OWEGO, N.Y. — The U.S. Navy has accepted the first MH-60R helicopter from Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) that is headed for Denmark.

It was part of a ceremony held Thursday at the defense contractor’s plant in Owego.

“The Romeo is the U.S. Navy’s primary rotary anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare platform in operation and we’re proud to know these will be flying soon with the Royal Danish Air Force … our first Seahawks in Europe,” Rear Adm. CJ Jaynes said in a Lockheed Martin news release.

Jaynes serves as program executive officer for air anti-submarine warfare, assault and special-mission programs, which oversees the U.S. Navy’s H-60 program office.

Stratford, Connecticut–based Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. manufactured the MH-60R, while Lockheed Martin provided its mission systems and sensors.

Bethesda, Maryland–based Lockheed on July 20 announced it had agreed to acquire Sikorsky Aircraft for $9 billion. Sikorsky, which specializes in the design, manufacture, and service of military and commercial helicopters, is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX), the parent company of Carrier Corp., which has operations in DeWitt.

The MH-60R is operational and deployed as the primary U.S. Navy anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare system for both open-ocean and littoral zones.

Denmark in 2012 announced it will acquire a total of nine MH-60R aircraft by 2018 to conduct missions such as surveillance, search and rescue, anti-piracy and anti-surface warfare, Lockheed Martin said.

“MH-60R helicopters host the complete package of sensors and systems that address today’s increasing threats,” Dan Spoor, VP of aviation and unmanned systems at Lockheed Martin, said in the company’s news release.

Prior to delivery to the Royal Danish Air Force, the aircraft will undergo a series of tests to validate Danish configuration modifications.

The first aircraft will arrive in Denmark in the second quarter of 2016, while the full fleet will get there by 2018, Lockheed Martin said.

Denmark follows the Royal Australian Navy as the second international military customer in the MH-60R program. To date, Lockheed Martin has delivered a total of 14 of 24 Australian aircraft “ahead of schedule.”

The remaining 10 aircraft will arrive in Australia in 2016, according to the news release.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

PHOTO CAPTION: An MH-60R helicopter in flight

PHOTO CREDIT: Lockheed Martin website

SYRACUSE — For the Central New York regional economic-development council (CNYREDC), it’s now a matter of waiting and hoping.

The CNYREDC on Oct. 6 announced it submitted its proposal to New York State as part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s $1.5 billion Upstate Revitalization Initiative (URI) competition. 

It’s a statewide economic-development initiative that will award up to $500 million to three of seven competing upstate regions.

Robert Simpson, president and CEO of CenterState CEO, and Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud were scheduled to present the proposal to the state’s Strategic Implementation Assessment Team (SIAT) on Oct. 21.

Simpson and Syverud co-chair the CNYREDC.

The plan puts “our best effort and our best foot forward,” Simpson said in remarks at CenterState CEO on Oct. 6.

“We have attracted national, and, in some cases, international partners to join us in this work. Our proposal around unmanned systems has 30 or 40 letters of support and letters of interest from companies, some of which are confidential still at this point, who want to partner with us on that effort,” said Simpson.

The CNYREDC has titled its submission “CNY Rising,” which seeks to create nearly 6,000 new jobs over five years, according to a CNYREDC news release issued Oct. 6.

The proposal focuses on six investments that the council projects will help “capture” market opportunities. It also contends the investments will “transform the regional economy by creating thousands of new jobs and fostering hundreds of millions of dollars of inward investment,” according to the release.

In the first year of implementation, the investments will leverage nearly $890 million in private investment and a total, five-year payroll of nearly $766 million, “for a more than 16 to 1 return” on New York’s investment, the CNYREDC contends.

Investment strategy

CNYREDC wants the region to become the “global leader in unmanned systems, cross-connected platforms, and information assurance to ensure safety and security in a world of interconnected devices.” The region will “leverage its competencies” in precision-sensing, radar systems, data analytics, and its role as a 

Federal Aviation Administration test site for unmanned aerial systems (UAS), or drones.

The effort would include Project UAS Secure Autonomous Flight Environment (U-SAFE) that would seek to “accelerate the integration” of small UAS, operating at low altitude (below 500 feet), into the national airspace system. 

CNYREDC anticipates the five-year program would create 100 startup firms and an estimated 479 jobs, according to its URI online report. 

The council’s six investments would also include “controlled-environment” agriculture (CEA) and aseptic-packaging facilities and build a brand identity with a “Grown in NY Certification.”

CEA is the science of computerized precision agriculture in controlled environments, according to the URI report. CEA facilities combine industry-standard greenhouse technology with computer controls and automated cultivation, harvest and processing systems.

The effort would also include construction of an aseptic dairy plant in Central New York that would “position the region to serve fast-growing overseas markets in regions such as Africa, the Middle East and South America,” the URI report said. 

The plant will be designed and built to accommodate non-dairy aseptic products such as fruits, vegetables, and juices.

CNYREDC estimates CEA facilities would create 339 jobs in their first five years of operation, the URI report said.

CNYREDC also hopes to invest in a manufacturing and logistics hub, which would redevelop 225 acres of brownfields into a center of manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution. Such a facility would “dramatically reduce the costs to Central New York agricultural and manufacturing producers to get goods to international markets,” according to the release.

