Aug 19 2003
After getting off to a promising start two years ago, Ohio Polymer Enterprise Development Corp (OPED) are about to close their doors. OPED were set up to assist entrepreneurs turn their polymer ideas and inventions into commercial realities and start up companies.
Their ambitious aim was to create something akin a polymeric version of Silicon Valley in the Akron area of Ohio. In the process they hoped to assist about 6 companies a year to commercialise their ideas.
The closure of OPED comes after they burned through their $2million grant from the state government but failed to execute their own business plan and become self sustaining.
Other factors that led to the demise of OPED were the economic downturn and the reluctance of several state universities to trade equity in their resulting ventures for assistance with commercialisation. These organisations were very much against the concept of handing over any control after they had spent many years and millions of dollars developing their concepts.
OPED did however have success with assisting overseas companies in setting up ventures in the Ohio region. In total they helped eight companies set up operation the area.
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