More than $40 million in state and local money will be coming to the Greater Akron area to support continued growth in polymer innovation, the second grant in just three months to help establish the region as a national leader in the industry.
Between the two grants, nearly $100 million will come to Greater Akron to jumpstart further investment in polymer innovation.
The $31.25 million in state funds and $10.4 million in local contributions announced Thursday come on top of a $51 million federal grant the region received in July as part of a competitive program meant to spur development in a variety of innovation industries. That grant also came with a $7 million local match.
“It’s a really big deal, from our perspective,” said Steve Millard, the president and CEO of the Greater Akron Chamber. “It’s good validation that we can be at the center of polymer work as we go forward.”
The bulk of the latest award, $25 million, is earmarked for building a polymer pilot plant. Millard described it as a place where small companies can scale their ideas for testing — including researchers and startups that would not otherwise have access to the lab space necessary to make large quantities of new materials, which will be used as the industry tries to become more sustainable.
While there is a design and plan for the lab, Millard said the Polymer Industry Cluster helmed by the chamber does not yet have a location where the lab will be built. Millard said the group will spend the next three to four months working out the details, including whether the lab will repurpose an existing building or be new construction.
In addition to the plant, funds will go toward a number of other priorities.
They include:
- $8 million for research and development for sustainability issues in mobility, health care, industrial materials, energy and electronics/semiconductors. The research and development projects are meant to solve persistent issues that broadly affect the industry.
- $5 million for polymer startup programming. That money is meant to identify, recruit and nurture the growth of high-potential startups that can help solve big challenges in the industry.
- $2 million for workforce development. The workforce development funds will help recruit under-represented and under-employed residents into training programs and jobs.
- $2 million for staffing. The money will be used to facilitate activities for the consortium as a whole and to continue to seek additional investments.
The money will be spent over a four-year period. Millard said the workforce development piece will help people quickly move into high-paying jobs that they don’t need college degrees for.
Already, Millard said, the chamber has planned a trip to meet with several companies in Houston that might invest in operations in the Akron area because of the level of investment locally. Similar conversations have taken place with companies in Florida and Germany.
“This stuff takes some time, but we’re starting to see a steady drumbeat,” Millard said. “It’s huge, if you’re working in the space. … It says the state of Ohio is making a bet on polymers and advanced materials in Akron, Ohio.”
The grant is a testament to the great minds in Akron, Goodyear Global Material Science Senior Director Erin Spring said in a statement. She said the company sees the money as an opportunity to advance technologies and sustainability.
The investment is expected to result in nearly 2,400 jobs, 500 new credentials for related educational topics and an additional $68 million in investment over the next seven years, according to the chamber.
In a speech at the Akron Press Club Thursday, University of Akron President R.J. Nemer said the polymer money would bring an “exciting promise” to the campus as well as the region.
The new funds, from an Ohio’s Innovation Hubs Program, work in synergy with the federal grant money that will focus on materials innovation, said Mark Smale, the executive director for Core Polymer Science at Bridgestone Americas.
“This really builds the up-front infrastructure for taking invention into innovation,” he said.
Smale said the money will also help companies work together on non-competitive early-stage research, a benefit to the industry as a whole. He said the grant money will help attract more people to the polymer industry in the region.
Collaboration in the industry is difficult, Millard said, but the funding will create more opportunities to do so.
“We have great expertise, great talent, challenges to solve,” he said. “It’ll be a big difference-maker in the long term.”
Akron is the third region to receive funding through the $125 million state grant program. In July, the Toledo region received $31.3 million in state funding for innovation in glass science, while the state gave $35 million to the Dayton area in August for digital technology in the areas of aviation and national defense.
