Economic Gardening
GRE’s Economic Gardening business growth program provides tailor-made technical assistance to second-stage companies in the Greater Rochester, NY region.
Photo Credit J. Adam Fenster / University of Rochester
Take Your Business to the Next Level
The GRE Economic Gardening program is designed to provide sophisticated, tailor-made technical assistance to local companies poised for growth in the Greater Rochester, NY region.
Economic gardening is ideal for second-stage companies because it focuses on critical strategic challenges – from developing new markets and refining business models to assessing competitive intelligence. By providing CEOs with action-oriented tools and information, economic gardening specialists can support them in uncovering new opportunities.
GRE partners with the National Center for Economic Gardening to provide this unique business growth program to companies throughout the Greater Rochester, NY nine-county region.
Photo by Ardent Learning
ECONOMIC GADENING
Providing You With the Tools To Help Your Business Succeed
We provide selected companies with access to a suite of high-end, high-speed development tools.
Identify Qualified Leads
APPLY SOCIAL MEDIA TACTICS
Map Geographic Area for Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Review Core Strategies
Build Strong Teams
How to Qualify
To apply for this free program, your business must meet the following eligibility criteria:
- Be a for-profit, privately held company headquartered and operating in Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans, Seneca, Wayne, Wyoming or Yates County
- Have between $1 million and $50 million in annual revenue
- Employ at least 10 but no more than 100 employees (including the owner)
- Have maintained principal operations in the Greater Rochester, NY Region for at least the past 2 years
- Demonstrate growth in employment and/or revenue for at least 2 of the past 5 years
- Provide products and/or services to markets outside of the Greater Rochester, NY Region
Note: Retail, restaurant establishments, and local service providers (e.g. accounting, legal, staffing firms) do not qualify for this program.
The GRE Economic Gardening Program Receives Rave Reviews
Grow Thanks to Our Partners
We offer this business growth program to a select group of companies in the Greater Rochester, NY region at no cost, thanks to generous financial support from Greater Rochester Enterprise, County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency, ESL Charitable Foundation, Monroe County Industrial Development Corporation, Rochester Area Community Foundation, and the William and Sheila Konar Foundation.
We enjoyed the exercise and derived considerable benefit from the program.
Brian Miller
Ambrell
We participated in GRE’s Economic Gardening program and gained market insights which highlighted areas of opportunity for new sales – both sales leads and where our prospects gather to exchange information.
David Wagner
Vanteon
Economic Gardening Program is wonderful. The deliverables were very useful in continuing to grow our business for both the short and long term growth.
Zack Phillips
Kink BMX
The Economic Gardening program was very valuable in helping us with our internal strategic planning effort to address market changes from COVID. It also helped us refine the approach and provided tools to help us execute. The methodology, resources, and data were all very helpful.
Al Kinel
Strategic Interests
The GRE Economic Gardening program brought Fortune 500 knowledge to my business. We learned perspectives on approaches for recruitment and new methods of marketing to clients.
Melissa James-Geska
USC Builds
We are very pleased with the quality and timeliness of the information we received. It was helpful and supportive of our sales goals, specifically for our simulator market.
Rohit Braggs
Safran Trusted 4D, Inc.
The Economic Gardening has been more than we expected. I have been pleasantly surprised. Overall, the quality of the work was excellent and comprehensive!
Todd Barnum
Linton Crystal Technologies
The Economic Gardening program developed a detailed marketing study that was valuable in our marketing analysis related to launching a new product.
Paul Dudley
President, ID Signsystems
The data that was provided allowed us to make smart market-driven decisions to take ComTec Solutions to the next level. I would strongly recommend this program to companies that are looking to continue their growth.
Rob Moyer
ComTec Solutions
RELEVANT DOCUMENTS
Learn More About Economic Gardening in Rochester, NY
You know your business.
We know Greater Rochester.
Let’s team up.
Photo by John Kucko
Thank You To Our Investors
High tech companies know Rochester as the optics mecca in the United States.
Matt Sydor
Vice President, Sales and Compliance, Sydor Optics
At Toyota Material Handling North America, which is comprised of two main group companies – Toyota Material Handling and The Raymond Corporation – we are committed to leading the way in energy innovation. We believe that the Greater Rochester, NY region shares that commitment, and is the ideal location to establish our cutting-edge energy storage and fuel cell development center.”
