Powering Polymer Innovation and Talent with the Polymer Industry Cluster

[MUSIC] Welcome to another episode of Dreamers, Drivers and Doors. I'm Steve Miller at The Greater Eccr&Chamber. In this podcast, I get to talk to people who are doing some amazing things for our region, keeping us moving forward, tackling some growth opportunities, and really working to make this a better place to live, work and play. And today, I have got a gaggle of folks with me to talk through something that you've heard a little bit about. You may have seen stories about our polymer industry cluster. I'm never tired of hearing about it though because it represents a great opportunity for our region. So what I thought of you today is spent a little bit of time talking with a few of the leaders and experts that are helping to drive this thing forward. And some of the key components we've spent a lot of time competing for this money over the last year or so. We've started with the foundation in place. And we're really, I think, well, position probably moved forward. So I welcome each of you, maybe asking each to say, who you are, what you do, and how you're connected to the cluster. And I'm going to start with you, Hans, who you are, and what you do, and how you're connected to this cluster thing. Yeah. Thank you, Steve. So my name is Hans Dorfey. I lead the polymer industry cluster at the Executive Director and Chief Innovation Officer. And I've been in this position now for seven months. And connected industry for a while, right? Yeah. But in the 30 years in the time of building this three, which obviously is tied to the polymer industry at large and being mostly focused on the R&D excellent fit for the work that we're doing here. Jessica. Yeah, Jessica Sabla, president of CEO at Bounce Innovation Hub. So we support startups and we lead the Syntha Six materials accelerator, which is in partnership with the polymer industry cluster designed to support particularly our advanced materials and polymer startups. Awesome, Gene. Yeah. Hi, Steve, on Gene Barbado, Director of Connect Susenio, which is the Workforce Initiative for the Greater Akron Chamber and the polymer industry cluster. So all of you have a really important piece to play in this. And one of the things that I think has been really interesting is this develop is this isn't just any one organizations or one partners work, right? We're kind of working really closely to try to make this happen. But tell me a little bit Hans about just how the polymer industry cluster gets started, what it is, sort of give us some of the broad strokes of the cluster. Yeah. Of the conversation started several years ago while we're still in the industry role. And as we progressed to the last couple of years in 2024, we had we were able to get two major grants, the innovation upgrade and the federal EDA Tech Hub Grant. And from these grants now, we have built a strategy and we're executing on that strategy. And that strategy is really all centered about economic growth. And in order to deliver the economic growth we have to we have four major focus areas, the first being the network connecting companies and institutions will work together to deliver you off services and products in the polymer space. The second is innovation, innovation drives new ideas, new technologies into the marketplace. That's where we're working closely with balance innovation hub. The third element in this is the workforce element, which is critical to having right people in town to execute on all of these ideas. And last but not least, it's all about the assets, right? We have a strong history and legacy in this region. There we have very strong assets. And so building these out and building on top of these assets are very important. And all of these four elements bring it together to the drawing of the economic growth way after. You know, one of the underlying things here that I want to make sure people understand is that as we talk about industry cluster, we're really talking about how do private sector companies, government, education institutions, economic development organizations align around an area of economic strength, an area of legacy capability, a place where we think there's big opportunity. And for greater Akron, right? Polymers was a little bit as maybe an obvious, maybe not so, not so easy choice for us to make to think about what we could next do next year. What is it about this region that has allowed us to think about this industry sector as a place that we could have in great opportunity? Yeah, I mean, it started, of course, over 100 years ago, with the focus on under rubber and innovation under rubber. And then Akron was central and evolving from rubber to polymer as to the development of synthetic rubber, which is a manmade polymer. And then the expansion into plastics in general. So there's very broad spectrum of material innovation in the polymer sector. So really what distinguishes this region. And we're building on that. We have the University of Akron here, which is the number one university in this field. So we have a lot of historical strengths. We have a lot of current strengths. We continue on the momentum. So, but I'll say the obvious statement. Other than the really high-end race tires, we don't make tires here anymore. And I guess Jessica's, we talk about innovation in this space. And we think about what's going to put us back on the map, maybe in a new way. Where are we placing bets right now? What are we thinking about the role we can play in innovation? Yeah, absolutely. So there's