NY SMART I-Corridor Is the First Tech Hub Award Winner in The Nation

Syracuse, NY - CenterState CEO President Robert Simpson issued the following message to members and stakeholders regarding  the NY SMART I-Corridor's being awarded one of 12 grants through the federal Tech Hubs program:

Today is another extraordinary day for Central New York. The Biden-Harris administration, through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA), announced that NY SMART I-Corridor is the first Tech Hub award winner in the nation.

The NY SMART I-Corridor was selected as one of only 12 Tech Hub award winners and will bring $40 million in federal funding to the Buffalo-Rochester-Syracuse-Ithaca I-Corridor. This investment puts the region in an unequivocal position to accelerate our strategies for growth, and further solidifies this Upstate NY corridor as a global leader of semiconductor innovation, manufacturing, workforce training and business attraction. This is a firm signal to the world that this region is primed to lead the resurgence of advanced manufacturing and semiconductor production in the U.S., which will help address the vulnerabilities in this national priority by building on our historic strengths in manufacturing and unique expertise in microelectronics, sensing and optics.

This success would not have been possible if not for the strong collaboration amongst our partners from across Syracuse, Buffalo, Rochester and Ithaca. The vision and leadership of these partners, and across our communities’ philanthropic, educational, and private and public sectors are the true legacy of this work. I’m incredibly grateful for their commitment to our shared vision.

Likewise, I want to acknowledge the incredible bipartisan support from our local, federal and state delegations, including U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, as well as Empire State Development. In particular, I want to recognize Senator Schumer for his leadership in co-authoring the CHIPS and Science Act and Tech Hubs programs with the specific intent of helping to reignite the innovation economy in parts of the country, like ours, that had been previously left behind. Our application also received bipartisan support from Upstate’s congressional delegation, including Representatives Joe Morelle, Claudia Tenney, and Brandon Williams. This unified support ensures this region now has the resources to drive long-term progress.  

While we take a moment to celebrate this historic opportunity, we are more ready than ever to get to work and leverage this investment to maximize the economic impact that will be felt across our communities.