David Riedman, who made his mark in suburban housing development, is the lead behind the tantalizing Italian mall project being explored for Midtown Plaza. While complicated to actualize, the concept has attracted the attention of a number of other potential downtown investors.

With all this talent here in Rochester, fasten your seat belts!

 

Heidi N. Zimmer-Meyer
President
ROCHESTER DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

 

 

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Professional Development
The City of Rochester's Economic Development Department is undergoing an effort to provide all EDD staff with opportunities for professional development. Employee development is a critical component to a successful organization.  As such, we believe it is important to provide opportunities for training to all employees of the department.

 

Our goal is to have all employees meet with their supervisor on a yearly basis to discuss the training needs of the employee. The outcome of the discussion will be the establishment of a development plan for the coming year.  Training must be related to the employee current job/job description.  Training can be free or at a cost, local or out of town, and provided in house or by a training organization. We believe that employees who are given the tools/training they need to do their job will be more efficient and effective.

We are also undergoing a cross training effort among Economic Development Department staff. We want staff in one division of EDD to be able to assist other divisions as the need arises. Staff that are crossed trained will be more valuable to the department as they can operate in more than one capacity. This helps make the department better able to meet customer needs in a more timely manner.

We are confident that this effort to provide training opportunities to all staff will result in a more satisfied, skilled staff with a variety of skill sets that enable us to provide better customer service.

 

High Tech Business Council and Events in Rochester
One of the ways that the High Tech Business Council (HTBC) contributes to the community is by organizing and promoting meetings and events. The activities they organize include everything from short seminars to major events that can run for more than a single day. Both the HTBC Biotech Cluster and the IT Telecom Cluster organize events, as does a central program committee. During the early years of the HTBC many of the events were nothing more than networking forums where people gathered with the hope of making useful business contacts. More recently the events have been organized around a structured speaker, training, or program with the networking portion being prior to or following the scheduled program. Organizing successful events can be expensive, time consuming, and not without risk.

HTBC has sponsored everything from business and marketing seminars to a presentation by a Nobel Laureate. Topics have included how to finance a start-up to how to get your product approved by the FDA. Most of these events draw small, but enthusiastic groups. The Bio Cluster sponsored the 2006 Western New York Bioscience Summit held in early October. This event was a success and drew participants from all over New York State, including one from as far away as Long Island. Over 350 people participated.

     
Twice last year and again this spring the HTBC partnered with Digital Rochester (DR) to sponsor a job fair. The most recent job fair, held February 28 drew over 150 participating exhibitors and over 550 attendees. While it would be an exaggeration to say a job fair was the most popular high tech event held in Rochester in the past year, there is an element of truth in the statement. I think that we can learn something from all of this.  People employed in RochesterÕs high tech community are busy and want to spend their time and participate in events that bring value. We are a community awash in underutilized technical talent. For the present at least a job fair meets a need. Area employers are fortunate if they need to hire since the pool to draw from is very strong. Networking is one way individuals feel that they can advance their careers. This makes these events popular. The organizational and promotional skills of DR add to the success.

 

Perhaps you have ideas on what programs or events will bring value to you or your company. If you do have ideas, please share them. Give me a call or e-mail me with suggestions on how we can improve what we do or what events or services we could offer that would be useful to you or to your organization. 

 

 

William K. Pollock
 Vice President
HIGH TECH BUSINESS COUNCIL
WWW.HTBC.ORG

 

 

  Reaching Rochester's Decision Makers
Consider this profile: President of 150-employee, growing technology business in Rochester, 48 years old, college-educated, married, two teen-age children, significant savings and disposable income. Whether you are in a B2B or B2C world, your sales and marketing teams would probably kiss you if you could fill a room with people like this. 
 

But how do you do it? These people have so much competing for their time and resources that if you donÕt already have a personal connection, the likelihood of getting past their voice-mail isÉwell, you might as well start buying lottery tickets.

Great news! People with this profile are already getting together, attending regularly scheduled events organized by none other than Digital Rochester. At a recent Digital Rochester event, of the 125 plus people who pre-registered, over 50 of them were presidents and CEOs of companies in Rochester. Digital Rochester still pulls together some of the best technical professionals in the community, but joining them in increasing numbers are the business leaders of some of Rochester's fastest growing technology businesses. 

Ok, so now you know where they are. But, how do you get their attention and make sure your message gets heard?

