Third Frontier responsible for 55,000 jobs, report says - Business First of Columbus:

Third Frontier responsible for 55,000 jobs, report says - Business First of Columbus:

A statewide technology development program has helped create jobs and businesses across Ohio, even in the middle of a recession, a state development leader was expected to report Wednesday.
Ohio’s Third Frontier program helped in the formation of about 14,000 direct and indirect jobs in the state in 2009 and nearly 55,000 direct and indirect jobs through December since the program’s inception in 2002. The indirect jobs figure typically refers to jobs created by vendors that serve the companies that got Third Frontier funding.
The jobs report was scheduled to be unveiled by Ohio Department of Development Director Lisa Patt-McDaniel at the Ohio Third Frontier Commission meeting Wednesday.
According to the report, 637 companies have been created, attracted to or capitalized in Ohio as a result of the program. Additionally, the more than $548 million in program funding spent through December attracted nearly $4.8 billion in follow-on private investment.
“Our latest results show the program works and is making a difference in the lives of Ohioans as we continue to help bring Ohio and the rest of the country out of the clutches of one of the worst economic downturns in 70 years,” Patt-McDaniel said in a released statement accompanying the job results.
Third Frontier is a $1.6 billion program created to advance technology initiatives and promote technology job creation. The initiative is set to expire at the end of 2010, a year earlier than planned, because of reduced state support.
The Ohio legislature has approved a May 4 ballot initiative that would allow the state to sell $700 million worth of bonds to fund the program for four more years.