IMR, Nanotech West awarded $2.5M to establish OSSIP
The state of Ohio’s Innovation Platform Program awarded The Ohio State University Institute for Materials Research (IMR) funding to establish the Ohio Sensor and Semiconductor Innovation Platform (OSSIP) Program, to be centered at Ohio State’s Nanotech West Lab. The OSSIP program enables new partner companies to advance near term product development in the area of infrared sensors and semiconductor-based devices and materials by building on current and past successes in enabling technology advancement and capitalizing on existing best practices, one-of-a kind infrastructure in Ohio, and already-trained staff engineers and technicians.
The $2.54 million, three-year award will partner Ohio State with Ohio industry to create high-tech jobs in the state. The initial industrial partners in the program are L-3 / Cincinnati Electronics of Mason, Ohio, and SRICO of Columbus, Ohio. The partnership with L-3/CE will develop new high-definition infrared (IR) focal plane arrays, while the work with SRICO will develop new sensors based on electro-optic modulators (EOM) and EO materials. A specific goal of the program is that new products be commercially marketed within the three years of the program.
OSSIP leadership includes Principal Investigator Robert J. Davis, IMR associate director and director of Nanotech West Lab, and co-investigators Steven A. Ringel, IMR director and Neal Smith Chair Professor of electrical and computer engineering, and John Carlin, associate director of Nanotech West Lab.
Nanotech West Lab is the largest micro- and nanofabrication user facility in the state of Ohio. The state-of-the-art lab has a substantial track record of supporting and enabling research, development and commercialization of sensors, photovoltaics, electronics and advanced polymers within and outside of Ohio State. It is also home to multiple centers of excellence, focused research groups, numerous industry-university partnerships, collaborations and consortia.
This award was funded by the Ohio Third Frontier’s Innovation Platform Program (IPP), which supports operating and capital equipment needs to benefit an entrepreneurial and commercial purpose. IPP collaborations are formed to further the near-term commercialization of specific or platform technologies with significant, defined market opportunities. A major goal of the Ohio Third Frontier is to build strong commercialization and innovation capabilities and capacities in defined technology areas within the state's colleges and universities and nonprofit research organizations that support the needs of Ohio industry.
