BIANYS Members and our Partners in Innovation:

RE: INNOVATE TO VENTILATE

I first want to applaud Governor Cuomo for his handling of the current pandemic. He needs our help. Yesterday he asked businesses, large and small, established and startup, to innovate. We have a shortage of ventilators for ICU beds to assist the worst cases of COVID19. BIANYS has already been assisting a startup out of UCLA that has a very simple, paired down design for a ventilator specifically designed for COVID19. However it needs to be tested. I am hopeful that this solution can help in the current crisis. We are connecting this startup with New York State's vast commercialization resources. It will be a test of our agility as an ecosystem to make this prototype ready for manufacture this week. It will require testing, it will require logistics, but it may work. If you can help with this, let us know.

We also may find that this design does not work, we will know shortly. Which means we need more designs. We need to work in parallel until we find the best solution or solutions. We need to inventory who within our community is ready, willing and able to step up. If you have a design, if you have capacity to quickly retool and manufacture the right design, let me know. BIANYS is putting together the list of people in our network that can rise to this challenge and meet this need this week. If you have an out of the box solution, great, let me know, if there is any way we can help you produce units, we will. If you have half the solution and want to find the other half, let us know, and we will help you search for the other half. (If you can help in any way) Please fill out this form: Form

Although we are very focused on ventilators, there are other needs as well. Rapid testing methods, potential vaccines or treatments, which we have already identified two startups within our incubators Upstate and on Long Island that are working on rapid tests and vaccines, we know there are more within our network. We will inventory them, and connect them and do everything in our power to help them expedite their solutions. If you have companies within your network that are working on COVID19 solutions, have them fill out this form: Form

If there is a segment of people that are going to help find a solution for this problem, it is the folks in our respective innovation networks who create solutions for problems everyday through the process of innovation. It is the startups and staff in our incubators and accelerators, and in our Centers of Excellence, our Centers of Advanced Technology and our MEP's who have helped thousands of companies innovate and solve problems like this.

However we need to operate faster than we thought humanly possible. In an ecosystem based on speed, we will need to focus like never before, use our collective experience, and use our collective desire to solve this issue. It is the test of our generation. Lets INNOVATE TO VENTILATE!

Please feel free to email me at [email protected] how you can help, your thoughts or your suggestions. Or you can call or text my cell phone, 516-238-1019.

Thank you, stay safe and stay healthy.

Sincerely,

Marc Alessi

Executive Director