OneHealth designation could spur innovation in Elanco/Purdue field – Indianapolis Business Journal

Elanco Animal Health's new headquarters, currently under construction, will be the centerpiece of a district dedicated to research and innovation in human, plant and animal health. (IBJ Photo/Kate Sharon)

State and business leaders are convinced a technology park taking shape on the western edge of downtown could be a launch pad for health sciences innovation and commercialization as part of the state's ambitious economic development portfolio.

The goal is to develop the OneHealth Innovation District, a partnership between Elanco Animal Health Inc., Purdue University and the Indiana Economic Development Corp., into a research area for human, animal and plant health sciences.

The district is an expansion of Elanco's original plans for part of the former GM stamping plant site. The publicly traded company, based in Greenfield, announced in December 2020 that it would relocate to Indianapolis and build a 220,000-square-foot headquarters there. Construction would break ground in April 2022.

Jeff Simmons

CEO Jeff Simmons said at the time that he hoped the Elanco campus would be a hub for animal health, with collaboration and startup space focused on animal health. Then, in May of this year, Elanco announced the One Health District designation at IEDC's Global Economic Summit alongside state leaders and Purdue University officials.

Simmons said the “One Health” name reflects the district's goal of expanding beyond Elancos' animal specialty to encompass human and plant health.

“There's no other neighborhood like this. We want to make this a destination,” he said.

This could include biotechnology or life science offices, research facilities or even production, or it could mean collaborative research or projects between companies and universities.

Already, Purdue, Elanco and IEDC have agreed to develop a shared facility on three acres of land near the Elanco Building that will include offices, wet labs and incubator space.

To explore further possibilities, Elanco will host a summit in mid-November bringing industry leaders and innovators to Indianapolis.

“Our biggest hope right off the bat is to attract innovative companies and have them develop a pipeline of activity in the district,” Simmons said.

He said part of the district's appeal is its central location: The headquarters of Eli Lilly & Co., which last year became the world's most valuable pharmaceutical company, is less than two miles south of downtown. The 16 Tech Innovation District, the Indiana Bioscience Institute, the expanding flagship campus of Indiana University Health and the Indiana University School of Medicine are also all downtown.

And just this month, the Indiana Heartland Bioworks Hub learned it will receive $51 million in CHIPS Act funding to begin implementing workforce development and startup support in the life sciences as one of 12 federally designated tech hubs. The collaborative network of Indiana universities, the private sector, state and federal hubs aims to develop innovations in biotechnology manufacturing, including human, animal and plant sciences.

Dan Hassler

The One Health Innovation District is just part of what we should all cherish, says Dan Hassler, former Indiana Secretary of Commerce and development leader at Purdue University in Indianapolis: the density of life sciences industry and research facilities in the central Indiana, Indianapolis area.

Building One Health won't happen immediately, but leaders are confident it will be fruitful, he said.

“It's like popping popcorn,” Hassler said. “You don't know which kernel will pop first, which will pop second, which will pop third, but you know you're going to have a lot of popcorn before it's all over.”

Mapping the District

Management is still formulating plans for how OneHealth will complement and grow Elanco's headquarters.

The company opted for a building design that emphasizes shared spaces rather than a typical office building layout, and Elanco Executive Vice President Dave Kinnard said remote work during the pandemic forced the company to think differently about how it designed its campuses.

“It's our intention to make this a destination, not a requirement,” Kinard said.

Jeff Luebker

Jeff Luebker, global head of real estate and workplace for Elancos, said the headquarters is designed for the workforce of the future.

The layout of the Elanco headquarters reflects the type of arrangement development leaders want for the rest of the district, including office space, collaboration spaces and research and development labs.

“We want this to be bigger than we are,” Simmons said. “We want this to be a district. We want this to be a community. And we want it all to tie into innovation.”

Elanco initially acquired about 13 acres for its headquarters and plans to purchase another 12 acres to the north by March.

The district encompasses about 70 acres, with about 45 acres of that expected to be dedicated to additional One Health development, primarily to the west and south of Elanco's headquarters, according to a zoning plan provided to IBJ.

