ELECTRICAL INTERFERENCE YSU, Delphi Packard form partnership

Ohio's Third Frontier Project has money to help rebuild the state's economy.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
ROOTSTOWN -- Youngstown State University and Delphi Packard Electric Systems have formed a partnership to find a way to cut the electrical noise interference in automobile wiring that can cause problems with vehicle operations.
That's just the type of collaborative research project U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, was looking to promote when he organized the first Northeast Ohio Innovation Forum at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine on Monday.
Dozens of representatives of various universities and businesses showed up to learn more about how they can form collaborative partnerships, often with financial help from the state, that will benefit the entire region.
Some, like YSU, brought their own examples of successful collaborative efforts.
Ryan said he has three universities and one medical school within his Congressional district and noticed that those schools weren't getting together with the business community as much as they should to help rebuild the Northeast Ohio economy.
Global market
A recent trip to China and Israel brought the impact of the world's global market into even sharper focus, he said, noting that those and other countries are putting more emphasis on technological development than is the United States.
China, for example, graduated 600,000 engineers last year while India graduated 300,000. By comparison, the U.S. graduated only 70,000, he said.
"Innovation is the No. 1 way this country will maintain its superiority in the world," Ryan said, adding that education is the key to that success.
Other nations may be putting more emphasis on technology, but Ryan said he learned in China that the U.S. still has a couple of distinct advantages. Chinese engineers aren't taught and don't practice the individual creativity or the ability to work in teams that are both common practice here, he said.
The YSU-Delphi project was one of nearly two dozen displays at the forum offering examples of collaboration between business and learning institutions. This project, involving the electrical and computer engineering program at the university, started a year ago but is expected to grow into other collaborative research and development projects with Delphi, said Dr. Jalal Jalali, chairman of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at YSU.
Funding assistance
Frank Samuel, chief technology officer for the Ohio Department of Development, said the state is doing its part by providing funding assistance through the Third Frontier Project, a $1.6 billion effort to help transform Ohio's economy from one based on manufacturing to one of innovation and high technology that creates high-paying jobs and improves the general quality of life.
Money is awarded on a competitive basis, but it isn't only for large universities and big corporations. Small institutions and companies have a role in the process as well, Samuel said.
Be innovative, he said, and look carefully at new project development across Ohio. Ask how your own product or your own institution can be used to improve or benefit that new project, he said.
Samuel singled out the Youngstown Business Incubator for praise, saying that it wasn't very successful 10 or 15 years ago but today is one of the most successful projects of its kind in the state.
There are two reasons, he said. First, it focused on innovative information technology, and, second, its leadership exhibited a will to succeed.
Creating partnerships
A major goal of the Third Frontier is to help create partnerships between business, universities and other institutions across the state, using the state funds as seed money to attract $6 billion in private and federal government investment in innovative high technology projects. The Third Frontier wants to build on the hi-tech strengths that Ohio already has, such as work in advanced materials (such as polymers), bioscience, information technology, power and propulsion and instruments, controls and electronics.
The Third Frontier, launched in 2002, has created 1,500 jobs across the state so far and invested $130 million in projects in Northeast Ohio alone.
gwin@vindy.com