In recent years – the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus has become “the place to be” for entrepreneurs and new companies.
In just three years, the number of businesses on the Medical Campus increased 300%.
“Going in to 2013 we had about 40 companies that were located here in the Innovation Center. And at the close of 2016 we’re supporting a little over 120 companies across the Medical Campus,” said Vic Nole, the BNMC’s Director of Business Development.
Nole says, they’re not all involved in healthcare or life sciences either. There’s a diverse mix of companies.
“We’ve got quite a bit of technology, we’ve got a little bit of manufacturing. We have some social impact entrepreneurs,” Nole said.
There’s even some retail and a few artists. Nole says the strategy is to have an open door and bring in anyone who has an interest in starting or growing a business. The state recently designated the BNMC’s Innovation Center as a certified business incubator.
“So in the Innovation Center we’ve really been successful in creating a self-contained little ecosystem. And then our intent is to get them scaling to a point where we can transplant them in to the community and they can continue to grow and create new jobs for Buffalo,” Nole said.
The state recently awarded the BNMC $625,000 to expand its business development program.