CREDC Funds UAlbany Projects in Entrepreneurship, Information Exchange, and Weather Detection

UAlbany's CTG will work with the cities of Schenectady, Troy, Amsterdam and Gloversville on an information sharing platform designed to combat urban blight.

ALBANY, N.Y. (January 5, 2014) -- The University at Albany in partnership with local municipalities, colleges, and private research labs was recently awarded Capital Region Economic Development Council (CREDC) development funding totaling $2,708,000 for innovative regional projects.

The Round IV funding cover initiatives which include an entrepreneurial "Hot Spot" to support the development, growth, and sustainability of local start-up companies; a resource pilot project to formalize information sharing across cities and counties for code enforcement-related data to combat urban blight; and a first-of-its-kind advanced meteorological calibration and testing facility. In addition, the 2014 funding included an allocation for the NY Cap Research Alliance (NY CAP) to continue building partnerships in upstate New York.

i518 Hot Spot

UAlbany was awarded $250,000 per year for three years for Innovate 518 (i518), a Capital Region “Innovation Hot Spot" that will promote economic development by incubating technology-enabled businesses with a focus on downtown Albany, Troy and Schenectady.

The i518 team will work with targeted client start-up teams to solidify business models, discover and validate customers, bolster operational capabilities, and pursue capital. In addition to leveraging local networks for access to mentorship, business services, and capital, i518 will seek out markets and investment from outside the region.

Participating partners in the i518 program include Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Center for Economic Growth, along with several area academic institutions, co-working spaces, investors and service providers.

Regional Code Enforcement Information Resource

The University at Albany Center for Technology in Government (CTG), along with the cities of Schenectady, Troy, Amsterdam, and Gloversville, received $558,000 to collaboratively develop an information sharing platform designed to help fight the costly problem of urban blight in the region.

Throughout New York state, local leaders from across the public, private, and non-profit sectors are working together to address the problem of urban blight. Sharing information among cities has been recognized as a powerful tool in combatting the increasingly persistent and costly problem of urban blight, which consumes endless resources and directly affects public safety and economic development. CTG's "Shared Code Enforcement Information Resource Pilot Project" will help each of the four cities build the necessary policy, management, and technology infrastructures required to use, collect, and share code enforcement and property related data. These enhanced capabilities will allow Schenectady, Troy, Amsterdam, and Gloversville to make more data-informed decisions, resulting in safer, healthier, and more economically vibrant cities.

This regional effort exemplifies the Capital Region’s dedication to working collaboratively to develop a deep understanding of regional trends, challenges, and workable solutions and also to serve as a model for other cities and regions throughout NYS.

New York Quality Assurance Laboratory for Instrument Innovation, Testing and Analysis for Weather Detection

The Research Foundation for the State University of New York, through a partnership among the University’s Atmospheric Sciences Research Center (ASRC) and Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences (DAES), as well as AWS-Truepower and the Center for Evaluation of Clean Energy Technology (CECET), were funded $900,000 for a new initiative: the New York Quality Assurance Laboratory for Instrument Innovation, Testing and Analysis (NY QUALITY) for Weather Detection.

The laboratory will leverage its CREDC funding to build a first-of-its-kind advanced meteorological calibration and testing facility in New York. The comprehensive facility will house a calibration laboratory for standard meteorological instrumentation, an enhanced test site for advanced profiler technology, a rapid deployable mobile laboratory to traverse the state, and a tall tower facility for above-the-surface testing.

The NY QUALITY for Weather Detection initiative is critically important to the NYS Early Warning Weather Detection System, or Mesonet, advanced by Governor Cuomo in January 2014, and will enhance the economic competitiveness of business, industry and government in New York, as well as safeguard the life and property of New Yorkers.

As the first of its kind in New York, this state-of-the-art calibration laboratory and testing facility will make calibration and testing services available to business, industry, academia and government for advanced meteorological and profiler instrumentation and sensors – essential technology in the detection of weather phenomena. Currently, public and private sector entities export sophisticated meteorological technology such as wind LIDAR and SODAR instrumentation overseas to Europe, since there are no commercial facilities dedicated for these calibrations.

NY CAP Research Alliance (NY CAP)

Developed in 2011, NY CAP is an unprecedented regional collaboration among the University at Albany, Albany Medical Center and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The NY CAP Research Alliance will create a capital investment program for researchers across the Alliance’s partnering institutions to attract increased federal and industry funding, create new jobs and spur economic growth throughout the Capital Region. The capital investment program will enable the Region’s research institutions to be more competitive when applying for federal and industry grants.

The round IV funding of $500K will allow the Alliance to continue leveraging collective intellectual capital and research infrastructure across the partnering research institutions.

As a centerpiece of Governor Cuomo's strategy to jumpstart the economy and create jobs, the Regional Councils were established in 2011 to transform the State's approach to economic development from a top-down model to one that is community-based and performance-driven. The initiative empowers community, business, and academic leaders, as well as members of the public in each region of the state, to develop strategic plans specifically tailored to their region's unique strengths and resources in order to create jobs, improve quality of life and grow the economy.

View the Capital Region’s REDC 2014 Progress Report.

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