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Third Frontier making progress to boost Dayton-area economy

Grants for fuel-cell development, among other industry, help region transform.

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Area business leaders, educators tout value of Ohio’s Third Frontier

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By William Hershey, Staff Writer Updated 11:48 PM Sunday, January 17, 2010

COLUMBUS — Dan Kramer is a New Jersey transplant who came to the Dayton area in 1979.

Kramer, 57, liked the place, especially after he met his future wife, Linda, who had moved to the area from Long Island. They decided to stay and raise their family, which includes daughter Shana, 25, and son Jeff, 21.

“I want my kids to be able to find jobs in the Miami Valley so my grandkids would be here,” said Kramer, head of the Metals and Ceramics Division at the University of Dayton Research Institute. His wife is executive director of Daybreak, the emergency shelter for runaway and homeless youths.

Ohio’s Third Frontier program is about high-tech research and job creation. But, according to Kramer and other supporters, it’s also about making Ohio and the Dayton area once again economically vibrant magnets for families and young people looking for exciting and fulfilling places to live out their lives.

The results so far are piecemeal and even hard to detect in a state that has lost 512,000 jobs since 2000 and where developments like NCR’s decision to leave Dayton for Atlanta are all too frequent.

But there have been results. Kramer of Centerville and UDRI, for example, have collaborated with Mound Technical Solutions of Miamisburg and UltraCell of Vandalia to win fuel cell-related Third Frontier grants.

The grants have helped both companies create jobs and develop products that already are being marketed. Each company has 13 employees. UltraCell moved its manufacturing from California to Ohio because of the state’s growing importance in the fuel cell industry, said Josh Long, UltaCell plant manager.

His company manufac- tures the UltraCell XX25 portable fuel cell used for computing, communica- tions and other applica- tions.

With a Third Frontier grant and collaboration with Mound Technical Solutions and UDRI, UltraCell is developing a more powerful fuel cell product, the UltraCell XX55.

Mound Technical Solutions, also with Third Frontier help, is selling fuel-cell testers. The testers are used in helping UltraCell develop its products.

Without the Third Frontier, “I don’t think we would have started at all” in fuel cell work, said Doug McClelland, Mound Technical Solutions president.

In the Dayton area, Third Frontier grants have helped with other products and technologies, including lasers and unmanned aerial vehicles.

While the jobs from such projects come in small numbers — unlike the old days of hundreds and thousands of workers at auto plants — they are helping the area remake itself, said Chris Kershner, vice president for public policy and economic development at the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce.

“The Dayton region received $123 million in Third Frontier investment,” said Kershner. “That really highlights the Dayton region is transitioning from a traditional manufacturing economy to an economy based on high technology.”

Third Frontier grants require the winners to get involved financially.

A majority of Third Frontier programs require the winners to chip in from 50 cents on the dollar to as much as $2 for every dollar awarded, said Katie Sabatino of the state development department.

For example, the $1 million Third Frontier grant to UltraCell for development of its new fuel cell product required a $1 million match.

The Third Frontier started in 2002 under Republican Gov. Bob Taft. In 2005 voters approved a bond issue that included $500 million for the program. With money from other sources, the commitment to the program reached $1.6 billion, but some non-bond money was diverted and the total declined to about $1.35 billion.

The program doesn’t expire until 2012, but backers want to renew it to keep things moving ahead.

The House last week approved a May 4 ballot proposal calling for issuing $950 million in bonds over five years. The plan now is before the Senate, with a Feb. 3 deadline looming for getting issues on the May ballot.

While the House vote was 85-13, there was opposition from lawmakers like Rep. John Adams, R-Sidney, who oppose increased state borrowing — which is what issuing bonds is — and helping private businesses.

“I just simply cannot keep pulling out the state’s credit card and charging the taxpayers ...,” Adams said.

Rep. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, voted “yes” and had a different perspective.

“My philosophy is to foster jobs and have a robust economy in Ohio,” Lehner said.

Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1608 or whershey@Dayton

DailyNews.com.

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