a myriad of different things that polymers are in different, you know, they play a role along the supply chain, but in a variety from medical devices to actually replacing additives that would go into tires that are more natural, naturally derived versus synthetic. There's a lot of different places where polymers come in. A lot of people think about clothing as well, but you know, a strong region that's also tied to healthcare and medical innovation. And there's a really exciting crossover there for polymers, but there's really companies that are from recyclables to water technologies really across the board, where it's not just tires. You know, certainly opportunity to reimagine the materials that go into tires, but it's a really broad type of company, which is really exciting. When I think about the history of this community, and you look at other places where they've really used an industry cluster strategy to drive things, you think about the biggest example, obviously, Silicon Valley, right? You got all these people there, who started in one or two companies and branch out into others. You think about life sciences down in Durham and the research triangle. And you have this effect where you get all these really smart people with really great capabilities and they get some experiences together and they can kind of branch out and create stuff. And as I bump around this community, it really astounds me as to how many people have this common lineage from some of our major tire companies, if you will, right, or rubber polymer companies that are now doing all kinds of things that came out of that initial experience. Is that what you're finding as you're sort of exploring this space with innovation in companies? Yeah, I would say that. And as well as just the expertise to tap into. So, you know, when it comes to startups and growing and scaling these companies, obviously, capital is important. But one of the critical foundations is ensuring that there's a product market fit for the innovation and the technology. So who's going to buy it? Who's going to be a first customer? And one of the biggest value ads at the Paul Merndisbury Cluster ads to the work that we're doing is the ability for the startups to go after that first customer. There's a persistent value of death for startups in this space where they can't get capital and they can't get first customer engagement. And a lot of the work that we're designing together is to try to eliminate some of those. How do we access these expertise and companies to actually, you know, really get the company a leg up as to who might be their first customer? Who might be their strategic investor? Who might actually acquire the technology eventually? So Hans, when we were able to be successful getting the state innovation board and the federal EDA sustainable Palmer Tech Up award, I think what underlie both of those was this idea that there are new solutions that have to be created that there was a belief that the history of our region, the people that are in this region, the companies that are here that we had what it took to sort of think about what's next. But it didn't come with an instruction manual, right? I mean, we didn't get the money and they said, well, here's the things you got to go figure out. Talk how you've built this innovation pipeline, if you will, that we're beginning to develop. Because the long term goal here right is to have this this ongoing virtual cycle of new ideas to ideas that are sort of growable to things that go to the market and over and over again. So tell me how you're building this right now. Yeah, next year we have two channels that were after one is working with university and industry and in fostering collaborations with those two entities. And that's particularly interesting because industry already established they have the ability to scale. University brings in the new ideas. You bring these two together and there's an opportunity for a fairly rapid acceleration. The second channel is what Jessica talked about is we're working with startups. They're starting literally from scratch and they may have brand new ideas that can grow and eventually become large companies that get acquired. So between those two channel strategies, we had almost 40 submissions of proposals. So we did we did an RFP. We requested proposals. We got a very robust number of proposals and then we assembled a team of subject matter experts that are already in the region and had them take a look at the rank them and then combined that with a group of investors and funders that have experience in growing companies and ultimately used this process to sit like the top suriting companies out of there. So when you did this RFP process or a pressure proposal, Sarah, send us your ideas that will blank. What were you asking for from companies, from innovators, from people to sort of prime the pump? Yeah. The primary objective here is send us your ideas that have market value that can grow into companies and generate the value for the region. That was a major really factor that we evaluated. So it wasn't just cool ideas or kind of crazy things that might be able to happen. It was something that can, within a relatively short period of time, get to market. Is that fair? That is fair. And in short, it is all Israeli in an industry that requires a scale-up process. But the point is our objective is obviously economic growth. So that's how central goal and our innovative ideas need to lead to that. So a big focus on what will drive economic growth for this region for