The Toledo consortium of glass and solar companies that missed out on a $100 million federal tech hub designation is staying together and planning projects to establish a track record of results that was a key deficiency in the last application, local leaders say.
The Northwest Ohio Innovation Consortium was hurt in the competition by only having less than a year together and no tangible projects to point to when the U.S. Department of Commerce asked it to list prior accomplishments, said Roger Smith, the Toledo group’s regional innovation officer who is on loan to the consortium from global bottle maker O-I Glass of Perrysburg.
Undaunted, the Toledo group now is planning to fix its track-record deficiency by organizing two near-term projects that will demonstrate the group’s capabilities, Mr. Smith said.
Mr. Smith of O-I said Akron’s polymer cluster has spent nearly 15 years promoting the region as a polymer center and R&D hub.
To get in that game, Toledo needs to find a similarly consistent voice promoting its assets – a skilled and willing workforce and manufacturing excellence – to get over the hump the next time, he said.
“Our group is industry-led and used to getting things done,” Mr. Smith said.
