CREATING HIGH TECH AND BIO TECH JOBS IN THE CAPITAL REGION

Senator Bruno announced that the University of Albany will receive $22.5 million to build a cancer research center at the University�s campus in East Greenbush.

We have made tremendous strides towards building a foundation for our local economy that is based on high technology and biotechnology businesses and jobs. Working closely with Governor Pataki, we have made New York more economically competitive and as a result, Tech Valley is taking off.

I was pleased to have made several major economic development announcements, but none bigger than the decision by International SEMATECH, a consortium of the 12 major computer chip manufacturers in the world, to locate its next generation computer chip research and development center at the Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics at the University at Albany.

SEMATECH selected the Capital Region after considering sites all over the world. The facility will complement the first SEMATECH facility in Austin, Texas that helped create 125,000 new jobs and 650 new spin-off businesses in the Austin area and will result in major economic expansion for our entire region.

Locally, Gen*NY*sis will provide $22.5 million to the University at Albany to build a cancer research at the University's campus in East Greenbush. The new signature building on the East Campus will contain a world class, murine (mouse and rat) modeling center and provide a foundation for the long-term goal of establishing a National Cancer Center designated Comprehensive Cancer Center for the Capital District.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will also receive $22.5 million from Gen*NY*sis to create a Center for Bioengineering and Medicine in the new Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies building currently under construction on the RPI campus. The grant will support essential infrastructure, equipment and facilities for the center to support research in accelerated drug discovery and synthesis, biosensors and monitoring, and tissue repair and replacement.

Evident Technologies, Inc. will establish its operations in Troy, creating nearly 200 new high tech jobs in the field of nanotechnology and biotechnology, paying an average salary ranging from $55,000 to $75,000 per year.

In Saratoga County, the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Malta is being created to attract nanotechnology firms that spin-off from International SEMATECH. Phase one of the project will result in an estimated $3 billion in capital investment and 2,000 new jobs over the next three years.

Starfire Systems, a high tech company that manufactures high-temperature resilient materials for aircraft ranging from fighter jets to NASA space shuttles, became the first business to locate in the Saratoga Technology Energy Park (STEP) in Malta, which is owned by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. Starfire will employ as many as 100 people within five years.

Seven small, high tech companies that outgrew business incubators, located to the Saratoga Technology Accelerator , at the former knitting mill in Saratoga Springs. The small companies have created 20 new jobs in the past several months.

Empire Zones are one of the state's most effective job creation tools. This year more than two dozen companies in Saratoga County were granted special Empire Zone tax incentives. Together, the businesses could create more than 600 new jobs. I sponsored legislation that established the Saratoga County Empire Zone last year.

The creation of new jobs has always been my top priority and I will continue to work to create new jobs in the Capital Region and throughout the state.

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