Thank you very much, President Seligman, for your kind and generous introduction.

Chairman Witmer. President Seligman. Dean Guzick. Professor Pearson.
Members of the Rochester-area Assembly Delegation.
ESDC Upstate President, Dennis Mullen.
Ladies and Gentlemen. Friends of the University.

May I say what a pleasure it is to be back in the great City of Rochester and to be here on the campus of the prestigious University of Rochester.

My congratulations to you, President Seligman; to you, Chairman Witmer; and to the entire U of R family on the occasion of this groundbreaking for the building that will house the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI).

Through this Institute, U of R will not only build on its legacy of innovations that ease human suffering, together, we are taking a giant step toward making this region a world center for biomedical research.

As proud as I am to have supported this critically important project, your true champions in "The People's House of the Legislature" are the leaders who comprise your Rochester-area Assembly Delegation:

• Assembly Member David Gantt, the Dean of that delegation;
• Assembly Member Susan John, our Labor Committee Chair, who really fought for this project and whose district is home to the CTSI;
• Assembly Member Joe Morelle, who authored the acclaimed report, "Creating a State of Innovation;"
• And Assembly Member David Koon, a powerful voice for this region on our Committee on Economic Development, Job Creation, Commerce and Industry.

These talented leaders work tirelessly to provide for the health and well being of all New Yorkers, and to build that university-based, high-tech, job-creating, 21st Century economy that will revitalize this region.

I am proud to represent them as Speaker of the New York State Assembly.

Let me also commend New York State's hardworking chief executive, Governor David Paterson - represented here today by the Upstate President of the Empire State Development Corporation, Dennis Mullen - who supports the CTSI and who shares our commitment to building an innovation economy throughout this Empire State.

As you know, we are mired in a global financial crisis that is having and will have a profound impact on our state economy.

We will need to make difficult choices. There will be cuts made in New York State, but I assure you that we will not abandon Upstate New York.

We will not shrink from our promise and our responsibility to rebuild the Upstate economy.

We will not ignore the future.

It would be an enormous mistake not to make the investments that will transform and revitalize the Upstate economy; that will generate the well-paid jobs, the careers and the business opportunities New Yorkers need; and that will reduce this state's dependence on Wall Street revenues.

The critical thing we must do - absolutely must do - is make sure that the innovations that come from our great colleges and universities are commercialized here in New York and become solid jobs and real opportunities for all New Yorkers.

President Seligman mentioned that I became Speaker in 1994. At that time, I visited the City of Buffalo and was very impressed by the Roswell Park Cancer Research Center.

While I was there, I learned that the State of New York, through Roswell Park, owned the patent on the state-of-the-art test for prostate cancer: the PSA test. I learned that New York State actually received a penny or two for every PSA test that was administered worldwide, because we owned the patent.

One of the sad things I discovered was that not a single job was created in New York State as a result of inventing that test. All of the jobs associated with the PSA were in Western Michigan, not Western New York.

What's more, I found out that Roswell and the State of New York owned patents on hundreds of medical devices and medical treatments that were originated at Roswell Park, and that not a single job associated with those innovations - other than the research and development - existed in our state.

So, I set forth that when an innovation is produced at one of our research facilities, such as the CTSI, that this State will be ready with the investment capital and with the regulatory assistance necessary to ensure that the economic benefits of these innovations accrue to New Yorkers and to the State of New York directly.

Rest assured that my colleagues here in the Rochester area - your Assembly Delegation seated here - are ready and eager to help you build that world-class biomedical industry right here in Rochester, with U of R as its hub.

Again, I congratulate the leadership of this great university and all of its partners.

I hope that we will gather together again for the ribbon cutting of a CTSI very soon.

Thank you.