SYRACUSE — A new regional strategy developed by CenterState CEO in a partnership with the Brookings Institution aims to double the Syracuse metro area’s exports in the next five years.

The area’s exports already total $3.3 billion and while that may seem like a large number, it lags behind other regions, CenterState CEO President Robert Simpson says. Exports account for about 8.7 percent of the Syracuse area’s gross metro product. The national average is about 11 percent.

Local businesses simply can’t turn away international markets, even though many remain hesitant to make the leap into exporting, Simpson says.

“We’ve got to move that number,” he says.

CenterState announced the project with Brookings, a Washington, D.C.–based public policy think tank, in June. Syracuse is one of four pilot cities to participate in the organization’s Metropolitan Export Initiative.

The others are Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Portland, Ore.

CenterState announced the new plan and its three core strategies at its annual meeting April 4. The strategies include increasing export activity among the region’s top exporters, focusing on small and mid-size companies, and expanding service exports.

In practice, that means undertaking steps like streamlining export assistance to create one location for companies seeking help with international sales, Simpson says. CenterState also plans to develop profiles of some top international markets with data on growing industries and demand.

Simpson says many smaller firms feel they don’t have the resources to undertake international market research. The country profiles will help them get started.

And many of the region’s top exporters have agreed to take businesses new to international sales on trips overseas so they can learn.

“I think you ignore global markets at your peril,” says Amy Liu, senior fellow and co-director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program. “There is huge wealth and a broad set of customers outside the U.S.”

Just 1 percent of all U.S. companies sell anything outside the country, Liu adds. Exporting, she says, isn’t in the DNA of American firms.

Businesses are naturally hesitant about working internationally given cultural and language roadblocks, Liu says. And for decades, U.S. companies enjoyed a thriving domestic market.

That’s not something they can rely on anymore, she notes. Companies can’t afford not to participate in the booming growth in nations like China, Brazil, and India.

Groups like CenterState CEO have close relationships with companies in local metro areas and can help connect them with services on the state and federal level, Liu adds. Making exporting a bigger part of the economic development conversation is a key step in boosting international sales everywhere.

Brookings estimates that every $1 billion in increased export sales creates 5,000 new jobs. The sales also contribute to 1 percent to 2 percent higher wages for workers.

Emerging Business Competition winner

Also at the CenterState annual meeting, the group announced MicroGen of Ithaca as the winner of the $200,000 grand prize in this year’s Creative Core Emerging Business Competition. The contest seeks to honor the region’s most innovative and growth-oriented company.

The firm’s technology harvests the energy created by vibrations for use in a variety of applications. The company is developing a line of micro-power sources to extend rechargeable battery lifetimes.

MicroGen had been a finalist in two previous years of the competition.

Past winners of the competition include Sound Reading Solutions, Widetronix, e2e Materials, and Mezmeriz, all based in Ithaca, and BrandYourself.com of Syracuse. 

HOMER — A startup company in Homer is nearing launch of a new type of control system for building power systems.

Cortland Research, LLC launched in 2011. The firm is a portfolio company of the Clean Tech Center at the Syracuse Technology Garden.

Cortland Research currently employs four, including its president, Steve McMahon. The firm just completed a proof-of-concept demonstration system, McMahon says, and will now spend the next nine months to a year refining the system and designing a production version.

Lining up customers will also be a priority.

The system uses a combination of sensors connected to devices like lights or outlets, a central control system, and a user interface to measure and control power usage in a building. The technology can be set to automatically kill power to lights or outlets at a specific time or based on whether anyone is present in a room, McMahon explains.

Users can access the interface from anywhere with an Internet connection. Cortland Research plans to help its clients set up the systems according to their needs, McMahon adds.

The idea is to reduce power usage and help buildings run more efficiently, he says. Even if an employee of a business shuts down a computer at the end of the day, the machine can still draw power.

And plenty of schools, hospitals, and hotels leave lights on for hours or days when no one is around. It’s that type of “parasitic” power usage Cortland Research is attempting to cut, McMahon says.

The firm’s system can be tailored to user requirements precisely, he adds. If features smart outlets and switches that have micro sensors and RF antennas embedded inside, according to the company.

That allows for real-time analysis and allows users to manage outlets individually if they choose. In addition to time of day and the presence of people, the system can be adjusted based on rates of energy usage and other parameters as well.

The company is focusing initially on commercial buildings since they tend to pay more for power per kilowatt hour, McMahon says. But the system could be used in a residential setting as well, according to the company.

McMahon previously worked as an electrician before earning a master’s degree and working for Sensis Corp. of DeWitt. Several of Cortland Research’s employees are former Sensis employees as well.

The company is financed currently by an individual angel investor, McMahon says.

Cortland Research was a semi-finalist in this year’s Creative Core Emerging Business Competition. The firm did not make the event’s final round.

The contest seeks to honor the most innovative, growth-oriented company in the region and awards a $200,000 grand prize. This year’s winner is MicroGen of Ithaca.