the long term. So Jessica, then you kind of set in to figure out how we're going to support these ideas and the people with these ideas. So talk about what you've built and you're kind of taken out of the gates here. Sure. So like I mentioned earlier, there's this persistent value of death for materials and polymer startups. So they're technical hurdles, capital needs, and then the customer qualification requirements don't resolve one at a time. They stack on top of each other. So it leaves technologies exposed when they're most at risk. And we see really promising innovations stall and ultimately not go to market because we haven't been able to collectively address this. So with the synthesis materials accelerator, we built in partnership with some folks who helped design MIT's accelerator, heart tech accelerator, a year-long program that's designed to collectively move these companies through their investment readiness level, their technology readiness level, and their manufacturing readiness levels. Basically, we're working on, does the business case work at the same time we're working on as a technology work at the same time that we're trying to integrate with industry. So there's direct funding. So there's $25,000 in non-delutive funding to all these companies. They've selected the first eight in the cohort and actually today, we will be upping that to nine as we had a highly qualified company from New Jersey who just set up office in the state of Ohio because of this program. So material is officially now in the first cohort. So that's exciting. And essentially trying to use these dollars to advance these companies through the technology readiness cycle as well as really involving industry in the process. So we have a group of mentors who are guiding them on both the business case and their technical mentors. So challenging the technology, challenging what's scalable. And so we started that, we launched that cohort September 19th. So we're about four-ish months into it and seeing some initial first quarterly results. So there's more to this than just some smart people of laptops creating new stuff. What is it that you're finding that maybe is common across some of these companies where the, and I'm going to say this slows, we'll get the synthesis, right? The synthesis accelerator can really help them break through. Yeah, so common is that first customer acquisition that is consistent across who's, you can't just walk up to a big company and knock on the wall and expect somebody to answer you. So the relationships that they're building in the cohort with industry with the mentors who are seasoned industry professionals is critical. But they're also working through scaling the material. So for example, auxilium, which is our healthcare startup just executed a contract to finalize their plan for their pilot production with a manufacturer. So there's some proof of product, getting to scale. We're seeing them. Other clients started to do that as well. Get some pilots going with either partners or manufacturers. So Hans, one of the things that we've talked about in this space is, and I sort of alluded to it earlier, in some tech spaces in app development, things like that, got a laptop, got lots of coffee, got some space, and can do some coding. You can build something, right? You ain't even able to build something you can sell, or even, definitely IPO, even if it's just technology and code and things like that. In this space, it's not quite as easy, right? You talked about the long lead times to market, but you need more than just an idea in this space. Yeah, correct. And actually, that's one of the important aspects of the Polymunistic clusters to bring together the expertise, but also the assets that we can use to build these companies. And one of the big hurdles for companies in the material innovation space is to go from lab scale to skills that allow the material to be tested and turned into a product. And to that end, we have been working with innovation hub funds to build a pilot facility that will allow startups, but also establish companies to take their ideas to market faster. And that's a very exciting opportunity that we're working on. It's going to be adjacent to the rest of the Akron campus, so we'll be leveraging the synergy of being already there, where there's a lot of talent, a lot of potential for students to come in and participate. So, before I got involved in this work, if you had said the words "pilot facility" to me, I would have no idea what you're talking about. So, when you think about pilot facility, put that in some language that people who maybe are in the industry would understand, what happens in a pilot facility? What's the value of a pilot facility? Yeah, and maybe the visual for the audience is, you know, when you think of chemistry, right, you think often of experiments happening in a beaker, and then you see these large industrial facilities that produce material and product. And there is something in between that needs to happen. It takes the material that's synthesized in the beaker and scales it up to where it can be produced and evaluated at scale. And that's the piece that's been missing in our ecosystem, and that's what we're building so that we can bridge that gap. Because something happens right between, and I'll take it to a really low-brow example, and really Aaron Spring from Goodgerlix to use this example, right? I can produce, you know, a couple dozen cookies all day long in my home kitchen, but what I want to produce, you know, a thousand dozen