Northeast Ohio, including Akron and Cleveland, has been selected as a regional innovation engine, a National Science Foundation designation that could bring $160 million in federal funding to the area over the next decade. The funding will go toward advanced manufacturing of polymers, metals, and chemicals and coatings.
Local Impact
The regional application of NEO-SMART, or Northeast Ohio Strengthening Manufacturing for American Resilience through Technology, focused on the three areas of advanced manufacturing: polymers, metals, and chemicals and coatings. In Akron, the Polymer Industry Cluster has already garnered $100 million of investment. The city approved the Lincoln-Mill Redevelopment Plan, where the University of Akron will build a pilot innovation facility to help polymer businesses test and scale their ideas.
Local leaders said they have already leveraged partners to contribute an additional $120 million over the first two years in money and in-kind support; $50 million of that is new money that was contingent on the region’s win. Steve Millard, the president and CEO of the Greater Akron Chamber, said he expects about $1 million of the NSF grant to flow into Akron at the outset.
Regional Collaboration
The regional collaboration will be the first time a federally funded tech hub will work with an NSF Engine. The award has been more than four years in the making, said Michael Oakes, the executive vice president for research and economic development at Case Western Reserve University, which housed the effort. Oakes said he sees the grant as an opportunity to recreate a 1920s-era Northeast Ohio, when the region was akin to Silicon Valley in its draw and its levels of innovation.
The innovation efforts are likely to focus on improving the base manufacturing processes across all three areas, Oakes said, along with how they can be scaled. Those efforts are further along with chemicals and coatings than with metals, he said, and most advanced in the polymer space.
Original reporting: Signal Akron — read the source article.
