Cornell has been granted a three-year extension as the New York State Economic Development Administration (EDA) University Center by the U.S. Department of Commerce to strengthen the capacity of local institutions in New York state to promote economic development.

For the three-year period, 2008-11, Cornell will receive $150,000 per year to combine applied research, training, outreach and peer learning networks in collaboration with partners in central and western New York.

EDA's mission is to promote American innovation and competitiveness in a global economy; it pursues this mission through financial support for regional approaches to economic development that are of a long-term, coordinated and collaborative nature.

The New York EDA University Center, which is hosted by Cornell's Community and Rural Development Institute (CaRDI) in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, will initially focus its activities in 13 upstate New York counties in the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions that are working together in a regional alliance known as the Pipeline for Progress (P4P).

"The center will work at the local and regional level to build long-term capacity to promote entrepreneurship, innovation and regional economic competitiveness, with an emphasis on recognizing and drawing on regional assets for this purpose," says Rod Howe, executive director of CaRDI. Lessons learned in central and western New York will inform both research and technical assistance programs in other regions of the state that are similar to the P4P region, but have unique circumstances.