Biotech firms aren't so much having trouble starting up in New York - they're having trouble sticking around. That's according to the Business Council's Public Policy Institute, which released a report yesterday showing that four out of five biotech startups are splitsville within five years. Eric Anderson at the Times Union reports:
New York state still ranks fourth in the number of jobs in this sector, [New York Biotechnology Association executive director Nathan] Tinker said. But the sector's wage growth from 1996 to 2006 ranked 38th. The report urged creating two-year degree programs in biopharmaceutical manufacturing, improving the state's business climate, streamlining the commercialization of intellectual property developed on the state's university campuses, encouraging regional biopharmaceutical clusters, supporting capital investment in buildings and research equipment through tax credits, and making the Qualified Emerging Technology Credit permanent. Removing obstacles to public universities' collaboration with private-sector firms also would help, officials suggested.
You can read the full report here [PDF].
GM in Rochester
GM is sinking $100 million into a plant in the city of Rochester, creating about 30 new jobs and retaining others, reports the Innovation Trail's Zack Seward:
"A $100 million investment in this day and age is absolutely huge," said Lieutenant Governor Bob Duffy. "I'm here to bear witness: GM had options all over this country. They chose Rochester. They chose to come here." The move wasn't without state help. Empire State Development (ESD) pitched in nearly $5 million in incentives to get GM to invest at the Rochester facility. Plant manager Neal Evans says the state money helped get the deal done. "The four or five million from the state helped me get it over the goal line," says Evans.
Quickly
- Young professionals met in Rochester on Tuesday to talk about boosting the city's downtown development. Driadonna Roland reports at the Democrat and Chronicle that panelists at the discussion focused on revitalizing retail and street life in the city's urban core.
- Syracuse-based Brand-Yourself (which we've reported on previously) has picked up $200,000 as the grand prize in the Creative Core Emerging Business Competition, reports Kevin Tampone at the Mohawk Valley Business Journal. The firm helps people manage their online reputations.
- Rome Research Corp. (headquartered, appropriately, in Rome, N.Y.) will continue to operate and maintain systems for the Defense Satellite Communications System. Traci DeLore at the Mohawk Valley Business Journal reports that the firm will receive $11.3 million over three years for the federal contract.
- The firm that politicians are hoping to woo to Rochester from New Jersey has received a patent for more of its solar technology. Thomas Adams at the Rochester Business Journal reports that Natcore's new patent uses carbon nanotubes to boost the performance of solar cells.
- The University of Rochester has a new tool for entrepreneurs interested in commercializing the school's research. Its new "Entrepreneur-Ready Technologies" website presents the school's patents in plain language, according to the university's press room.
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