Taft Announces Third Frontier Grants
COLUMBUS, OHIO (March 30, 2006) - Governor Bob Taft today announced five Third Frontier grants to create jobs and economic growth by investing in advanced polymer technologies, superconducting wire, alternatives to chrome plating, and advanced turbine development. Each project partners Ohio companies with Ohio research institutions to develop and apply new technologies.
"The ability of companies to commercialize new products and create new jobs is critical to the future success of Ohio's economy," Taft said. "These funds are helping Ohio innovators turn great ideas into marketable products."
Created in 2003, the Wright Project program supports product commercialization through grants for capital equipment that will be used for entrepreneurial and commercial purposes. The grants support collaborations between Ohio colleges, universities, non-profit research institutions and Ohio companies to help further the near-term commercialization of products with significant, defined market opportunities in the areas of information technology; power and propulsion; advanced materials; and instruments, controls and electronics.
The Third Frontier Commission awarded the grants through a competitive RFP evaluation process in which proposals from 17 different entities were reviewed and scored by Taratec Corporation, an independent evaluating corporation. To qualify, companies receiving awards must have their principal place of business in Ohio. The Ohio Department of Development (ODOD) administers the grants.
"Today's award recipients are developing technologies and products that are making them industry leaders," said Lt. Governor Bruce Johnson, who also serves as State Development Director and Chair of the Third Frontier Commission. "Through initiatives like the Third Frontier, we are reclaiming Ohio's culture of innovation."
2006 Wright Project grants, totaling $7.4 million, were made to:
The Ohio State University (OSU), located in Columbus (Franklin County), has been awarded $1,152,400 for its "Superconductivity Technology Center" project that will promote the commercialization of magnesium diboride (MgB2). MgB2 is a superconductive material that can be used to develop more advanced superconducting wire for the wire coils of medical imaging equipment. The challenge of using MgB2 in this new application will be to produce long lengths of wire with no defects and creating a method of making persistent joints in the wire. MgB2 wire will also be beneficial for other applications in the power industry, such as fault current limiters, transformers, motors and generators. The grant will equip the Center with the equipment needed to address the challenges of using MgB2 and to further develop superconducting wire. OSU's commercialization partner on the project is Hyper Tech Research (HTR) of Columbus. HTR projects MgB2 wire sales for MRI machines to have revenues of $7.5 million in 2009 and $32.6 million in 2011. Total company employment is expected to be 40 in 2009 and 80 in 2011.
National Composite Center (NCC) , located in Kettering (Montgomery County), was awarded $1,800,000 for its "Nano-enhanced SMC Scale-up for Composite Part Production" project. This grant will benefit the manufacture of sheet molding compound (SMC) with significant reductions in weight and thickness but equal strength as traditional materials. This will be accomplished by replacing some of the conventional filler material and glass fiber in SMC with nano-clays, which have a much larger surface area. The SMC will be used with Class 8 truck (cab components) and recreational marine (jet skis) applications. Equipment for bench scale work with these materials is available in academic institutions. However, to produce quantities of material sufficient to mold actual parts for testing, it is necessary for this equipment be scaled up by a factor of six, which will be achieved with this funding. The new equipment will enable the production of three to six million pounds of SMC. The initial commercialization partners will be Core Molding Technologies, a molded parts line and supplier to International Truck. Polymer Ohio and Comfort Line will also work with NCC to find other applications for SMC. Other collaborators include Inspired Innovations, LLC and Iten Industries. NCC projects that 39 jobs and revenues of up to $9 million will be created during the coming three years.
University of Dayton (UD), located in Dayton (Montgomery County), was awarded $2,100,000 for its "Low-cost Nanocomposite Tooling for Agile Manufacturing" project. UD intends to support the development of low-cost tooling solutions based on newly commercialized polymer nanocomposite materials. These materials offer the opportunity for a significant reduction in lead times and costs associated with the production and replacement of machine and steel tooling. Nanocomposite tooling is expected to be especially effective in product lines that have limited production runs. UD's collaborators, American Trim, Sherwood Composites and KETCO, project a combined increase in revenue of $8.3 million and 50 additional jobs due to cost and time savings involved in nanocomposite tooling-based manufacturing, as well as the production of nanocomposite tools.
James A. Rhodes State College, located in Lima (Allen County), was awarded $1,384,990 for its "Advanced Materials Commercialization Center." The Center will assist companies with process development and the preparation of initial proofing samples of parts. The initial process to be developed is a surface finishing process incorporating physical vapor deposition (PVD), which deposits a "near chrome" finish on metal parts. The equipment to be obtained will allow Rhodes' collaborator, American Trim, to continue its process development activities on full size bumpers and trim parts for Class 8 trucks. In recent years, strict EPA regulations and labor-intensive processes have forced conventional chrome plating processes out of the U.S. Initial estimates show that this "near chrome" process may be 25 percent more cost effective than conventional chrome plating, with performance and appearance results that still meet customer expectations. American Trim expects to bring its finishing operation in-house and build a new production facility, investing $8 million and creating 60 new jobs. This facility will generate annual revenues in the range of $12 to $14 million.
University of Toledo (UT), located in Toledo (Lucas County), was awarded $1,000,000 for its "Test Facility for Experimental Development of High-speed Rotating Components and Subsystems." This facility will be dedicated to the experimental development of advanced, high speed (up to 150,000 rpm) rotating equipment. UT's collaborator, Teledyne Continental Motors – Turbine Engines (TCM-TE) plans to use the facility to test bearings and compressors. TCM-TE expects initial sales of newly developed turbine engines to be $3.25 million with 10 to 20 new jobs created.
The 2006 round of Wright Project funding marks the fourth year for the program. To date, 20 projects have been funded totaling more that $32 million in investments across the state. The 10-year, $1.6 billion Ohio Third Frontier Project is the state's largest-ever commitment to expand Ohio's high-tech research capabilities and promote start-up companies to create high-paying jobs for generations to come.
