those companies are exporting nationally and internationally and bringing [wealth] into Northeast Ohio.''

• Five years ago, biomedicine accounted for 2.1% of the region's economy. Today, it's nearly 3%.
• When it comes to generating venture capital money and federal funds, Ohio's biomedical community is second only to Illinois in the Midwest. With $395 million collected in 2008, Northeast Ohio alone outpaces fundraising by Midwest neighbors Indiana, Kentucky and Kansas.

But according to a 2008 report by BioEnterprise, 27 venture firms put down roots in Ohio in recent years (18 of them in Northeast Ohio), making the state the most active bioscience venture state between the coasts.

• Within the region's biomedical industry, the fastest growing sector is medical manufacturing, where output has grown 75% in five years.

For the full report go to: http://www.teamneo.org/NewsEvents/News/Detail.aspx?id=744