Finding Just the Right Medicine

After losing several Fortune 500 companies in the 2000s, this Rust Belt city is reinventing itself as an entrepreneurial haven, thanks to heavy bets from government and local philanthropists. Healthtech is central, as is the influence of Case Western Reserve University. Some feel the city needs to broaden its economy beyond what Danielle Sydnor, executive director of the Northern Ohio Economic & Community Development Institute, calls “eds and meds.” The most recent success story is Cleveland HeartLab, which specializes in evaluating heart disease risk and was acquired by Quest Diagnostics in 2017. A key player in town: Russell Donda, a medical device expert who serves as entrepreneur-in-residence at three top organizations, helping founders assess the commercial feasibility of their technology.