(a) jobs created in this state that (i) are new to the state,

(ii) have not been transferred from employment with another business located in this state including from a related person in this state,

(iii) are either full-time wage-paying jobs or equivalent to a full-time wage-paying job requiring at least thirty-five hours per week, and

(iv) are filled for more than six months; or

(b) jobs obtained by an entertainment company in this state (i) as a result of the termination of a licensing agreement with another entertainment company, (ii) that the commissioner determines to be at risk of leaving the state as a direct result of the termination, (iii) that are either full-time wage-paying jobs or equivalent to a full-time wage-paying job requiring at least thirty-five hours per week, and (iv) that are filled for more than six months. 15. "Participant" means a business entity that:

(a) has completed an application prescribed by the department to be admitted into the program;

(b) has been issued a certificate of eligibility by the department;

(c) has demonstrated that it meets the eligibility criteria in section three hundred fifty-three and subdivision two of section three hundred fifty-four of this article; and

(d) has been certified as a participant by the commissioner. 16. "Preliminary schedule of benefits" means the maximum aggregate amount of each component of the tax credit that a participant in the excelsior jobs program is eligible to receive pursuant to this article. The schedule shall indicate the annual amount of each component of the credit a participant may claim in each of its ten years of eligibility. The preliminary schedule of benefits shall be issued by the department when the department approves the application for admission into the program. The commissioner may amend that schedule, provided that the commissioner complies with the credit caps in section three hundred fifty-nine of this article. 17. "Qualified investment" means an investment in tangible property (including a building or a structural component of a building) owned by a business enterprise which:

(a) is depreciable pursuant to section one hundred sixty-seven of the internal revenue code;

(b) has a useful life of four years or more;

(c) is acquired by purchase as defined in section one hundred seventy-nine (d) of the internal revenue code;

(d) has a situs in this state; and

(e) is placed in service in the state on or after the date the certificate of eligibility is issued to the business enterprise. 18. "Regionally significant project" means (a) a manufacturer creating at least ten net new jobs in the state and making significant capital investment in the state; (b) a business creating at least ten net new jobs in agriculture in the state and making significant capital investment in the state, (c) a financial services firm, distribution center, or back office operation creating at least one hundred net new jobs in the state and making significant capital investment in the state, (d) a scientific research and development firm creating at least ten net new jobs in the state, and making significant capital investment in the state, (e) a life sciences company creating at least twenty net new jobs in the state and making significant capital investment in the state or (f) an entertainment company creating or obtaining at least two hundred net new jobs in the state and making significant capital investment in the state. Other businesses creating one hundred fifty or more net new jobs in the state and making significant capital investment in the state may be considered eligible as a regionally significant project by the commissioner as well. The commissioner shall promulgate regulations pursuant to section three hundred fifty-six of this article to determine what additional criteria a business must meet to be eligible as a regionally significant project, including, but not limited to, whether a business exports a substantial portion of its products or services outside of the state or outside of a metropolitan statistical area or county within the state. 19. "Related person" means a "related person" pursuant to subparagraph (c) of paragraph three of subsection (b) of section four hundred sixty-five of the internal revenue code. 20. "Remuneration" means wages and benefits paid to an employee by a participant in the excelsior jobs program. 20-a. "Significant capital investment" means a project which will be either a newly constructed facility or a newly constructed addition to, expansion of or improvement of a facility, consisting of tangible personal property and other tangible property, including buildings and structural components of buildings, that are depreciable pursuant to section one hundred sixty-seven of the internal revenue code, have a useful life of four years or more, are acquired by purchase as defined in section one hundred seventy-nine (d) of the internal revenue code, and that is equal to or exceeds (a) one million dollars for a manufacturer; (b) two hundred fifty thousand dollars for an agriculture business; (c) three million dollars for a financial services firm or back office operation; (d) fifteen million dollars for a distribution center; (e) three million dollars for a scientific research and development firm; or (f) three million dollars for other businesses. 21. "Research and development expenditures" mean the expenses of the business enterprise that are qualified research expenses under the federal research and development credit under section forty-one of the internal revenue code and are attributable to activities conducted in the state. If the federal research and development credit has expired, then the research and development expenditures shall be calculated as if the federal research and development credit structure and definition in effect in federal tax year two thousand nine were still in effect. 22. "Scientific research and development" means conducting research and experimental development in the physical, engineering, and life sciences, including but not limited to agriculture, electronics, environmental, biology, botany, biotechnology, computers, chemistry, food, fisheries, forests, geology, health, mathematics, medicine, oceanography, pharmacy, physics, veterinary, and other allied subjects. For the purposes of this article, scientific research and development does not include medical or veterinary laboratory testing facilities. 23. "Software development" means the creation of coded computer instructions or production or post-production of video games, as defined in subdivision one-a of section six hundred eleven of the general business law, other than those embedded and used exclusively in advertising, promotional websites or microsites, and also includes new media as defined by the commissioner in regulations.