BINGHAMTON — The design phase is under way on the Southern Tier High Technology Incubator, which the state describes as a “major” economic-development project in downtown Binghamton. Binghamton University broke ground on the project on Oct. 2. The incubator seeks to be an “entrepreneurial ecosystem for emerging high-technology companies” and should help create more than […]
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BINGHAMTON — The design phase is under way on the Southern Tier High Technology Incubator, which the state describes as a “major” economic-development project in downtown Binghamton.
Binghamton University broke ground on the project on Oct. 2.
The incubator seeks to be an “entrepreneurial ecosystem for emerging high-technology companies” and should help create more than 900 jobs within the next nine years, the state contends.
The Southern Tier regional economic-development council (REDC) endorsed it as a priority project and awarded it $7 million to support the construction of the $19 million facility.
Empire State Development (ESD) approved the grant during its meeting on Aug. 27 in New York City.
The project aligns with the Southern Tier REDC’s plan to create jobs through industry-university collaboration and high-tech infrastructure, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office said in a news release.
The facility is also included in Binghamton University’s plan for START-UP NY and will provide businesses that locate to and create new jobs at the incubator with the opportunity to operate tax-free for 10 years.
Companies involved in the START-UP NY program will be “major” participants and need to have a “strong connection” to Binghamton University’s academic and research mission, Harvey Stenger, president of Binghamton University, says in an Oct. 14 interview with the Business Journal News Network.
“That means that they have to have a faculty sponsor and they have to have student involvement,” he adds.
The START-UP NY program is a state initiative that helps an entrepreneur start, expand, or relocate a qualified company in a tax-free zone.
The five companies currently involved in the program are “small” and located in the school’s engineering complex, says Stenger. The school hopes the young firms will move into the new incubator.
“The real goal, though, is to provide an excellent environment for small, brand new businesses to start to make achievements and [move] them toward viable commercial entities,” says Stenger.
About the incubator
The nonprofit Southern Tier High Technology Incubator, Inc. formed in April 2012 to build, own, and manage such a facility, according to ESD.
It’s a nonprofit affiliated with the Binghamton University Foundation.
The school created the nonprofit with the aim of furthering and supporting the educational and scientific purposes of Binghamton University and expanding the university’s research and development capabilities.
The incubator will provide infrastructure for up to 12 businesses focusing on research and development in energy, microelectronics, and health care.
The nonprofit will use the grant funding to help in the first phase of the incubator’s design and construction. The organization wants the incubator to encourage industry-university partnerships.
A contractor, which the incubator has yet to choose, will build the 35,000-square-foot facility at the corner of Hawley and Carroll Streets and include specialized wet and dry laboratories, as well as a high-bay lab office and collaboration space.
Syracuse–based Ashley McGraw Architects, P.C. is handling the design work on the project, says Stenger.
The laboratories will include infrastructure to support companies conducting research; a hospital smart-room demonstration facility; and development and light manufacturing in areas such as energy, electronics, packaging, and health.
The facility will also house SUNY Broome Community College’s new Bridge to Entrepreneurial Excellence program.
The 900 jobs the state expects from the project could include construction staff, incubator staff, employees at high-tech tenants and anchor tenants, and new hires as firms are graduated from the incubator into the community.
Additionally, Binghamton University projects the incubator will have a direct economic impact of $25.1 million on the Broome and Tioga County economies during construction.
Following completion of construction in the fall of 2016, school officials expect the facility to generate more than $6 million in economic impact annually to the local economy.
The Southern Tier High Technology Incubator, Inc. secured funding through several sources to establish the incubator in a “distressed” part of downtown Binghamton, Cuomo’s office said.
The sources include $7 million through Round II of the governor’s regional-council initiative; $6 million from SUNY Broome’s NYSUNY 2020 Challenge Grant program award; $2 million from the Economic Development Administration; $2 million from the SUNY Research Foundation; and $2 million from the Broome County Industrial Development Agency, according to the governor’s office.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com