OLEDWorks LLC in Rochester was awarded $491,000 and R-Display & Lighting LLC in Webster was awarded $100,000 for energy efficiency initiatives, officials announced Tuesday. The funding is part of $4.8 million awarded statewide through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s Advanced Buildings Program, which will provide $25 million over three years. http://www.rbj.net/article.asp?aID=202684Continue Reading

Last week Rochester once again demonstrated its importance in the optics and photonics global economy by hosting the SPIE Optifab meeting — North America’s largest exhibition of optical manufacturing and testing equipment and technology. Sponsored by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, and co-sponsored by the APOMA (American Precision Optics Manufacturers Association), the...Continue Reading

On Thursday, September 19th, RRPC representatives Tom Battley, John Bruning, Chris Cotton, Jay Eastman and Rick Plympton joined some fifty representatives from around the country in an “NPI Education Day” for members of the House and Senate in Washington D.C. The event was organized by OSA and SPIE in order to inform and educate representatives...Continue Reading

New York State’s plan to build up to three “mega” computer chip factories at the SUNY Institute of Technology outside Utica is raising questions about the future of IBM’s operations in downstate Dutchess County. Story here.Continue Reading

240 stakeholders converged at the Rochester Museum and Science Center’s Riedman Gallery on September 10 to interact with industry experts and thought leaders in a conversation about the National Photonics Initiative. Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, representative 25th district, New York cohosted the meeting. Slaughter’s opening remarks emphasized Rochester’s leading role in optics, photonics and imaging for...Continue Reading

The Rochester Regional Photonics Cluster announced the recipients of three annual awards and a special lifetime achievement award at its annual meeting on Thursday, September 5th at the Rochester Museum & Science Center. The RRPC Entrepreneurship Award was awarded to Michael Bechtold, CEO, Optipro, for demonstrating creativity, innovative spirit and drive in pursuit of the...Continue Reading

Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY 25th District) and Exelis Geospatial Systems Precision Optics have announced a $2 million technology investment with the University of Rochester. The investment was secured by Slaughter and will fund optics polishing work by Exelis and the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics using equipment manufactured in Rochester. article here  Continue Reading

Science and engineering (S&E) employment in the United States is geographically concentrated in a small number of states and several major metropolitan areas within those states, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2011 American Community Survey (ACS). The three most populous states—California, Texas, and New York—together accounted for more than one-fourth of all...Continue Reading

The “average person, or average congressman” doesn’t know much about photonics, according to a coalition of industry and academic groups pushing a National Photonics Initiative. Part of the problem could easily be the name, said Thomas Koch, dean of the University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences, who hosted a push for greater recognition at...Continue Reading

Albany Underwrites Economic Development Expansion of Nanotech Efforts West of Albany Gannett, Sunday, August 18, 2013: The ambition of Cuomo and Kaloyeros comes at a time when upstate New York continues to try to find its footing after decades of manufacturing decline. In June, 43,453 fewer people were employed in New York than in June...Continue Reading