November 27, 2012

NY is positioned to remain a driver in future tech development, Kaloyeros says

By: Richard A. D'Errico

Source: The Business Review

Alain Kaloyeros, CEO of the University at Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, said even in a bad economy there are still well-paying technology jobs.

Citing U.S. Department of Labor figures, Kaloyeros said there are 3.5 million vacancies.

“There’s a lack of talented scientists and engineers,” Kaloyeros said during a talk last night at CNSE. Kaloyeros was the final speaker in the Nanovember series held at the college. Kaloyeros said while low-tech jobs are heading overseas, tech jobs that remain are “moving upscale.”

Kaloyeros spoke to more than 100 students and members of the community, showing slide after slide of how well-positioned the United State and New York state are to remain leaders in technology. But he said it will require more public-private partnerships like CNSE to drive innovation as R&D costs continue to escalate.

By 2020, computer chip companies’ research and development costs will exceed revenue.

“The rest of the world does not play by our rules,” he said, pointing to China's subsidizing contract-chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) as an example.

Kaloyeros wowed the crowd with videos of drone the size of a mosquito, a car that can be driven hands-free by a user’s brainwaves, and a laptop that hovers when falling off a counter, an invention he says won’t make it to market because it saves people from having to buy new laptops.

But Kaloyeros said CNSE will expand over the next five years as it continues to play a key role in future tech developments.