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Greater Rochester Enterprise Inc. and New York Photonics Industry Association have created an alliance to help further and strengthen New York State’s optics, photonics and imaging capabilities, or OPI, officials said.
“The Greater Rochester NY region is a world leader in optics, photonics and imaging,” said Matt Hurlbutt, GRE interim president and CEO, in a statement. “GRE’s partnership with New York Photonics enhances business development efforts to leverage our region’s strengths with OPI companies across the globe. In turn, the upward trend of attracting and retaining world-class businesses will continue to climb.”
Today the region has over 120 OPI companies that employ approximately 17,000 residents in the region with $3 billion in annual sales, officials said.
“No region in the nation can match our strategic advantage in optics, photonics and imaging industries,” said Thomas Battley, executive director of the New York Photonics Industry Association in a statement. “Now is the time to work together to strategically promote our region and enhance its economic growth. This partnership between GRE and New York Photonics is what is needed now. We are delighted with the prospect of undertaking a marketing effort with GRE.”
The Greater Rochester region also is a research and manufacturing hub supported by the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics, the Laboratory for Laser Energetics and Rochester Institute of Technology.
University of Rochester is responsible for educating over 60 percent of the optics Ph.D.’s in the United States. Approximately 95 percent of OPI patent holders still live in Rochester, officials said.
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