cookies, right? Things have to change. Materials have to be dealt with differently. You have to stage it differently. You need different kinds of equipment. So, the pilot facility really lets you get from that really small scale, as you said, to a place where you can make enough, then somebody big can put it into their production process and really see how does it perform. That's exactly it, right? It's the process. The scale of process is different. You're working at different volumes, working with different energy and put temperature. Everything has to change, and that transition has, you know, critical to demonstrate that you have a product that you can produce at scale. So, there's two pieces to this, too. What's it like, you're important. You've got this, this, not synthesis, which is the accelerator, but you have synthesis where you're putting the materials together and you're creating something. And then you have this process of taking that stuff thrown in all line and making it work. And this is where I think, as you said, the assets between the new facility we're building. And really, this world class has that we already have at the University of Akron can come together. Yeah. Yeah. The facility that we're building is going to be adjacent to N-PIC, the National Polymernovation Center at the University of Akron campus. So, and N-PIC was designed to be a processing facility. So, imagine, you know, once you have material, you have to turn it into a product and there's a processing step involved that can be quite complex. N-PIC has the capability and the machinery to do just that. What they don't have is the upstream part where you make the material. So, we'll be filling that gap and then starting to build an ecosystem of technology and capability and literally a small mini-campus around which we can now build additional capability. And just, I guess, someone more question on the pilot facility. So, you know, I think about this as being a place where I can test things. I go back to common analogies like, okay, I'm building this, you know, lab in my garage or whatever. But what about this pilot facility makes it unique. I mean, these things are, I know people put these pop facilities together time. Jessica already talked about co-op pilot activities are going on. But what is it that you're building that isn't as common or easy to get access to? Yeah, so, most chemical processes are well-established and there is, you know, if you look at at larger places, they have these equipment in place, but have it for what they're doing today. Not for what they want to do tomorrow. Now, what we're building is essentially, you know, the word has been used the time test kitchen, right? We're building something that's very flexible where we can bring in equipment that currently is not available either with established companies or with startups. And we can customize the process to that that particular application. So, we can deliver something very unique. And that's really a differentiator for us. So, you know, as I've sort of seen the plans for different ways with different chemical processes, I can roll in my unique equipment and roll it out over a period of a few weeks or a few months. And everything's there for me, electricity, HVAC, separation, all those kinds of things. Yeah, I think that's one key element is the infrastructure is already there. And then we have these bases, all the differentiated based on the type of chemistry you want to do. So, there's fermentation technology, which is the latest technology we're in, instead of using chemistry used by all the G to make your, the movie key process happen. And there's other chemistry that can be brought into this space. So, it's very flexible in that regard, but the entire infrastructure surrounding it exists, which will make it very cost effective for companies and startups to come. So, Jessica, you talked earlier about companies with, you know, getting a $25,000 on the limited grant. And you talk about some of these early companies. And these are companies that are either pre-reviewed. a new and their investments right now are maybe in millions of dollars or hundreds of thousands of dollars, this facility is going to cost $25 million, right? So that's the difference in scale. You're building this asset that you can get these small folks be able to use, Fair? Yeah, absolutely. They're going to spin out in a university or it's kind of rare that they're doing this in their basement, right? The chemistry that they're working in, but they'll spin out. They can land in a facility like bounce, and there's other incubators in the region, but even we're limited at the volume of chemicals in a mixed use building like ours. We certainly wouldn't have drums and massive barrels of chemicals in our facility. So this is the next step that it's very difficult to find a pilot location. So to have this opportunity five minutes up the road to go in the lab, tweak some of the chemistry, rent the pilot facility for a couple weeks, a couple months is really game changing for the companies. And really not a whole lot of this stuff exists out there, right? No, and that was one of the drivers we developed this facility. We did a research. We asked our partners and we concluded that this was a missing piece in the puzzle. Our goal is to leverage all the assets in the region, but this was the one that was not here, and that's why we ended up building it. And my understanding is there aren't too many of these of around the country. So it's going to be an opportunity for us to draw folks in. So