The Tech Valley Incubation Network, an informal group of incubator managers in the capital region that actually predated formation of the BIA/NYS, gathered for the first time in several years to welcome back to Albany Dr. Donald Siegel, a renowned scholar of innovation who is now the new dean of of the UAlbany College of Business. Dr. Siegel (fourth from left) gave a presentation on current directions in technology commercialization, and discussed the role of incubators and research parks. The group also heard a report on the current activities of BIA/NYS from the executive director. The meeting site was the 3rd floor board room of the Gen*NY*sis Center for Excellence in Cancer Genomics/Center for Functional Genomics, which serves as an anchor of the UAlbany East Campus incubator/accelerator. Click the photo for identification of the participants. If your region would like to organize a similar gathering, BIA/NYS will happily participate.

Anil Dhundale, Ph.D., most recently the director of scientific affairs at Stony Brook University's NYSTAR-supported Center for Biotechnology, has been named executive director of incubator programs at the university.

Stony Brook's three-incubator program is a founding supporting member of the association, and we warmly congratulate Anil. Ann-Marie Scheidt, Ph.D., the university's director of economic development, will remain a member of our board.

Following is a statement released to the Stony Brook community by Dean of Engineering and Vice President for Economic Development Yacov Shamash:

To All Faculty and Staff:

I am pleased to announce that Anil Dhundale, Ph.D. has been appointed as the new Executive Director for our Stony Brook Business Incubators. In this role Anil will be responsible for Stony Brook's Long Island High Technology Incubator (LIHTI), the Incubator at Calverton as well as our Software Incubator. His broad based experience with early stage technology commercialization will facilitate mentoring of start-up companies to maximize their growth. We look forward to success under Anil's thoughtful, supportive, constructive leadership in guidance of our incubators.

Dr. Yacov Shamash
Vice President for Economic Development and Dean CEAS

Edmund Egan and Bruce Holm — both faculty members at SUNY's University at Buffalo and both closely associated with the anchor tenant of our supporting member UB Technology Incubator — were honored with the university's first annual Faculty Entrepreneur Award.

Dr. Egan is the president and CEO of ONY, Inc., and Dr. Holm (who is the executive director of the UB NYS Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences) is the co-inventor of the underlying technology, a lung surfactant to prevent respiratory distress in premature babies.

Based on research by UB, University of Rochester, and University of Western Ontario, ONY was founded in 1985 and received FDA approval in 1999. Since then the surfactant has been administered to more than 250,000 premature babies. ONY is the largest and anchor tenant of the UB Technology Incubator. Congratulations to Drs. Egan and Holm!

Donald Siegel, most recently professor of entrepreneurship and associate business dean at University of California Riverside, has been named the new dean of business at SUNY's University at Albany.

Dr. Siegel, currently president of the Technology Transfer Society, is an economist who has published extensive scholarship on innovation and entrepreneurship, including on incubators and research parks.

At UAlbany he will be the second scholar of business incubation, counting also Dr. David Lewis in the Department of Geography and Planning, author of our Guide to Business Incubation for Elected Officials in NYS.

The BIA/NYS warmly welcomes Dr. Siegel back to New York State (he was formerly on the faculty at RPI) and looks forward to continuing to work closely with all aspects of UAlbany, whose East Campus Biotechnology Business Incubator/Accelerator is a founding member of our association.

Paul Wetenhall, long-time president of High Tech Rochester (owner of the Lennox Tech Enterprise Center incubator and operator of the University of Rochester-affiliated Rochester BioVenture Center incubator) is leaving HTR to become president of the Ben Craig Center Business Incubator at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Paul's record at HTR is outstanding, and his support of our association was a critical turning point for our development. The association and its membership wish him and his family all the best in his new role!