3/11/2013 6:57:26 PM

Democrat and Chronicle: Rochester to get nanotechnology manufacturing center, state officials say

Democrat And Chronicle

ALBANY — A central New York company is moving its facility to the burgeoning high-tech center in Canandaigua, part of a soon-to-be-announced expansion of nanotechnology manufacturing in the city of Rochester.

Dynamax, an image-sensory developer based in Homer, Cortland County, will install more than $3 million in equipment and move its 100 high-tech jobs to the Smart System Technology & Commercialization Center in Canandaigua, Ontario County. The center is part of the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) at the University at Albany.

Additionally, leaders of the state’s nanotechnology industry and Gov. Andrew Cuomo plan to soon announce that they will open a Rochester facility to manufacture the computer chip technology, including for Dynamax.

“Rochester is very much in the future plans of CNSE and Governor Cuomo for expansion of this technology space,” said Paul Tolley, CNSE vice president for disruptive technologies and executive director of the Canandaigua center.

The Canandaigua infotonics center created in the early 2000s under Gov. George Pataki was foundering for years.

But it has had success after its partnership in 2010 with the SUNY Albany nanotech center, which is a worldwide leader in the development of nanotechnology for computers, medical devices and other products. The Canandaigua facility now has five companies and about 130 employees on site; it was down to about 30 employees a few years ago.

In September 2011, Intel, IBM and other major technology companies said they would invest $4.4 billion for computer chip research in New York.

The Canandaigua facility and the one for the city of Rochester are seen as a way to take the research at the Albany nanocenter and manufacture it. State officials declined to disclose the location and details of the Rochester facility, saying they are not finalized.

With Dynamax, which is moving this week, the Canandaigua center will have filled all of its 140,000 square feet of space.

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