Legislation signed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg committing New York City to an 18-month study of the feasibility of generating electricity from gravity-driven flow in water mains has focused attention on Rentricity, a tenant/client of the NYSERDA-sponsored NYC ACRE clean-energy incubator that is collocated with NYU-Poly's Varick Street incubator. Rentricity has been a pioneer of this form of energy re-capture. In the last two weeks, coverage of the firm has appeared in both The New York Times and IEEE's Spectrum. 

Expanded the range of affordable incubator space for bioscience startups is one of the recommendations a new report from the Public Policy Institute of New York State (PPI), an affiliate of the Business Council of New York State. Entitled "Cultivating the Next Generation of Discoveries and Development in New York Bioscience," the report draws attention to our members including SUNY Downstate's Advanced Biotechnology Incubator and BioBAT, as well as RIT's Venture Creations, and it argues that more capacity is needed.

The report also favorably mentions S.6860/A10019, which would create an incubator network eligible for support through Empire State Development Corp.'s Division of Science, Technology & Innovation (dba NYSTAR). Our association's board of directors has also endorsed this bill, which is sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Martin Golden and in the Assembly by Assemblyman Robin Schimminger (co-sponsors Assembly Members William Scarborough, Donna Lupardo and Dennis Gabryszak).

Our member The Technology Farm (the Cornell Agriculture & Food Technology Park) has announced a new Tech Farm Associates Program, aimed at companies that do not need to be located at the park's existing multi-tenant building, but want to be included in its network of tenants. Associates will be included in park marketing materials, have access to offices and conference rooms on a limited basis, and qualify for assistance from regional business-service providers already supporting The Technology Farm. For more information, please see the attached announcement. 

Our member the South Side Innovation Center (SSIC) received the prestigious Dinah Adkins Incubator of the Year Award (general and special interest category) from the National Business Incubation Association, the leading international organization dedicated to business incubation and entrepreneurship.

The SSIC is a program of the Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, providing hands-on business counseling, training and mentoring for 1,500 existing and aspiring entrepreneurs each year. SSIC is currently incubating 27 businesses in a beautifully renovated furniture warehouse on the South Side of Syracuse. Programs co-housed in the SSIC facility include the SBA-funded WISE Women's Business Center and Program for Investment in Micro-entrepreneurs (PRIME); an Empire State Development-funded Entrepreneurial Assistance Center; the Syracuse Community Test Kitchen; NYSERDA-funded training for low-income individuals; and programs to train entrepreneurs with disabilities and survivors of domestic violence.

For more information, see the university's news release, coverage on the Post-Standard's syracuse.com, or the profile of SSIC on the NBIA website. Congratulations to director Bob Herz and all the talented members of his SSIC staff!