Provost David Triggle says the initiative will serve as a catalyst to spur economic development and job creation in the region.

Supporters envision the initiative as building on the strengths of UB and Roswell Park in the pharmaceutical sciences in order to "lay significant groundwork for a stronger biotechnology enterprise in Western New York" akin to the high-tech enterprises found along Route 128 in suburban Boston or near Research Triangle Park in North Carolina.

The plan, announced by Pataki in his "State of the State Address" on Jan. 6, would be the first, formal, joint, technology-development program between UB and Roswell.

It calls for funding two separate high-technology facilities-one at UB devoted to micro-bioengineering and one focusing on pharmaceutical biotechnology at Roswell Park. The labs would be created in existing space in both institutions-on the UB South Campus and in the new Medical Research Complex at Roswell Park-and would feature research-and-development space, as well as business-incubation space.

The result, according to the UB/Roswell Park proposal for the institute, would be the "creation of a truly unique resource benefiting existing biotechnology companies, supporting a number of research projects with commercial potential currently under way at UB and Roswell Park, and potentially serving as a magnet for economic development initiatives in Western New York."

In announcing the intiative, which is subject to legislative approval during the state budget process, Pataki stressed that it "draws on the area's strengths: An excellent university, a world-class research hospital and the substantial presence of bio-tech industries and expertise from Toronto through Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse. Our hope is this incubator plan will help grow new industries for Western New York and new hope and new jobs for the future as well."

Triggle, who was instrumental in drafting the initiative, said it is designed "to capitalize on the existing critical components of these (micro-bioengineering and pharmaceutical biotechnology) enterprises currently in place in Buffalo and to use this catalytically as a spur to economic development."

Triggle added that development of the initiative jointly by UB and Roswell Park "is a critical signal initiating a new era of cooperation between these two major sources of research and intellectual capital growth in Buffalo."

The UB/Roswell Park proposal notes that the pharmaceutical sciences have been "deemed a critical component in America's future competitiveness."