History
New York’s Capital Region has a rich history of industrial and technological innovation and achievement. Strategically situated at the crossroads of important land and water transportation routes, the Capital Region has reemerged as a leader in the field of promising new technologies, including nanotechnology and renewable energy.
The Erie Canal, still considered a marvel of modern civil engineering, made the Capital Region the center of the modern business world for 100 years. Textile and tool manufacturers were among the first to locate here in the early 19th century. Later, they were followed by global manufacturers, such as General Electric and IBM. More recently, the decades of the 1970s, and 1980s brought dramatic changes to the Capital Region business world. Industrial manufacturing moved south, then overseas, and the Capital Region manufacturers cut workforces and closed up shop. To counter this trend, in the 1990′s a group of business, government, and academic leaders embarked on a plan to transform the region by attracting new industries, with opportunities to create new jobs and economic growth.
With a goal of attracting and growing emerging technologies, such as nanotechnology and semiconductors, advanced materials, biotechnology and life sciences, as well as clean energy technology, “Tech Valley,” an 11-county region that stretches from the Canadian border near Montreal to just north of New York City, was born.
Tech Valley Today
Tech Valley, the east coast version of Silicon Valley, is a hot spot for tech companies and an engine of economic growth. Tech Valley is home to more than 1,000 technology companies, with more than 50,000 jobs contributing an annual economic impact in the billions of dollars. GlobalFoundries is constructing a $5 billion, 1.5 million square-foot semiconductor plant in Tech Valley that is expected to be operational in 2013.
Tech Valley is also home to some of the nation’s top universities and colleges involved in global high tech research and development, notably the State University of New York University at Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The University at Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering is the world’s only college dedicated to nanoscale science and engineering.
In addition to the jobs that GlobalFoundries will bring to the region, hundreds of supply-chain and secondary businesses are setting up operations as part of the high tech migration to Tech Valley. Regional high tech campuses, such as the Watervliet Arsenal, and groups such as the Arsenal Business and Technology Partnership have already helped global high tech companies establish operations in the region.
Our Role
Gramercy Communications is playing a vital role in the ever-developing Tech Valley landscape. In six years we have grown a diverse set of clients in the fields of economic development, high tech, energy and health care. Our current clients have more than $3 billion invested in economic development projects in Upstate New York.
Tech Valley Links
- Albany – Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce
- Arsenal Business and Technology Partnership
- Center for Economic Growth
- College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at Albany
- GlobalFoundries
- Greene County Industrial Development Agency
- Leadership Tech Valley
- Rensselaer County Regional Chamber of Commerce
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce
- Saratoga Economic Development Corporation
- Southern Saratoga Chamber of Commerce
- Tech Valley High School
- The Chamber of Schenectady County
- Union College
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