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Boosting Technology

Ohio is attempting to create a political and economical atmosphere that's more congruent to the high-tech industry. The 1999 legislative session, in fact, zoned in on several high-tech issues. Overall, Ohio increased spending for technology development by 25 percent from FY1999 to FY2000. This includes plumping up the Ohio Technology Action Fund, which was established to expand the state's research base, facilitate technology transfer and establish research parks and incubators for high-tech firms, from US$3 million to $30 million.

In 1999, Gov. Bob Taft focused much of his high-tech efforts on growing the biomedical and biotech fields in Ohio. First, he established the Great Lakes Biomedicine/Biotechnology Consortium to create a regional strategy for nurturing these industries. Secondly, he proposed allocating $1.8 billion of the state's tobacco settlement for biomedical and biotechnology research over the next 26 years.

At the most recent Bio Ohio conference, a state-hosted annual event for Ohio's biological science industry, Gov. Taft also announced his plans to liberalize policies so that university professors will have an economic stake in the inventions created by their research. "This means that our universities will have a greater ability to attract top-quality research professors, because the profits of commercialization of the activities coming out of the university research labs will be more available to them," says Jackson.

And although it's not a direct result of Taft's liberalization plans, Ohio has in fact landed major high-tech leaders at its universities. "If you look at the new university presidents in Ohio, they're all engineers," says Jackson. "If a university president has an engineering background, what does that tell you the schools are going to do? It means the schools are going to be very strong in science and technology, and where do most states want their economies to be? Strong in science and technology. And where will Ohio be? Strong in science and technology."

Another way Ohio has made itself more attractive to the high-tech world is through its Edison Center program, which was established in the late 1980s. Schjeldahl says that the Edison program is one of the key elements of the state's training capabilities.

The Edison program created seven Edison Technology Centers and 10 Edison Technology Incubators to help link businesses with educational institutions and government, strengthening industrial competitiveness through technological innovation. Each of the seven Edison Centers focuses on a specific technology, including such areas as advanced manufacturing, polymers, materials and processes, welding and materials joining, biotech and environmental sciences. The Edison Technology incubators assist startup tech firms by providing below-market space, shared office services, and managerial and technical assistance.

According to a recent study by the College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University, the Edison Centers are having a significant impact on Ohio businesses participating in the program. The Cincinnati-based Institute for Advanced Manufacturing Sciences, for example, helped state manufacturers increase sales by more than $700 million between 1994 and 1998. Results of the study also show that participating companies saved more than $296 million and created or retained 3,346 jobs during the same period.

Ohio Powers Up for the New Economy When utilities start ramping up their capabilities in a particular state, it's a pretty good sign that growth is expected. But when seven utility expansions round out some of the top investments in the state ... well, that's a whole other ball game. "If I go through the top 20 major investments of 1999, ranging from $72 million to a high of $535 million in investment, seven of those expansions are in electricity, in the utilities," says Michael Jackson, deputy director for marketing and special projects with the Ohio Dept. of Development. "That tells me that utilities see growth coming to this marketplace; they're meeting new demand. They're anticipating new opportunities, and they're expanding their operations." One of those major announcements included the new Environmental Energy Production Facility in Lima, located in northwest Ohio. The city of Lima and Cincinnati-based Global Energy will establish the Lima Energy Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) project at the city's Liberty Commons Industrial Park, and it will produce 540 megawatts of low-cost electricity and synthetic gases for industrial and manufacturing purposes. The new $500 million facility is expected to be the most efficient, environmentally advanced coal-based plant in the United States, which will feature Advanced Fuel Technology briquettes made of household solid waste and Ohio coal, British Gas/Lurgi gasification technology and General Electric advanced turbine power generation equipment. It will employ approximately 120 permanent workers once completed. This particular project will have a major impact on the community, says Global Energy President Harry Graves. "The proposed project will be a world-class model for addressing five major economic and environmental concerns for the next century: 1. Provide low-cost power in a deregulated market. 2. Introduce Clean Coal Technology, thereby maintaining Ohio jobs. 3. Reduce carbon dioxide with a correspondingly positive impact on global warming. 4. Achieve Clean Air Act compliance through ultra-low emissions. 5. Enhance environmental improvements through low-cost waste elimination."