| University at Albany CAT Industry
Day Highlights Multimillion-Dollar High Tech Strategic Initiatives
For Immediate Release Contact: Alain Kaloyeros, 518-437-8686
ALBANY, N.Y. — The University at Albany’s New York State Center for Advanced Thin Film Technology (CAT) will host its annual Industry Day Conference on Tuesday (April 20th) for some 300 industry, government, business and university leaders and representatives. Over 100 companies will be represented from major high technology industries in microelectronics, optoelectronics, bioelectronics, telecommunications, energy and environmental instrumentation. The Conference will be held at the Empire State Convention Center and will showcase company projects, industrial consortia, and emerging strategic initiatives sponsored by the CAT. The Albany CAT is a $60million resource with the intellectual capital, infrastructure assets, and financial resources to provide high tech industry in the Capital Region and State with the best educational, workforce training, research and development, and technology deployment and commercialization opportunities. Last year alone, the CAT assisted in the creation of 131 new jobs, the retention of 75 jobs, and the generation of $40million in revenue for high tech companies in New York. The annual industry day conference will highlight several emerging multimillion-dollar center initiatives that are designed to place New York at center stage in the global economy of the 21st century. These include ongoing regional and state efforts to attract multibillio-dollar computer chip fabrication plants; the creation of a multi-university high tech infrastructure to provide a high technology route from Long Island, across upstate New York, to western New York; and the establishment of critical partnerships between the semiconductor, energy and environmental industries in New York and the U.S. to develop environmentally friendly technologies in a variety of sectors. Highlights of the day include an address by New York State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno at an evening reception held at the Convention Center. His address, entitled, “J2K: A Strategic Vision for Job Creation and retention in the 21st Century,” will describe plans for the critical role that university research, technology infrastructure and strategic partnership are expected to play in support of high technology job creation in the Region and State. “The Senate Majority’s J2K plan will ensure that New York State is in a position to capitalize on every opportunity to attract and retain jobs,” Bruno said. “This plan would make existing businesses more competitive and enable us to make the necessary investments for New York to catch up with other states that are building the high tech economy that will fuel economic expansions in the 21st Century. The investment we are proposing is less risky than the stock market, with a bigger payoff. The bigger risk is if we don’t make this investment.” In addition, Kurt Yeager, president and CEO of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), will deliver the luncheon address as the first keynote speaker of the Intermagnetics General Corporation Lecture Series for Environmentally Friendly Energy Sources. Yeager is responsible for the development of the first technology roadmap for the electric utility industry and will present EPRI’s vision and agenda for technology development. EPRI is the research and development consortium for the nation’s electric utility industry, with headquarters in Palo Alto, California. Assemblyman Paul Tonko, chair of the Assembly Energy Committee, will discuss how the Institute for Fuel Cell Science and Technology is converting technological challenges into economic opportunities for New York State businesses. “The Assembly recognizes the important role the CAT is playing to create high technology jobs by expanding its efforts to work with energy and environmental companies sharing common technologies and demonstrating explosive growth potential such as fuel cell manufacturer Plug Power and sensor supplier Rupprecht & Patashnick Co., ” said Assemblyman Tonko. “Governor Pataki, Majority Leader Bruno and Speaker
Silver’s proactive leadership and enthusiastic support have catalyzed the
role of the University at Albany as a lead economic growth engine for the
21st century. The success of the CAT as a technical, educational,
and economic outreach engine in the Region and State embodies the University
at Albany’s comprehensive mission of pursuing the knowledge and scholarship
necessary to better our society and sustain the well-being and prosperity
of New Yorkers,” said University President Karen Hitchcock.
“Our Annual Industry day provides an excellent platform for engaging such a distinguished group of leaders and representatives from industry, business, the government, and academia. As close partners and champions of the center, they have ensured the creation and success of our strategic partnerships and critical alliances, leading to the creation and retention of high tech jobs in the region and state,” said Alain Kaloyeros, Center director. “We look forward to expanding and enhancing our strategic industry-university-government strategic partnerships to better serve the Region and State in the 21st Century.” For more information about the University at Albany,
please visit our website at http://www.albany.edu.
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