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The University of Akron and The Timken Company (NYSE: TKR) today announced a novel open-innovation agreement to accelerate technology development. The organizations plan to combine their expertise in materials and surface engineering at newly established laboratories in the ¹ú²úÂ×Àí College of Engineering.

According to the Aug. 24 agreement, Timken will contribute resources to establish the Timken Engineered Surfaces Laboratory, which will be located in a new facility currently under construction on the ¹ú²úÂ×Àí campus at the intersection of Wolf Ledges Parkway and Carroll Street. Timken's Gary L. Doll, Ph.D., chief technologist in tribology and next-generation materials, will lead the lab as the newly established Timken Endowed Chair in Engineered Surfaces, beginning Sept. 1.

Innovative partnership begins

Douglas H. Smith, Timken's senior vice president of technology and quality, hails the agreement as a new model of open innovation. "Not only is ¹ú²úÂ×Àí Ohio's fastest-growing college of engineering, it is a leading developer of materials for vital, commercially viable uses," says Smith. "Matching some of Timken's leading scientists and capabilities with ¹ú²úÂ×Àí's renowned faculty and gifted postdoctoral researchers and students will further the development and commercialization of advanced materials, engineered surfaces and performance coatings for the world’s most demanding applications."

¹ú²úÂ×Àí President Luis M. Proenza also praises the arrangement, adding that it defines The Akron Model, the University's blueprint for successful regional development and job creation and a new gold standard for university performance.

"The ¹ú²úÂ×Àí-Timken collaboration demonstrates what The Akron Model truly is," says Proenza. "Universities must be engaged with the larger community and its regional economies to build a very synergistic and reciprocal relationship with each other – universities feeding the economy and the economy feeding the university back."

George K. Haritos, dean of the ¹ú²úÂ×Àí College of Engineering, pointed out that this new agreement significantly broadens the scope of the existing Timken-¹ú²úÂ×Àí strategic alliance.

¹ú²úÂ×Àí students and region will benefit

"For decades, ¹ú²úÂ×Àí College of Engineering students and graduates have been supporting Timken's global operations as co-ops and employees," Haritos says. "This agreement further strengthens our strategic partnership with The Timken Company and creates a new, important platform for innovation that will benefit our engineering students, Timken, ¹ú²úÂ×Àí and the region through our joint research and commercialization efforts."

The Timken Company will fund and equip the new Timken Engineered Surfaces Laboratory, one of five laboratories to be housed in the new engineering research building. Other labs include the Wright Center for Sensor Systems Engineering as well as those for corrosion and reliability engineering, integrated biomedical engineering and advanced vehicle and energy systems. Following Doll's transition to ¹ú²úÂ×Àí, two Timken research investigators also will make the move to the campus to begin work at ¹ú²úÂ×Àí. The value of the partnership to ¹ú²úÂ×Àí, which also includes research funding, is approximately $5 million and will place ¹ú²úÂ×Àí among the leading U.S. institutions nationally recognized for surface engineering and tribology research.

About The Timken Company

The Timken Company (NYSE: TKR; ) keeps the world turning with innovative friction management and power transmission products and servicesthat help machinery perform efficiently and reliably. With sales of $4.1 billion in 2010 and 20,000 people operating from locations in 30 countries, Timken is Where You Turn® for better performance.

Media contacts: Lorrie Crum, 330-471-3514 or lorrie.crum@timken.com, or Denise Henry, 330-972-6477 or henryd@uakron.edu.