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State Program Helps Businesses

By Jonathan D. Epstein

 March 16, 2011

 Small and midsized businesses in Western New York and surrounding areas can get up to $25,000 in matching funds to create and retain jobs from a state-funded economic stimulus program administered locally by that University at Buffalo.

The state program, called the Strategic Partnership for Industrial Resurgence, is designed to help companies upgrade or introduce new technology, address product development and testing challenges, and enhance continuous improvement programs.

It is run locally by the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, through the Center for Industrial Effectiveness, which works with about 30 companies each year to help them obtain SPIR grant funds.

The program is open to companies with 500 employees or fewer. The grant underwrites up to half of project costs but does not cover capital expenses.

The SPIR subsidies can help businesses increase research and development potential, test out new technologies before investing in them, share advanced manufacturing and high-tech equipment, laboratories and other resources at UB, re-engineer business processes and systems, take advantage of the expertise of more than 50 engineers and applied scientists on the UB faculty, employ UB graduate students as interns and expand technical and management training.

In the last fiscal year, participating companies credited the grants with helping them createe 191 jobs, retain 214 others and boost revenues by over $26 million. Similar programs are also operating at Binghamton University and Stony Brook University, both part of the State University of New York system along with UB.

Companies that are interested should contact TCIE Business Development Director Gary Simon by March 31, at 645-8837 or by e-mail at ggsimon@buffalo.edu .

jepstein@buffnews.com