Week in Review: January 18 – January 22, 2021
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CEG IN THE NEWS
Times Union: Capital Region part of the $1 billion research spending club
Spotlight News: Port of Albany lands coveted bid
REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Vyv — the former Vital Vio — continues to expand client base for its antimicrobial LEDs
“Vyv, a Troy health-tech startup that makes LED antimicrobial lights, has continued to expand its reach in the past month.
The New Jersey lighting manufacturer Amerlux announced that Vyv’s technology will be integrated into a variety of Amerlux’s new and existing lighting fixtures within 90 days.”
ReVivo Medical closes on funding round to enable clinical trial of vertebrae implant
“An Albany startup developing a titanium alloy vertebrae implant has closed on an equity offering of over $550,000.
ReVivo Medical said Tuesday the financing will enable the startup to kick off the early stages of a clinical trial, necessary for overcoming the next hurdle of FDA market clearance for its products.”
Hudson’s minority-owned businesses struggle to move out of the home
“When Eris Shakesphere’s daughter left for college in 2017 she turned to baking to help pay the tuition bills. In addition to working full-time at an insurance company, she began making custom cakes, treats, and specialty-sauced chicken wings in her home and sold them via a Facebook page.
‘As it grows, it takes over my home,” Shakesphere said. “My ultimate goal is to have a space for my business.’”
Free Form Fibers In Grande Industrial Park Raises $2.5 Million For Future Development
“Free Form Fibers, a Saratoga Spring high-tech company in the Grande Industrial Park, completed raising a $2.5 million in November that will be used to further its development.
Free Form Fibers utilizes advanced technology to create high-performance ceramic fibers that are used to make durable parts for the aviation and nuclear industries. The fibers are approximately 1/4 the diameter of a human hair.
The majority of the $2.5 million that was raised will be used to build the three production tools necessary to produce ceramic fibers. The tools should be up and running by the end of March. Without them, the company can only provide lab-sized samples to potential customers for evaluation.”
Two Friends Involved In Pharmacy Getting Closer To Opening Active Ingredient Brewery
“Nathan Rogers and Brian Fox are on the brink of becoming both pharmacists and brewery owners, an unlikely combination that they say is nothing short of a dream come true. The two are anticipating a spring opening of Active Ingredient Brewing Co. in Malta.
Rogers and Fox will soon be scaling down to part time in their pharmacist positions at Walmart in order to make their dream a reality.”
Plug Power picks Rochester-area site for $125 million fuel cell factory
“Plug Power will invest $125 million to convert a former Alstom plant in suburban Rochester into its newest hydrogen fuel cell and electrolyzer factory.
The project will create 375 jobs in a plant equipped with machines for high-speed lamination, automated metal stamping, laser welding and robotic gasketing to allow Plug Power to churn out 60,000 fuel cell stacks and 500 electrolyzers per year.”
Plug Power pursues factory expansion near Albany and Rochester, plus South Korea and France
“Opening a $125 million factory and research center in western New York is just the start for Plug Power chief executive Andy Marsh.
The fuel cell manufacturing executive plans to add factories in South Korea and France, and make major upgrades to the company’s headquarters and production site in Latham, New York, over the next three years.”
GE wins $20 million federal grant to develop new wind turbine generators
“The federal government is betting $20.3 million that General Electric Co. can turn an MRI machine used in hospitals into a renewable energy powerhouse.
The Department of Energy’s Wind Technologies Office recently awarded the grant to a team of engineers and scientists at GE Research in Niskayuna in hopes that they can take superconducting magnet technology from MRI machines and use it in the generators that create electricity in large industrial wind turbines that GE makes.”
Grant Cottage receives National Historic Landmark designation
“Grant Cottage has been named a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service.
The 43-acre property located below the summit of Mount McGregor in Saratoga County includes a two-story house where President Ulysses S. Grant completed his memoirs for about six weeks before his death in July 1885.”
Inside New York’s Push to Be ‘Center of Gravity’ for US Offshore Wind
“In the race for American offshore wind jobs, New York got an uncharacteristically late start.
Unlike Rhode Island, New York has no turbines spinning in the water. It does not have a ready-and-waiting offshore wind port facility, like Massachusetts, nor large amounts of free harborside space as in Virginia or Maryland. To the extent the burgeoning U.S. offshore wind industry has a capital today, most would nod toward Boston.”
