News

February 03, 2011

Budget Proposal With Nanotech Messages

By: by Eric Anderson, Business Editor, Times Union

Source:

ALBANY -- Alain Kaloyeros says he's heartened that Andrew Cuomo renewed the state's commitment to nanotechnology research and commercialization when the newly elected governor delivered his budget proposal on Tuesday.

Kaloyeros, senior vice president and CEO of the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at Albany, has overseen the expansion of semiconductor research and commercialization into a multi-billion-dollar complex, creating thousands of jobs and attracting companies from around the globe. Lately, other centers have been established in New York state, complementing what's done at UAlbany.

The governor's budget proposal "sends a couple of key messages," Kaloyeros said Wednesday evening. "The funding for research and development, and the (industry) partnerships, is stable. It also allows us to continue the investment and attraction efforts that are under way."

Albany Nanotech, as the complex on Fuller Road across from the main UAlbany campus is known, employs more than 2,500 researchers, technicians and others, working on technology problems common to all semiconductor manufacturers. Researchers for individual companies can then privately develop those common breakthroughs into competitive products.

The budget proposed by Cuomo includes the following, all unchanged from the current year's budget, according to CNSE:

$980,000 and $750,000 in two separate funding lines for the Institute for Nanoelectronics Discovery and Exploration, to be augmented by $30 million in federal and corporatespending;
$872,000 for the Center for Excellence in Nanoelectronics and Nanotechnology in Albany, to be matched by $50 million in federal and corporatespending;
$872,000 for Smart System Technology and Commercialization Center of Excellence in Canandaigua, to be matched by $50 million in federal and corporatedollars;
$991,429 for the Center for Advanced Technology in Nanomaterials and Nanoelectronics, to be matched by $10 million in industryfunding;
$3,006,000 for the Focus Center -- New York, to be matched by $28 million in federal and corporatespending;
$690,000 for the Center for Advanced Interconnect Science and Technology, with a $10 million industrymatch.

"It's very important from the psychological commitment perspective that New York state is behind these programs," Kaloyeros said. "The stability and continuity are essential."