More great news! Digital Rochester gives you the opportunity to get your company, your products and services, and your message directly in front of our members through our sponsorship program. As a Digital Rochester sponsor, your organization's message will reach over 4,000 Rochester-area professionals through pre-event e-mails (usually two or three e-mails per event), the Digital Rochester website, and in person at the time of the event. In addition, Digital Rochester events are often covered by the print and television pressÑincreasing your opportunity for exposure to all of Rochester!

So, if you are interested in reaching Rochester's decision makers through a Digital Rochester sponsorship, please e-mail us at info@digitalrochester.com. Can you afford not to?

Leveraging Opportunities to Reach Your Target Market
Marketing is all about being unique, right? You are constantly looking for ways to help your brand, your product, or your service stand out from the crowd. You are also trying to reach your target group as directly and cost effectively as possible. So how do you do it? 

Jolt Cola recently found a great way to reach out to a couple hundred of their target constituents--they donated samples of all five of their Jolt flavors to Digital Rochester's "Spring Forward" event at the Inside Track Speedway. If you werenÕt there, you missed the chance to sample some great flavors of high-octane soda while racing Rochester's technology and business leaders on the indoor go-kart track. I was personally asked by at least a few dozen attendees where they could buy Jolt locally.

Would that type of exposure benefit your business? Consider these upcoming Digital Rochester events:
¥ On May 10, Digital Rochester goes biotech when we welcome Bob Rupenthal of RTEmd and Maurice Zauderer of Vaccinex to our latest Rising Stars event.
¥ On June 14, The Entrepreneurs Network (TEN) and Digital Rochester join forces to present the latest in our Knowledge Upgrade series.
¥ Our monthly networking events routinely gather members from across Rochester's technology industry to create connections and build relationships. Our next networking event is May 8.

So, how can you leverage Digital Rochester to expand your business? First things first, you have to attend! Come to these events and introduce yourself to someone. Invite your colleagues and increase your companyÕs visibility and connections.

And second, consider an event sponsorship. By sponsoring an event, your company's name and product info is guaranteed to reach over 4,000 individuals in Rochester's technology community.

For information regarding Digital Rochester events and sponsorship opportunities, visit www.digitalrochester.com or e-mail us at info@digitalrochester.com.  We look forward to connecting with you.

 

Josh Bouk
Vice President of Marketing
DIGITAL ROCHESTER
WWW.DIGITALROCHESTER.COM

 

 

Western New York--Hotbed for Renewable Energy
Looking for a promising industry to start a new business? Renewable Energy investments since 2000 in western New York state will exceed $1.2 billion this year, a remarkable $700 million coming in 2006 and 2007 alone. Few if any market segments rival the growth of renewable energy in upstate New York, and investments are going into:

 ¥ Ethanol production--seven ethanol plants have broken ground in 2006 or plan to break ground in 2007
¥ Wind energy production--In 2003 New York passed a renewable portfolio standard requiring 24% of state electricity demand from renewable energy sources by 2013
¥ Landfill gas, biomass, and biodiesel production
In addition to biofuel and renewable electricity production, renewable energy startup companies in western New York represent nearly 50 active companies, five years old or lessÑled by biofuels, solar, wind energy, fuel cells, and fuel cell components. There are 40 patents granted or pending in these startups, and they closed over $250 million in equity and debt financing in 2006.
A number of converging factors are driving the significant investment into renewable energy and fuel cells in the region. The renewable energy industry worldwide grew from approximately $40 billion in 2005 to $60 billion in 2006, an astonishing 50% increase. At the national level, the Federal 2005 Energy Policy ActÕs $2.77 billion of renewable energy tax credits has accelerated growth. In New York state, a 24% renewable portfolio standard and NYSERDA are helping to create local markets and support for renewable energy projects and startups.

Within the region, HTR played a major role in the creation and operation of RENEW-NY, which supports renewable energy startups and helps develop a regional renewable energy cluster.

Within the region, HTR played a major role in the creation and operation of RENEW-NY, which supports renewable energy startups and helps develop a regional renewable energy cluster. Alternative Energy has been selected as one of the four major strategic clusters within this region. Contact HTR to learn more, at www.htr.org, or visit www.renew-ny.org.

 

 

HIGH TECH ROCHESTER...The innovator's Edge
WWW.HTR.ORG

 

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