President Obama is rolling out a new program to encourage innovation in manufacturing. Armed with $500 million, the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership will bring together industry, universities and the government. The Hill's Vicki Needham reports that Obama is trying to "spark a renaissance in American manufacturing":
“With these key investments, we can ensure that the United States remains a nation that ‘invents it here and manufactures it here’ and creates high-quality, good-paying jobs for American workers,” the president will say[, according to prepared remarks].
However, The Hill reports the Obama administration is already pushing back against critics who say the program amounts to the federal government "picking winners."
As far as "winners" go, upstate New York does not appear to be one of them.
Of the 6 universities and 11 companies selected to participate, only Corning has significant upstate presence.
We're following up in Rochester to see if aspiring innovation hubs RIT and Kodak feel spurned.
Billion-dollar ruling postponed
A decision that was supposed to come down yesterday in the patent dispute that pits Kodak versus Apple and Blackberry-maker Research in Motion (RIM), has been delayed by one week.
The ruling could yield a huge windfall for Kodak. The company is seeking compensation for an image-preview patent that it says Apple and RIM violated.
Bloomberg reports the stakes are very high:
Kodak Chief Executive Officer Antonio Perez in March estimated the Rochester, New York-based company could make $1 billion from Apple and RIM if it wins the case because the phonemakers would be forced to settle rather than risk having their best-selling products shut out of the U.S. market.
Mall fight!
On the heels of the Innovation Trail's conversation about the ongoing saga that is Syracuse's Carousel Center mall, the Post-Standard's Bob Niedt reports that competition between Carousel and Rochester's Eastview Mall is heating up.
Eastview seems to be snatching up desirable newcomers to the upstate market:
What’s the point? One point is that as names of retailers starting to occupy the expansion of Carousel Center begin to leak out, they better be good — good for the sake of the grand plans of Carousel Center. The long-in-development buildout of Carousel-Destiny has given some of those retailers [...] reason to start elsewhere. Eastview is east of Rochester, in Victor, between the tony Rochester suburb of Pittsford and nearby Canandaigua. It’s well situated for “upscale.”
Feel free to stand up for your mall of choice in the comments section. I'll cast my vote for the Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls. That place is crazy.
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