YBI’s expansion opens door to future of success, acclaim

Some of the hoopla of this week’s official opening of Tech Block Building No. 5 of the expanding campus of the Youngstown Business Incubator downtown rightly focused on the past.

After all, the newest addition to the internationally acclaimed business startup center oozes in deep historical context. Since the 1930s, the 65,000-square-foot building had served as the headquarters of The Vindicator Printing Co. where this newspaper had recorded for posterity the major events of Youngstown and the Mahoning and Shenango valleys day-in day-out without fail.

“So much of Youngstown’s history has been chronicled in this building by extraordinary people who have taken the time to truly understand what’s happening in our community and our world and to build a story around that,” said Barb Ewing, chief executive officer of YBI at the building’s official ribbon-cutting and opening Monday. “We truly owe them a debt of gratitude for their work in making sure we have a history to remember and a future to understand.”

The opening ceremony also celebrated the shorter but immensely dynamic 22-year history of the incubator. Since The Vindicator donated the former Furnitureland store and warehouse it owned to serve as the foundation for YBI, the incubator has risen as a major catalyst for redevelopment downtown and for cutting-edge business diversification for the Mahoning Valley.

But for all of that historical hubbub, one vibrant focus of the opening of the modernized yet stately structure resides in its promising future. It represents a new and exciting chapter for the successful technological and additive-manufacturing startup campus.

But don’t just take our word for it. Consider the comments of Jeannette P. Tamayo, regional director of the U.S. Economic Development Administration for Ohio and five other states, who attended Monday’s opening to congratulate YBI.

“We have great confidence that we will be back here in five years to celebrate even more success,” she said.

Tamayo was not just whistling Dixie. According to credible projections from YBI, Tech Building No. 5 should grow to become home to about 350 employees five years from now, averaging a salary of $52,000 and generating $18.2 million in direct payroll.

But the gleaming future for the former newspaper offices cannot be reduced to mere dollars and cents alone.

WORLDWIDE RECOGNITION

Just ask Avi Cohen, vice president of health care and education for XJet Ltd. headquartered in Rehovat, Israel, a booming high-tech suburb of Tel Aviv.

The company selected YBI as its first U.S. site for its Carmel 1400 additive manufacturing system, which features patented NanoParticle Jetting technology for the production of metal or ceramic parts through inkjet printing.

Cohen cited the vision and hope of YBI and the city of Youngstown as reasons for launching its U.S. commercial operations here.

“When you have something to give, I prefer to give it to the guy who is hungry,” said Cohen. “I saw the potential here and the opportunity for them and us.”

Consider, too, the logic of Hanan Gothait, CEO and founder of XJet: “The Youngstown Business Incubator is an ideal first customer in North America, Ohio has a very rich history of traditional manufacturing, and YBI is positioned at the vanguard of new manufacturing technologies and techniques that will drive manufacturing in the 21st century.”

Strengthening that robust outlook for YBI’s future are YBI’s collaboration with a host of supportive and powerful local, state and federal partners ranging from Youngstown State University, JobsOhio, the U.S. EDA and America Makes.

Since its establishment in downtown Youngstown five years ago by the administration of former President Barack Obama, America Makes has quickly matured into the nation’s leading collaborative partner in additive-manufacturing and 3-D-printing technology, research, and innovation. The teamwork between AM and YBI will grow multifold in Tech Building 5. The facility will focus on additive-manufacturing startups and include a mammoth industrial-sized metal printer for AM.

Another close ally and supporter of YBI’s evolution has been this newspaper. We’ve chronicled and assisted in its leading role in transforming a largely deserted downtown Youngstown into a vibrant center of business, commerce and culture and in establishing the city as a key link in the Cleveland-Pittsburgh Tech Belt.

From our perch directly across the street from the sprawling campus, we will continue to report on closely and lend our support to one of the world’s leading business incubators as it zooms promisingly toward additional years and decades of success and acclaim.