Politics on the Hudson

Seeking to get attention off the state’s current economic woes and onto hopes for the future, Gov. David Paterson today announced plans to devote more taxpayer money to high-tech research targeted largely to energy and health care.

In what was billed as the first stop on a statewide tour touting economic-development initiatives, Paterson told a Manhattan audience this morning that the state will spend $100 million to match federal energy research grants and urged the state Public Service Commission to release as much as $100 million in utility ratepayer money to speed the development of alternative-energy projects.

“Now, it is time to take bold new steps to prepare New York to lead the new economy,’’ said Paterson, as the state’s existing economy, traditionally anchored in the financial sector in Manhattan and manufacturing upstate, is in its deepest swoon since the Great Depression.

“New York will recover from this period, and New York will become a leader in economic development very shortly,’’ Paterson said during a speech at the New York Academy of Sciences.

“We need to start by creating a fertile environment for entrepreneurship, and building a new infrastructure for innovation which means lowering the cost of doing business and building up our knowledge base,” he said.

Paterson didn’t identify where the $100 million match, designed to contribute an extra dime for every dollar of federal money awarded for energy projects in New York State, will come from. He said the state cash could attract as much as $1 billion in federal money, since the state program will appeal to federal grant-makers who want to make their resources go as far as possible.

Paterson is scheduled to make a similar announcement later today in Syracuse. Other stops on the tour weren’t announced immediately.