Buffalo, Albany Centers of Excellence Together Will Dramatically Improve Upstate New York Economy

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Creation of International SEMATECH North at the Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics at the University Albany -- coupled with the creation of the Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics in Buffalo -- provides a powerful, unprecedented opportunity to transform the entire Upstate New York economy, while positioning the two cities as worldwide leaders in important new sciences.

Governor George E. Pataki said, "This historic announcement will create thousands of new jobs in Upstate communities stretching from Albany to Buffalo, while also dramatically enhancing the national and international profile of all of our Centers of Excellence -- including Buffalo's Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics.

"Forty-nine other states and nations from around the globe would be thrilled to have secured this facility, but it's coming right here to New York where it will transform the Upstate economy and deliver thousands of new, high-paying jobs."

Elizabeth D. Capaldi, provost of the University at Buffalo, the lead research partner in the Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics, said that together the two centers share more than $600 million in public-and private-sector funding and have forged important corporate partnerships with some of the same companies, including HP, Motorola and Lucent Technologies.

"These partnerships will help build important economic and scientific synergies between the two centers, and with UB's research partners in the Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics -- Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute," added Capaldi, who is directing development of the Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics

UB President William R. Greiner noted, "We at UB and the Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics are delighted by SEMATECH's decision to partner with the Albany Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics. What strengthens one Center of Excellence strengthens all five proposed by Gov. Pataki.

"The Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics will surely benefit from the infusion of research talent and product development that this new site will bring to the state, as will the Stony Brook, Rochester and Syracuse Centers," Greiner added.

"We at UB see a future wherein the five Centers of Excellence will not only advance scientific discovery and the commercialization of the latest technology, but work together to lay down the foundation for a brand new economy for New York State. And that's good news for us all."

Added Capaldi: "What's good for Buffalo and for Albany is good for all of Upstate New York. The presence of the two centers will aid each region in its effort to attract new industries to New York State."

Capaldi noted that the Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics plans to pursue research in the new field of bioinformatic-nanotechnologies that will provide opportunities for scientific and industrial collaborations between the two centers and between companies based in industrial and medical corridors that will spring up around the centers.

"We look forward to developing complementary strategies and projects with the Albany center," Capaldi said.

The Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics will merge high-end technology, including supercomputing and visualization, with expertise in genomics, proteomics, bioimaging and pharmaceutical sciences to foster advances in science and health care. An emerging discipline, bioinformatics uses the power of supercomputers to interpret data in the biological sciences at the molecular level.

The Buffalo Center was proposed by Pataki in his January 2001 "State of the State" address as a vehicle to create jobs and revitalize the Western New York economy. In June, praising the private sector more pledging to invest more than $150 million in the center, the governor pledged $110 million in state funds, including $61 million to UB, for construction and equipment of a three-building complex in downtown Buffalo to house the work of the center.

Private-sector investors in the center include corporate giants HP, Veridian, Informax and Stryker Communications, had pledge to invest more than $150 million in the center to date. Also already on the list of partners were Dell Computer Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc., Invitrogen Corp., Q-Chem, SGI, Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, AT&T, Wyeth Lederle, Human Genome Sciences, Inc. and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.