let me switch gears a little bit then and talk about we talked about the companies and the kinds of things that we're working on. But there's this whole piece around the people to do this work, right? Which really translates into the jobs and opportunity. And I guess Hans with 30 years in the industry, give me a sense of the workforce piece of this high level. And then Gina, have you talked about some of the programs that we're standing up in that space? Yeah. I mean, we look at it really holistically, right? You need to workforce at all skill levels. You need obviously the research to develop the next generation of materials. You need to work for us to execute and help implement and drive all the equipment and machinery. And then you need to get young minds excited in case of 12 space to help solve a lot of the challenges that we're facing with sustainable polymers. So we're really looking at it from a very broad and holistic perspective to get the region up to scale the excited and also attract a lot of talent from outside. So Gene, your role then is to put some really specific things in place that are going to help us grow this talent, develop it over the long term, but also create some short term opportunities for people. Talk about some of the things that you're working on right now in this space. Sure. Well, after receiving the Tech Hub grant and the Innovation Hub grant, we were also awarded a Good Jobs Challenge grant that came from the EDA Economic Development Administration. That's a $6.4 million project that we got to help skill people upskill current employees and then try to get employees into entry level positions that are needed in the area for polymers and advanced manufacturing. So we're working one of the goals is to try to get over 300 people put into some of these entry level positions locally. We're also trying to develop some new credentials for some short term training that is being led by our industry, telling us some of the things that they need, some of the in demand skills and positions that they have. So we're trying to create some of that with this particular grant. We're also trying to get some apprenticeships that are a little bit more polymer focused. There's a lot of different apprenticeships out there for manufacturing sector, not always some that are needed for some of our polymer employers. So we're working with that. We are also trying to get some STEM credentials in the area so that we can get some of our current employees so that they would get some, you know, so for them for upskilling so that they've got the skills that are needed for them to move up from maybe an entry level position to, you know, something that's a little bit higher. So one of the things when you're doing this work, it's very industry-based and you've got groups of employers in the industry talking about what their needs are. And I think one of the things that was interesting to me in that conversation was their recognition that we've got to reach much deeper down into the talent pool much earlier in really kids understanding of the industry and the value in the region to get them excited about this. What are some of the things that you're sort of working on in that space? So definitely working in the K through 12 space, but I'm going to even say the pre K through 12 space. We're working with a lot of our area schools, Career Tech programs. We're trying to get that awareness out there by having some different experiences. I'm going to use as an example, Akron Public Schools here. They do have an essential experience for their students that are pre K through 5th grade. We've worked with them this year for their third graders to all have a polymer focus in the experience that they're doing. We're working with a lot of our different Career Tech programs so that we have some of our employers coming in doing some work-based learning with them. Anything that we could do to get that awareness out could be summer camps for the kids, different career fairs. Like I said, just trying to get that awareness so they realize the opportunities that are here in the region for them in the polymer sector. So working on awareness from kids as young as K to K all the way up through 12 and that takes different shapes and forms throughout that. As you think about then, young adults and adults themselves. We have folks who are coming out of high school who may think that, "Well, I don't know much about science. I don't know much about any of these things. I'm just going to go and retail." That's not a bad thing necessarily. But you're trying to recruit and do outreach right now to adults from 18 to all the way up to adults who are in different kind of careers to do what? What are you doing with them? What's the path of like for somebody who might be listening to this? It's like, "You know what? I'd really like to make a shift and get into this space." So right now we're working with some of our partners that what they're doing is they are going out there and talking, recruiting some of these people who are looking to maybe have a change of a career. Maybe they're just coming right out of school, graduating. And if they're interested, we try to get them to understand what some of the different opportunities, what the roles are. So we basically put them through some training. They'll do a little bit of some job readiness training. So they understand what is actually going on out there in manufacturing sector or polymer sector. And then we'll do some technical training so that they understand some basic skills before