Celebrating Accomplishments and Looking Ahead

We are in the last quarter of 2024, but that doesn’t mean things are slowing down. The team at CenterState CEO is working on numerous projects and events to celebrate and advance Central New York’s economy. 

On this episode of Talk CNY, presented by NBT Bank, we’re catching up on the last few months and looking forward to what 2025 will hold. CenterState CEO President Rob Simpson joins the podcast to discuss everything from microelectronics to the annual Economic Champions event.

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Host: Katie Zilcosky LinkedIn 

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This is Talk CNY, presented by NBT Bank, a semi-monthly podcast by CenterState CEO, central New York's premier leadership and economic development organization. Join us as we meet the people and explore the projects driving the regional economy forward. This is Talk CNY, presented by NBT Bank. I'm Katie Zilcosky, director of communications at CenterState CEO, and your host for Talk CNY. We are in the last quarter of 2024, but that does not mean we're slowing down. The team at CenterState CEO is working on projects and events that will celebrate and advance the local community. Today on Talk CNY, we're going to discuss what's happened in the last few months and what's going to happen in the last quarter of this year. Joining me for this discussion is CenterState CEO's president Rob Simpson. Rob, thanks as always for being here today. Great to be here. So before we get into what's to come in Q4, I want to kind of recap what's been going on the past few months. Take us back to August and talk about the Upstate Defense Microelectronics Forum that you and a few other members of our team attended. So before we get into what it was, what you heard, what is Upstate Defense or who is Upstate Defense? What are they doing? Upstate Defense is a collaboration between CenterState CEO, the Griffis Institute over in Rome, Syracuse University's Institute of Veterans and Military a big partner of ours here in New York State. We partner together to pursue a designation called the Defense Community Manufacturing Support Program. A little bit of a mouthful. Yes. The bottom line is - very important. Bottom line is a program at the federal level that is designed to provide funding and information and access to communities that have a high concentration of defense manufacturing jobs in them. Obviously, Upstate New York has been a hub for the defense industry for a very long time. Going back to our roots here in Syracuse with GE and now SRC and Lockheed and Saab and HII and so many of these other partners that are really tremendous contributors to our economy. So what we're going to be doing over the course of the next four or five years is working with a lot of those defense contractors to support workforce development, making sure they have access to the employees they need, working on issues of innovation inside their facilities, helping them develop new products and services for the defense industry and our national security. And just doing everything in our power to help these employers be successful at fulfilling their mission, which is to help protect the U.S. homeland and that of our allies. And I think that's something that we've been interested in pursuing for Central New York for probably more than a decade. It's something that we've only recently become eligible for as our economy has been growing, as we've grown that defense sector, as Micron has come in with their own pretty important national security implications, it gave us a chance to finally actually pursue this federal designation. Proud of the fact that we pursued it, we won it on our very first chance this time and we're bringing federal dollars back to support economic development in Upstate New York. Pretty cool. Yeah, that is pretty cool and also pretty cool. It took place at Griffiss Airbase, which is not far from where you grew up. Not far at all. So what was it like to have some of the world leaders in the microelectronics industry gathered to strategize about this nationally critical technology in a place that's really close to home for you? Yeah, it's awesome. I am so proud of just how Upstate New York has managed to reposition itself for the modern economy, right? The post-industrial age was not a friend to these communities up and down the throughway, our former Erie Canal communities in those But today, whether it's in Utica, in Albany, in Rochester, Buffalo, even in Binghamton and up into Watertown, Syracuse, for sure, there's a new role that our communities are playing. We are supporting our country's national security. We're doing things that matter to the rest of the world. We're going to be building semiconductors, right? The most fundamental input to the modern economy and all of these interconnected devices that we carry around with us. And it's just very exciting to see a community regain a sense of pride from doing something that matters beyond just to our community. And that's the piece I think of the jobs and the economic impact. It's all amazing, but just the psychological impact of getting our communities back to a point where we are contributing to global prosperity. I think I take a tremendous amount of satisfaction in that. Now, microelectronics themselves, they are a new field for us, generally newer to get involved in and people might not really know what that all entails. So could you kind of talk us through who's involved in microelectronics? What is microelectronics? What is microelectronics, Fundamentally, think of it, think of it as all of the world of interconnected devices that we live with in our technological ecosystem, in our workplaces, in our homes, most specifically, people think about microelectronics as in finished packages. They think about a cell phone or a smartwatch or a medical device, and that's all true. The core work that happens here in upstate New York is actually the. Little. Pieces, the little pieces that go inside those finished devices. We do some final assembly and packaging here also, but the development of printed circuit boards, right? The development of semiconductors, the sensors that go in those devices that collect information that's used to do analysis and to inform your decisions, whether it's in your watch or in your phone or in the pressure sensor in your tire. And that is a huge part of what we are good at here in Central New York. If you look back over the last 30 years, I think something like 50% of all the intellectual property generated in Central New York, it comes in the field of sensing technology. And