The at in North Canton is closing. Since 2006 it鈥檚 been a public-private research & development facility and a lab for technology students. But at the end of the year the private-sector development partner is leaving.
The Korean conglomerate LG said this week that the development program no longer fits its corporate strategy.
Pat Valente is Executive Director of the . Noting that LG was in final development of a marketable fuel cell for small-scale public utilities, he says the shutdown announcement was completely unexpected. 鈥淲e had set up a meeting with for Friday with LG and a couple of our other companies to talk about 鈥榟ere鈥檚 where we鈥檙e going鈥� and then all of a sudden this happens. Needless to say LG is not going to be going to the meeting on Friday.鈥�
Valente also says s decision is surprising partly because there are many more fuel cell companies showing interest in Ohio right now.
