Governor Kathy Hochul today launched the enhanced Database of Economic Incentives as part of her ongoing commitment to transparency and making state government work better for New Yorkers. First launched in 2021, the Database of Economic Incentives provides detailed, up-to-date data on economic development projects throughout New York State. The data is updated quarterly, published online and complements the information available on ESD’s reports page. New York State’s Database of Economic Incentives is nation-leading in terms of number of programs and projects included, frequency of updates, and the number of data fields provided for each project. The updated database is available here.
“This new database of economic incentives is the latest step my administration is taking to improve transparency and restore New Yorkers’ trust in their government,” Governor Hochul said. “With a new user-friendly interface and up-to-date data on key projects, this new tool will help to shed light on economic developments initiatives throughout the state and make data more accessible to all.”
Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight said, “We are always striving for ways to improve transparency, especially around our incentive programs and these new enhancements have made the Database of Economic Incentives not only much more comprehensive, but easier to navigate. We are proud of the continued improvements being made to the database and as a result, we now have one of the largest databases of economic development projects in the nation, with 55 fields of data that presents information in a very user-friendly format.”
The Database has expanded from 26 to 55 data fields and contains thousands of projects from 45 programs spanning multiple state agencies. The enhanced Database now contains an interactive dashboard offering high-level summary information of all projects. This includes total dollars awarded and disbursed, total public-private investment, number of projects awarded, and jobs created and retained to date. This information can be summarized by status, agency, industry, and Regional Economic Development region. Additionally, the Database contains a map, allowing users to see the location of projects alongside key project info. The Database also includes an appendix which provides specific details related to any individual project.
The new Database improves usability, allowing for easy searching, filtering, and analyzing of the data. With these additions, New York’s Database of Economic Incentives leads the nation with four times the average number of fields as compared to other states, twice the average number of programs, and is updated four times as often as other states. It is also one of the only databases that allows the data to be exported, mapped and graphed. Recently, the Good Jobs First, a trusted watchdog entity which promotes corporate and government accountability in economic development, gave New York’s Database of Economic Incentives a perfect score for data accessibility, meaning the site was easy to find, understand and use.
Additionally, Empire State Development has also launched new interactive project tracking dashboards to provide information on projects awarded through the Regional Economic Development Council Initiative. This interactive tool allows for summarization and analysis of project data, including top level project stats, investments and jobs metrics, a map, and an appendix of all projects awarded through the REDC initiative. Each regions’ dashboard can be found on their respective page here.
The new and improved database builds on Governor Hochul’s 2023 State of the State commitment to making government work better for New Yorkers by improving access to essential government resources and services.
State Senator Sean M. Ryan said, «In order to be successful, it is important that our state’s economic development system maintains a three-pronged focus on transparency, oversight, and the long-term quality of jobs created by its initiatives. As someone who has previously called for a more robust Database of Economic Incentives, I am pleased to see this important step being taken to help ensure New Yorkers can see how their tax dollars are being spent on economic development. I commend Governor Hochul and Empire State Development for their responsiveness to the concerns we raised on behalf of taxpayers and look forward to a continued commitment to improving transparency going forward.”
Assemblymember Harry B. Bronson said, “I applaud Governor Hochul for launching the enhanced Database of Economic Incentives. This will bring increased transparency and accessibility to our economic development initiatives. Better information and awareness will help us make more informed decisions regarding future investments, and further our goal of making New York’s economy more equitable and diverse.”