Long Island’s 14 hottest startup companies include everything from drug research firms working on potential treatments for breast cancer to makers of eco-friendly concrete, according to a report released Tuesday. The companies were selected as part of a new report commissioned by Accelerate Long Island, a group that promotes high-tech company growth on the Island. […]
Press Release
Long Island has slowly begun to build a much-talked-about technology economy that is capable of producing good-paying jobs to replace those lost in the defense industry, according to a report due out Tuesday. However, the employment numbers are still tiny. There were 195 tech startups in Nassau and Suffolk counties last year, according to the […]
A Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Spin-out, Envisagenics is a bioinformatics startup founded by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory scientists Roslyn, NY, July 29, 2015 – Accelerate Long Island and the Long Island Emerging Technologies Fund (LIETF) have announced an investment of $100,000 in Envisagenics, Inc. Envisagenics is a bioinformatics startup based on technology developed at Cold […]
Co-founded by North Shore-LIJ infectious disease expert, Symbiotic Health focuses on therapeutics for potentially deadly bacteria Clostridium difficile Roslyn, NY, July 16, 2015 – Accelerate Long Island and the Long Island Emerging Technologies Fund (LIETF) have announced an investment of $100,000 in Symbiotic Health Inc. The biotechnology startup is dedicated to developing and commercializing bacterial […]
Roslyn, NY, June 4, 2015 – Accelerate Long Island and the Long Island Emerging Technologies Fund (LIETF) have announced an investment of $100,000 in Right Dose Inc., a high-tech startup based on research conducted in the Department of Radiology at Stony Brook Medicine. Right Dose was incorporated in 2011 in New York State and its […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MELVILLE, N.Y. (March 25, 2015) – Accelerate Long Island named Long Island’s 14 most-promising technology startups as part of an inaugural look at the state of the local innovation economy. The companies were selected by a panel of technology executives, funding experts and economic development officials, and cover the three sectors that […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MELVILLE, N.Y. (March 25, 2015) – Accelerate Long Island released its inaugural report on the state of Long Island technology startups, offering the most comprehensive look to date at the region’s emerging innovation economy. Prepared over five months, the report is based on data collected from almost 200 local startups in IT, […]
Accelerate LI’s Latest Startup Aims to Rewire Viruses With Software
Accelerate Long Island seeded its first batch of startups earlier this year, and today it has circled back with its latest investment—a company purporting to use computer tools to whip up synthetic viruses and create new vaccines. Accelerate LI and its strategic funding partner, the Long Island Emerging Technologies Fund, have invested $100,000 total—$50,000 apiece—in […]
Codagenix, a Stony Brook biotech company, has closed on $322,000 in public and private funding, including the latest round from a coalition promoting Long Island startups. The company, which digitally simulates viruses to produce vaccines, received $100,000 through a joint investment from Accelerate Long Island and the Long Island Emerging Technology Fund. Codagenix also won […]
Roslyn, NY (December 16, 2014) – Accelerate Long Island and the Long Island Emerging Technologies Fund (LIETF) made an investment of $100,000 in Codagenix Inc., a biotechnology startup company that is based on Stony Brook University research. Codagenix is located at the Long Island High Technology Incubator on Stony Brook University’s campus. Accelerate Long Island […]
It’s become axiomatic to say the future of Long Island depends on us keeping our young people here. It’s true, but it’s true everywhere. For generations, we benefited from a predictable life cycle. High school grads leave for college, move to big cities or other exciting locales for young adulthood, then return to raise families […]
Accelerate Long Island and LISTnet Join Forces to Support COMETS program
Accelerate LI to contribute matching grants to fall COMETS participants Roslyn, NY, June 12, 2014- Accelerate Long Island today announced that it will provide up to $12,500 in matching grants to five tech startup companies (up to $2,500 each) participating in the Fall COMETS program, administered by the Long Island Software Technology Network (LISTnet). COMETS […]
Initial investments of $100,000 each for Goddard Labs, Green Sulfcrete, PolyNova, SynchroPET and Traverse Biosciences will transition technologies from research labs to tech startup companies Roslyn, NY, June 5, 2014 –The Accelerate Long Island (ALI) Seed Fund and the Long Island Emerging Technologies Fund (LIETF) today announced initial investments in five Long Island-based biotech and […]
LaunchPad Opens Technology Incubator and Co-Working Space in Huntington, NY
For Immediate Release LaunchPad Opens Technology Incubator and Co-Working Space in Huntington, NY Huntington, NY, February 5, 2014 – LaunchPad Long Island announced today the opening of a new 8,500 square-foot incubator and co-working space in Huntington for startup technology companies. The facility is the latest effort to support Long Island tech startups moving into […]
