The lab space in Akron’s Bounce Innovation Hub will be upgraded, part of the Polymer Industry Cluster’s efforts to improve the city’s reputation as an innovation center.
The $1.5 million project will improve as many as eight chemistry labs on the building’s eighth floor, said Jessica Sublett, Bounce’s CEO. She said that could include dividing the labs into smaller spaces or creating shared labs, both of which could reduce costs for entrepreneurs.
Bounce charges by the square foot, and its lab spaces are about 1,200 square feet apiece, Sublett said — too large for many small startups that have just a handful of employees. At that size, they cost about $1,700 a month.
“It’s a huge, empty, cavernous space that could really use some TLC,” Sublett said of the labs. “It’s a lot for two people.”
The labs date back to the early 2000s, Sublett said, when the Akron Global Business Accelerator was in the building. Bounce’s space was originally part of the B.F. Goodrich company’s rubber and tire-building complex at the south end of downtown that became Canal Place in the 1980s.
The labs’ fume hoods and other equipment are in working order, she said, but there may be upgrades needed to the ventilation system or to other equipment.
Bounce is seeking a construction manager to work through what improvements would be needed to upgrade the space. It’s looking for proposals until Nov. 11.
Building a pipeline to build the technology pipeline
The Bounce labs are a good landing place for early stage startups, like those that are growing technology out of the University of Akron, Sublett said. Labs there would be a precursor to a pilot facility that will be built on the university’s campus to help shepherd technology.
And because the upgrades will be quicker than the construction of the new building, “the timeline works well,” Sublett said.
“We’re building a pipeline to build the pipeline,” she said. “It’s going to be really creative and really scrappy.”
The money won’t go far, Sublett said, so she hopes to reuse existing equipment. The improved lab space will help create an innovation ecosystem in the city, she said, that can encourage more startups in the polymer industry to locate in Akron.
That will lead to more density in the building, which will increase the number of people working and living downtown, too, Sublett said.
In addition, Sublett said she’d like to have communal office space where entrepreneurs can come together. Such opportunities make the ecosystem stronger, she said.
The scope of work could include improved signage, electrical upgrades, plumbing, upgraded emergency features and repairs to what would be a shared office suite.
“Ultimately, we want it to be accessible and affordable,” Sublett said of Bounce’s labs. “We don’t want to eat up all those grant dollars in rent.”