Month: January 2017

By Marty Vanags, CECD

Toward the end of 2016, the Dow Jones was edging close to 20,000 points. At the beginning of 2016 no one would have predicted it could get so high. No one thought Donald J. Trump would be president-elect and no one thought the Chicago Cubs would win the World Series after a 108-year dry spell.

In our age of fast news, fake news, information overload and FOMO (fear-of-missing-out for non-millennials), a prediction, about anything, at least in the short term, is nearly impossible to make.

Economic predictions are difficult because world events and domestic policy in finance, trade and monetary maneuverings are out of our immediate control. With a new, untested president about to assume office with no previous governmental track record, it is hard to know exactly what will occur in  2017.

By Todd Shimkus

I took a ride last year from Saratoga to Albany in a self-driving car. It wasn’t a test. I was simply traveling to a meeting with a person who owned a car that could get us there by itself.

It was a moment of clarity as the car changed lanes or slowed down while the driver and I spoke. I really saw how the speed of change is both rapid and likely underestimated locally.

Every day, new technologies are being used by our neighbors. New products are being invented that will open up new doors to us while simultaneously challenging our expectations, our laws, and our local economy.

By Pete Bardunias

Last year we talked about workforce, which continues to be a hot-button issue for area employers and economic developers alike. New York struggles to compete with the rest of the country, and indeed the world, when it comes to attracting an adequate workforce to support the type of industry-leading and cutting-edge technology we hope to attract to the area.

There is a simple reason for this: people keep choosing not to stay in the area. To those of us who, like myself, have chosen to come to Tech Valley in search of a better future for our families, this may seem rather counterintuitive, but it is a big problem because parents keep sending their kids to expensive schools in search of liberal arts degrees and perceived prosperity in environs far away from home.