Ground Breaking takes place for Upstate MedTech Centre Posted on Jul 28, 2009 by ttrav
The Genesee County Economic Development Center held the official ground breaking and dedication ceremony for the Dr. Bruce A. Holm Upstate MedTech Centre this afternoon at the Upstate MedTech Park located on Assemblyman R. Stephen Hawley Drive, near Genesee Community College, in Batavia.

The MedTech Centre will be a 43,000 square foot facility that will house the GCEDC's offices, GCC’s school of nursing program and United Memorial Medical Center’s physical and occupational therapy programs and will be completed by contractor DA Tufts of Batavia. The Centre will also be home to 6,100 square feet of commercialization space that would support emerging life sciences companies that have ties to university centers including the University at Buffalo and the University of Rochester.

The Commercialization Center will provide a "Soft Landing" to companies that are commercializing innovation that is developed in regional university centers, rooting them here for the long term and producing good paying jobs for the area.

The building was dedicated to Dr. Bruce A. Holm, a former Batavia resident and a SUNY Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Pharmacology and Toxicology. He is also the Executive Director of the NYS Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics & Life Sciences and Senior Vice-Provost at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Dr. Holm previously held the positions of Senior Associate Dean of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and Senior Associate Vice President for Health Affairs at UB.

"Dr. Holm has been a pioneer and leader in Life Sciences innovation and commercialization here in Western New York and we felt it was fitting to honor him for his vision, dedication and hard work," said Steve Hyde, President and CEO of the GCEDC. "Life Sciences is a thriving industry in the region and now Genesee County is well positioned to participate in its growth and our economy will benefit from good paying jobs in a facility that has ties to GCC, the hospital and regional university centers."

Fast Facts regarding the Life Sciences in Upstate and Western New York:

Upstate New York ranks 8th nationally in Medical Equipment & Supplies Manufacturing and 11th nationally in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing.

Western New York and the Finger Lakes super-region is a world-class leader in such areas as cancer, neurology, stroke and cardiology research and therapeutics as well as drug discovery, dental medicine and medical device development.

In a 90 mile radius, the Golden Horse Shoe (Running from Toronto through Buffalo and Rochester) has over 40 higher education institutions and 650 life sciences firms & hundreds of millions of dollars of recent investment in leading edge R&D facilities.