“The University of Akron and the Research Foundation, have teamed up with business, academic and industry partners on more than 115 active sponsored research projects and helped to raise $50 million in private funding to either launch or attract more than 40 companies.”
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The University of Akron and the Research Foundation, have teamed up with business, academic and industry partners on more than 115 active sponsored research projects and helped to raise $50 million in private funding to either launch or attract more than 40 companies.
In November 2009, ground was broken for the $3 million downtown Akron headquarters of Akron Polymer Systems. APS, a home-grown company born partially from Ohio Third Frontier funding, will stay in Akron after being pursued by another state and continue to advance and produce the technology that spurred the company’s success: A thin, polymer film applied to liquid crystal displays to improve image clarity viewed from the periphery.
The Ohio Third Frontier was established in 2002 as an initiative within the Department of Development. The initiative has an initial span of 10 years with a $1.6 billion budget.
The program aims at investing in promising research, nurture early-stage companies, and promote technological advances.
Visit the Third Frontier Web site at http://thirdfrontier.com for more information.
Innovations such as this and their licensing enable universities to play a critical role in economic development, Dr. Luis M. Proenza, president of UA, said at the groundbreaking.
APS President and CEO Frank Harris, also a retired, distinguished emeritus professor of polymer science at UA, said the polymer research talent pool at the university, APS’ sound and successful history of Third Frontier funding and Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland’s support of alternative energy and the subsequent applications for polymers in solar and fuel cells prompted the company to decline an offer to move to the Sun Belt.
Instead, APS, co-founded by Harris and Dr. Stephen Cheng, dean of the College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, opted to remain local and fuel the region’s economy.
In partnership with APS and UA, Lockheed Martin MS2 Integrated Defense Technologies of Akron received $1 million in March from the Third Frontier program to develop materials to improve the fabric to be used in the high-altitude airships (HAAs) it is developing for the military. Back in 2006, this project also received a portion of a $12 million Third Frontier grant awarded to UA. This portion of the funding was used to develop a high-strength nanofilm needed by Lockheed Martin to reduce the weight of the HAAs. Most of the remaining $12 million is being used to continue the development of next-generation functional polymer products for optical thin films, flexible photovoltaics and thermally conductive films – all of which have numerous possible uses in high-tech as well as everyday applications.
At the groundbreaking of APS’ new facility in November 2009, Strickland praised the Akron area and UA for its ingenuity and entrepreneurship.
The Akron region’s rich history of innovation is rooted in a skilled and intellectual workforce, Strickland said.
As (APS’ commitment to Akron and Ohio demonstrates), Akron’s higher education has remained in the forefront every step of the way.

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