By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

WOOSTER, Ohio — Business and industry leaders in the U.S. are certainly feeling the pinch of the recession and are looking for ways to reengineer the economy to boost job creation.

In the Buckeye State, the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) in Wooster has developed BioHio Research Park, a technology center whose aim it is to link OARDC scientists with business and industry partners interested in the growing and promising field of agricultural biosciences.
The Wooster center (which is part of The Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences) has looked beyond the classroom and lab in this attempt to commercialize technology that can eventually lead to startup companies or attract businesses to invest in this state.

“BioHio is a truly unique asset,” said Rod Crider, president of the Wayne Economic Development Council, a key partner of OARDC in this endeavor. “It brings economy-shifting potential to our county and our region.”
According to Crider, areas of biosciences targeted in this effort include renewable energy and materials, food safety and environmental remediation.
While Crider calls BioHio’s efforts “unique,” technology transfer is not new. For instance, Thiokol Chemical Corp., a privately owned company, now works with the federal government in dealing with fuel reclamation. Similarly, BioHio Research Park has partnered with OARDC scientists to share in promising ventures in agricultural endeavors.

The idea in both cases in a partnership in which both entities will see long-term benefits.

“We’re truly fortunate to have OARDC here, as it is demonstrating how R&D (research and development) activity can be leveraged to drive economic growth, job creation and the generation of income,” said Crider.

After much planning, the BioHio concept became reality in 2010 with the creation of 21 jobs and generation of important economic activity in the Wooster area, by attracting more than $8 million in federal and state funds.
The park’s main 95-acre site (adjacent to the OARDC campus) was enhanced with an improved access road, job-ready site preparation and utilities, thanks to a $3.1 million grant from the Ohio Department of Development and $3.4 million in matching funds from utilities and the city of Wooster. The campus’ three-story Pounden Hall was renovated to provide space for businesses through a $744,000 U.S. Department of Commerce grant and $1.2 million in local matches.

BioHio attracted its first tenant in 2010, the Cleveland-based quasar energy group*. This renewable energy company – which had previously established a lab on the OARDC campus to collaborate with researchers on biomass conversion technologies – set up its engineering office in Pounden Hall on the Wooster campus and built its flagship digester on the park’s main site.
To this day the modern biogas plant is producing 600 kilowatts of electricity and it has the potential to supply up to half of the OARDC campus’ energy needs. This same plant can process 550,000 gallons of agricultural and food processing waste, keeping it from landfills and saving businesses disposal fees.
The quasar-OARDC partnership has led to the creation and retention of 110 jobs in Ohio alone and the construction of three additional digesters throughout the state. Nine new projects are also scheduled for construction across Ohio in 2011.

“By collaborating with OARDC we have gained in one year the credibility that may have taken us 10 years to gain on our own,” said quasar energy group President Mel Kurtz. “This collaboration should result in thousands of jobs in Ohio. The backlog of work that we have will generate 1,000 jobs in 2011.”
The technology transfer, or public-private partnership between OARDC and quasar, is expected to be a key step in building a clean energy industry in Ohio with significant economic and environmental benefits. According to those at OARDC, Ohio has enough biomass resources to run 6,447 farm- and industrial-scale biogas plants. OARDC scientists are researching biogas plants that will be viable for small farms, as well as for large farms and industry.

*(Editor’s Note: It’s not an error; the quasar energy group does not capitalize its company name.)