ATHENS, Ohio -- For Ohio to compete in today's knowledge-based economy, the state must invest in partnerships among government, higher education and industry that lead to start-up companies and high-wage jobs. That's the goal of the Third Frontier Project, an initiative proposed by Gov. Bob Taft, who held a summit on the topic Tuesday at Ohio University's Ping Center.
The forum was the eighth in a series of panel discussions held around the state to rally support for the state's most ambitious plan ever to grow Ohio's high-tech research capabilities and expand opportunities for entrepreneurs, companies and workers.
"The Third Frontier Project is about helping start-up companies get off the ground, companies like those that have grown out of Ohio University research," Taft said, pointing to Athens-based Diagnostic Hybrids, Inc. as an example of the type of venture the Third Frontier Project is designed to support.
The governor toured DHI Tuesday morning, as well as the site for the new Innovation Center building, located on the university's Research Enterprise Park on West State Street. DHI got its start in the university's Innovation Center in 1983 and now employs more than 75 people.
"The Governor's Third Frontier Project is most welcomed and much needed for Ohio's future economic prosperity," said Ohio University President Robert Glidden. "One wishes we had begun this a decade ago, but it is not too late to start. While we know that this project will be good for Ohio as a whole, we in southeastern Ohio would like to be sure that it will benefit and bring hope to our region as well."
Glidden and other university and business leaders from throughout southeastern Ohio were panelists in the summit. Leaders in areas near the university's five regional campuses also participated in the panel via a live, interactive telecast.
Programs in the Third Frontier Project include, among others, a commitment of $500 million over the next 10 years to the Technology Action Fund and the Biomedical Research and Technology Transfer Fund.
Ohio University has received three Technology Action Fund grants in as many years, awards used to bring a leading researcher in Graves' disease to the campus, fund a study of a new class of antibiotics and support the Southeastern Ohio Science and Technology Commercialization Initiative, a partnership between Ohio University and Columbus-based Battelle to commercialize faculty discoveries and technologies.
"Ohio University has several roles in the Third Frontier Project," said John Bantle, vice president for research at the university. "It must do research and generate intellectual property, it must listen to industry in its quest for relevant projects and it must help new companies in their formative years."
