By JAMES FINK
jfink@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1611

The words have been spoken; now the action must begin.

The Buffalo Niagara Partnership, as a follow-up to its two-day Accelerate Upstate event, said it will condense all the ideas that were generated into a handful of doable goals that focus on improving the economic development and investment climate in the Upstate region from Albany to Buffalo.

"There are a lot of notes we have to go through," said Craig Turner, vice president of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership.

The session attracted several hundred participants and a who's who of panelists and speakers. It also served as a showcase for Buffalo, with events held in such locations as the Smith Theater at Shea's Performing Arts Center, the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center and the USS Little Rock at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park.

Turner said the final report and recommendations will be completed within six weeks.

"We took the first step," he said. "We got everyone in the same room and had some good conversations."

The intent is to build a stronger, more collaborative bridge between Upstate interests and its counterparts from New York City, Westchester County and elsewhere  downstate.

"We need to aggressively pursue more partnerships," Turner said.

The key, according to Partnership President and CEO Andrew Rudnick, is getting serious attention from key state leaders, most of whom hail from a downstate political and business power base.

"Upstate priorities have a difficult time getting the attention of a New York City-centric Albany," Rudnick said. "This isn't about throwing dollars at the symptoms; it's about dealing with the causes."

Kenneth Adams, Empire State Development Corp. president and CEO, said the key is to create an environment that encourages firms large and small to re-invest in the state, and particularly Upstate.

Adams said he hopes that is one of the results of the 10 regional economic development councils created by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The councils are in the early stages of putting together a business plan that will see them divide a $1 billion pool Cuomo created for key economic development initiatives.

The recommendations from the councils are due Nov. 14.

Cuomo expects to announce the awards in mid-December.

"The business community has to have a government in Albany it can trust," Adams said. "We need to rebuild that CEO confidence so we can start to move the dial that will make New York a more competitive state."

Amy Liu agrees. A senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, she said the new regional councils create a unique opportunity.

"Gov. Cuomo has given each of you a gift in the form of the regional councils," Liu saud. "This is not a check-box exercise but a real economic development opportunity."

That plays into one of the preliminary findings from the Accelerate Upstate conference. Many agreed that government is responsible for cultivating conditions that allow businesses to create more jobs.

Other findings recommend:

• The bridge between Upstate and downstate must be crossed. All regions of New York need to work collaboratively, and that includes leveraging downstate venture capital funds for Upstate projects.

• Finding a better balance between border-security mandates governing the United States and Canada that allows for economic opportunities to foster.

• Take better advantage of Upstate's fresh water resources.

• A better effort must be undertaken to market regional assets.

"Not all of this is Albany-related," Turner said.

 "Some of these are things that we can do for ourselves."