LaunchPad Huntington opens for startup companies Originally published: February 5, 2014 7:17 PM Updated: February 6, 2014 11:26 AM By LISA DU lisa.du@newsday.com Harry Scheiner, left, and Tristan Valentino, programmers for the startup company, eGifter, work at their desks as the opening of the shared work space, LaunchPad Huntington, is celebrated Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014. […]
In its quest to become a high-tech hot spot, Long Island has lacked a key element. Money. Specifically, money from deep-pocket investors ready to risk bankrolling researchers with big ideas and startup dreams. Long Island is home to about 130 tech startups at various stages of development, roughly a quarter in biotech. But the capital […]
For more than a decade, Suffolk County business leaders have been trying to figure out ways to keep the area’s brightest and most creative youth from fleeing Long Island and taking their talents to other states. All that hard work seems to have paid off. In recent years, a growing number of technology startups are […]
Long Island can be a driving force of science and innovation in the world’s greatest metro area. It once was; it can be again. We need to reclaim that legacy, which made Long Island a world leader in aviation for most of the 20th century. We should take advantage of our research, medical and educational […]
Topspin CEO Leo Guthart and Partner Steve Winick Join Accelerate Long Island’s Board Roslyn, NY, November 7, 2013- Accelerate Long Island, a regional non-profit organization founded by Long Island’s research institutions and business community to foster the creation of an innovation-based economy, announced an alliance with Topspin Partners, Long Island’s largest venture capital firm, to fund […]
Newsday By Joe Ryan Accelerate Long Island, a nonprofit organization trying to build a network of high-tech startups, has forged a potentially lucrative alliance with the region’s largest venture capital firm, Topspin Partners. The partnership, expected to be formally announced Thursday, equips the three-year-old nonprofit with a direct conduit to introduce aspiring entrepreneurs from local […]
The following guest post is by Mark Lesko, executive director of Accelerate Long Island, which supports early-stage startup technology companies. Many startups, particularly in the social media space, start out by wanting to change the world through the dissemination of important content, the creation of new networks, or by offering socially important technologies. The problem […]
Wall Street Journal August 4, 2013 Will James For years, Long Island’s leaders have dreamed of transforming the suburbs east of New York City into a Silicon Valley-esque hub of technological innovation. That vision received a jolt of energy recently, when Canon Inc. executives said the camera and copier giant would consider conducting research and […]
Accelerate Long Island Hits Major Milestone of 100 Technology Startups
BioTech Startup Boom on Long Island With 25 BioTech Startups MELVILLE, NY– Jun 13, 2013 – Accelerate Long Island today announced that it now has connected with 100 early stage technology startup companies as part of its entrepreneurial ecosystem on Long Island, resulting from its efforts over the last eight months. It also reported that […]
Accelerate Long Island Hits Major Milestone of 100 Technology Startups
Wall Street Journal June 13, 2013 Click here to read more
Newsday June 13, 2013 Accelerate Long Island, the nearly year-old effort to nurture the growth of high-tech companies here, has more than 100 local start-ups in its network of contacts, the organization said. Mark Lesko, the executive director of Accelerate, said he included a business as part of the “ecosystem” of start-ups on Long Island […]
Accelerate LI’s Lofty Goal: Create the Next U.S. Innovation Cluster
May 20, 2013 Xconomy Ben Fidler When Astellas Pharma shuttered the labs of OSI Pharmaceuticals last week, no one felt that loss as acutely as the residents of Long Island, NY. OSI, famed for its lung cancer drug erlotinib (Tarceva), had shown that it was possible to create a large pharmaceutical company on Long Island. […]
Newsday February 27, 2013 By Lisa Du A digital media specialist has joined the ranks of Accelerate Long Island to aid its efforts to help local technology companies grow. Philip Rugile is the third entrepreneur-in-residence at Accelerate. He will work as part of Accelerate Assist, a program that offers mentoring from the entrepreneurs-in-residence as well […]
Accelerate LI, LIFT, LISTnet & the NYIPLA Host Event to Highlight New Patent Laws
February 6 Event will bring experts and technology transfer officers together to discuss new changes in law Melville, NY – Accelerate Long Island, the Long Island Forum for Technology (LIFT) and the Long Island Software and Technology Network (LISTnet) are partnering with the New York Intellectual Property Law Association to sponsor a half-day event that […]
Accelerate Long Island Announces Three Initiatives for Start-ups
Kevin Hesselbirg, former OpenLink CEO, and Michael McEntee, former InterDigital Director, named initial Entrepreneurs-in-Residence Melville, NY – Accelerate Long Island announced the creation of an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) program to provide Long Island start-up companies with mentorship from experienced business executives. The EIR program is part of “Accelerate Assist,” which is a broad initiative that builds […]
