Dayton positions itself as a sensor center

Dayton, Ohio is perhaps best known for being the home of the Wright brothers, and if not for that then for hosting the 1995 Dayton peace accords. For these accomplishments, the city is justly proud, though in neither case would it be fair to give state officials the credit. Not so the latest success to hit the city. Ohio’s Third Frontier Commission, a state body designed to encourage high-tech research through the distribution of grants, has awarded $28 million for the establishment of Dayton’s new Institute for Development and Commercialization of Advanced Sensor Technology (IDCAST). Companies working with the center are expected to develop such technologies as remote sensing with radar, infrared radiation, long-range cameras, and chemical and biological sensors.

The center will include a 20,000-square-foot building and will anchor Dayton’s Tech Town development area, which opens in 2008. Among the research centers participating are: the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base; the University of Dayton; Ohio State University; University of Cincinnati; University of Toledo; Miami University; and Wright State University; all of which will collaborate in the new center. Business partners include: Dayton-based Woolpert; General Dynamics; UES; Yellow Springs-based YSI; and Mason-based L-3 Communications Cincinnati Electronics. “It will be very economical for other entities to come to Dayton and get a foothold in this technology, and then go from there,” said Larrell Walters, director of technology partnerships at University of Dayton Research Institute.

-read more in Jim DeBrosse’s Dayton Daily News report