Greater Buffalo (GB)

Greater Buffalo is the American anchor of our corridor: a manufacturing region of real scale, one of the busiest working borders in North America, and a city that has already been reopening its old factories for making and learning. By GB we mean the Buffalo–Niagara core, Erie and Niagara counties.

Aspirational. We have no presence in Buffalo yet. This page says why we want relationships, partnerships and resources there, and what we hope to build with them.

The region in a few numbers

Fact	Detail
Advanced manufacturing	Nearly 70,000 people and a gross regional product of $13.2 billion, according to Invest Buffalo Niagara, which counts more than 1,600 manufacturing employers in the region.
The border gateway	Nearly $79 billion in U.S.–Canada freight in 2025, across seven international ports of entry, and adjacent to Canada’s Golden Horseshoe region of 9.3 million people.
Semiconductor push	The NY SMART I-Corridor across Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Ithaca is one of 12 federal tech hubs under the CHIPS and Science Act. Buffalo’s stated role is advanced manufacturing, supplier networks and workforce.
Power	NYPA’s ReCharge NY offers seven-year hydropower contracts to businesses that commit to jobs and investment, awarded through a competitive public process.

Why we want to be here

Reason	What it means for us
The other half of the market	Customers, suppliers and procurement on the U.S. side. The corridor idea is not only ours: an Ontario electronics manufacturer, Artaflex, announced a Buffalo facility in January 2024, pointing to demand across the border.
Workforce on both sides	Colleges, universities and training centres on the New York side that train the people industry needs, and a chance to share curricula and credentials across the border.
A shared inheritance	In 1842 a Buffalo grain merchant, Joseph Dart, and a Scottish-born engineer, Robert Dunbar, built America’s first steam-powered grain elevator. Hamilton’s steel and Buffalo’s grain and power grew from the same lake system. It is one industrial region divided by a river.
Peers already doing this	Buffalo has spaces that reopen old buildings for making, learning and starting businesses. We would rather learn from them, and find ways to work together, than start from scratch.
One picture of the region	Our industrial atlas, HeavyMap, is meant to span the whole region, and its groundwork already draws on New York State and U.S. Census data alongside Ontario’s.

Places already reopening old buildings

The Tri-Main Center, an Albert Kahn “daylight factory” now home to small businesses, offices, studios and exhibition space.
Bit Haven, a hackerspace in the Tri-Main Center with soldering stations, 3D printing and a focus on cybersecurity.
The Foundry, a hands-on education facility and business incubator with wood, metal, fibre and tech shops, for product-based businesses.

Who is in the landscape

Group	Organizations
Economic development	Invest Buffalo Niagara, which reports helping nearly 150 manufacturers expand or relocate to Western New York; the Buffalo Niagara Partnership; Empire State Development.
Manufacturers’ network	The Buffalo Niagara Manufacturing Alliance, a non-profit representing more than 180 businesses and organizations.
Education and workforce	The University at Buffalo, whose School of Management’s Center for Supply Chain Analytics produced an opportunity guide for the NY SMART I-Corridor; SUNY Erie Community College; Niagara County Community College; and the Northland Workforce Training Center, which runs paid immersion training in advanced manufacturing and energy.
Technical help for manufacturers	Buffalo Manufacturing Works, operated by the Edison Welding Institute to support small and mid-sized manufacturers adopting new technology, and the NY Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
Employers	Among the region’s manufacturers, according to Invest Buffalo Niagara: AMDOR, Bridgestone, Plug Power, MedBio and New Flyer. In electronics, Artaflex.

What we would like to build

Relationships with peer spaces. Talks, shared events and skill exchanges with Buffalo’s makerspaces and hackerspaces, and visits both ways.
Partnerships in training. Ways to share what we teach, and to learn what works, with colleges, workforce centres and the manufacturers’ alliance. See Clark training.
Supplier and customer introductions. Between our Members, Ontario shops and New York manufacturers.
A presence in time. A Greater Buffalo place of our own, when we have earned it, built with local partners rather than dropped in.
Resources. Advice on New York programs, and introductions to the agencies and funders who work with small manufacturers.

Help shape it

If you make things in Buffalo, run a space, teach, or work in economic development, we would like to meet you. See also Fort Erie at the Canadian end of the Peace Bridge, and Western New York beyond the Buffalo core.

References

All places: Hamilton · St. Catharines · Niagara Falls · Fort Erie · GB · WNY · Dunkirk, NY · Rochester · Erie, PA.

Know someone, a building, a program or a partner we should meet? Write to office@niagaraassembly.com, or post it on the Board.

Please note: organizations are named here to describe the landscape. None has agreed to anything with Niagara Assembly, and naming an organization implies no involvement, partnership or endorsement. Figures come from the sources listed above and change over time; check them before relying on them. Trade terms between Canada and the United States keep changing. The geography does not.