The Greater Cleveland Partnership has set an aggressive 10-year plan that addresses the immediate and longer term impacts of the coronavirus pandemic while strengthening the region through inclusive, technology-based growth.
"In March, we asked ourselves, 'What can we do now to get us through the pandemic and help our community emerge in a position of strength?' " Scott Chaikin, chair of the GCP board of directors, asked during the organization's annual meeting, held virtually on Wednesday, Oct. 14.
With that charge, the Cleveland Innovation Project — a collaboration of the Cleveland Foundation, Fund For Our Economic Future, JumpStart and TeamNEO, with input from more than 150 business, civic and institutional leaders — set out to identify the strategic sectors in Northeast Ohio that are primed for long-term development, he said.
"Fortunately, much of the work needed to best support the business community was already underway," said Chaikin, who is chairman of integrated communications firm Dix & Eaton. "The fundamental goal of our strategic plan is to accelerate growth and prosperity by addressing our biggest challenges and opportunities.".
After reviewing the regions assets, industries and market trends, he said, a Forward CLE plan identified six focus areas to improve the economic vitality of the region by 2030.
Those areas identified for "scaled growth efforts" comprise growing the economy equitably; solving talent and workforce issues; developing all Cleveland neighborhoods; making the delivery of government services more efficient; and connecting businesses to services to help them grow, Chaikin said.
The Cleveland Innovation Project, which will be led by Baiju Shah, former CIO at BioMotiv and a senior fellow for innovation at the Cleveland Foundation, will focus on technology-based economic growth in three sectors — smart manufacturing, health innovation and water technologies — with a focus on ensuring economic and inclusion, according to a GCP statement.
Eric Schnur, chairman, president and CEO of Lubrizol, who also is the incoming chair of GCP's board, said the Cleveland Innovation Project "is leveraging Cleveland's heritage and strengths as one of the largest and most diverse manufacturing hubs in the country, as well as having medical organizations and resources that are second to none on the planet." He said Cleveland "is in the early stages of the fourth industrial revolution where data, information and analytics will significantly reshape these industries."
The goals of the plan are ambitious. The plan is to hit the group's target of approximately $2 billion in research investments, $4 billion in capital, tech-based investment and more than 20,000 IT jobs in a decade.
Of those new tech positions, GCP is looking to benchmarks of 50% female-representation in the new tech industry, including executive roles, and 25% Black and Latino representation in both executive and nonexecutive roles.
Those goals are reliant on the four strategic goals, said Bill Lacey, president and CEO of GE Lighting and a GCP board member. One of those is erasing the digital divide and providing 100% of Cleveland households with affordable high-speed internet access by 2022.
Pointing out that Cleveland ranked as the worse connected big city in the country, Lacey said, "Closing the digital divide is a step in narrowing the racial divide."
He added, "We need to mobilize the business community to mobilize some much-needed relief," he added.
Creating innovation hubs and building out 2 million square feet of new development in the Health Tech and Opportunity Corridors is another strategic goal, Chaikin said. The third is expanding education and training programs that include post-secondary through post-graduate in the IT and STEM fields, something GCP supports through its Workforce Connect programs.
"Developing these sectors will require a commitment to talent," outgoing GCP president Joe Roman said. "We are going to need to develop programs to retrain, reskill and upskill workers, particularly workers displaced by the pandemic," he added.
Roman also highlighted the fourth initiative, the need for more access to capital, "which will foster a robust and varied range of private capital sources to start and scale businesses."
He added, "We are also focused on seed and venture capital funds to help catalyze our work in these sectors. We will need additional capital sources to scale up and keep businesses here."
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Greater Cleveland Partnership announces post-pandemic 10-year plan - Crain's Cleveland Business
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