Cintrifuse to grow city’s startup community, create campus in OTR

Posted by OTR Matters on July 1, 2012 · Leave a Comment

According to the Enquirer, Cincinnati’s top CEOs have announced a plan to boost high tech growth in the city by supporting startups and luring venture capital to the Queen City. The effort is called Cintrifuse.

Here’s an excerpt from Laura Baverman’s exclusive report outlines key components of Cintrifuse:

• Venture capital of at least $55 million invested by the region’s largest institutions to support fast-growing startups and lure new venture investors to town.

• The leadership of P&G’s top global innovation officer, on loan for two years to coordinate the region’s innovation activities.

• A 27,000-square-foot campus in Over-the-Rhine for entrepreneurs, designers, technologists, investors, lawyers, accountants and others to brainstorm, build businesses and take classes.

The founding corporations promise deep involvement in the entrepreneurial community, committing to test new products and technologies. They’re offering help from key marketers at Procter & Gamble, merchandisers at Kroger, clean technologists at Duke Energy and Ph.D.s at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

Leaders of a Cincinnati Business Committee task force – chief executives from 16 of the region’s foremost institutions, including Enquirer Publisher Margaret Buchanan – say it’s the most significant effort the group has undertaken since creating the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC) in 2003.

Cintrifuse holds massive potential for the city and Over-the-Rhine. As more startups are lured from around the world to work to work and grow at places like the Brandery, they will inevitably need workspace outside the startup accelerator’s walls. Over-the-Rhine’s historic buildings, walkable environment, and creative community will be an enticing place for any young startup especially if it’s part of a campus full of like-minded talent.

To give an idea how large a 27,000 square foot campus would be, the four-story building at 1313 Vine (last used as The Warehouse nightclub) and the old Weilert’s at 1410 Vine contain 9,000 square feet and 6,304 square feet of finished space, respectively.