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!

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!

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!

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!