the latest news about Business Incubators and Accelerators from across New York State...
September 2019 NYS Incubator Report
Esther Vargas is leaving our Board to pursue a new role at the University of Central Florida

We thank Esther for her many years of service to BIANYS and for the impact she has had on our innovation ecosystem statewide and in the capital region as the former director of RPI's Emerging Ventures program. Esther is returning home to the Orlando area and will remain on the Board of InBIA the National Incubator Association. (see below to learn more about our newest board member for BIANYS)

Esther was recently re-elected to the BIANYS Board at our last Board meeting in June, thus, in accordance with the By-Laws for BIANYS the Board revisited the nominees from that selection process three months before and have appointed Arber Ruci from the CUNY Incubator Programs to fill out Esther's term.
Please welcome our newest member of the BIANYS Board of Directors, Arber Ruci

Arber was appointed to the Board to fill out the term of Esther Vargas who vacated the position to take a new role running the University of Central Florida's incubator in Kissimee.

Arber is the Director of the New York City Innovation Hotspot and the Entrepreneur in Residence of the New York City Regional Innovation Node, which conducts New York Metro area's NSF ICORP programming. Arber is an entrepreneur from the IOT space where he had focused on implementation of IOT at higher education facilities. He began his career implementing IOT through a number of Departments at Stanford University and then went on to launch his start up InYourclass Corp which he successfully exited from in 2017.

"Entrepreneurs in New York City and in the CUNY programs benefited from his experience and now entrepreneurs throughout the State will also benefit," stated Marc Alessi the Executive Director of BIANYS, he added, "however Arber has been volunteering for a number of our programs statewide quietly already, so now his influence is more out in the open." Please join us in welcoming Arber to the new position.

Congressman Zeldin Tours LIHTI during Congressional Recess

During the 2019 Congressional recess,  Congressman Lee Zeldin  toured the  Long Island High Tech Incubator  (LIHTI) located on Stony Brook University’s (SBU) campus. SBU’s Senior Vice President of Research  Richard Reeder , Associate Vice President for Technology Partnerships Peter Donnelly, and LIHTI Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer Matthew Stadler greeted the Congressman and provided an update on how Stony Brook University is working with high-tech startup companies to develop groundbreaking research, create thousands of jobs, and generate billions of dollars in positive economic impact for the region.

A meaty pitch lands a $10,000 prize

Moriarty Meats won $10,000 in the finals of Ureeka's small business pitch competition on Wednesday at the Innovation Center.
Four other finalists each won $5,000 prizes: Alpine Made, Big Norwegian Kombucha, Renew Bath and Body and Zandra Beauty. A special, additional $2,500 award was given to Big Norwegian Kombucha.
The competition was a partnership between Ignite Buffalo and Ureeka, a digital platform for underrepresented small and medium sized businesses.

Stony Brook startup wins $50K in seed funding

A small company from Stony Brook won $50,000 in seed funding Tuesday in a statewide high-tech startup pitch competition.
Re-N uble, which was founded in 2011 by Tinia Pinia, is developing a nutrient system that enables farmers to manufacture their own fertilizer using otherwise unusable waste produce.
Held at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Albany, the inaugural State University of New York Technology Accelerator Fund Most Valuable Pitch competition featured presentations from 10 startups affiliated with a SUNY campus business incubator or accelerator program. Re-Nuble, which is a client of the Clean Energy Business Incubator at Stony Brook University, will apply its award to commercializing its product.

Buffalo Homecoming: 'The revival is exciting'

When Will Crosby first heard about Buffalo Homecoming, the New York City legal tech executive jumped at the chance to participate. The Clarence High School graduate left Buffalo for professional reasons, but has always had a fondness for his hometown.
“When you hear about how Buffalo has been so strategic over literally decades to replace the industries that went away, it's pretty impressive,” he said. “When you hear Buffalo’s becoming viable in a way that’s more than it had been for a while, that’s great and you want to know how and why. It’s a Cinderella story.”



Kennedy named executive director of Tech Valley Center of Gravity

The board of directors for the Tech Valley Center of Gravity (TVCOG) announced the appointment of Cheryl Kennedy as the organization’s executive director.
TVCOG is a makerspace, prototyping center, manufacturing incubator, STEAM-education center and creative community located in downtown Troy.

RealEats, Perfect Granola finalists in Grow-NY competition

Companies in Geneva and Victor are among 18 companies selected out of a field of nearly 200 startups to take part in round one of the Grow-NY food innovation and agriculture technology business challenge, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday.

National Grid Assisting Thriving Business Hub With $100,000 Investment
National Grid  awarded a CleanTech Incubation Program incentive totaling $100,000 that  Clarkson University  will use to offset Damon Hall Phase III construction costs. The additional space has allowed LC Drives to expand and grow, driving a total 30 jobs with combined revenues of $1.34 million in the downtown campus and significantly adding to Clarkson’s clean-tech incubation ecosystem.


Upcoming Events

October 7-8, 2019
Rochester, New York

This event celebrates New York State leadership in technology-led economic growth, and is the annual convening of the NYSTAR network – in which we investment over $55 million annually to accelerate and support the state’s innovation ecosystem. Experts in biotechnology, new materials, energy innovation, artificial intelligence, and more will explore current technology convergence opportunities, ways to accelerate commercialization, and issues of manufacturing sustainability.


Concept to Commercialization Boot Camp, October 3-4, CNY Biotech Accelerator

- Keynote Speaker Dr. Peter Boatwright, Carnegie Mellon, will discuss Implementing Integrated Innovation into your product development
- 24+ Innovation Experts from across NYS all in one location for 2 full days of exciting discussion, food and networking
- No cost exhibit tables available (only 3 tables left, to reserve contact:   [email protected] )
- Topics include: Business Model Canvas, Intellectual Property, University Models to Support Successful Commercialization, Manufacturing, Startup Company Product Development and Manufacturing Journey Panel Discussion, Components of Business Development, Sales Channels for Medical Products and Funding Lifecycle for Startup Companies

InBIA Ecosystem Builders Forum

Forum equips entrepreneurial ecosystem leaders to design, launch and sustain compelling and impactful initiatives for their communities through insights, connections and know-how.

Key topics include: 
  • How to implement a more diverse and inclusive program 
  • Benefits and challenges of fostering industry clusters
  • Ways to adapt proven practices from successful regional efforts
  • Leveraging relationships with second stage companies

JOB OPPORTUNITIES
Director of Clean Energy Program

The Southern Tier Clean Energy Incubator Program currently has 18 member companies and is facilitated through mentorship with a focus on developing business and entrepreneurial skills through workshops (such as the I-Corps ShortCourse), seminars, and events (such as hardware hackathons); with the intent of helping clean energy companies develop and improve their technology, fortify their business model, develop product-market fit, and attract the attention of customers and investors. Working with the other BiP Program Directors and the SCI Advisory Board, this role is critical in maintaining and growing the current program and providing a strategic plan for the program's future.


SPONSOR'S CORNER
The Apollo 11 Moon Landing: Spacecraft Design Then and Now

The original autopilot proposed for the LM was an analog system that used a modulator to pulse the reaction control jets on and off. While the control system was analog, the navigation and guidance functions ran on a digital computer that was also used by the Command and Service Module (CSM) and the Apollo Booster. The algorithms for guidance and navigation were created by a team at MIT IL, now called Draper Labs.

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