sensing is one of the key inputs. Sensing and data processing are some of the key inputs to all of these microelectronic devices. And so we have a really important role to play in the technological future and for a community that missed out on that first wave of post-industrial development, I think we are very focused at a leadership level in missing this current wave, right, as they call it, the fourth industrial revolution. And that's a place where I think Central New York not only is positioned to succeed, but I think we're positioned to win in a lot of respects. I think we're positioned to accumulate more wealth, to grow more jobs, to attract more people in an environment. This is in our DNA. It's authentic, it's real. We're really good at it. Companies need it because consumers are demanding it. So I think there's a huge confluence of our capability and where global markets are going that it's going to make the next decade really exciting for central New York. Now, obviously that some of that excitement comes from a very historic great investment, but the opportunities and growth in this sector, in the microelectronics world in Central New York extends well beyond it with a lot of our other really great partners. So can you tell us about some of the other growth that's happening in this field in Central New York? Tomorrow we have a beam raising ceremony for TTM Technologies. Another one of our great local companies here used to be Anaren, was bought by TTM 600 plus people here in Central New York. They've made a commitment to invest$130 million and add 400 jobs. So here's an employer that will soon have a thousand employees in Central New York making both commercial and defense microelectronics applications. This new facility that we're going to be celebrating, that is a project that we competed against a lot of other states that I'm really proud of the fact that we won this project working with our state partners, working with the county exec, working with our federal partners like Senator Schumer, right? The same team that helped bring Micron here, also helped land this investment from TTM. And it's really exciting because one of the things that they are going to be doing in this facility is actually building the next generation of high definition printed circuit boards. And so we talked about the innards of all these technological devices. This is a core expertise here, so it's TTM, it's HII, which just opened their facility in the City Center building in downtown Syracuse. Lockheed, I think right now has the largest employment headcount they've had out at Electronics Park maybe ever, but certainly within the last decade. And so we're seeing all of these major microelectronics providers, they're all thriving in this current market environment, and that's great news for jobs in Central New York. And why is it so important to have this whole ecosystem of businesses and not just sort of focus in one direction? I mean, beyond just even one technology, having this diversified ecosystem in the microelectronics industry in Central New York? Well, it makes these companies more successful and more competitive, right? If that ecosystem includes innovation assets like our research institutions, there's more ability for these companies to stay at the leading edge to compete against their competitors who might be located in some other community either in the United States or some other part of the world trying to win the same contracts. And so helping those companies stay innovative is critical. Helping them get access to the workforce they need is critical. I will say companies often tend to cluster this basic economic development theory tend to cluster because of the advantages of having multiple employers in a similar industry. There's a lot of talent recruitment advantages to that as well. People who move from one employer to the next, people who might be reluctant to move to a community if there's only one microelectronics manufacturer, if that's their field. Because what happens if it doesn't work out? If there's 10 microelectronics manufacturers in the same community, that might feel like a safer bet for someone who's thinking about relocating themselves or their family to a place. So clustering is something I think that many communities chase. We're very intentional about focusing cluster strategies in areas where we have deep capability. I think a lot of communities will try to build new industries from whole cloth. There's a lot of research that says that's either impossible or really hard and really expensive and takes a long time and rarely pays off. But when you build it more authentically, when you look at the foundation of your intellectual property, you look at the skill sets of your workforce, you look at what your R1 research institutions are really good at, and you build your clustering strategy on top of that, you're far more likely to be successful. And that's what we've done here in Central New York. And we're seeing a pay dividends. We're going to take a quick break for our award from our sponsor NBT Bank, but we'll be right back with Rob in just a moment. I would recommend NBT Bank to any business. My name is Chris Palomino and I'm the president of Atlas Fence. Chris had decided to purchase Atlas Fence from the previous owner. He had previous connections at NBT Bank. NBT Bank provided me equipment financing doubling our entire production workforce. It's important to me as a business owner that the decisions of our banking relationship are made locally. This is Talk CNY, presented by NBT Bank. I'm Katie Zilcosky, director of communications at CenterState CEO, and your host for Talk CNY. Today I am here with CenterState CEO's President Rob Simpson. Rob, thanks for joining us. And we are talking about all that Q4 is going to hold for us here at CenterState CEO. It's an exciting time. Fall has two big events for the Center State CEO organization. The first one coming up at the end of October is Innovation Night, and that's featuring the GENIUS New York Pitch Finals. GENIUS New York is in its eighth round, and we are gearing up to give out another$3 million to some really promising UAS startups. It's been a number of years now that this GENIUS program is going. So could you put in perspective for us what it was like when we first kicked off GENIUS to where we are now? Yeah, I mean, listen, I think when we first started this program, it was an experiment. The state was making an effort, I think, with a lot of encouragement from communities up and more heavily not just in bricks and mortar economic development, but really invest in our innovation ecosystem. And our