Rochester

Rochester is the precision end of our region: by its own account the world’s leader in optics, photonics and imaging, with a manufacturing tradition that runs from flour mills on the Erie Canal to Kodak, Xerox and Bausch + Lomb. It is where we can see what a very high standard of making looks like, and learn from it.

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

A city that keeps reinventing its making

The Erie Canal opened Rochester to the Great Lakes and the Atlantic in the 1820s, and by 1838 it was the world’s largest flour producer. As milling moved west, the city turned to seeds and nurseries, then to optics and photography: Bausch & Lomb from 1853, Kodak from 1888, and later Xerox. Global competition, automation and restructuring later cut deep into those companies, and Rochester built on its technical legacy, with new companies in optics, imaging, software and photonics. It is a city that has already had to make its next industry, more than once.

What Rochester has

Strength	Detail
Optics, photonics and imaging	Greater Rochester Enterprise counts more than 150 businesses and about 20,000 people in the field, and says more than 60 percent of U.S. optics degrees are conferred in Rochester.
Research and packaging	The University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics and Laboratory for Laser Energetics, RIT’s Carlson Center for Imaging Science, and the AIM Photonics test, assembly and packaging facility.
A trade-school model	Monroe Community College offers what its sector describes as the first U.S. community-college associate degree in optical systems technology.
Start-up support	Luminate NY, an accelerator for optics, photonics and imaging start-ups, administered by NextCorps.
Training partnerships	A collaboration called STELLAR, among the University of Rochester, Monroe Community College, RIT, Luminate and Greater Rochester Enterprise, aims to widen career and training routes in optics and photonics.
Electronics manufacturing	Companies such as REDCOM in nearby Victor, certified to ISO 9001 and AS9100D, and Creation Technologies, which acquired IEC Electronics of Newark in 2021.

Why we want relationships in Rochester

The high standard. Defence- and aerospace-grade certification, and photonics packaging, show what “quality” means at the top of the range, and give Members a benchmark.
A model for training. A community college teaching a whole new technical trade, and a network of schools and employers building routes into it, is what we hope to help build. See Clark training.
A model for start-ups. An accelerator organized around one technology cluster is a design worth studying. See Grow.
Complementary strengths. Photonics and precision assembly are not what a small member-run network will do. Partners in them can complement us.
A shared lineage. Rochester’s Mechanics Institute, founded in 1885 to give workers technical training, grew into the Rochester Institute of Technology. Hamilton’s began in 1839. We are working in a long tradition.

What we would like to build

Study visits. Tours of Rochester’s photonics and electronics shops for Ontario Members, and visits in the other direction.
Training exchange. Conversations with the colleges and universities about technician programs and standards such as IPC. See Electronics training.
Introductions. Between Members, Ontario shops and specialist Rochester manufacturers.
Learning from the accelerator. How a single-sector program supports founders, and what could be adapted for solo makers here.
One map. HeavyMap reaching to Rochester, so capabilities on both sides of the lake can be seen together.

Help shape it

If you make, teach or work in economic development in Rochester and the Finger Lakes, we would like to hear from you. See also Western New York and Greater Buffalo.

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.