With the creation of a state-sponsored Center of Excellence, the University at Albany would be poised to be a leader in the technologies that will drive industry over the next 10 years, officials say.

The center, one of three proposed by Gov. George Pataki in his State of the State address, would focus on nanoelectronics, the science of creating smaller and faster computer chips and the systems that go on those chips. Nanotechnology — the ability to work at the molecular level — is projected to be a $433 billion industry by 2004. New York state hopes to share a piece of that, projecting a $65 billion nanotechnology industry here in three years.

The industries said to be most affected are electronics, telecommunications and biotechnology — the three areas of research that the Center of Excellence program targets.

UAlbany's Center for Environmental Sciences and Technology Management, which has carried the college's high-tech research initiatives in the last few years, would house the proposed center at its facility on Fuller Road. The Center of Excellence in Nano-electronics would be created as part of the previously announced construction of a new $350 million facility at CESTM, in which scientists will conduct research on 300mm wafers and host a work force development program.

The Pataki initiative, announced Wednesday, also would create two other centers: the Center of Excellence in Photonics and Optoelectronics at Rochester, and the Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics at Buffalo. The center at UAlbany would provide nanoelectronics research and development to the other two centers.

Financing and administration details of the centers will not be disclosed until Pataki releases his proposed 2001-02 executive budget Jan. 16.

Many companies already work with the Center for Advanced Thin Film Technology at CESTM, one of 10 Centers for Advanced Technology — another state program that partners the public and private sector to bring new products to market. The Centers of Excellence would be an extension and expansion of that idea, companies say.

Alain Kaloyeros, executive director of the thin film center, said Thursday that the Pataki initiative, coupled with the research conducted already, places New York at the competitive edge. "I'm a true believer the governor has the vision and strategy to make New York the high-tech hub of the 21st century,'' he said.

Much of that vision appears to be taking place in Albany.

Nanoelectronics could be seen as the building block for all technology developed at the micro, micro level — which means the technology created in CESTM would impact all the R&D occurring at the other centers — and all the industries using nanotechnology.

UAlbany's Center for Advanced Thin Film Technology is valued at about $200 million in combined federal, state and private investments. When all the pieces are in place, the total investment in CESTM and the centers housed there will be $550 million.

The thin film center is unique in the R&D services it provides companies, said Tom Clynne, president of Infrared Components Corp. of Utica. The company, which develops infrared cameras and devices, has worked with the center for about five years.

The company's latest project, developing devices to create images from infrared waves, is expected to be ready for market by the fall, first targeting use among firefighters, who need to see through thick smoke and darkness. That project depends on the nanotechnology R&D at CESTM. "From where I stand, it's the micromachining (the center does) that's going to make our business grow,'' Clynne said.

Nanotechnology is critical in driving the types of materials companies will use in the next few years — especially semiconductor companies, said Kevin Albaugh, director of business development for Praxair Semiconductor Materials in Buffalo.

Parent Praxair Inc. (NSYE: PX) of Danbury, Conn., conducts research in facilities around the world and provides industrial gases to many industries, including semiconductor manufacturers. The Buffalo facility has worked with UAlbany's thin film center for two years.

Albany's center is one the best-equipped around, Albaugh said. "We see it as one the key technology hubs (in the state),'' he added.

At the nano level, scientists are working with materials and devices literally a thousand times smaller than a human hair, which equals one micron in width. At that level, researchers have an enormous amount of control over precision, properties and functions.

The White House, recognizing the industry's growth potential and impact on all other industries, last year announced it would set aside $495 million for nanotechnology initiatives in the 2001 budget — nearly doubling its investment from 1999.

Nanotechnology is a nascent industry with undetermined potential. "Such new forms of materials and devices herald a revolutionary age for science and technology, provided we can discover and fully utilize the underlying principles,'' said a report commissioned by the National Science and Technology Council.

States are responding to that federal challenge. California last month announced the creation of three institutes with a $300 million state investment over four years. Similar in research and concept, the institutes will be formed with the California universities at Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego, and will seek partnerships with the private sector to bring technology to commercialization.

Pataki's proposal will use $283 million over the next five years to leverage more than $700 million in combined federal, university and private funds at the Centers of Excellence.

The proposal "really takes New York state to the next level'' of technology and commercialization, said Joseph Conway, a spokesman for the governor.