The hub would be located within three miles of the region’s most “impoverished” areas, creating more than 300 jobs and an estimated 1,644 warehouse and distribution jobs within a 10-mile radius of 54 percent of underemployed workers.

The council’s investment strategy also includes a national veterans resource complex; a consensus commission on government modernization; and an alliance for economic inclusion, which will implement strategies in “training, eliminating misalignment of skills, increasing education, fighting blight and addressing homelessness.”         

SYRACUSE –– New York State is betting that a business competition taking place in Syracuse could bring in more than $10 million into the area –– if entrepreneurs can be convinced that Central New York is the place to launch a startup. 

Genius NY is a business-accelerator program for startups focused on data technologies such as cyber security and analytics that will run from January 2016 until June 2017. Genius NY is short for (Growing ENtrepreneurs & Innovators in UpState New York). CenterState CEO will host the competition at the Syracuse Technology Garden, a business incubator located at 235 Harrison St. 

Genius NY is offering $3 million for participating companies, including a $1 million grand prize.

In June, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced the competition, contending that it would attract budding tech companies. “By providing key investments and resources, we are helping the next generation of entrepreneurs transform their ideas into products and businesses and bringing new jobs and economic opportunity to the region,” he said in a June 18 news release.

The state and the Tech Garden have hosted other business competitions like Genius NY, said Seth Mulligan, the former VP of innovation services for CenterState CEO at the Tech Garden. He spoke with CNYBJ on Oct. 1, before he departed Oct. 13 for a position as operations manager at TCGplayer in Syracuse. That company is a fast-growing digital marketplace that sells game cards and related products.

Genius NY has three distinct differences from the prior contests: the prizes for competing startups are bigger, the state is trying to draw in startups from all over the world, and it is being more explicit about linking the content to regional economic opportunities. The competition also requires startups to stay in Syracuse for one year after it ends in June 2017.

“The work that we do at The Tech Garden is very, very early stage,” Mulligan said. “You’re placing somewhat smaller bets very early, but the wins or the returns could be quite large.” For example, these companies could rapidly expand or produce multi-million dollar business exits.

CenterState CEO and The Tech Garden want to see both immediate and long-term returns from their investments. In the short term, they hope to see a firm from the private sector match the $1 million first-place prize in the Genius NY contest. Although Mulligan recognizes that the larger returns could not come for another five, seven, or 10 years, he said CenterState CEO hopes the grand prize money will yield more than $10 million in returns. This includes the potential number of jobs created, capital from outside investors, and the tech companies’ investment in housing and the Syracuse economy. 

The Genius NY business competition is seeking to build on the successes of a similar program in Western New York. That program, called 43North, is part of Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion initiative. The 43North competition gives out $5 million in cash prizes annually to entrepreneurs and startups from around the globe.

Michael D’Eredita, a professor at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies, said the Genius NY competition can be a key source of funding for early-stage companies — something that Syracuse and upstate New York need.

“Anything that helps stimulate the creation of new businesses is positive,” D’Eredita said.

The area’s pros and cons

However, luring these budding companies to the Syracuse area may be easier said than done. Syracuse has several attributes that make the city a good place for a business to start, including low cost of living and the pool of talent from its local and regional universities. But its languishing economy, lack of capital, and the less than balmy weather can make it a tough sell for startups.

On the positive side, Syracuse’s small size offers benefits.

“It’s a smaller community, so you’re going to get good support from the people that are here,” D’Eredita said. “You’re going to be competing with fewer companies for the resources that are here.”

On the other hand, there are not as many investors or resources in Syracuse as there are in other major cities, like New York City or San Francisco. 

“You have to make the most of what you can that is local, but you also have to build networks and connections and bridges with other well-established ecosystems around the country and the world,” he added.

Syracuse may not be as glamorous or as exciting as New York City or Silicon Valley, but it is great place to start a business, said Patrick Ambron, CEO of BrandYourself, an online reputation-management company that helps people improve online search results for their names. Ambron, a 2009 Syracuse University graduate, and his partners started the firm in 2009 as part of the Tech Garden’s Student Sandbox program. BrandYourself won the $200,000 grand prize in the 2011 Creative Core Emerging Business Competition, one of the Tech Garden’s business programs. The firm then moved its headquarters to New York City and has been featured on the ABC TV show, “Shark Tank.” 

It takes a long time for entrepreneurs to figure out how to build a sustainable business, Ambron said. The cost of living in Syracuse is much lower compared to other major cities and there are more opportunities to build meaningful relationships with mentors in a smaller community. 

“A lot of businesses die before they even get started,” he said. It took his company about three years before he and his team had anything to show to potential investors. 

Although he sees Syracuse as a place for businesses to grow, Ambron said the city may not be ideal for everyone. Depending on what a company’s goals and products are, it may be better off in a bigger market in the long run.

D’Eredita said the city’s affordability can be an advantage, but it is less of a draw than the availability of capital and investors willing to take a risk on a startup. And to build an environment that will allow new ventures to flourish, there needs to be people who are looking to invest. 

“You need the numbers,” D’Eredita said.