What better place to celebrate Innovation Works’ 10 year milestone than McKesson Automated Healthcare in Cranberry, a company that Rich Lunak helped shape into a supplier of robotic hospital pharmacies 22 years ago?
An early recipient of funds from IW, the company has grown to 1,200 employees today.
“It’s gratifying for me to come back and see how well the company has done,” Lunak told the 300 people who gathered on the manufacturing floor to mark IW’s 10 years as a catalyst for entrepreneurial investment and growth in the region.
IW has directly invested $48 million in 659 companies that have, in turn, helped to create nearly 3,000 jobs and launch 662 products in the last decade. Most of the jobs are highly skilled, with an average wage of $54,750.
“Many of the Innovation portfolio companies are developing solutions that can change the world,” Lunak said, ticking off the success stories: Aethon, Seegrid, Cognition Therapeutics, BPL Global, ModCloth, ClearCount, ATRP Solutions and the list goes on. More than 75% of the companies assisted by IW are still in business today.
The evening also spotlighted several rising companies including: FastTac, digital content and drawings generated faster than paper; Cloud Fab, create your own custom manufacturing center at home; and Epiphany Solar Water, a low cost water purifying solution that is focusing on the Middle East and India.
“This region is leading the innovative charge for the Economic Development Administration,” said Willie Taylor, regional director of the EDA. “Without your ideas, we’re just the federal government handing out money. We have an opportunity here to make something happen.”
Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Rich Lunak, Innovation Works
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Rich Lunak of Innovation Works and Randy Juhl of University of Pittsburgh, formerly the Dean of the School of Pharmacy when the startup, Automated Healthcare, needed a partner to develop the prototype.
