I wanted to share the following article with you from the Buffalo News:

"In late August, it was Utica’s turn, with the announcement that General Electric Co. and Austrian tech firm AMS AG will pump more than $2 billion into new semiconductor chip fabrication facilities in a pair of projects that promise to bring more than 2,000 jobs to the Mohawk Valley. The state has pledged to invest $250 million to build and buy key equipment for AMS’ chip plant and GE’s research lab."

"The Utica project has key features in common with the key projects in the Buffalo Billion initiative. Both lean heavily on SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Albany, and both follow the same model that the state used to build a chip making hub in the Capitol District: The state owns the plant and much of the key equipment and rents it to the companies, sparing them big upfront expenses."

Buffalo News: Upstate is getting some Cuomo love

When Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo stops in Buffalo, he loves to talk about how, when he travels across upstate New York, politicians elsewhere always ask about his Buffalo Billion economic development initiative.

And the governor says they always ask when their community will be getting its billion dollars.

Cuomo likes to tell the story here because it underscores how his administration singled out Buffalo early on for special attention after decades of economic decline.

Now, with the state pumping $750 million into the SolarCity solar panel factory and hundreds of millions more into a smattering of other projects to spur growth in the technology and medical sectors and train the workers needed to fill those promised jobs, other parts of upstate are starting to get a hefty piece of the state’s economic development pie.

“You’re seeing projects announced throughout upstate, along the Thruway corridor,” said Brian McMahon, the executive director of the New York State Economic Development Council in Albany.

• The $700 million plant in the Town of Alabama, near Batavia, that 1366 Technologies plans to build to make silicon wafers for solar panels is the latest example to the state’s growing investment across upstate.

To land the wafer plant, the state and Genesee County are putting up $97 million in incentives, including low-cost hydropower and a factory that will be built using state grant money and leased to the company for 10 years.

The plant will be built in phases, but if 1366 Technologies’ low-cost wafers find a receptive market among solar panel manufacturers, it could bring as many as 1,000 new jobs to the rural site, which is part of the Western New York Science and Technology Advanced Manufacturing Park, or WNY STAMP, which received $33 million in Buffalo Billion funding to make the land ready for development.

• In late August, it was Utica’s turn, with the announcement that General Electric Co. and Austrian tech firm AMS AG will pump more than $2 billion into new semiconductor chip fabrication facilities in a pair of projects that promise to bring more than 2,000 jobs to the Mohawk Valley. The state has pledged to invest $250 million to build and buy key equipment for AMS’ chip plant and GE’s research lab.

• A month earlier, Cuomo was in Rochester, pledging to invest $250 million in state money into a $600 million venture to create a photonics hub in Rochester.

The venture, which also includes $110 million in federal Defense Department grant money, is viewed as a project that could bring thousands of new jobs to the Rochester area to support research in photonics and help businesses turn that research into new products and businesses.

Photonics uses light to create advanced electronics products, from robotics to medical imaging and other technology. Robert Duffy, the former lieutenant governor who now heads the Rochester Business Alliance, said photonics has “nearly limitless possibilities” to improve lives through technology and innovation.

“Photonics is the biggest thing to happen to Rochester since the advent of film,” he said.

• Earlier this month, seven regions from across the state submitted their plans for one of three $500 million economic development prizes that the state is dangling in a competition to spur further economic growth.

Buffalo isn’t part of the competition because of the Buffalo Billion, but Cuomo views it as a further way for upstate regions to come up with strategies to transform their regional economies. The winners will be announced in December.

All of those projects, stretching from Utica to Buffalo, are part of a state investment program that Cuomo said has pumped more money into upstate New York than since the Erie Canal was built.

Cuomo has said he is going out of his way to “put my thumb on the scale” to make sure upstate New York gets its fair share of money from the state, after decades of neglect.

“I think it’s a sign we’re turning the corner,” McMahon said. “It’s a giant ‘open for business’ sign for upstate New York.”

The Utica project has key features in common with the key projects in the Buffalo Billion initiative. Both lean heavily on SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Albany, and both follow the same model that the state used to build a chip making hub in the Capitol District: The state owns the plant and much of the key equipment and rents it to the companies, sparing them big upfront expenses.

Each of the projects also aims to build a link with upstate universities to tap into the engineering talent at those schools and other research potential.

By creating thousands of jobs in high-tech industries with strong growth potential, the hope is that those projects, plus others that arise as the upstate economy strengthens, will help stop the brain drain that has been going on for decades as upstate’s young people struggled to find good jobs close to home.

“The long-term impact is we’re going to be able to bring back a lot of Buffalonians and Rochesterians, who were trained in these industries and had to move,” said Thomas A. Kucharski, the president of the Buffalo Niagara Enterprise business development and marketing initiative.

“There has been some tangible progress in the Western New York economy because of the state’s investment through the Buffalo Billion, and we all hope to see that progress continue in Buffalo and replicated across upstate,” said Greg Biryla, the executive director of Unshackle Upstate, a business advocacy group.

But Biryla also thinks the state needs to do more to improve the overall business climate.

“To truly make upstate a place where existing employers can grow and new ones want to locate, the state must also continue to devote time and attention to what has held our economy back for decades: high personal and property taxes and cumbersome regulations – all of which stifle widespread economic development and sustained job creation,” he said.

Still, when Cuomo took the stage less than two weeks ago in Genesee County to announce plans for the silicon wafer plant, he talked about the transformation of upstate New York.

“You can actually feel the energy change and you can actually see the transition for upstate New York,” he told his audience at Genesee Community College. “You can see the energy changing. You can see the mentality that’s changing. And you can see the synergy.”

That buzz, which is widespread in Buffalo, can help change perceptions that upstate is a tough place to do business, McMahon said.

“These projects are worth far more to the state in terms of its reputation and its ability to attract companies to the state than any marketing campaign,” he said.

email: drobinson@buffnews.com