SOUTH BEND — Notre Dame will be home to the fourth research center of its kind in the world. Another community impacted by nanoelectronic research talks to WSBT News about the impact it had there.

The old Studebaker corridor is not much to look at. But in the next 10-15 years, the hope is it will transform into a place for new business — spin-offs from the new Midwest Academy for Nanoelectronics and Architectures at Notre Dame.

"It will be great jobs, it will have great wealth-generating capacity for the community and it will truly transition what has happened here in the South Bend area,” said Patrick MacMahon with Project Future. “It will serve as a new platform for business development."

It's already happened at the nanoelectronic research center in Albany, N.Y.

First announced in the late 90s, Jack Aernecke, a former reporter in Albany, covered its growth.

“No, it didn't take off right away,” he told WSBT News in a phone interview. “It was slow, not slow but steady hard work on the part of the folks who run the center to go out and sell the center, try and attract companies in. It also involved some very forward thinking in the business community."

While no one WSBT News talked with in Albany would call it an economic boom, they do say it's had a positive impact.

Since it was announced, the area has attracted $4.2 billion in investment, creating more than 1,000 new jobs, with salaries around $80,000, and more jobs already in the works.

They say the IBM name is key in attracting global companies, but do point out that their situation may be different, because they already had other companies that also played a role in getting that investment.

"If you can play the game and build on the high tech wave, which is certainly the wave of the future, like the car business at one time was the wave of the future, you will create more of those jobs and all of those people will be living in your area and spending their salaries in your area,” Aernecke explained.

He says it’s key to already have infrastructure in place to attract new business.

So when could we start to see things happening? They're supposed to start rolling out the technology in the next 3 to 5 years. Then businesses start to build through 2020 or 2025, and with that the new jobs and money.