audience certainly knows, I've been saying this ad nauseum for 20 years, right? Successful communities start more companies than they lose. It's not rocket science, it's just a pretty simple formula. So these investments in our innovation ecosystem are investments in our economic future. And I think it's really in some respects, tempting when you have news of a project like a Micron or a TTM, you have all these exciting things happening. You're seeing success to take your eye off the ball of planning for the future. I think that is one of the things that I feel really strongly is a role that CenterState CEO needs to play. Not necessarily just being entirely focused on this one moment that we're in, but always having an eye towards the future, always thinking about how the world is changing, always thinking about how we need to be positioned not just today, but for the world two or three or 10 years from now. And so I give the state a lot of credit. They invested in these acceleration programs up and we chose to focus our acceleration program on the unmanned systems and IoT - Internet of Things space because it aligns with our clustering strategy as we were just talking about, right? You see how these things sort of stack upon one another. And it's been amazing over the course of eight years, we've had, what does that give us? It gives us over 40 teams that have been in different cohorts that have come from all over the world. I mean literally, I think almost every continent of the planet. And they come here and they spend their time and many of those companies have stayed and grown here. But we're making these investments not just in these five companies, but I would encourage people to think about this as us continue to make investments in our UAS cluster, right? We've built a worldwide reputation as a place, New York State, upstate New York, Syracuse to Utica as having some of the most robust thought leadership and technical capabilities in the drones. And I'm in systems space. And this program really brings that to light. I had a chance yesterday to meet with all five of the GENIUS teams and just hear from them a little bit their elevator pitch and what their technologies are focused on. And it was really great. There was this gentleman who joined us from South America, one of the teams from South America, and the message that he delivered was how everyone in the world sees Central New York in a leadership position in this industry. And we think about that and we hear it and we talk about it on podcasts and in our work, but sometimes we forget that people are picking up that message and they're hearing that message and they believe that message in other parts of the world. Here's someone who lives on the South American continent and who knew because he works in this industry, that this is a place that would help advance his business. And I think that's awesome. I. Just think that international connectivity is such a harbinger of good things for our community going forward. And we've really expanded this vision of the GENIUS Finals Night into a full Innovation Night to really celebrate all that our community is doing in terms of our innovation economy. So for anyone who may have missed it, can you give an overview of why it's so exciting to be in the Central New York innovation economy right now? Yeah, listen, I think there's success. We're turning that corner from having been a place that lost more companies than it started to being a place that has more startups and is generating new businesses faster than we're losing them. We're seeing the economic growth and activity. We're watching entrepreneurs with an idea start a business that could turn into a cupcake shop in downtown Syracuse or into a drone startup or into a supplier to a semiconductor company. And so I think if you're an entrepreneur or you think you might want to be an entrepreneur, this moment in Central New York's history is a really good one for those individuals. Because there are more organizations, there are more resources, there are more programs that are pointed at supporting people to build their dream than there ever have been. 20 years ago, there were no resources, there was no Tech Garden, there weren't 12 organizations with incubators or accelerators around Central New York the way there are today. And I think that's awesome. Sometimes I get questions from people that are like, oh, well, are all these resources competitive and duplicative and do we need them all? And my general feeling on it is we need to make sure they're all aligned, they're working together, but the more of these assets we have, the better. The more people we're going to reach, the more businesses we're going to launch, and the more we can share ideas and best practices amongst ourselves to continue to level up. So I do just think this is a uniquely interesting moment. There's a lot of public sector support for innovation and entrepreneurship. There's a lot of private sector support for it. It's hopefully a golden age of central New York innovation starting along with their recapturing of our manufacturing legacy. If we can do those two things well together at the same time, the future for Central New York is incredibly great. And one of the places that these entrepreneurs can get Tech Garden, which you had mentioned. We won't be wrapping up construction on that until probably 2025, but before the end of the year, we do have a few exciting news items to probably announce. So what can people look forward to in terms of the Tech Garden project by the end of the year? Well, listen, I think if you want to just think of it metaphorically, this is a chance for us to level up the Tech Garden quite literally, right? We're putting two stories up on top of it. We're building more levels, but we are also interested in evolving the programming. When the Tech Garden opened 20 years ago in 2004, it was a former collapsed municipal parking garage with a copier and a shared conference room and a coffee pot and very little else. It was a place that entrepreneurs could go, but there weren't necessarily a lot of programs and resources. What we're trying to do today is to build up not only a facility that is equal to our ambition that screams innovation. And that is a signal to entrepreneurs that our community is prepared to invest in them. We're investing between all the partners that help support the Tech Garden. This is a $32 million investment that we're making in the next generation of business owners in Central New York. Think about it that way. That's awesome. And if you're an entrepreneur, I hope that you see this construction activity and think, alright, this