The previously discussed incubator network bill has advanced another step in the state Legislature with introduction of A11616, an Assembly "same as" equivalent of S7048. The Assembly version was introduced by Assemblyman Marc Alessi (D-1st District) and has been referred to the Committee on Economic Development. We will keep the incubator community advised of its progress. 

Under a bill introduced by Sen. William Stachowski (D-58th District) and recently passed by the state Senate, business incubators across the state would compete for operational funds allowing them to provide best-in-class support services to their tenant/clients. Sen. Stachowski's news release on S.7048 summarizes how the program would operate through the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR). The board of our association has endorsed this bill as an important step forward, because it would complement the state's past investments in incubator facilities with resources to help them achieve and sustain programmatic excellence. In order for this bill to become law, a counterpart version in the Assembly would be necessary, and any bill passed by both houses would of course have to be signed by the Governor. We will keep the incubator community apprised of progress.

The House Small Business Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY-12), has held a hearing on "Business Incubators and Their Role in Job Creation." The witness list and links to full testimony are available here.

Among those testifying were David Monkman, president of the National Business Incubation Association (our state association is itself a member of NBIA), and Prof. David Lewis, a faculty member at SUNY's University at Albany who wrote our Guide to Business Incubation, available for download above under the "publications" or "policy" tabs.

Business incubators and research parks are receiving increasing federal attention on Capitol Hill and throughout the federal government as part of the "regional clusters of innovation" initiative first unveiled last year and included again in the Obama Administration's FY 2011 budget.

S7048 — a bill that would authorize a "New York Incubator Network" — has been introduced by Sen. William T. Stachowski (D-58th Senate District), who is chairman of the state Senate Committee on Commerce, Economic Development and Small Business. Bill text is available at the first link above.

The bill would authorize NYSTAR to recognize for five years up to 10 university-affiliated or other nonprofit technology incubators — one in each of the 10 economic-development regions of the state. Incubators that are members of this Network would be eligible for financial support, subject to appropriation, regular review, and requirements for reporting.

Our association has not yet taken an official position on this bill. If you would like to offer your own opinion, use the comment link below or our public forum. (Comments by anonymous users are subject to a moderation queue. Abusive or off-topic comments will be deleted. Member incubators and their tenants with valid user names on the website may post without moderation and to our members-only or tenant forums.)

Sen. Charles Schumer visited our member the Orange County Business Accelerator (OCBA) in New Windsor, to speak about bipartisan legislation he has sponsored that would grant tax breaks to small firms hiring those unemployed for more than 60 days.

Sen. Schumer's visit underlines how a business incubator often becomes the focal point for entrepreneurial energy and policy development in any community.

OCBA posts news items like this as part of its blog. You can follow recent blog posts from several of our members in the lower left-hand column of the BIA/NYS website or in context of other interesting feeds here or in more expanded form here.

 Business incubators and technology parks would play a key role in anchoring regional innovation clusters across New York State, according to a vision laid out in a report published recently by the Public Policy Institute (PPI), the research affiliate of the Business Council of New York State, Inc.

Entitled Transcending the Hamster Cage: Unfettering New York's Static Innovation Economy, the PPI report is available for download here with supporting data here.

The report includes both PPI's own recommendations and a series of personal essays, including a very interesting one signed by Alex Brownstein of Integrated Tissue Dynamics, LLC. Alex is the former manager of the incubator program at the SUNY Albany East Campus, and one of the original incorporators of this association. 

Recent bill introductions in the House of interest to the business incubation community are:

• H.R. 4413, counterpart to S. 583, would authorize the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) to provide grants and loan guarantees for planning and construction of research parks;
• H.R. 3738 would authorize the Small Business Administration (SBA) to establish a program through which SBA would help capitalize funds that make early-stage investments in targeted technology industries.

The Obama administration has not endorsed either bill, but to view the administration's latest thoughts on the role of incubators in regional innovation clusters, see the recent Chicago speech of Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development John Fernandez.

In the economic-development section of his 2010 State of the State Address, Gov. Paterson proposed a $25 million seed-capital investment fund oriented at commercializing university-developed innovations, following the general thrust of recommendations he received in the recently released report of the Task Force on Industry/Higher Education Partnerships.

Our association is on record as endorsing the need for increased seed-capital funding in the state. A list of currently active seed funds is here. The Governor also proposed implementation of a small-business revolving loan fund, following the recommendations of the second report he recently received, of the Small Business Task Force.

The Governor also outlined several other proposals of interest to the business-incubation community, including enhancement or addition of several innovation-oriented tax credits and continuation of the Innovation Economy Matching Grant Program in which our website/newsletter sponsor NYSTAR plays a key role. The status of the Governor's recommendations will be determined as part of the coming consideration by the Legislature of the Executive Budget, soon to be released. UPDATE (1/31): Our budget testimony is here.