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At the same time, there is heightened recognition of the importance of biotech in driving economic development. That is particularly true in New York's Tech Valley, a 17-county region of upstate New York centered in Albany, the state capital, and spreading north to the Canadian border, west to the Mohawk Valley, south to Dutchess County - IBM country - and east to the Massachusetts state line.

This rapidly expanding technology hub features more than 1,000 high-tech companies that employ well over 50,000 people and pump $5 billion into the region's economy. One of the strengths of the region is the diversity of its tech sectors, and biotechnology is proving to be one of its fastest-growing areas. Over the last year, there have been several major developments:

- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute broke ground on an $80 million Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies;

- Albany Medical Center and state-run Wadsworth Center announced location of the Ordway Research Institute at the $60 million Center for Medical Sciences in Albany, a state-of-the-art research facility opening in July that will focus on host defenses/emerging infections, angiogenesis, genomics/pharmacogenomics and nerve and heart cell rescue;

- Albany Medical Center and GE Global Research opened the Neurosciences Advanced Imaging Research Center, aimed at discovering methods to diagnose Alzheimer's and other neuro-degenerative diseases; and,

- The University at Albany announced plans to build a $45 million cancer research center at its East Campus in Rensselaer.

While the research to be done at each of these institutions is outstanding, the economic impact - both direct and indirect - is also significant. The projects cited involve multi-million dollar investments and the need to hire the best and brightest researchers, including many newcomers who will spend their money in the local community, supporting local businesses. And, there is the very real prospect of attracting new and relocating biotech firms that will cluster around cutting-edge research and development. They would join a biotech community that already features a number of successful companies, including Albany Molecular Research Inc., a chemistry-based drug discovery and development company that holds the patent for the active ingredient in the allergy drug Allegra and employs 850 people between its Albany, Rensselaer, Seattle, Syracuse and Chicago facilities, and Germantown-based Taconic, one of the largest suppliers of laboratory rats, mice, guinea pigs and lab services to biomedical researchers around the globe. Taconic has five breeding facilities and three service laboratories in the United States and Europe and employs over 700.

As evidence of its rising prominence, the growth of the biotechnology sector was one of the featured topics at the third annual Summit in Tech Valley, held April 28-29 in Albany. A panel discussion featured Douglas McCauley of Foster-Miller Technologies Inc., an Albany-based developer of biomedical devices; Dr. Jeffery D. Turner of Nexia Biotechnologies Inc. of Plattsburgh and Quebec, a manufacturer of biomaterials and complex therapeutic proteins; and, Dr. Clint Ballinger of Evident Technologies Inc., a Troy-based developer of nanocrystals with several applications, including detection of deadly pathogens such as anthrax, smallpox and plague.

Hundreds of leaders in the region's technology, business, academic and government sectors who attended the Summit are now intimately more familiar with the profound economic impact the biotech industry has on Tech Valley and New York state, and its growing importance in fueling future high-tech growth.

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