they get put into some of these roles. And then it's called the Good Jobs Challenge because the employers that are going to be the ones who are going to be hiring these people have to have some kind of way for them to be able to be promoted with them. So there's got to be that upward mobility piece so that they're not going to always stay entry level. There's areas for them to be able to be upskilled so that they can actually get promoted within the companies that they're at. So let's say you find somebody who is in a job right now making, I don't know, $18 an hour someplace. And they have an interest in this space. What is what are the kinds of jobs that you're sort of thinking about how putting people into? And what does the trajectory look like for them over three, five, seven years in that space? So right now I would have to say the need, the most in demand is for technicians. So a lot of it is if we're bringing people into entry level positions is then for the employer to continue the training. Once they've worked with us and they've gotten hired and then they get upskilled so that they can learn more of the skills that are required for somebody who's in a technician position. And so that could end up being a job at 18, 15 hour or a job. I mean, what does it look like for people? So I would have to say usually we're talking depending on the employer, depending on the size of employer, usually as somewhere from $25 on up per hour. And so people can sort of move into something that could be maybe career life sustaining. Correct. Versus just sort of a job that's getting them by. Yeah, and a lot of the training that we're doing we're working with the training providers so that they could be doing some short term training, but that could actually if they want to keep, you know, moving on up that a lot of that will go into some certificates, some associate degrees, even on up to bachelor degrees and above. I mean, I haven't met an employer in this space who is not hungry for people who really want to be in the industry and they can train and continue to develop. It feels to me like your employers are willing to make pretty big investments in people once they figure out if they're a good fit for their organization. And it's like I said, a lot of them right now are even looking at the schools for interns to get them started there. So entry level doesn't always necessarily mean the same to each employer. So there's all different kinds of skill levels that are required in this industry. So overall, we're driving, you know, new big ideas for the region or really for the world. We're figuring out how to get these companies stood up and and moving through the process of product development and innovation and then trying to equip it with the people they need to really get things done to put us back on the map in some ways as a center of doing these things in greater accurate and with these still high. Any anything you want to share in terms of wins or breakthroughs that you've seen so far is there a company is there a story is there something that you can say, you know, even in this first year, here's what we've seen happen so far. Now I've got a third So. Just got three so hungry for more. Okay, so. One of them would be the region attracting MKV, which is a German company to the area. They landed in Bounds at their first US North American office. Another one would be COA American, which is a specialty chemical company that just moved to Akron because of the PIC. They also dislocated in Bounds with a small team that's doing some more innovation work in our labs and then that material, which is the ninth cohort member, ninth member of our first cohort for Sympha6 that just relocated here. So to me, when you talk about being the center and the energy, that's three that I have off the top of my head just from the last few months alone. So there's a lot going on. And how do you spend some time? One of the things that we do, have done for years is go overseas and talk about, you know, the long-term reputation and assets that we have here in greater Akron, especially in the space. But you had the option to go over to Germany and the Faw. And was this idea in that what we're doing here is well received? Absolutely. Was the K-Fair in Germany the largest industrial fair with respect to plastics and processing? Over 200,000 people in attendance. We have over 80 interactions with companies and organizations. These are specific deep appointments, right? Yes, those were specific appointments. And we got quite a few leads out of that that we're still following up. We've been able to track a couple of companies that are indicating that they have an interest. It's really in the conversation we've had back last year, it became very apparent that what we're working on resonates deeply with companies, especially companies that are looking to expand in the US, growing the footprint here, very interested in the trick by what we're building here and want to be part of it. Have we had companies in other places in the US interested in the region as well? I mean, are you seeing some indication that we could become a little bit of gravity for those companies to be here? Yeah, absolutely. I think there's two elements. That one is the Great Akron region, North East Ohio is already home to a large number of multinational companies that have a footprint not only here, but really all over the country and all over the world. And what we're seeing that many of our partners are interested now in growing in this region because of what we're doing. So