The Buffalo News: Opinion: With two photonics companies moving to
Rochester, all of Western New York benefits
Published:
Tuesday, March 22, 2016 - 10:32
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="378"]
This is a singulus timaris tool at CNSE in Albany, able to deposit
materials on devices to make ultra small, ultra low power logic and
data storage. It is the type of tool Photonica will use in Rochester
for our photonics R and D and manufacturing operations. Photo
courtesy of Photonica[/caption]
Buffalo should be just as happy as Rochester is about the governor’s recent announcement of two photonics companies coming to that city.
As the entire upstate and Western New York regions go, so, too, goes each individual town, village or city. We all rise – and fall – together. As one region.
That is the governor’s point as he focuses on each of our upstate and Western New York areas. Buffalo continues to bask in Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s billion-dollar pledge. The $900 million solar panel factory at RiverBend in South Buffalo, which will be the largest in the Western Hemisphere when it opens next year, is one obvious example. Thousands of jobs are expected once SolarCity is up and running.
Cuomo, along with Vice President Joseph Biden, took a road trip to Rochester last July to announce plans for a $600 million hub for photonics. Big dreams of companies being lured to the hub have started to come true.
The photonics manufacturing initiative just brought in its first two companies – Photonica and Avogy. Both companies pledged to bring 800 jobs to Rochester and act as the catalyst for more than 600 other jobs at other companies that provide supplies and services to the manufacturers.
The project will use a similar “Buffalo Billion” model. The state will build and help equip the factories, and the companies will occupy the facilities.
