ajor high-tech initiatives in New York have dominated recent economic announcements as the state continues to gain a reputation as a center of research in biotechnology, computer chips and nanoelectronics.
        A recent issue of the Forbes/Wolfe Nanotech Report goes so far as to state that "New York's Albany region could become the Silicon Valley of nanotech and even surpass it in economic importance." Nanotechnology is the science of working with matter that is at the scale of one-billionth of a meter.
        One of the Albany area's latest high-tech accomplishments is the announcement by Evident Technologies that it will create 200 jobs in nanotechnology and biotechnology paying annual salaries ranging from US$55,000 to $75,000. Evident, which is expanding its operations in Troy, is developing and will manufacture HIV and staph biochips for clinical and research applications as well as longer-term products like cancer screening and low-cost tuberculosis tests. The state is doing much to foster the high-tech growth. Since 1995, New York has invested more than $1 billion in technology business sectors, research laboratories and academic centers.
        While the state is benefiting from these investments, it continues to feel the financial fallout of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York City. The impact of the attack on the World Trade Center has had tremendous short-term economic effects on New York City. A recent report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York pegs the figure between $33 billion and $36 billion through June 2002.