GDAHA, joint venture, to move to Tech Town

The Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association and its for-profit, joint-venture enterprise with Kaleidoscope, Ascend Innovations, are moving to Tech Town, a downtown Dayton business park.

The move to Tech Town Building Three will happen this spring, the association said in an announcement. The two organizations are moving to larger space from another downtown location, 2 Emmet Street, a building that also houses Stratacache.

In all, 18 full-time employees will relocate to the business park, said Bryan Bucklew, GDAHA president and CEO. There are eight Ascend employees and ten from GDAHA.

Some scientists from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base will also work at the location.

Ascend develops medical technology, not including implants or pharmaceuticals, Bucklew said.

“We can do more, be more and develop more by working alongside GDAHA in our new space,” Ricky Peters, chief executive of Ascend and executive director of the Perduco Group, said in the announcement. “We are also poised to collaborate with other Tech Town technology and industry thought leaders to accomplish this community’s commercialization goals.”

“By co-locating with Ascend, GDAHA will not only be able to continue its nationally recognized collaboration initiatives with its member organizations, but we will be able to fulfill the vision of our member hospitals to integrate GDAHA and Ascend into commercializing technology and creating economic development and employment opportunities in the Dayton region,” Bucklew said.

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley called the move a boost to “an ecosystem for technology commercialization.”

“Tech Town is home to companies developing ground-breaking medical technologies, devices, and software,” said Steve Nutt, senior vice president of Citywide Development Co., which built Tech Town and oversees leasing there.

Ascend Innovations works with the Perduco Group and the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base on human health products and research.

GDAHA represents 28 hospitals that employ 34,497 people in the Dayton region.

Reporter Steve Bennish contributed to this report.