“University of Akron’s Board of Trustees has given its support to Ohio’s Third Frontier initiative, which will be on this May’s voting ballot as State Issue 1. If approved, the state will be allowed to issue up to $700 million in bonds to support development, entrepreneurial, research and commercialization programs.”
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University of Akron’s Board of Trustees has given its support to Ohio’s Third Frontier initiative, which will be on this May’s voting ballot as State Issue 1.
If approved, the state will be allowed to issue up to $700 million in bonds to support development, entrepreneurial, research and commercialization programs.
Since 2002 Ohio has invested $681 million into Third Frontier that has created $6.6 billion in economic activity, including 48,000 jobs resulting in $2.4 billion in wages.
According to a report done by the Ohio Business Roundtable the current Third Frontier initiative will have exceeded its total investment by 2014 from tax revenues collected.
The majority of those revenues come from indirect income tax.
Indirect jobs are created through supply chain companies hired by primary Frontier bond recipients according to Katie Sabatino, Public Information Officer at the Ohio Department of Development.
Those companies are surveyed every six months in order for the state to determine the amount of money that has been stimulated by the programs initial investment.
The Third Frontier also provides an internship program where more than 700 high-tech Ohio employers participate.
The program offers to reimburse participants 50 percent of an intern’s wages. With a limit on the amount the intern is allowed to receive, a student can earn up to $6,000 during a twelve month period.
Third Frontier is Ohio’s proposed solution to a faltering economy. While Ohio has increased high-tech jobs by 6.4 percent from 2004 through 2008, it lost 1.1 percent in overall employment.

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