Members of the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council held a public meeting today to outline what they call is a very big step for photonics in the region.
Council co-chair Anne Kress is a member of the New York State Photonics board of officers, which approved a $106 million dollars budget for AIM photonics initiative.
"The majority of that budget will stay here in the Rochester region. It's for the testing, assembly, and packaging facility. The decision was made to keep that in our community," she says.
Kress says a public request for proposals will go out for the location of the TAP center.
Regional Director for the council, Vincent Esposito, says this will create the primary manufacturing facility for AIM photonics here in Rochester.
"It's going to draw companies in, allow them to work on these pieces of equipment that they can't afford on their own, and then ideally establish commercialization operations in the region," he said.
Esposito also announced a municipality in the region is in line for at least $10 million dollars in funding through the state's Downtown Revitalization Initiative, or DRI.
"I think there was a strong sense from the selection committee that they wanted to ensure that this designation would be transformative for the community they select," he said.
Esposito would only say Rochester is a finalist, but the Governor will announce the community selected next week.
Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul addressed the meeting, saying the participants on the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development council have helped jump-start growth in this region.
She the $500 million in state funds the region secured through the upstate revitalization initiative is a game-changer, and the next challenge is to make sure there is a workforce to go with the new jobs that are being created in this region.