NEW YORK CITY-Brooklyn Navy Yard, Roosevelt Island and other city-owned sites are all possibilities for the development of an applied sciences research facility here, the Bloomberg administration said Thursday. The city issued a Request for Expressions of Interest from major universities and similar organizations to partner on such a facility, which would be geared toward opportunities for commercialization.
“To make it happen, we are prepared to make a significant capital contribution and possibly offer city sites,” Robert K. Steel, deputy mayor for economic development, said in prepared remarks Thursday. “It’s been done before. Cornell is located in Ithaca, but it chose to establish its first-rate medical school in New York City. NYU this year welcomed its first incoming class of students to NYU Abu Dhabi. We can do it again here in New York.”
The announcement was made at Google’s New York City offices at 111 Eighth Ave. In a release, Stuart Feldman, Google VP of engineering, says his company supports the initiative, “which will increase the amount of advanced scientific work being done in New York City, attract people into important fields, and raise the recognition of New York as a great science center.”
Initial plans for the research facility call for a focus on applied engineering, according to a release. Other fields within the applied sciences including environmental science, mathematics, chemistry, physics and computer science will also be considered.
The city says a majority of the development must be for academic use, and could include teaching space, wet and/or dry labs and conference facilities. Proposals that also include space for related commercial activity such as business incubators, corporate R&D facilities and spin-out companies are “strongly encouraged,” as are joint-ventures and consortia proposals.
Earlier this month, Steel, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other city and state officials were on hand as another commercial research facility, the Alexandria Center for Life Science, held a launch ceremony. As with the Alexandria Center, which is being built on city-owned land, the applied sciences facility is intended to diversify the city’s economy.
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