Binghamton University's 2020 Grant

8/8/2012 (Updated 11:13:17 PM)

More than 840 new full-time jobs could be on the way to the southern tier.

Governor Cuomo officially approved the B.U. 2020 grant Wednesday.

It provides money to build a smart energy research and development facility.

It will be the fourth building in the school's Innovative Technology Complex.

By 2017 there will be 385 new jobs at B.U. and an estimated 455 in Broome and Tioga counties as a result of the new building, along with 2,000 additional students.

"We have the Center for Autonomous Solar Power already here, we have a center for Data Center Energy Reduction. So we've already done a lot of the research. This will allow us to expand it and have new faculty in those areas and create new facilities," said Harvey Stenger, Binghamton University's President.

The school is also hopeful it will be able to build a business incubator downtown to coincide with the opening of the new smart energy building.

Stenger says that will help create and keep start-up companies in the area.


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