Akron will receive $51 million to develop and produce the next generation of rubber and plastics, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown announced Tuesday.
Akron was selected as one of 31 finalists to compete for federal funding in October.
"This innovation and jobs and research and commercialization that results from that will help to change the world," Brown said. "It's a really big deal."
Akron has been dubbed the "Rubber Capital of the World" for its part in helping grow the rubber industry in the U.S. Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and the Goodrich Corporation all got their start in Akron. In recent years, economic leaders have been trying to capitalize on Akron's rich history by turning toward the development of sustainable polymers.
"This was really a big way to turn that corner and bring manufacturing back to Ohio in an important way," Brown said.
The funding for Akron’s tech hub status will have a far-reaching impact on the region, he said. The Greater Akron Chamber estimates the funding will bring $5 billion in total economic impact to Northeast Ohio.
“The Department of Commerce would not have chosen Akron out of 400, 450 ... communities if they didn’t think by looking at this application that it would have broad and deep impact on all of Northeast Ohio," he said.
The Akron Sustainable Polymers Tech Hub will accelerate sustainable polymer manufacturing and commercialization to tackle the environmental impacts of fossil fuel-driven polymers, according to the Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration. The technology that will be funded by this award is expected to result in the removal of millions of tons of carbon dioxide annually, according to a press release from the Greater Akron Chamber.
Akron is just one of 12 such tech hubs in the country to receive funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Brown said, totaling $504 million. The Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs were born out of the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, passed in 2022.
The teamwork in Akron's economic sector is one of the reasons its development plan stood out, he said.
"Akron was chosen over hundreds of other applicants because of the work that we did together, the chamber of commerce, Akron U [The University of Akron], labor, public officials," Brown said.
The funding will be matched with approximately $7 million in partner investment, according to the Greater Akron Chamber.
The funding will also help create jobs, trainings and opportunities for students and local universities in sustainable polymers.
Seven technology innovation, workforce and polymer industry cluster coordination projects will move forward with this funding, according to the Greater Akron Chamber. The projects will focus on commercializing recycling end-of-life tires, developing sustainable polymer composites via liquid phase mixing, manufacturing sustainable bio-based butadiene for green synthetic rubber, advancing formulation of carbon nanotube-based polymer composites and developing safer antidegradants for tires and plastics.
Butadiene is a gas produced when processing petroleum and is mainly used in the production of synthetic rubber, carbon nanotube-based polymer composites are materials that are very stiff and strong and used in reinforcements and antidegradants are ingredients that prevent rubber and plastics from breaking down.
The Greater Akron Chamber will lead the tech hub, according to the Economic Development Administration.
