Business leaders attend Upstate NY Economic Summit

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Business leaders expressed their desire for an extended federal tax credit for clean energy research and development Friday at the second annual Upstate NY Economic Summit at the Gideon Putnam Spa and resort in Saratoga Springs.

Scott Murphy, the managing director for Advantage Capital Partners, an $88 million venture capital fund in Glens Falls that invests money for life insurance companies, said the investment community will be encouraged by more stability in the federal tax code as it pertains to risky ventures like clean energy start-ups.

“We’ve done probably 17 or 18 deals in the energy space, half of them clean-technology based. If you’re going to make a long-term commitment [to a company] and part of what you’re going to base that on is the availability of tax credits, that’s part of your math, you kind of have to discount it if you’re not sure they’re going to be there,” Murphy said.

Murphy was one of approximately 150 business leaders at the event, which was chaired by U.S. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-Greenport. Gillibrand said she began the tradition of hosting the forums during her first year in congress because she wanted to leverage the ability of her office to facilitate discussion on issues.

“The role of government isn’t to solve all problems but it can act to facilitate discussions about how to foster growth in the private sector,” she said.

While last year’s forum focused on “smart growth,” this year’s forum concentrated on local clean energy companies and the resources available to them. The event was coordinated by the Public Forum Institute, a Washington, D.C., not-for-profit that provided electronic voting machines to each of the participants in the forum so they could vote on the best ideas presented during the event. Summit officials said the official vote tallies for the event were not ready Friday afternoon, but two of the major items supported by participants were the expanded tax credit and the creation of a central clearinghouse for information about government programs available for clean energy startups, possibly in the form of a comprehensive Web site.

Gillibrand said she supports a 10-year research and development tax credit for clean-energy companies.

Michael V. Franchell, the executive director of the Community Based Business Incubator Center in Albany, said he attended last year’s summit and decided to create his incubator as a result of discussions there. He said he has experience starting multimillion-dollar companies and now provides mentoring advice to start-ups like Gloversville resident Bob Darling’s R&D Research.

Darling said he’s working on a system to make automobiles more fuel-efficient and is looking for capital funding.