Highlight & Impact Study 2007

2007 Highlight & Impact Study (pdf)

A Message From the Executive Director

The Ceramics Corridor Innovation Centers (CCIC) program was born in 1992, over a decade ago on the heels of a major economic recession. The goal was to create 1,000 jobs by the year 2000 – a figure that was more than doubled. In the process, we have proven that business incubation can indeed, be a highly successful process, as the program 94% success rate clearly indicates.

Last year, the economy faced a down turn exacerbated by rising gas and energy costs and a weak dollar, but with the solid momentum that has been created, the program continued to move forward with a net increase of 98 jobs. The numbers, we believe, are a testament to the hard work of everyone associated with the program. Since 1992, tenant and graduate firms have created over 2,600 jobs. The cost has been just $3,894 to create each job, as has been highlighted in this annual report; the result has been an economic reward for the region of $223,130 per job. That adds up to an astounding return on investment of nearly 5700%.

For the future, we will continue to focus on growing the Ceramics Corridor Innovation Centers program and its facilities, as well as the economy of the Ceramics Corridor region of New York’s Southern Tier in general. We will emphasize to CEOs of major high-tech companies that there is no better place to develop their research & development and start-up projects than in the dedicated facilities of proven business incubators. We will continue to demonstrate the importance of academic links for the incubation process.
We will similarly continue to foster strategic partnerships between business, academic, and public sector entities throughout the Ceramics Corridor region. No innovative idea is ever brought to commercial success in a vacuum, and this talent-rich region has all of the resources needed to turn concepts into economic reality.

We are very optimistic for the future of the ceramics and advanced materials industry in New York State and look forward to the Ceramics Corridor Innovation Center’s continuing role in the region’s economy. Thank you for your continued support of this important initiative.

Jon Wilder
Executive Director

Highlights

CCIC ranked among the Top 10 incubation programs in the US by the Department of Commerce and NBIA (*)
No. of jobs created – direct 2,568; indirect 1,284
No. of graduate companies/projects – 29
% success rate – 94%
Reported business revenues in excess of $2 billion
Generated in excess of $573 million in wages
Made capital investments of $233 million
Cumulative economic benefit of $223,130 per the 3,894 direct jobs created
A return of $806 million on $10 million investment for the Southern Tier region
72 technologies have been patented by tenants of the Ceramics Corridor Innovation Centers. There has also been over 137 articles and papers published