I wanted to share with you the following article and attached video that were produced by WNYT:

[video width="426" height="240" mp4="http://sunypoly.edu/apps/blogs/news/files/2015/12/WNYT_12-14-2015-Google-names-Albany-top-ecity.mp4"][/video]

Google is coming to Albany to give the city some high praise. The tech giant has named Albany one of 50 eCitiy Award winners for being a digital capital in America.

The eCitiy Award recognizes the strongest online business community in each state.

Google had Ipsos, a global market research company, take a random sample of 51 small and medium sized businesses in target cities. Those businesses were the judge on things like having their own websites, social media presence, running a blog, and allowing e-commerce among others.

Scores were then calculated and compared. Albany came out on top for New York.

The distinction puts Albany in the same class as cities like Boston, Atlanta, Denver and Minneapolis.

Google says businesses with a strong digital presence are able to use those tools to grow their online earnings.

Google is honoring one business -- Cider Belly Doughnuts -- for doing just that at noon Monday.

Albany laid the groundwork for this decades ago, building high-tech buildings and laying fiber optic cable.

Google also says that it's no surprise with Albany’s high-tech and digital friendly businesses that SUNY Polytechnic Institute's nanotech college is here as well.

Updated: 12/14/2015 9:34 AM Created: 12/14/2015 7:20 AM WNYT.com WNYT Staff