Ohio and Japan seem to be the yin and the yang.
But in a speech given yesterday at the Blackwell Hotel, Gov. Bob Taft said the two regions already have a relationship, and through bio-science collaboration that bond can only grow and prosper.
“Ohio and the Kansai region of Japan have an excellent relationship,” Taft said. “I also hope a new partnership and cooperation is developing between Ohio and Japanese companies,” he said.
Japan is Ohio’s fourth largest export market, and is the single largest source of foreign investment in the state.
Taft touted the state’s record in medicine, telling the crowd of Japanese and Ohio bio-science business leaders the state has many hospitals which rank high in their respective specialties, including Ohio State’s highly ranked medical research facilities.
But Taft said the state must do more to export those technologies around the globe.
“We’re making progress, but there is much more to be done,” he said. “Ohio must be the place where new knowledge is uses for new products, new businesses, new companies and new jobs.”
Taft said he hopes the new multi-billion dollar Third Frontier Project will help in the state’s hopes at competing in the world of bio-sciences as well as keeping Ohio graduates in the state.
“The Third Frontier Project is to create a center of innovation,” he said. “We want world class centers of research that will attract and retain the best and brightest minds here in Ohio.”
Taft expanded on his idea after his speech in a separate interview.
“We hope to encourage more U.S. and foreign companies to invest here for research and development in collaboration with our universities, Taft said. “We’re investing a lot of money at Ohio State and other universities across the state in training undergraduates and graduate students.”
Taft said the state needs for this investment to pay off by keeping those recipients.
“We want to make sure that investment pays off for Ohio,” he said. “If all those students leave the state then that may not be a very good investment for us.”
Anthony Dennis, president of Ohio bio-science company Omeris, said the reason many students leave Ohio after graduation is that there is not much out there that appeals to them.
“Part of the reason we lose graduates is because the opportunities go elsewhere,” Dennis said. “There aren’t great new companies that are starting that are growing rapidly with exciting technologies and exciting opportunities.”
Dennis said increasing Ohio’s sales is the remedy for the lack of retention.
“What we want to do is really make this a robust industry so that people who want those jobs that are graduates don’t have to go other places to get them.”
Tapping into the Asian markets can accomplish this, Dennis said.
“Ohio companies want to sell their tech to bio-science companies in Japan, and Japanese companies want to sell their products here,” he said. “The Japanese can open up new opportunities for partnerships in China and the rest of Asia. And Ohio can sell their technologies to these areas.”
Chief executive director of the Japanese External Trade Organization Tomoharu Washio said that students in Ohio are very attractive to his businesses and he hopes they will be a part of the emerging Ohio-Japanese collaboration.
“I have found that the Midwestern universities level of education is very high,” Washio said. “Students at Midwestern universities are very attractive to Japanese businesses.”
