Well, after a great Thanksgiving holiday break and some long overdue snow, we're back on the road touting the Mohawk Valley this week.
This afternoon, it's off to San Jose, CA for a few days of meetings and the Global Semiconductor Alliance's Annual Awards Dinner (http://www.gsaglobal.org/awardsdinner/2009/index.asp). This will be the last trip of the year and I'm glad - we've had a busy year.
Looking back at 2009, we've had an incredibly busy year - traversing the globe, directly interacting with industry leaders and driving decisions for economic growth. I hope to have a short "year in review" available soon.
In the meantime, enjoy the snow and wish me luck on the West Coast!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Settling back in
If you measure success in frequent flier miles, I must be a rock star.
After an aggressive schedule in Asia (three countries in 4 days) and California (10 meetings and two events in 3.5 days) it was nice to settle back in to the swing of things in the Mohawk Valley. For me, that meant a Wind Supply Chain event in Rochester (our friends at the Greater Rochester Enterprise are doing great work - check out http://www.glwn.org/for details on Wind Supply Chain), followed by a DOD IT Acquisition event in Washington DC. With a full day conference and meetings on the Hill, we wasted little time in DC and kept quite busy.
So, to count that up - since September 1st, I've been taking EDGE's story on the road to Phoenix, Denver, Portland, Germany (twice), Las Vegas, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, San Jose, and Washington DC - a total of 35 nights away from home in the last 10 weeks! This is on top of about a half dozen day trips to Syracuse, Albany and all points in between and a handful of site visits by companies considering the Mohawk Valley as their future homes.
Well, if one thing is for sure, we can't sit back and wait for our phones to ring. If we're going to see a customer choose Marcy for semiconductor manufacturing or other industries choose another regional location, we have to take the story on the road. I've got a little respite; our next outreach trip isn't until the second week in December. While I'm excited to be able to stay home for a few weeks, I know the reward for this effort isn't just frequent flier miles - it will be watching ribbon cuts for new employers in the region.
Gotta run!
After an aggressive schedule in Asia (three countries in 4 days) and California (10 meetings and two events in 3.5 days) it was nice to settle back in to the swing of things in the Mohawk Valley. For me, that meant a Wind Supply Chain event in Rochester (our friends at the Greater Rochester Enterprise are doing great work - check out http://www.glwn.org/for details on Wind Supply Chain), followed by a DOD IT Acquisition event in Washington DC. With a full day conference and meetings on the Hill, we wasted little time in DC and kept quite busy.
So, to count that up - since September 1st, I've been taking EDGE's story on the road to Phoenix, Denver, Portland, Germany (twice), Las Vegas, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, San Jose, and Washington DC - a total of 35 nights away from home in the last 10 weeks! This is on top of about a half dozen day trips to Syracuse, Albany and all points in between and a handful of site visits by companies considering the Mohawk Valley as their future homes.
Well, if one thing is for sure, we can't sit back and wait for our phones to ring. If we're going to see a customer choose Marcy for semiconductor manufacturing or other industries choose another regional location, we have to take the story on the road. I've got a little respite; our next outreach trip isn't until the second week in December. While I'm excited to be able to stay home for a few weeks, I know the reward for this effort isn't just frequent flier miles - it will be watching ribbon cuts for new employers in the region.
Gotta run!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Greetings from Asia!
It's 4 AM here in Taiwan, but with a bad case of insomnia, I thought it a good time to drop an update.
As part of our continuing fall 2009 whirlwind tour, one of my colleagues and I are spending this week in Asia, followed by sales calls in California.
Many of the semiconductor industry officials we have met with here are pretty impressed with our story, especially the fact that New York State has continued to be a financial partner to the industry on a similar scale to that of many Asian nations.
Despite cultural differences that cause many of our Asian colleagues to be more deliberate in their decision-making and implementation, we've had a surprisingly high amount of positive feedback. In fact, one company even pointed out some opportunities they may want to pursue in New York!
This follows on the heels of not one, not two, but three site visits in the semiconductor/clean tech arena last week. Call me the perpetual optimist, but I think things are looking up for Marcy NanoCenter at SUNYIT, the Mohawk Valley and New York State as a whole.
One more meeting here in Asia, and it is off to the West Coast. I'll be in San Jose with my boss Steve DiMeo and the President of SUNYIT, Wolf Yeigh, for the Semiconductor Industry Association's Annual Awards Dinner. We'll also spend that time meeting with several companies in the semiconductor and photovoltaic arenas.
Wish me luck!
As part of our continuing fall 2009 whirlwind tour, one of my colleagues and I are spending this week in Asia, followed by sales calls in California.
Many of the semiconductor industry officials we have met with here are pretty impressed with our story, especially the fact that New York State has continued to be a financial partner to the industry on a similar scale to that of many Asian nations.
Despite cultural differences that cause many of our Asian colleagues to be more deliberate in their decision-making and implementation, we've had a surprisingly high amount of positive feedback. In fact, one company even pointed out some opportunities they may want to pursue in New York!
This follows on the heels of not one, not two, but three site visits in the semiconductor/clean tech arena last week. Call me the perpetual optimist, but I think things are looking up for Marcy NanoCenter at SUNYIT, the Mohawk Valley and New York State as a whole.
