R&D: Enough with the peanut butter

Yet the county's true potential won't be reached without a more focused approach from Albany regarding academic research and entrepreneurs. At a recent conference with business and academic leaders -- including Harold Craighead, director of Cornell's Nanobiotechnology Center -- New York came off like a snail compared to other states that are making big investments in university-based research and reaping the benefits that come from it.

"New York is woeful in terms of its ability to focus and make decisions and put the money where it counts," summed up William Sheeran, director of the Center for Integrated Manufacturing Studies at the Rochester Institute of Technology. "We're almost a state that says, 'I give county A $10 million, (so) I've got to give counties B through Z $10 million.'"

Sheeran calls that "peanut-buttering our resources over the whole state." Others might view it as bad business. Despite its wealth of top colleges and universities, plus a hefty budget surplus, New York ranks 10th nationally in university research funding, straggling behind states like Georgia, Arizona and Florida. A greater emphasis on taxpayer investments and partnerships between business and academic institutions wouldn't be nice for places like Ithaca and Rochester: it's key to their respective futures.

The influential Business Council of New York State is taking a greater interest in this issue and is backing "a significant enhancement between business and research institutions designed to foster economic development." This effort will be on the Legislature's plate next year.

It would be rewarding to see investments in research become an issue in the spring, rather than controversies like New York City rent control that tend to distract and divide.

"Collaboration among university, government and industrial R&D (research and development) labs is now essential," opined the Business Council last week. "Growth in technology and opportunities in technology have made it harder for any one institution to do long-term R&D in isolation."

This collaboration sounds easy on paper, but it isn't. It will take a thoughtful effort from any number of interests, plus steady, well-placed investments, to get New York in a national leadership position. This would be time and money well spent.

It would be rewarding to see investments in research become an issue in Albany, rather than controversies like rent control that tend to distract and divide.