Nanotechnology is coming. Believe it. In fact, nanotechnology is here.

Editor’s note: The Observer-Dispatch editorial board toured the Computer Chip Commercialization Center — known as Quad-C — on Thursday to get an inside look at the facility that is nearing completion on the SUNY Polytechnic Institute campus in Marcy. Guiding the tour was John Rhude, construction manager for M+W Group, which is overseeing the project.

[caption id="attachment_15563" align="alignright" width="528"] PHOTOS BY MARK DIORIO, OBSERVER-DISPATCH: Pat Reddix is a project engineer with M+W Group, the company hired to erect Quad-C. He stands in a 26,000 square ­foot cleanroom. Hair and beard covers, along with gowns and shoe covers are required dress in this area to help prevent microscopic particles from entering the space.[/caption]

People in the Mohawk Valley have reason to be skeptical when it comes to economic development. After the loss of Griffiss Air Force Base, Chicago Pneumatic, Lockheed–Martin and other major employers, pessimism was prevalent.

We had been burned too many times after promises were made:

-- In 1996, Interface Services Inc. of East Syracuse and Cherokee Sanford Group of Raleigh, N.C., said they wanted to build a brick-making plant at Harbor Point. Then-Mayor Edward A. Hanna said the project could create as many as 200 jobs. The plan sank like a brick.

-- A year later, Mobile Climate Control, a Canadian manufacturer of heating and cooling systems for the transportation industry, built a $5 million plant at CharlesTown. The company promised to create 100 jobs by 2002. By 2001, there were just 25 employees. By 2005, they were all gone.

-- In 2002, then-U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton came to town and pitched a company called Scienx that wanted to move to Griffiss Business and Technology Park. It specialized in optical imaging software and anti-counterfeiting technology. Company executives passed out glitzy business cards and said they planned to create 45 jobs immediately and have about 120 jobs by June 2004. Nothing happened.

So it’s understandable that some would believe nanotechnology to be just another pipe dream.

It’s not.

Nanotechnology is coming. Believe it. In fact, nanotechnology is here.

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Posted Feb. 22, 2015 at 7:14 AM Updated at 7:19 AM