Ithaca Journal, Feb 2004

 

"The success of these small Cornell spin-offs is making an significant change in the Tompkins County economy. Most of the spin-offs are located in the Cornell Business and Technology Park. Today, about 1,600 people work for the 90 firms in that facility. The park's annual payroll totals $57 million. During the next 10 years -- even without further development -- the park is expected to produce $11 million in property taxes, said John Majeroni, former director of real estate for Cornell.

Many of those jobs at the Cornell Business & Technology Park are in manufacturing and that has made a distinct difference in Tompkins County. In the last 10 years, New York has lost a third of its manufacturing jobs. During the same time, Tompkins has seen a 10 percent growth in manufacturing to about 4,000 jobs.

These aren't your father's job in a smokestack factory either. They're manufacturing labs with workers in moon suits and post-docs building machines that are smaller than the width of a human hair. The devices made today in Tompkins County treat diseases like diabetes, turn sewage sludge into energy and guide space missions to Mars.

While our Upstate neighbors struggle with retooling their economies, Tompkins County has been growing businesses and jobs. That is a remarkable feat in Upstate, made sweeter by clever local entrepreneurs, investors and public planners who figured out how to build a bridge from Cornell's laboratories to the global marketplace. "
 

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