University of Akron : Innovation + Job News

Ohio may not have the sunshine or constant wind found elsewhere, but there's no doubt about it. Advanced and alternative energy is becoming a big deal in Ohio.

The growth of the industry is the catalyst for Nortech's first ever Advanced Energy B2B Conference and Expo Sept. 14 and 15 in downtown Akron, says Karen Allport, vice president of strategic outreach for the tech-based economic development organization serving northeast Ohio.

“Ohio has a very strong manufacturing base, innovative research facilities and a highly skilled workforce,” she explains. “In fact, we have more than 400 organizations, large and small, engaged in advanced energy research and manufacturing.”

Ohio leads the Great Lakes in offshore wind development, with wind farms throughout the state. Major studies are being conducted on fuel cells and photovoltaics, and Northeast Ohio is teeming with top-notch national and international manufacturers and research institutions.

Allport ticks off names of some Ohio companies involved in advanced energy.

“FirstEnergy is the nation’s fifth-largest investor owned electric utility,” Allport points out. Others include Eaton Corp., Lincoln Electric, Babcock & Wilcox, Cliffs Natural Resources, GE Lighting, Parker Hannifin, and the Timken Company, she notes. She also mentions ongoing energy research at Kent State University, the University of Akron, and Case Western Reserve University.

Consider this: Ohio is fourth in the country in the number of clean energy jobs, with 35,267 employees working in the state’s advanced energy industries. Ohio is sixth in the nation in number of clean technology businesses, for a total of 2,513 clean energy companies. We’re also seventh nationwide in the total number of clean energy patents filed -- 309 patents over the past decade.

There’s an international component to the Advanced Energy B2B Conference and Expo as well, according to Allport.

“We have a mayor’s association involved whose members want to showcase advanced energy activities in their communities, so they’re in touch with groups in India and Great Britain to generate interest in collaboration,” she explains. “Our overall goal with this energy conference and expo is to provide programs and exhibits that drive opportunities for commercial activities,” Allport notes.

With more than 300 people from all over Ohio and nationwide expected to attend and all 70 exhibit spaces already sold out for the upcoming conference, perhaps the combination of advanced energy + the state of Ohio will finally gets its due. 

Source:  Karen Allport, Nortech
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

Can man mimic nature to improve health?

Maybe. That's what a University of Akron polymer engineering expert is researching at the Ohio Supercomputer Center in Columbus.

Hendrik Heinz is using advanced modeling and simulation techniques to more precisely understand biomineralization, nature's ability to form complex structures, such as bones, teeth and mollusk shells, from peptides; and organic photovoltaics. The work could advance knowledge of how organic materials bond to inorganic materials. Ultimately, the results of Heinz's efforts could affect the making of materials used for things like bone replacement and sensing systems -- and even disease treatment and energy generation.

Heinz has noted previously that advances in materials science such as in biomedical and energy conversion devices increasingly rely on computational techniques and modeling. In particular, work at the nanoscale level -- such as charge transport mechanisms in solar cells, the formation of biominerals, and self-assembly of polymers in multi-component materials -- is difficult to observe. Model building and simulation are critical, he says.

The Air Force Research Laboratory/Office of Scientific Research in Dayton; Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, the National Science Foundation; and ETH Zurich  and Sika Technology AG , both of Switzerland join UA and the Supercomputer Center in supporting Heinz's activities.

Heinz is "just one of scores of researchers" who are doing "amazing work" on the computational and storage systems of the Supercomputer Center, says spokesman Jamie Abel.

The Ohio Board of Regents established the center in 1987 as a statewide resource. The state's universities, businesses and others use it for an array of educational and business purposes.

Sources: Jamie Abel and Kathryn Kelley, Ohio Supercomputer Center
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs

Northeast Ohio is already a leader in flexible electronics. Now, a number of partners are working to make it the "global epicenter" of the industry.

The goal? To add 1,500 jobs, $75 million in payroll and $100 million in capital to Northeast Ohio by 2017.

Last week, NorTech -- a regional nonprofit economic development organization focused on high tech job growth -- announced a shared vision and action plan to speed growth of the industry in northeast Ohio.

The Northeast Ohio Flexible Electronics Roadmap outlines strategies and initiatives to build global market capabilities in the low-cost manufacturing of flexible electronics -- devices printed on flexible materials. Examples include liquid crystal devices and flexible sensors and circuits.

The Northeast Ohio Flexible Electronics Roadmap charts a path for identifying and pursuing market opportunities; increasing public funding and private investment; strengthening cluster alignment, communication, and partnering; monitoring and reporting cluster growth and impact; and improving visibility and recognition.

"Northeast Ohio's flexible electronics cluster is rooted in the world-renown, breakthrough work of The Liquid Crystal Institute at Kent State University, the globally recognized advances in polymer science by the University of Akron, as well as a growing number of small, medium and large companies that are producing flexible electronics applications," says Kelly South, NorTech's senior director of communications.

Nortech led development of the roadmapping process in partnership with 23 technology and industry experts representing research institutions, manufacturers, materials suppliers and product developers. The strategies will be executed over the next 12 months, South says, but added that the document will "serve as a living document that will capture technology shifts, changes in market dynamics and new growth opportunities in Northeast Ohio."

