NorTech will host Ohio Department of Development on Third Frontier grant opportunities

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — NorTech, Northeast Ohio’s technology development organization, will host several members of the Ohio Department of Development’s Technology and Innovation Division at a public briefing on Third Frontier grant opportunities in the coming fiscal year.

The free event, which includes a continental breakfast, will be held 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Friday, July 17, at the Embassy Suites Hotel, 5800 Rockside Woods Boulevard, in Independence. Registration is recommended.

The briefing is one of six (pdf) — each held in one of Ohio’s economic regions. As of December, Third Frontier had awarded $893 million in grants to 514 companies, which said they would create or retain 7,757 jobs with the money. The grant awards had attracted an additional $3.5 billion in investment to the state by Dec. 31, according to the Ohio Department of Development.

The biomedical industry has received a majority (pdf) of the Third Frontier awards to Northeast Ohio.

The $1.6 billion Third Frontier project was launched in 2002 to develop Ohio’s economy by spurring technology investment, development and jobs. The project, funded largely through a $500 million bond issue, was designed to sunset in 2012. Proponents already are trying to figure out how to fund the next generation of the project.