Akron region prepares for a second run at polymer hub funding

Akron’s getting another bite of a bigger apple and, this time, area business leaders are hoping to bake a polymer pie worth tens of millions of dollars that will feed an important industry in the city and across Northeast Ohio.

At the end of February, the Greater Akron Chamber and at least 30 area partners will be considered for federal funding of a polymer tech hub. They’re hoping to get upwards of $75 million, based on the city and region’s strong background in polymers and its recent efforts to grow that industry. 

The backers already cleared a big hurdle on Oct. 23 when the Biden administration named Akron as the nation’s tech hub for sustainable polymer development and one of 31 finalists, out of hundreds of applicants nationwide, for federal funding for various industrial hubs.

That announcement came with a $400,000 strategy development grant which, by itself, is huge, members of the chamber’s polymer cluster say. 

“When you get that validation, that someone says: ‘you are it, you get the award’—out of 400 entries? Yeah, you’re riding high for a while,” said Sue Bausch, vice president for Research & Business Engagement and dean of the Graduate School at the University of Akron, where she’s also president of the University of Akron Research Foundation.

“We’ve got the (tech hub) designation which is a great start. And we got a $400,000 planning grant (to help prepare the cluster’s funding application). We were one of only 11 finalists to get both,” Bausch said. “This is a big win already.”

“It’s been an exciting eight or nine days,” said Brian Anderson, vice president of Research for the Greater Akron Chamber. Anderson and Chamber President Steve Millard helped to form the cluster and lead local efforts.

Like Northeast Ohio sports teams, the group has come close to victory before, only to have its hopes dashed. 

In 2022, the chamber, the University of Akron, Case Western Reserve, Kent State universities, and the region's entire polymer industry, were hoping to win $17 million in federal funding for a new polymer research and development center. They made a list of 60 finalists from a pool of more than 500 applicants but didn’t get selected. 

This time, unlike most Northeast Ohio sports teams, they plan to use the experience gained in a losing season to improve and win it all next year.

The pool of finalists is now much smaller and the available money exceeds what was offered in 2022. The U.S. Economic Development Agency says it will award $50 to $70 million of funding each to between five and ten of the finalists.

Even the low end of that estimate would be a huge deal for Akron, Anderson reasons.

“We’re in an interesting position in Akron,” he said. “Our region and city has the ability to drive global technologies, but we’re not a huge metropolis and $50 million makes a big difference in a city our size.”

The chamber has done much of the heavy lifting already, including getting 30 area corporations and universities to join the cluster and collaborate.

Bausch, who held high-level academic positions at universities in New Jersey and Maryland before coming to Akron, said she has been impressed with how the chamber and its partners have come together in a regional collaboration – something that stood out the first time the cluster sought federal funding. 

“It’s phenomenal,” she said. “I’ve worked other places and people will bring a center together at a particular institution or perhaps a larger center across multiple institutions. But the sheer number of people who have been involved in these discussions and the fact that it continues to grow, and everyone’s on a common theme, it’s just been phenomenal to see.”

The region has a big advantage due to its long history in polymer science, the large number of companies it has involved in polymers and the presence of several universities that conduct research and offer degrees in polymer engineering and related fields, Bausch and Anderson said.

That includes Akron-based Goodyear, which has been involved with the cluster since it was formed and plans to remain focused on its success, Senior Director of Material Science Erin Spring said via email.

“This project, in general, has been a spectacular example of a unifying purpose within the area. Business, government, nonprofit and higher education institutions are all working together to solidify and advance our role as a tech hub,” Spring said. 

Now, members of the cluster have to finalize their application, including which projects it will fund if it wins an award. 

In 2022, the centerpiece was a new polymer tech hub in Akron, possibly at the city’s namesake university. That might still be in the cards. But while the last grant was for general polymer manufacturing advancements that would bolster the U.S. supply chain, the new grant would be aimed at sustainable polymer technologies – something the University of Akron, Goodyear and other cluster members already have at the heart of their strategies.  

“Sustainability is a business imperative for Goodyear, like many other companies,” Spring said. “So, we are particularly excited about the possibilities in sustainable polymer development and accelerating our ability to meet our science-based targets and address industry-wide challenges associated with rubber and plastics.”

Anderson said it’s too soon to talk about specific projects, but he expects the group to come up with projects around four elements the feds have asked to be addressed with sustainable strategies: workforce development, business and entrepreneurial development, technology maturation and infrastructure.

Some of those projects likely will be physical structures, while others will be programmatic, he predicts.

Anderson said the chamber hopes to not only help members of the cluster grow their businesses and programs but to grow the cluster by supporting new startups as well.

“I think this tech hub program, like other large competitive programs, is a good opportunity for us to strategically expand our partnerships,” he said.

“Part of this underlying work is we want to unlock the latent entrepreneurial ecosystem. We’re fortunate in this region to have lots of big established companies that are economic drivers But one opportunity I think this presents is to tap into that entrepreneurial ecosystem.”