GENEVA, N.Y. -- With the aim of turning economically disadvantaged central New York into an economic powerhouse, the new Finger Lakes New Knowledge Fusion project is to fund cutting-edge scientific research, new technologies, start-up companies and education for a better workforce to lead the region to new ideas and new prosperity.

The new project is made possible by a three-year, $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

In order to design innovative technologies for solving problems faced by food and agricultural producers, Cornell University biological science researchers at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station (NYSAES) in Geneva will partner with microsystem scientists at the Infotonics Technology Center in Canandaigua, N.Y. Techniques to monitor conditions affecting the safety of food on its way from the field to the family table or sensors to measure the way fruit grows in the orchard or vineyard, for example, could become the basis for new business enterprises in the Finger Lakes. And Ontario County and the Cornell Agriculture and Food Technology Park in Geneva will lend business and financial expertise and facilities to help generate long-lasting economic development in the region.

"This project will mobilize the knowledge, energy, expertise and innovative cultures at neighboring world-class research institutions to create a unique new technology cluster to meet 21st century food and agricultural challenges and fuel job creation and economic growth," said Susan A. Henry, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences, a lead investigator on the project along with Robert C. Seem, plant pathologist at NYSAES, and David R. Smith, CEO of Infotonics.

The Finger Lakes Workforce Investment Board will train a workforce for careers related to this cluster of new food and agricultural industries by working with schools and colleges in the region to expand programs and curricula to prepare students or retrain displaced workers. And to provide a pipeline of qualified scientists, entrepreneurs and technicians emerging from local public schools and colleges, teaching initiatives by scientists at NYSAES and the Summer Science Camp run by Infotonics also will be expanded.

"Job creation in the 21st century can only happen with a 21st century system of education," said U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Science Committee. "This funding will help give the Finger Lakes region exactly that by helping train our local workforce and commercialize new technologies in today's evolving high-tech economy."

The grant comes from NSF's Partnerships for Innovation program, which funds projects based on their ability to "stimulate the transformation of knowledge created by the national research and education enterprise into innovations that create new wealth, build strong local, regional and national economies, and improve the national well-being," according to the NSF's Web site.