High Tech's New Home for Innovation P ro- business, pro- growth is New York's commitment to emerging technology companies. Committed to broadening New York's status as a leader in the high technology and biotechnology industries, Governor George E. Pataki has invested more than $1 billion in the State's technology business sector, world- class research laboratories, and academic centers over the past seven years¹. The state's efforts are paying off as companies around the world are recognizing New York as a destination for new technology and innovation. With programs such as the Small Business Technology Investment Fund, which provides high- tech start- ups a source of venture capital, and the Centers of Excellence, which have been established at leading universities to encourage rapid commercialization and scientific breakthroughs, combined with tax incentives to new and expanding companies, New York is receiving increasingly more attention from those in charge of business location and expansions decisions. Long Island    Long Island has been at the forefront of technology before it was fashionable. The backbone is the highly skilled workforce that was nurtured during the 1950s and '60s. Remember the Lunar Landing Module that put the first men on the moon. It was designed and built by Grumman in Syosset, Long Island. When we were forced to shift away from military technology in the mid 1980s, a new opportunity, smart technology, was the island's salvation. Companies such as Computer Associates and Symbol Technologies became the focal point of our new economy.    Local universities such as Stony Brook and the State University at Farmingdale invested heavily in high tech incubators, the birth Herb Agin place of Forrest Labs and OSI Pharmaceuticals which are at the forefront of medical research. Both Nassau and Suffolk Counties have pioneered programs that offer tax incentives to high tech firms who relocate or expand. Long Island is also the home to Brookhaven National Laboratory which is operated by Brookhaven Science Associates for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Brookhaven National Laboratory's role for the DOE is to produce excellent science and advanced technology with the cooperation, support, and involvement of our scientific and local communities. The local Long Island community is a direct beneficiary.    Coming full circle, Grumman no longer manufactures jets on Long Island, but Northrop Grumman continues to expand its base on Long Island by designing and developing electronic systems, along with components for military and commercial use, which operate and support computer systems. New York City    From start- ups to large enterprises, New York City has always been a destination for business. The city's official website, NYC.gov, states that high- tech and new media account for a $9.2 billion industry with approximately 4,000 companies in New York City alone and is growing exponentially. This growth has been largely concentrated in the area in Manhattan south of 41st Street, into Upper Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, known as Silicon Alley².    Midtown year end 2005 finished on a positive note with vacancy rates declining for eight consecutive quarters, closing at 6.2% down from 8.7% in 2004. Average rental rates increased from $47 per sq. ft. in 2004 to $48.37 per sq. ft. in Murray Hill to $63.25 in The Plaza District. Office property sales in excess of $11B fueled the New York City real estate market again in 2005. Neil Siderow Photo: Chris Molina, The Photographer's Gallery/courtesy of Real Estate New York There are currently only 4 major office buildings under construction in Midtown with "pre- leased" space around 54% when not an owner occupied building. The upward trend continued through the end of first quarter 2006 with rental rates increasing 3 percent.    In the New York Downtown market, year- end 2005 finished on a positive note, with declining vacancy rates for eight consecutive quarters, closing at 10.3% down from 11.5% in 2004. Rental rates increased slightly from 2004 levels, approaching $33 per sq. ft. on the rise from $32 per sq. ft. Sublease space currently represents less than 20% of available space created by positive net absorption and residential conversion of tertiary buildings through Downtown. Construction completion on 7 World Trade Center has added 1.67 million square feet of inventory that is "ready for tenant occupancy" in 2006. Upstate New York    Sematech North (a consortium of 12 major computer chip manufacturers) chose Albany, N.Y., as its new headquarters, and was immediately followed by Tokyo Electron. Now, Luther Forest Technology Park is in the running to become AMD's newest location for a chip fab. The University at Albany, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Albany Nanotech continue to lure the next generation of high technology companies to the Upstate New York region, and specifically to Tech Valley, with its unequalled facilities, having been one of the first to realize, and build a 300 mm platform for computer chip development.    This region, immediately north of Westchester County, heading up the Hudson River, is home to IBM's newest 300 mm wafer manufacturing facility, and quickly is becoming the foundation for the newest home in nanotechnology. Fostered by the vision of many local and state level officials, the collective efforts of many are now beginning to show signs of paying off handsomely. The Center for Economic Growth, a regional economic development agency, has spearheaded a major public/private effort to make the Upstate New York region a hotbed of high technology.    These efforts are now developing into major opportunities throughout the entire upstate region. From Buffalo to Albany and onto the New York Howard Carr metro area, the initiatives surrounding the high tech effort abound. In the Buffalo- Rochester region we continue to see new development based on the high tech industries. The Rochester Technology Campus continues to change the landscape of the region. Based on its foundation in optical innovation, the region flourishes in opportunity and achievement surrounding photonics and imagery technology. Buffalo, long thought to be a rust belt community, successfully transformed itself to a high tech haven with its Center for Bioinformatics, and now offers multiple opportunities for development of high tech facilities. Syracuse and central New York lead the way developing cutting edge technologies on environmental systems engineering.    All of these communities offer multiple alternatives for emerging technologies. These communities offer excellent life qualities, an educated and willing workforce, innovative local governments, low cost power, and research and development facilities tied to the higher education institutions providing tomorrow's leaders. All of these facts point to the realization that the high tech world has come to New York, and it continues to flourish and grow.    Sources: 1. Empire State Development (ESD), High Tech Economy (9 June 2006), www.empire.state.ny.us    2. NYC.gov, Access the Advantages (9 June 2006), www.nyc.gov