Jennifer Lupo
Vice President of Energy Solutions, Supply Chain, and Leasing, The Raymond Corporation
Rochester has a great work base. They’re loyal. They’re smart. They’re well educated and they want to succeed.
Jim Continenza
Executive Chairman and CEO, Eastman Kodak
We keep and maintain and are investing specifically in Rochester because that is where the talent is. We don’t succeed without the right talent.
David Velasquez
Vice President and General Manager, Corning Incorporated
Rochester has the manufacturing capability, testing capability, and intellectual horsepower.
Matt Fronk
Past Chairman, NY BEST
Rochester has a deep talent pool around all of the things that we need to do to commercialize advanced materials for the energy economy.
Ben Britton
Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Ionomr
The decision to expand locally was a relatively easy one for CooperVision. The Rochester area has provided so many of the elements necessary for a successful operation.
Jerry Warner
President, CooperVision
The proximity to top colleges and industry-leading companies, in addition to the quality of life in Western New York, made the decision to open our second office in Rochester an easy one.
Mike Pinch
Director, Security Risk Advisors
“Rochester is world famous for precision optics manufacturing and photonics.”
Jennifer Cable
President, Thorlabs
We have a long history of people skilled in aerospace technology and precision optical assembly. We take advantage of the industrial base in the Rochester area. We also take advantage of the skill sets developed by our local technical institutions like MCC, RIT, or the University of Rochester.”
Tony Whitman
Cryogenic Optical Test Director for James Webb Space Telescope, L3 Harris
We have inherited an exceptional quality of life thanks to an impressive cluster of cultural organizations, unparalleled natural resources, and a resilient and welcoming spirit of community.
David Munson
President, Rochester Insititute of Technology
Once people get here and their families get used to short commute times, low home prices, the fact we have all kinds of recreational sporting activities, the quality of schools, they don’t want to leave.
Arunas Chesonis
CEO and Chairman, Sweetwater Energy
Rochester has provided ID Signsystems with the ability to grow and develop by tapping into the region’s large pool of design-focused talent, technicians, engineers and sign makers.
Paul Dudley
President, ID Signsystems
Our network of local universities, colleges, and optics companies has created a workforce pipeline that is unmatched anywhere in the United States.
Joseph Spilman
CEO, Optimax
GRE’s direction and guidance proved to be well worth our investment. Their passion to make the business environment in the Rochester area greater is very apparent.
Scott MacCaull
Workplace Interiors
There is unlimited, untapped technical talent in the area and I hope we start a wave of other companies moving to Rochester.
Austin McChord
Founder, Datto
Rochester has a long history of being a hub for telecommunications. There is a rich ecosystem of talent and services to support business growth.
Jai Ramachandran
Founder and CEO, Wire3
Rochester is the perfect size city to get business done. I’m always one connection away from anything I’m looking for.
Zack Phillips
President, Kink BMX
We have access to talent graduating from our businesses and technical institutions capable of perpetuating our success for years to come.
Marc Iacona
President & CEO, Simcona Electronics
The Rochester region provided convenient access to both railroads and major highways, as well as proximity to Barilla’s customer base in the Northeast.
Fabio Pettenati
Vice President of Supply Chain, Barilla America
We’re excited about this area. There’s high-quality milk in the region. There’s a lot of top talent. The industry, the innovation, the technical experience , the work ethic is all attractive to us.
Phil LaMothe
Vice President of Manufacturing, fairlife
The country is starting to recognize Rochester as a technical city outside of just software. We have optics and manufacturing that’s exceeding most of the baselines around the country.
Craig Lamb
Co-owner, Envative
Rochester has the resources optics companies need to transform their concepts into reality.
Dr. Duncan T. Moore
Vice Provost for Entrepreneurship and Professor of Optical Engineering
Rochester has a great base of intellectual capital in the science and technology fields at local businesses and universities.
Daniel J. Burns
Area Executive for Upstate NY, Western NY, and Pennsylvania, M&T Bank Corporation
We’ve developed vaccines to prevent cervical cancer right here in Rochester.
Peter Robinson
Vice President and COO, University of Rochester Medical Center
Among many great options, none could match Rochester in terms of talent, local supplier networks, and opportunities to partner with top-tier research institutions.
Andy Marsh
CEO, Plug Power