Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted and Ohio Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik visited the Greater Akron Chamber on Thursday to announce $31.25 million in state funding for the new Greater Akron Polymer Innovation Hub project.
"This is a big deal," DeWine said to a room of stakeholders, including business leaders and local and state elected officials, as well as media.
The project is being led by the Polymer Industry Cluster at the Chamber.
Over the next seven years, the cluster expects the Greater Akron Polymer Innovation Hub to create nearly 2,400 new jobs in the Akron Metropolitan Statistical Area of Summit and Portage counties, 500 STEM credentials and "$68 million of catalyzed additional investment in the polymer industry," according to a news release from the Greater Akron Chamber.
Local partners will provide $10.4 million in additional, matched funding, per the release.
What will the funding do?
At the Thursday announcement, DeWine said the hub's "partners will work to create polymer innovations that support the electrical vehicle supply chain, improve medical devices, make them less invasive; advance semiconductor performance; contribute to a more sustainable future."
The governor also announced the creation of a Polymer Pilot Plant, which the news release described as a roughly $25 million investment that will be "a shared asset for the industry that will facilitate the scaling, testing, and prototyping of new materials."
Husted said the governor's office aims to assist companies that are under greater pressure than before to keep costs down, to make their products commercially viable and "to meet higher regulatory and consumer expecations on the environmental front."
Mihalik called the hub "a true testament to what's possible when industry pioneers, businesses, governments and schools … come together with a collective idea for the future."
What is the timeline for funding and project implementation?
The cluster has not yet finalized a location for the Polymer Pilot Plant, said Brian Anderson, vice president of the Polymer Industry Cluster at the Greater Akron Chamber.
The timeline for the cluster's receipt of the state dollars and rollout of funded projects has not yet been determined, Anderson said.
"But presumably later this year, the work will start," he said.
What is the Ohio Innovation Hubs Program?
According to the Ohio Department of Development website , "Innovation Hubs are regional innovation ecosystems driven by unique and existing expertise and legacy industries, which create jobs, increase STEM talent, attract research funding and outside capital investment, commercialize new products, and ultimately make a significant impact on Ohio and the world."
The DeWine-Husted administration created the Ohio Innovation Hubs Program in partnership with the Ohio General Assembly, according to an email advisory from the governor's office. At the Thursday event, DeWine thanked Republican and Democratic state senators and representatives.
This summer, the DeWine-Husted administration also announced the creation of two other innovation hubs — the Northwest Ohio Glass Innovation Hub , receiving more than $31.3 million in state funding from the Ohio Innovation Hubs Program, and the onMain Innovation Hub in Dayton , receiving more than $35 million in funding from the program.
The Polymer Industry Cluster is also receiving federal funding
In July, President Joe Biden's administration announced $51 million in federal funding for Greater Akron's Sustainable Polymers Tech Hub, issued via the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration.
The Sustainable Polymers Tech Hub includes a separate series of projects from the Greater Akron Polymer Innovation Hub, Anderson said Thursday.
The Sustainable Polymers Tech Hub was designed by the administration as one of 31 Tech Hubs in the United States in October 2023, and the administration announced in July that it would be one of 12 to receive a federal grant. It was tied with three other hubs for the highest award.
The initiative is a bipartisan effort, with support from both U.S. senators representing Ohio, multiple Democratic and Republican U.S. representatives, Republican DeWine's administration and a bipartisan group of elected state officials, Greater Akron Chamber President and CEO Steve Millard said on a July call with reporters.
Patrick Williams covers growth and development for the Akron Beacon Journal. He can be reached by email at pwilliams@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @pwilliamsOH.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Gov. DeWine: $31.25M from the state will fund new Greater Akron Polymer Innovation Hub
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