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June 2007 News

E Newsletter June 2007

WINNER : Intelligent Facility of the Year:  Cornell Agriculture & Food Technology Park

The Cornell Agriculture and Food Technology Park was selected as the Intelligent Community Forum's Intelligent Facility of the Year.  The other finalists included 7 World Trade Center and Mount Hope Housing, both New York facilities – a first for ICF, which has in the past three years named buildings or developments from Canada , Mauritius and Hong Kong.

The Cornell Agriculture and Food Technology Park allows food and agricultural companies to leverage the knowledge of Cornell University , known for its leadership in the study and research of agriculture, as well as a robust R&D infrastructure including state-of-the-art broadband communications.  The Park, nicknamed "The Technology Farm," opened in 2005 to support the commercialization of new technologies in the food and agriculture business.  It is the first of an expanding group of facilities intended to make upstate New York more economically viable. 

The facility identified by ICF is a 20,000 square-foot "flex tech" incubator that provides offices to 10 agri-tech tenants from around the world and offers "wet labs" and pilot production facilities.  The Park is owned by Cornell Agriculture & Food Technology Park Corporation, a non-profit organization, with strategic partners including New York State Agriculture Experiment Station, Ontario (NY) County, the City of Geneva, NY, NYSEG and Key Bank.

"This is a great example of how a local culture need not try to become a Silicon Valley , but can use its historic and geographic strengths, together with the intellectual capital from great universities, and harness them to broadband for good results," said John G. Jung, ICF's co-founder and Chairman.   New York State is ranked 28th in total cash receipts for all agricultural commodities, with the vast majority coming from the upstate New York region.

Susan Noble of Cornell Agriculture & Food Technology Park represented the facility and accepted the award.  Her remarks are available on ICF's News Blog at www.intelligentcommunity.org.

The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) www.intelligentcommunity.org is a nonprofit think tank that focuses on job creation and economic development in the broadband economy.  Additional news about the conference, as well as profiles on the communities and recipients, can be found on ICF's website as well as its Broadband Economy Conference News Blog. 

Cornell Agriculture & Food Technology Park
500 Technology Farm Drive
Geneva, NY 14456
Phone: 315-781-0070
Fax: 315-781-0074
www.thetechnologyfarm.com
Email: info@thetechnologyfarm.com

http://www.thetechnologyfarm.com/directions.html