community values me and my journey and wants to support us. So the opportunity to level up for us means we're going to look to run more events in the building. We're going to look to launch new programs, we're going to look to bring in partners. We're going to look to better collaborate amongst the Central New York ecosystem, the biotech accelerator and the Keenan Center at Le Moyne, and all the assets like the Blackstone Launchpad at SU and all these others, more collaboration, more effectiveness, more outcomes for those folks. So as if that weren't all enough, we also have our...there's more. We also have our Economic Champion celebration coming up, and that is mid-November, an annual event for us. It's a really great event to bring the business community together. I mean, can you kind of put into words why it's so important that we do this event year after year to celebrate all of those in our community who have helped make our local economy even more vibrant? It's funny, I'll be totally candid. When we brought the Chamber and MDA together back in 2010, I was certainly familiar with the Economic Champions luncheon. It was a chamber event. I had worked for the other predecessor corporation to CenterState CEO, and I remember sitting through my first one and thinking to myself, huh, I don't entirely know what to make of this. Because I think when we were doing big events, I think we were used to having to be really policy heavy and really heavy on thought leadership. So my initial reaction to this event was like, oh man, I want to think about how to do this differently. And the longer we've done it, the more I realize how wrong my initial impression was. This is the fun part about learning and going through life is the cool thing about Economic Champions and what people like about Economic Champions is we are literally just saying thank you to all the business owners that choose to do business in Central New York that choose to invest their money hard earned capital in buildings, in facilities, in their employees who hire people. We're just saying thanks and I don't know about you, but sometimes when you're working really hard and you have your head down and you don't think anyone notices, the act of someone walking by and saying, thank you for your hard work, man, that can brighten your day. So this is our chance to take these people who are our members, our supporters who are working so hard, who are the ones who are putting food in on the table of all the families in Central New York and just say, thank you. That's how I've come to see this event, and it's really changed my perspective on it and I really look forward to it every year because we get so much support from so many sectors of our community all year long, and obviously our mission is to support them back. But it's really fun to be able to be up on stage and just literally that simply say, thank you for what you're doing for our region. And people love it. They love this certificate, they love reading their name on the screen. They like being around other companies that are also being celebrated. I'm always so happy to see so many of our members who are posting their recognition on social media and just it's a day that people can be excited about all the great things that are happening in Central New York. And we do have tickets on sale now, so please visit the Center State CEO website if you want to be a part of this really great event that's coming up. Well, that will take us kind of through the end of the year there of those two events and then we'll look to 2025. So this will be our last quarterly update on the podcast of this season two. So I'm wondering as last words for the podcast Q4, what are you looking forward in 2025? I'm sure there's a lot, so maybe just... There's a lot. 2025. Alright, what am I most excited about? I'm excited to reopen the Tech Garden. The building's going to be awesome. It's going to be so great, and I think people are going to be blown away when they see the finished product. I'm really excited about the start of construction from Micron. That is something that obviously we've been working on for now more than four years, from just about four years from the time we started talking with them. And so seeing shovels in the ground and seeing people start to get put to work on that project is something that I'm obviously very much looking forward to. I'm excited for the opportunity to continue to develop the ON-RAMP program, the Workforce Development Training Center for construction and manufacturing that we're helping to lead with New York State and all of our local partners because it is similar if you think about the Tech Garden as a signal to our entrepreneurial community that they matter and that we're willing to invest in them. I think the ON-RAMP program and the Workforce Development Center that we're going to build, the physical facility that we're going to build in a distressed neighborhood here in Syracuse is also intended to send a signal to people who've been historically marginalized in our community who have not had the same access to economic opportunity that many to have, and to send a signal to them that we want to invest in them as well, that they need to be a part of our economic future, and that we're going to take the time to meet them where they are, to find them where they are, to support them in getting training, support them in all the ways in their life that they need to be able to work for a company like Micron or TTM. And I just love the human outcomes that will flow from that, right? I love the idea of people being able to improve themselves and have access to an opportunity that might've felt impossible to them. And I love the fact that our little organization gets to play a big role in helping to make that happen and that we get to partner with so many great organizations like OCC and MACNY and the city and the county and all these other partners to make that happen. It's those three things are probably at the top of the list, but it's by no means an exhaustive list. There's a lot of excitement I think that 2025 is going to bring for Central New York. It's going to be another busy year, but I have a feeling we're going to be sitting here in the fourth quarter of 2025 going through a pretty long list of. Accomplishments, maybe even longer. And looking into 2026 with an equal amount of enthusiasm. Rob, thank you as always for being here. It was great to talk to you today. Enjoyed it. CenterState CEO's podcast Talk CNY, presented by NBT Bank is available on clickcny.com and all major podcast platforms. 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