ROCHESTER, NY, July 24, 2002 -- Working with industry and academia, the state of New York plans to establish a Center of Excellence in Photonics for the Rochester region. Dubbed the Infotonics Center of Excellence, the facility is a partnership between the State, the private sector, the federal government, and 20 academic institutions, which together have committed $130 million to support the project.
The state will provide $43 million for the project, while Kodak, Corning, and Xerox have pledged $45 million and will raise another $30 million through the life of the project from other companies, for a total of $75 million in private-sector investment. Federal representatives have provided $13 million thus far toward the project, with more than 40% of federal support being targeted toward academic research at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and the University of Rochester.
In all, the center will collaborate with 20 academic institutions, including RIT, the University of Rochester, Monroe Community College, the University at Albany, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Alfred University, Cornell University, Columbia University, NYU, and the City University of New York.
Of the $43 million in state support, $21.5 million will be used for equipment and tool purchases and "clean room" lab space, and $6.5 million will be used for facility purchase and site development purposes. In addition, $15 million will be provided over the next five years for product prototyping and commercialization efforts in Monroe County.
Efforts at the center will focus on creating technology-transfer and pilot fabrication facilities for high-resolution imaging and ultrafast communications devices that can be shared by center partners to accelerate product development. Associated workforce development and training programs to provide the highly skilled personnel for these industries will also be supported by the Center.
The center is a major component of Governor George Pataki's $1 billion hi-tech/biotechnology initiative enacted in the 2002-2003 state budget, which includes $250 million statewide to create various Centers of Excellence.
Other centers under this program include the Bioinformatics Center in Buffalo, the Environmental Systems Center in Syracuse, the Nanoelectronics Center in Albany, and the Information Technology Center on Long Island. Other biotech initiatives are under development for New York City, the Hudson Valley, Upstate New York and Long Island.
Kathy Kincade
Laser Focus World