Most of that land is currently owned by IEDC, according to property records.

Kinnard said development plans for the sites are still in the early stages and it's too early to predict how many businesses will ultimately locate in the area.

OneHealth's eastern boundary borders the 7-acre White River State Park expansion that sits between the reconfigured South White River Parkway West Drive and the river.

The neighborhood will also be linked to downtown by the planned $43 million Henry Street Bridge, which would cross the White River and make Henry Street the campus's main access road. The bridge project, complicated by plans to exhume remains at a historic cemetery on the east side of the river, received a $15 million grant from the Lilly Endowment in June.

Elanco officials said the bridge, which will also include pedestrian lanes, will serve as a cross-town passageway and make it easier for workers to get to the neighborhood using multiple modes of transportation.

While Elanco's headquarters is scheduled to open in the second quarter of next year, the One Health district's timeline is much more fluid: Technology parks typically take more than a decade to complete, officials said, and Elanco leaders expect their district's development to follow a similar trajectory.

Hassler, who has helped develop several Purdue research parks, said companies will show up when they're ready and that the process can't be forced.

“This is not something that needs to be rushed. Let's do it with a sense of purpose,” he said.

Reducing barriers to innovation

Elancos-Simmons said a big goal of the district is to develop commercial ideas and products that improve the lives of pets, people and the environment.

To achieve that goal, the OneHealth Campus will provide startup companies with funding, labs, university researchers and technology development space.

Elanco recently launched the Animal Health Venture Fund with $2 million in initial funding. IEDC will manage the fund, which is aimed at supporting early-stage entrepreneurs. Simmons said he hopes the fund will grow through both private and public investments and will focus on investing in startup companies within the District.

Hassler said he expects Purdue, with its strong partnerships and history in animal health and biotechnology, to attract several companies to the area.

Strong ties between universities and companies [that] It requires a physical presence, he said, which would trigger the emergence of bricks and mortar, not the other way around.

And because it can be difficult for some companies to make large investments, OneHealth's goal is to create infrastructure that makes it easier for companies to set up headquarters or branches in Indianapolis, Hassler said.

In West Lafayette, for example, Purdue University allows companies and researchers to use workspaces for free, allowing industry professionals to collaborate with faculty and students, Hassler said.

Elanco's existing technology development lab in downtown Indianapolis will be repurposed as a space for startups and innovators to conduct research and bring products to market while the One Health District is developed, and Simmons said a similar facility will likely eventually be created on the One Health campus.

Elancos' new headquarters will be built along the west bank of the White River in downtown Dallas. The building will be located in the middle of the former GM stamping plant site, where the state hopes to attract more medical and innovation companies. (IBJ Photo/Kate Sharon)

Purdue's Retention Strategy

The One Health District is another way Purdue is expanding its presence in Indianapolis: On July 1, Purdue and Indiana University formally split off IUPUI, and Purdue began operating an expansion of its West Lafayette campus in the state capital.

A focus of the university's efforts in Indianapolis is placing students in real-world scenarios through research and especially internships while they take classes. The One Health District, located less than a mile from Purdue University Indianapolis' classrooms on the former IUPUI campus, will ultimately be a cog in that opportunity ecosystem.

Those locations are all close enough that students can do so during class time, but it would be difficult to do so from West Lafayette, he said.

And that leads to a bigger goal: State, industry and university leaders hope their efforts will lead to improved retention rates for Indiana college students. A 2022 Indiana Chamber of Commerce study estimated that 23,000 college students, or 40%, will leave Indiana within a year of graduation.

Hassler said that through Purdue's new ventures in Indianapolis, including plans to develop a One Health District, students will get to see what the city has to offer while getting entrenched in the industry. Through internships, students will have a better chance of being hired for full-time positions by Indiana companies, he said.

Companies have an advantage when they can build long-term relationships with students who might become future employees, he said: If students have the opportunity to work with or near companies in Central Indiana, they're much more likely to build relationships with them and much harder to quit after they graduate.

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