AKRON, Ohio — Israeli medical device maker NI Medical Ltd. will open an office in the Akron Global Business Accelerator, likely during the first half of the year, where it could employ up to 30 workers in four years, according to an announcement by Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic on Monday.
NI (pronounced “neye”) Medical is the second Israeli company to commit to an Akron location since the city invested in a business incubator outside of Tel Aviv in 2006, said Robert Bowman, the city’s deputy mayor of economic development.
NI Medical makes a diagnostic device that uses impedance technology to measure heart health. The company’s NICaS device is a reliable, low-cost, noninvasive and portable system that can be used to screen large populations for unrecognized but life-threatening cardiac diseases, which are the leading cause of death in the world.
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NI Medical plans to locate its manufacturing, marketing, sales and general management operations in Akron. “Attracting a company of this quality … demonstrates that our international marketing efforts are again bearing fruit, and we appreciate the assistance of our partners in the business community, Northeast Ohio and the State of Ohio,” Plusquellic said in his announcement.
Getting NI Medical to Akron was a team effort.
Since taking a controlling interest in the Targetech Innovation Center in Netanya, Israel, Akron has attended the annual BioMed Israel conference in Tel Aviv, Bowman said. That’s where Akron met NI Medical last year.
Akron introduced NI Medical to the Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center (GCIC), the development consortium led by the Cleveland Clinic, also a BioMed Israel attendee.
A “seven-month, double-team” effort followed, resulting in the Israeli company choosing the Akron incubator and Northeast Ohio as a new home, said Tom Sudow, vice president of attraction for Team NEO, the Northeast Ohio business attraction and regional marketing organization.
GCIC sweetened the deal by making a $350,000 forgivable loan to the Israeli company, said Sudow, who acts as director of attraction for the innovation center. In addition, Akron and Ohio will provide job-creation tax credit incentives of about $150,000.
“I am delighted to select Akron as the base for our new operations,” said Igor Granov, chief executive of NI Medical, in Plusquellic’s announcement. “I was very impressed with Akron’s health care and biomedical assets and skills as well as the ‘can-do’ attitude of the city and state government.”
The GCIC, too, has been a magnet for Israeli biomedical companies. “NI Medical’s decision further solidifies Northeast Ohio as a medical device hub,” Tom Waltermire, CEO of Team NEO, said in the Akron mayor’s announcement.
