Bounce Innovation Hub was founded in January 2018 and serves northeast Ohio entrepreneurs, innovators, and startups.
Bounce combines purposeful programming - focused on building sustainable and scalable companies - with a physical location designed for collaboration and connectivity. Located in downtown Akron, the nonprofit organization comprises more than 300,000 square feet of coworking, event, meeting and professional office space.
Entrepreneurial Support
Through entrepreneurial programs and community partnerships, Bounce serves more than 200 entrepreneurs and startups across northeast Ohio each year. Bounce offers a variety of programs to support entrepreneurs and small businesses in an exciting, modern space designed to get work done.
Open Innovation Hub
Housed in the historic Goodrich Building, our vibrant, nine-story community hub is home to more than 60 resident companies and 500 professionals. It’s not just a physical space but a catalyst for growth, creativity, and collaboration that fuels the aspirations of visionaries and trailblazers alike.
Our Mission
To catalyze entrepreneurship and innovation by providing connections, resources and expertise to build a vibrant community for all.
Our Vision
Empowering bold ideas and thriving businesses to drive innovation, opportunity and economic growth.
Strategic Plan
Bounce aligns its core elements of Programming, Convening and Place to drive economic growth and prosperity for NEO.
our Sponsors
the history of
Innovation in akron
Bounce stands on the foundation of Akron’s first wave of innovation and industry – the B.F. Goodrich Company, founded in 1870.
Like many startups today, B.F. Goodrich was a young man with little capital and a big dream. He left New York to come to Akron to establish the first rubber company west of the Appalachian Mountains. However, he didn’t do it alone. Members of the Akron community helped him raise the capital he needed to get started.
The journey wasn’t easy; B.F. almost went bankrupt twice. Still, he kept at it and with the invention of the pneumatic tire – and, of course, cars – technology advanced, tires were in demand and the rest is history.
Eventually, of course, the rubber industry that B.F. Goodrich started would eventually dwindle to almost nothing by the late 1970s and early 1980s, resulting in thousands of lost jobs and a severe economic downturn for the city and region. It was during that time, that the Akron Global Business Accelerator, now known as Bounce Innovation Hub, was founded in 1983. It originally housed manufacturing startups, and eventually became solely a technology incubator. In 2015, it founded The Bit Factory, a software startup accelerator. With the founding of Bounce in 2018, entrepreneurial programs were reimagined and the space revived.
A century and a half later, Akron is once again at the forefront of innovation and entrepreneurship, continually rethinking and reinventing itself to build a new innovation ecosystem right here where it all started. As Northeast Ohio’s first open innovation hub, Bounce provides services and programs to help any and all with a mind for innovation to make their visions become reality.
Questions? There's a lot happening at Bounce Innovation Hub today. Need space for your next event, interested in our programming, or just want to take a look around? Reach out or schedule a tour today!
