WUTQ: SUNY Poly Mike Fancher Director, New York State Center for
Advanced Technology in Nanomaterials and Nanoelectronics (CATN2),
discusses ams groundbreaking
Published:
Thursday, April 21, 2016 - 17:10
Main Bullet Points:
News Director and Co-Host Beth Coombs:
People have been skeptical, but there are shovels in the ground.
Mike Fancher:
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This has been part of Gov. Cuomo’s strategy and drive to leverage the technology and business relationships that have grown in Albany
- He clarifies his title and discusses how nanoeconomics studies the ways in which nanotechnology business clusters are created/sustained.
- Ams is on an extremely tight time schedule; they’re timing production capacity to market conditions.
- The apple iPhone, consumer electronics started the connectivity of devices and the need for more sensors.
- The facility will take about 15 months to construct, tools will be installed; staffing will ramp up and they have to meet their customer’s needs. They’re going to be well positioned long into the future for the next trend, the internet of things
- With doubts about it coming, it’s deja vu, we lived through that in the Capital Region with GlobalFoundries which now has 3k employees in the region. It has a predictable path of growth/expansion. It’s very expensive for them to leave. The brilliance of Gov. Cuomo’s model of using the state’s assets is even more profound for anchoring these companies.
- Each region has its own competitive advantage. It takes time for the investments, but once they do come online they cluster. For the region, GE used to focus on defense and they closed it down and people began their own companies primarily in the defense sector. When you look at the internet of things you need that same precision. The Mohawk Valley has unique skillets that can be utilized with ams and this can lead to a cluster.
- The governor’s strategy is each region has complementary technologies, and when combined as a corridor we’re a one-stop shop
- In the Capital Region, we had an outside investor who understood the strategy back in the 90’s and now Harmony Mills is built out - all high-end apartments - and it has changed the community of Cohoes. There’s still work to do and we are focused on reaching out to at–risk youth and others with educational programs to engage the future workforce and enrich them with internships for example and hopefully convince them to take part in education.
- Congratulations to the region. Ams is a great partner and Gov. Cuomo has really accelerated this in such a way the feedback I heard from ams is they are very excited about the Mohawk Valley.
