NYU-Poly and SUNY Downstate collaborate on BIA/NYS annual meeting in Brooklyn

The business-incubation programs at the Polytechnic Institute of NYU (NYU-Poly) and SUNY Downstate Medical Center, both supporting members of our association, collaborated on hosting the 2010 annual members' meeting of our association. Several presentations and announcements are attached.

Building on a NYSERDA business-development program review we produced at NYU-Poly the previous day (those presentations will be posted in a few more days), our annual meeting was dedicated in part to exploring the question of how better to connect startup and early-stage companies statewide to the uniquely powerful financial and business resources of New York City.

A discussion panel of distinguished guests (see photo gallery) included:

• Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City;
• Steve Cohen, NYS deputy commissioner of economic development for economic empowerment and small business at Empire State Development;
• Brian McMahon, executive director of the New York State Economic Development Council; and
• Richard Honen, co-chair of the Capital and Innovation Group at Phillips Lytle LLP and managing director of the firm's Albany office.

More detail and presentations after the break.

The day's agenda also included presentations by:

• Bruce Niswander, director of the centers for entrepreneurship at technology at NYU-Poly, on the three distinct incubation programs he manages: the BEST incubator in downtown Brooklyn, 160 Varick St., and the NYSERDA-supported clean-energy incubator NYC Accelerator for a Clean and Renewable Economy. 
• Dr. Eva Cramer, vice president for biotechnology of SUNY Downstate, on the two programs she manages: the Advanced Biotechnology Incubator at the Downstate campus in Flatbush, and the BioBAT development project at the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park. 
• Martin Babinec, founder, and Nasir Ali, CEO, of Upstate Venture Connect.

At their business meeting, the 35 member incubators in the association — which together operate more than 40 distinct facilities or programs from Buffalo to eastern Long Island — elected three new directors to replace those rotating off the board this year. The new directors are:

• James Senall, president of High Tech Rochester (HTR). An affiliate of the University of Rochester, HTR owns and operates the 50,000 square-foot Lennox Tech Enterprise Center and manages the 40,000 square-foot Rochester BioVenture Center incubator.
• Sara Garretson, president of the Industrial + Technology Assistance Corp. (ITAC) in New York City. ITAC operates a "virtual" business incubation program that assists companies but does not provide a physical facility.
• Robert Herz, director of the South Side Innovation Center (SSIC) in Syracuse. SSIC is a 14,000 square-foot microenterprise business incubator operated by the Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship at the Whitman School of Management of Syracuse University.

The day concluded with tours of all the incubator programs operated by both Poly and Downstate. Our meeting was sponsored by Francis Cauffman Architects, The Startup Company and its product the Startup Wheel, and Zone 5 Graphics.