they're reinvesting and they're increasing the investment in the Akron area, which is a huge win already because they can scale very quickly. Those are big companies. And then we're also hearing from many other companies that this is something that they're looking at as they're growing where they're relocating and where to put their next facility. Love the work that you all are doing to help us stimulate those jobs and investment that we need in the region here. Any last thoughts here before you wrap up, you guys want to share about what you're excited about or what you see coming down the pike. So I'm going to go ahead and say what I'm excited about is every year this is going to be this year, actually, it'll be the third year for our polymer polis event where we pull together employers, a lot of our professional organizations in the polymer industry, our Akron Children's Museum, a lot of different local organizations all come together to try to get that awareness out there, not just for the kiddos that come, but their families that come with them. You'd be surprised how many parents learn just as much about polymers that day as what some of the kids do. So it's a great event down here in Akron over at Lock 3. We're real excited about it. This year it'll be on June 6th, so hopefully we'll get some people coming that new, bringing their kids so that they'll understand what polymer industry is about. Great work for kids to get hands on with the experiences. And again, the adults sometimes get as much value realizing what we've got right in our own backyard here. Thank you. Yeah, I would just add that we'll be kicking off some heavy recruitment for the second cohort, which is crazy that we're already going to be recruiting the second cohort, but that effort will start in March. We'll have the second cohort selected later this summer. And we've got already 30 plus companies that we've been courting and speaking with. So we should have a local Jessica or from all over from honestly around the country. So we've got some close ones, you know, close to home, Northeast Ohio companies, but there's not a lot of polymer-focused accelerators or programs in the country. So we've got them from from really all across the country. That's great. And I would like to mention that we were actively engaged with the case Western Reserve and Neosmart on the NSF engine proposal, which is a potentially on another $160 million in long-term investment from the federal government in the region. Portion of that is focused on polymers and the polymenicic cluster, you know, has been a big proponent and enabler and support of this initiative. So we'll know by summer whether this comes through, but this would be another big milestone for us in progressing what we're doing. Really allows the region to double down on material science, which is, you know, what this region is all about. We make things. We make things that go into things. And I was really excited about that, the way that came together. And just the sheer amount of companies and organizations that were involved in helping us land this, it could be redefining for our region in a lot of ways. All right. So before I let you go, I got to ask you one of my favorite questions. Your Greater Ackron, Northeast Ohio Jam, a place, a thing, something that you want to turn people onto. They may not know about. I'm going to start with you Jessica, because you have a knowing look in your eye right now. Sure. So I'm going to take us to the Western side of Greater Ackron to view in downtown Wadsworth, which is a fabulous little restaurant in Bar. The view, the UE, downtown Wadsworth, they change their menu quarterly. Lots of really great interesting bites and really good cocktails. All right. So if you look for Jessica after five, it's view. It's probably more teeny in your hand. Something like that. Something like that. Got it. Got it. All right. Great. Hans? Well, I built on the historic legacy, right? I mean, I think most of the audience probably is aware of staying here with all in gardens, but it's such a gem. And I think it's a reflection of what this, what the economy in this region was able to deliver in terms of wealth and prestige and our images who can build on that. So definitely one of my favorite places. And then the Topaz Trail is just a fantastic asset as well. So it's great. Building on that legacy and creating that kind of wealth and distinction going forward. So it's really hard to pick because there's so many great things going on in venues downtown from the Akron Civic Theater to the museum. You can't do this. You can't list 10 things. I know. Okay. But if I had to choose, I'm going to go the same path as Jessica with going with a restaurant. My absolute favorite restaurant in the world is Luigi's and then to go from there after having a great meal to listen the music over at Jellies. All right. There we go. You guys all made your assignment. You checked off your assignment. Thank you for that. Appreciate that. And thank you for the work that you're doing. I mean that the energy that we've got in this work is really fantastic and we're at the very beginning here. But there's just a lot of promise already. Thank you. Jessica Sublet, President CEO, Bounce Innovation Hub, Hans Dorfey, the Executive Director and Chief Innovation Officer of the Polymer Street Cluster and Jean Barbato, Senior Director of Connection Sanio and our Workforce Solutions here at the Greater Akron Chamber. I appreciate all of you and thanks for being here today. Thank you. Thank you. (upbeat music)