In NY, $2 million in new funding for small-biz incubators

Small business incubators across New York State now have access to an additional $2 million in state funding.

On Thursday, officials gathered at Stony Brook University’s Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology to announce the new funding.

New York State Sen. Anna Kaplan, chairs the state’s Committee on Commerce, Economic Development, and Small Business. She said it was her “duty” to ensure that the state funds “smart and efficient programs that create jobs, grow our economy, and deliver real return on investment for the taxpayers.”

The new funding “help these centers continue to grow and thrive, and I’m going to continue to push for the state to make even greater investments in these centers in years to come,” she added.

Throughout the state, there are 15 Centers for Advanced Technology, and 14 Centers of Excellence, high-tech business incubators located on a university campus, and each focus on a specialization. Experts at the centers mentor entrepreneurs, bringing in technological infrastructure through the university setting, and connecting small businesses with investors and the private sector to nurture a business from idea to industry. Each center is funded with an additional one-to-one match by a university or corporate sponsor, so every dollar in state funding brings an additional dollar in investment.

In New York State’s newly enacted budget, the centers received $25,584,325 in funding, an increase of $1,991,160 over last year, and $6,584,325 more than had been proposed in the executive’s budget earlier this year.

“The centers were developed by New York State to allow free flowing collaboration between university researchers, faculty, and students with innovators and entrepreneurs,” Stony Brook University President Maura McInnis said in a statement. “They have created thousands of jobs on Long Island and across the state in fields taking on some of the world’s greatest challenges, including COVID-19, and they will be vital in a post-pandemic recovery. ”

With state support of the centers, Stony Brook “can continue to provide the scientific and engineering expertise that will ensure New York’s leadership in clean energy, information technology, and biotechnology,” Stony Brook University Vice-President for Research Richard Reeder said in a statement.

At the Stony Brook, that support helps the centers affiliated small businesses compete in the marketplace.

“Through our affiliation with the Energy Center at Stony Brook University, ThermoLift has been the beneficiary of excellence,” Paul Schwartz, co-founder and director of ThermoLift, said in a statement. “Excellence in execution with access to the engineering community for scientific validation, to the business community for capital investment, from the state and national energy efficiency grant funding in DOE and NYSERDA and from energy providers across the world. The senator’s support of the Centers for Excellence is a step toward continued economic growth and the future of our local, state and national global competitiveness.”

Eugene Sayan, founder and CEO of Softheon, shared that sentiment.

“In collaboration with Stony Brook University, CEWIT has been and will be critical to Softheon’s unprecedented growth in making healthcare affordable and accessible for 150 million Americans enrolled through Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, Medicare, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and other publicly-sponsored health programs,” he said in a statement.