One more meeting here in Asia, and it is off to the West Coast. I'll be in San Jose with my boss Steve DiMeo and the President of SUNYIT, Wolf Yeigh, for the Semiconductor Industry Association's Annual Awards Dinner. We'll also spend that time meeting with several companies in the semiconductor and photovoltaic arenas.
Wish me luck!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Like the Yankees?
After a flurried week of travel to and from Germany, it was great to come home and watch the Yankees complete a sweep of the Minnesota Twins last night. Despite the fact that I do like seeing the Twins succeed, I was thrilled to watch the Bombers complete the sweep and continue building momentum as they charge through the post-season.
After watching that game and spending this morning plowing through follow ups and piles accumulated while in Germany, I had a chance to peruse the articles from this weekend's OD about the growth and development of programs at SUNYIT. Most of you know that the development of Marcy NanoCenter at SUNYIT and the campus itself will be bolstered by one another, so I was quite happy to see the programs at SUNYIT begin to take shape and move forward.
If you missed those articles, you can find them here:
http://www.uticaod.com/news/x1128407063/College-s-future-under-construction; http://www.uticaod.com/news/x1992012331/Nanotech-impacts-could-take-some-time-to-develop;
http://www.uticaod.com/news/x593080400/SUNYIT-reborn-Nanotech-initiative-promises-to-change-institutes-course.
I'm thrilled to see these programs taking shape and growing. Following July's announcement, there were many folks that asked "when will this happen and how?" Now we're starting to see the when and how develop, and I like what I see.
I'm sure you're asking yourself, that's great, but what does all this have to do with the Yankees?
Well, I'm hoping that just like the boys in Pinstripes, SUNYIT is now really building momentum for the ultimate prize.
Keep up the good work, Dr. Yeigh!
After watching that game and spending this morning plowing through follow ups and piles accumulated while in Germany, I had a chance to peruse the articles from this weekend's OD about the growth and development of programs at SUNYIT. Most of you know that the development of Marcy NanoCenter at SUNYIT and the campus itself will be bolstered by one another, so I was quite happy to see the programs at SUNYIT begin to take shape and move forward.
If you missed those articles, you can find them here:
http://www.uticaod.com/news/x1128407063/College-s-future-under-construction; http://www.uticaod.com/news/x1992012331/Nanotech-impacts-could-take-some-time-to-develop;
http://www.uticaod.com/news/x593080400/SUNYIT-reborn-Nanotech-initiative-promises-to-change-institutes-course.
I'm thrilled to see these programs taking shape and growing. Following July's announcement, there were many folks that asked "when will this happen and how?" Now we're starting to see the when and how develop, and I like what I see.
I'm sure you're asking yourself, that's great, but what does all this have to do with the Yankees?
Well, I'm hoping that just like the boys in Pinstripes, SUNYIT is now really building momentum for the ultimate prize.
Keep up the good work, Dr. Yeigh!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Wrapping up in Germany
Guten tag!
Today's the final day of Semicon Europa, the largest semiconductor tradeshow in Europe. We've been participating in this show as exhibitors for several years now, and as part of New York Loves Nanotech, since the early 2000's.
Despite the recession, we actually have seen very solid traffic. Much of our discussions have centered around the exciting development of the GlobalFoundries fab at Luther Forest Technology Campus. We've had the opportunity to partner with the team at Luther Forest, the Saratoga Economic Development Corporation and the Center for Economic Growth (the organizers of New York Loves Nanotech) again this year.
This is the second time in the last three weeks that we've been in Germany - previously for the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference. Not only is this a beautiful country, but the Germans are excellent businessmen who are leading the world in many of the advanced technology areas we're working to attract to the Mohawk Valley and Upstate New York.
We'll be breaking down the booth shortly, as the show ends at 4pm. Tomorrow will be an active day of sales calls with German companies and flying home on Saturday!
Today's the final day of Semicon Europa, the largest semiconductor tradeshow in Europe. We've been participating in this show as exhibitors for several years now, and as part of New York Loves Nanotech, since the early 2000's.
Despite the recession, we actually have seen very solid traffic. Much of our discussions have centered around the exciting development of the GlobalFoundries fab at Luther Forest Technology Campus. We've had the opportunity to partner with the team at Luther Forest, the Saratoga Economic Development Corporation and the Center for Economic Growth (the organizers of New York Loves Nanotech) again this year.
This is the second time in the last three weeks that we've been in Germany - previously for the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference. Not only is this a beautiful country, but the Germans are excellent businessmen who are leading the world in many of the advanced technology areas we're working to attract to the Mohawk Valley and Upstate New York.
We'll be breaking down the booth shortly, as the show ends at 4pm. Tomorrow will be an active day of sales calls with German companies and flying home on Saturday!
Kickoff
So, this is a new venture for Mohawk Valley EDGE. In order to try to communicate more effectively on all things Marcy NanoCenter-related, we decided to launch this blog.
In this space, you'll find notes from our staff regarding the development of the site, attraction efforts we're pursuing, trade show notes and happening in the semiconductor industry. Hopefully, as time goes on, we'll expand this effort and be able to keep folks up to speed on the project and others.
As of now, I'll be handling most of the blogging duties, but as time goes on we'll try to include some of my colleagues thoughts, opinions and insight.
Please feel free to drop me a note at tdunn@mvedge.org or tdunn@marcynanocenter.com to tell me what you think!
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