A $10 million proposal for state funding could put the Tristate in the center of one of the biggest technology projects in a generation.

Everything from your health care records to bars of soap at the supermarket could soon hold the "smart tags" that can identify any object anywhere in the world at any time. But all those "Electronic Product Codes" have to be certified, and local tech types want to lure the certification lab here.

That's why they've applied to the Ohio Department of Development for the $10 million - to become a Wright Center of Innovation under Gov. Bob Taft's Third Frontier program. The state will make the decisions this spring, said John Fonner, director of technology adoption at CincyTech USA.

Then they can pursue the lab.

"Companies will want to know that the systems have to meet the same standards," Mr. Fonner said.

The Tristate already has a significant stake in the technology, with retailers (Kroger Co. and Federated Department Stores Inc.), marketers (Procter & Gamble Co.) and data companies (NCR Corp. in Dayton). P&G is among the companies that have been researching the new technology with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Auto-ID Center.

Pharma brings profits

Soap and toilet paper don't bring profit margins like this.

As Procter & Gamble Co.'s pharmaceutical unit gathers this week for its semi-annual pep rally in Mason, it has passed $1 billion in annual sales, with annual profits approaching $100 million.

P&G's top executives will be at the Health Care Research Center in Mason on Thursday for the PharmaLive event. It will feature updates on drugs still in the pipeline and hosannas for the Actonel osteoporosis drug that could ring up sales of $600 million this year.

Pucks and bananas

The name Chiquita is well known throughout Europe, and the Cincinnati banana company is making sure it stays that way.

One of Chiquita's latest ads this month was behind the nets in the hockey games played by Hayley Wickenheiser for the Kirkkonummen Lightning in a Finnish hockey league.

The Canadian native's appearances have drawn huge publicity throughout Europe.

"Before her arrival, it's fair to say the massive Cincinnati-based food company had not heard of Kirkkonummen, a sleepy town of 30,000 people," read an article in the Toronto Globe and Mail.

True, Chiquita spokesman Mike Mitchell said. But he added that the ads were linked to a retail co-op that buys bananas from Chiquita, rather than Ms. Wickenheiser's appearance.

E-mail cpeale@enquirer.com