Kent State's Centennial Park is one building and 10 undeveloped acres devoted to improving high-tech manufacturing in Northeast Ohio. The anchor tenant is FlexMatters Accelerator, a consortium of companies, academia, and groups like NorTech.
John West, liquid crystal researcher at Kent State who heads up FlexMatters, says area universities like Kent State and the University of Akron are leaders in plastics and liquid crystal research. That coupled with changes in manufacturing, he says provide a great economic opportunity.
John West: FlexMatters really grew out of an earlier project on flexible displays and eyewear. What's come together is the technology and the market and the companies are all coming together. And the neat thing is it's all coming together here.
FlexMatters is the first tenant. But nearly one million dollars has been invested in the park to bring on more. Tasha Flournoy, 90.3.