In all, the program awarded nearly $11 million to high-tech projects around the state.
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Feb. 4, 2010: Third Frontier program to fund high-tech jobs heads back to Ohio voters
Interactive table of all Third Frontier grants
Companies in Northeast Ohio were awarded more than two-thirds of the $5.7 million in funding the Ohio Third Frontier Commission announced Wednesday for industries making materials that outperform their conventional counterparts in toughness and other qualities.
Nearly $4 million of the funding for the advanced materials industries went to Northeast Ohio companies. These industries focus on materials that often create unique applications because of their superior qualities, including hardness, durability and elasticity.
The commission also awarded $4.9 million Wednesday for its sensors program, in which only one Northeast Ohio company, Pressco Technology Inc., received funding. The Solon company received $406,000.
The goal of the Third Frontier program is to create technology-based businesses in Ohio that will spur jobs and further investment. The awards for the sensors program are expected to leverage $6 million in Ohio, the commission said. The awards from the advanced material program are expected to leverage $6.1 million.
Among the businesses receiving advanced material awards was Kent Displays Inc. of Kent, which got $1 million. Kevin Oswald, the company's communications director, said the funding will be used for the development of flexible liquid crystals.
A consumer application includes creating an electronic skin that would permanently be integrated to the surface of, say, a cell phone, allowing the user to change the phone's color by pressing a button.
"If I am wearing an orange shirt today and wanted to change my phone orange, I could do that," he said. "If I change my shirt tomorrow to red, I could change my phone to red. It allows dynamic appearance change of an object."
Oswald said the company previously received about $12 million in Third Frontier funding. He said the money helped to take the company from about 40 employees two years ago to about 70 today. The funding also helped to launch the Boogie Board, an electronic writing tablet that uses unique liquid crystal display technology and needs virtually no power to operate.
Other companies receiving advance material program awards included:
-- AlphaMirror Inc. of Kent, in collaboration with AlphaMicron, Elbit Systems and Magna Mirrors, $1 million to manufacture an affordable and environmentally friendly plastic film, auto dimming rear view mirror.
-- Lockheed Martin MS2 Integrated Defense Technologies of Akron, in collaboration with Akron Polymer Systems, the University of Akron and Chemsultants International, $1 million to commercialize polymer- and nano-based films and adhesives for use in the hull fabric of Lockheed Martin's unmanned high-altitude airships.
--- Momentive Performance Materials Inc. of Strongsville, in collaboration with PolymerOhio, Steer America, the University of Akron and SABIC Innovative Plastics, $918,000 to commercialize the next generation of material for boron-nitride polymer composites to manufacture simple, lower cost, highly tailored LED housing products for the lighting industry.
-- Pressco Technology, in collaboration with Miami University of Ohio, received its sensor award to further develop a device to help manufacturers inspect the structural integrity of food packaging, such as plastic bottles.