Rep. Steve Stivers visited Athens on Wednesday in order to take a tour of OU's Innovation Center.
When Rep. Steve Stivers, R-15th District, visited the Ohio University Innovation Center on Thursday, the facility's year-old 3-D printer quickly took the spotlight.
"Check this out, this is awesome," he said, spinning the wheels on a small toy car made by the printer. "My son would love this."
The innovation center, 340 W. State St., offers their facilities and resources to local start-ups to get them off the ground. There are 16 businesses working out of the center now. Jennifer Simon, the center's director, said in the past two years, the center has created 260 jobs and generated $10.5 million in labor income.
Stivers met with two entrepreneurs, J.D. Kittle, founder of Molecular Technologies Laboratories, and Edward Zatta, founder of RXQ Compounding, before taking a tour of the center.
"I thought the most useful thing was to sort of make it clear what new things are happening in Athens," Kittle said. "I think it's often that people in the government don't understand the types of things that are taking place. Steve comes here and he gets to see the new businesses that are coming around and get a better sense of the reality of what takes place."
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Eric Burchard, director of government relations at OU, said the visit has been in the works since earlier in the summer, when Stivers' staff reached out.
"We brainstormed things he hadn't seen on previous visits with his staff, and we (decided on) the tour with the innovation center," Burchard said.
In the same visit, Stivers also met with President Roderick McDavis and visited the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Stivers has expressed support of the innovation center in the past. Within the past year, he sent a letter to the U.S. Economic Development Administration supporting the facility's plans to expand to accommodate more entrepreneurs.
"I wanted to see with my own eyes what it meant to the individual entrepreneurs and what it meant to the economy down here," he said. "I think it provides a lot of opportunity."
He also said that he has been in talks with councilman Steve Patterson, D-At Large, and unopposed candidate for mayor, to find resources that will help those entrepreneurs expand.
"I look forward to partnering with him," he said.
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