NorTech and other partners have branded the northeast Ohio flexible electronics cluster as FlexMatters.

Source: Kelly South, NorTech
Writer: Gene Monteith

Rapid Charge Technologies, LLC says its patented technology can charge off-the-shelf batteries in minutes.

The Cleveland-based company, formed last year, is a subsidiary of Potential Difference, Inc. (PDI), Nevada, which designed and built an all-electric car with a top speed over 100 mph and a range of 140 miles. The Acura TL body and chassis has an all-electric drive train powered by 40-kilowatt hours of lithium ion batteries, rechargeable in about three hours.

Results verified by the University of Akron show recharge times as low as 31 minutes for lead acid batteries and 19 minutes for relatively inexpensive lithium ion phosphate batteries in all-electric and hybrid automobiles. RCT is formalizing its go-to-market strategy and identifying potential partners and alliances.

A $2 billion firm, with one third of the forklift market, has evaluated RCT's test data and agreed to test the technology. A distributor for a leading fast-food chain and a battery manufacturer have also agreed to a test.

PDI received a $500,000 U. S. Department of Energy Fiscal 2011 Appropriations grant for work to be done (in part) at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. In July of 2009, RCT received a $25,000 grant from the Lorain County Community College Innovation Fund to develop the initial prototype in collaboration with the University of Akron. PDI received $85,000 for further development and testing from North Coast Opportunities.

At the moment Elliott Small, Jr., president and founder, says he is the only full-time employee, with everyone else being "some kind of a contractor."

"We expect that before the end of 2011 we should have orders for the [forklift] chargers, with hiring beginning toward the end of the year," says Small.

Source: Elliott C. Small, Jr., Rapid Charge Technologies
Writer: Patrick G. Mahoney

The Dayton region may be known as Ohio's sensors corridor, but northeast Ohio's capabilities in sensor technology just got a boost -- and a big one at that.

Last week the Wright Center for Sensor Systems Engineering at Cleveland State University, allocating funds from the Ohio Third Frontier initiative, awarded six grants totaling more than $17 million to universities and other organizations for development and commercialization of sensors and sensor technologies.

The largest of the six grants -- 25 percent of which will be matched by recipients -- went to Lorain County Community College, which will receive $5.5 million to work with R.W. Beckett Corp., Acence and Greenfield Solar Corp., to create a center for sensor commercialization.

The Cleveland Clinic Foundation's Learner Research Institute will receive $2.67 million to lead establishment a new center for sensor and microdevices for biomedical applications, and the Austen BioInnovation Institute is getting $2.6 million to lead development of an advanced instrumentation platform for product development in biomedical areas.

Meanwhile, the Ohio State University is slated to receive $3 million to lead commercialization of terahertz sensors for applications such as medical imaging and homeland security, and the University of Akron will receive $1.66 million to lead commercialization of sensor technologies for clean energy products.

Youngstown State University will also receive $1.66 million, for a collaboration with the Youngstown Business Incubator and M-7 Technologies to create systems for next generation manufacturing and inspection systems.

Some recipients are already predicting new jobs due to the awards.

"Our principal commercial partner, M-7 technologies, is looking to hire an additional 70 employees over five years," says Julie Michael Smith, the Youngstown incubator's chief development officer. "That is the direct employment, and then of course there will hopefully be downstream employment by companies employing this technologies."

She says the grants are good for northeast Ohio and for the Youngstown area, where old-line industries like steel have been battered in recent years.

Sources: The Wright Center for Sensor Systems Engineering and Julie Michael Smith, Youngstown Business Incubator
Writer: Gene Monteith

Frank Harris, a professor emeritus of polymer science at the University of Akron, knows what it's like to be the bona fide poster child for the growing high-tech industry in Ohio. And he's OK with that.

He co-founded Akron Polymer Systems in 2005 (with Dr. Stephen Cheng, dean of the UA College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering) and the company has enjoyed steady growth since.

The company now says it's within a year of taking its polymer product � with uses in fuel cells, liquid-crystal displays and solar cells � to the market.

APS has attracted the attention of several companies, including Lockheed Martin, Kent Displays and solar powerhouse Xunlight.
And to think the company was this close to leaving Ohio.

"We were approached by the state of South Carolina, but we stayed, primarily because of the Third Frontier," says Harris. "South Carolina could offer us some incentives, but they couldn't come anywhere close to the help that the Third Frontier could offer us." APS has received about $350,000 in direct funding from the state program for fuel cell technology, but through subcontracts it has also been awarded more than $2 million for several other projects.

Harris says another benefit is that the company has been able to match Third Frontier funding with industry funding, something he calls the "doubling effect."

There are currently a dozen people employed with APS, but Harris says once a product is on the market within a year, there could be more than 25 positions added. In more good news for the company, APS has been approved for a $1.25 million loan to build a new $3 million facility in downtown Akron.

Source: Frank Harris, Akron Polymer Systems
Writer: Colin McEwen