Why not Akron? Malik should seize opportunity to win polymers tech hub millions | Douglas

Now comes the real test for Shammas Malik and the team the soon-to-be Akron mayor has been putting together. He cites public safety as his top priority, and no wonder, given the need to build greater trust between neighborhoods and the city police department.

Yet such public trust hardly stands alone in requiring urgency. The mayor’s job is a huge management challenge, involving attention not merely to big initiatives, such as universal preschool or a community development corporation for downtown, but to the nuts and bolts of running a city, from working well with the City Council to ensuring the sound delivery of city services.

Malik has talked much about gathering input from residents, and that is important for public support. Still, his administration, like any other, will be defined by the actual choices it makes, or fails to make, about matters large and small.

One choice should be obvious: Mobilize your team to do whatever it can to see the success of the Sustainable Polymers Tech Hub.

This is a rare opportunity for the city and surroundings. If done right, it promises a vastly stronger foundation for the regional economy. Its ripple effect would be consequential, for instance, in attracting and holding talent. Consider that advocates for downtown view the hub as a key to its vitality.

Akron recently emerged as one of 31 tech hubs tapped by the federal government from a pool of nearly 400 applicants. Next, the city will compete with the other winners for as much as $70 million in federal dollars, those awards scheduled for the summer.

The competition stems from the CHIPS and Science Act, bipartisan legislation enacted last year in an effort to enhance American competitiveness. One part of the measure aims to boost regional economies poised in ways to advance technological innovation.

The thinking goes to expanding the footprint of high technology beyond the likes of Boston, Seattle and Silicon Valley, and thus spread the benefits of such economic activity. Analysts at the Brookings Institution note the share of tech employment lately increasing in such places as Denver, Miami and Nashville.

Why not Akron?

The idea isn’t to create something out of nothing. The winners made a persuasive case for their potential. For instance, the Greater Akron Chamber, the lead partner in applying, stressed the many pieces of a hub here, including the deep roots of polymer and plastics activity, today featuring hundreds of companies and tens of thousands of employees.

Add influential players such as Goodyear and Bridgestone, plus the University of Akron with its national reputation in polymer science and engineering, Kent State and Case Western Reserve, each with its own related strengths. More, this polymer cluster draws on NASA Glenn Research and the Bounce incubator.

Akron also has made a start. A few years back, the Greater Akron Chamber launched an effort to see whether the region could do more to leverage its many polymer assets into a more productive whole. Among other things, the Polymer Industry Advisory Council has taken shape with its nearly 50 partners.

So, the makings are here — along with a new frontier.

Polymers and plastics are an indispensable part of our lives, from the clothing we wear to the health care we receive. They also are heavily dependent on fossil fuels and hard to recycle. Develop more sustainable options, even help deliver next-generation batteries for electric vehicles, and the mounting climate crisis eases.

That is what the CHIPS Act has in mind: A thriving polymer ecosystem, giving new life to a struggling regional economy while providing the innovation required to achieve responsible stewardship of the planet.

This isn’t a chance to let slip. Which gets to another aspect: Akron has something to prove.

The city has experienced other challenging projects, with multimillion-dollar investments, and failed to follow through. Recall the University Park Alliance, the botched bid to remake blocks surrounding the university. Or the BioInnovation Institute, local institutions falling way short in collaboration, the state reneging on the millions it pledged.

A decade ago, the Technology Partnership Practice at Battelle evaluated the beginnings of a Biomedical Corridor in the city. What the analysts advised is that the city seize the “breadth of opportunity” in pursuing “biomaterials,” developing a robust cluster via the shared interests of universities, companies and nonprofit players. They cited the need for a driver-convenor-facilitator to make it happen.

The analysis languished. Little happened. That is, until now. The Greater Akron Chamber has set things in motion and remains at the front. The many stakeholders appear ready, and the federal government has made available the necessary money, the state saying it is prepared to contribute.

The project could use a mayor determined to see the promise fulfilled.

Douglas was the Beacon Journal editorial page editor from 1999 to 2019. He can be reached at mddouglasmm@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Malik should seize Akron's opportunity for polymers tech hub