Ohio -- During World War II, the Soviet Union made tires for its military machine out of rubber extracted from a dandelion that grows in the mountains of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

The United States, whose supply of rubber was cut off by Japan during the war, began to experiment with the Russian dandelion.

After the war, trade routes reopened and scientists began working on synthetic rubbers. Dandelion research was abandoned.

But a decline in rubber production and disappointment in synthetics has companies in the United States going back to the Russian plant.

Governor Ted Strickland and Lt. Governor Lee Fisher recently unveiled the Ohio Department of Development (ODOD) Strategic Plan for Economic Development.  This bold, new plan seeks to redesign the state’s business climate and increase the global competitiveness of Ohio’s employers. The Strategic Plan builds upon Ohio’s legacy for opportunity, innovation, and excellence by seeking to increase income, create and retain jobs, and expand productivity through innovation. The Strategic Plan will support existing Ohio companies and accelerate their ability to innovate to become more competitive. The Plan also will appeal to companies considering establishing operations in Ohio due to its multi-faceted and tangible support of productivity and innovation.

On Tuesday, September 9, 2008, Mark Barbash, Chief Economic Officer for the Ohio Department of Development, introduced the Bipartisan Economic Stimulus Package at an outreach session hosted at the Reynoldsburg headquarters of the Ohio Department of Agriculture. The Stimulus Package includes $1.57 billion to create new jobs and establish opportunities for future economic prosperity.  A total of $400 million of this fund is targeted to further strengthen Ohio’s position as a leader in strategic industry clusters. The Bioproducts Industry has been identified as one of these priority markets and  $50 million is scheduled to be invested for late stage commercialization and infrastructure development efforts.

In the past two years, a new energy technology company, Schmack BioEnergy has introduced proven European technology to the State of Ohio.  Schmack’s strength is its 15-year history in state-of the-art, high-solids anaerobic digestion system (ADS) technology that recycles organic wastes to produce such usable energy products as biogas (a fuel source) that can be converted to pipeline quality, natural gas; motor vehicle fuel; electricity; soil amendments; and fertilizer.