Newsday January 17, 2013 By Lisa Du Accelerate Long Island, the four-month-old effort to bolster the regional economy by encouraging growth of high-tech companies, now has a blueprint for commercializing new technology and fostering start-up companies. The organization plans to announce Friday three new initiatives — Accelerate Assist, Accelerate Funding and Accelerate Ecosystem — that will […]
David Calone, Long Island Venture Capitalist, Appointed to Accelerate Long Island Board
On December 19, 2012, the Accelerate Long Island Board unanimously appointed David Calone to serve as a Board member. David Calone is the CEO of Jove Equity Partners LLC, a venture capital firm based in Suffolk County, New York that invests in and helps build technology companies in the internet, software, digital media, energy, real […]
Newsday Thursday November 29, 2012 11:18 AM By Lisa Du Next week, Accelerate Long Island director Mark Lesko will be taking advantage of a nearly year-old invitation to visit San Diego to learn about CONNECT — a 27-year old initiative which Accelerate is modeled after. In San Diego, Lesko will visit companies created from CONNECT’s efforts […]
Newsday It’s no fun to lose a high-stakes bid to win federal dollars. Yes, Stony Brook University and Brookhaven National Laboratory failed to be designated an energy innovation hub for battery research. But there’s still a chance that future battery breakthroughs — so vital to harnessing solar and wind energy, and powering energy-efficient autos — will happen […]
Newsday Originally published: December 19, 2012 8:23 PM Updated: December 19, 2012 8:36 PM By LISA DU A key Long Island effort to nurture high-tech companies and revitalize the regional economy added David Calone, a venture capitalist, to its board. The board of Accelerate Long Island voted last night to appoint Calone, the chief executive of Setauket venture capital firm Jove Equity […]
Accelerate LI, LIFT and LISTnet Form Alliance to Build Long Island’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
Accelerate Long Island announced that it has formed a strategic alliance with the Long Island Software Technology Network (LISTnet) and the Long Island Forum for Technology (LIFT) to build an entrepreneurial ecosystem on Long Island. The three organizations signed a Teaming Agreement establishing this relationship. Accelerate Long Island will work with LISTnet and LIFT on […]
Published October 25, 2012 in Long Island Business News by John Callegari Two seed funds, financed with public and private money, are now ready to help a few good tech startups born of Long Island’s research institutions. Accelerate Long Island and the Long Island Emerging Technologies Fund will soon begin to disburse a combined $1.25 million in […]
Published: September 26, 2012 8:12 PM By JOE RYAN joe.ryan@newsday.com Photo credit: Newsday | Mark Lesko, seen at an event in January, who last week started as executive director of the nonprofit organization Accelerate Long Island, wants to cultivate Island’s tech business sector. (Jan. 18, 2012) Mark Lesko, the newly minted leader of an effort to cultivate […]
Accelerate Long Island Launches Website, www.Accelerateli.org
Melville, NY – On Mark Lesko’s first day as Executive Director of Accelerate Long Island, the non-profit organization launched its official website. The website will be used to assist Accelerate Long Island in its efforts to create an entrepreneurial eco-system. The website features the organization’s Board of Directors, which includes the leaders of Brookhaven National […]
Accelerate Long Island Board Names Mark Lesko as Executive Director
Today, Accelerate Long Island’s Board of Directors announced Brookhaven Town Supervisor Mark Lesko as the first Executive Director of Accelerate Long Island. Lesko will start in mid- September 2012. Accelerate Long Island is a groundbreaking regional collaboration between the Long Island Association, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Canrock Ventures, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, CA Technologies, Ernst & […]
Melville, NY – On Tuesday, January 25, 2011, leading research institutions, Brookhaven Supervisor Mark Lesko and the region’s largest business organization announced the launch of the groundbreaking “Accelerate Long Island” initiative, which will bring together the leaders of Stony Brook University, Hofstra University, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and North Shore- LIJ Health […]
Newsday Editorial: High Hopes for Accelerate Long Island Coalition
Originally published: September 14, 2012 5:15 PM Updated: September 14, 2012 7:26 PM The job shouldn’t be tough: Build a new economic ecosystem for Long Island, to compete with Silicon Valley, Boston’s Route 128, and the emerging Tech Valley cluster in Albany. How long could it take? Six months? A year? Only kidding. Actually, growing and keeping […]
September 06, 2012 | 10:29 AM Brookhaven Town Supervisor Mark Lesko recently accepted a position as the executive director of Accelerate Long Island because the initiative is “the key to the future of the region.” He said in an interview at Times Beacon Record Newspapers that when he first takes his new position, he will […]
Editorial: Mark Lesko Faces Challenges Before and After Leaving Brookhaven
Originally published: August 20, 2012 5:14 PM Updated: August 20, 2012 8:02 PM Brookhaven Supervisor Mark Lesko’s decision to resign, in order to become the executive director of Accelerate Long Island, is good for the region. But it’s tough news for the huge town, which is grappling with major budget problems. On balance, it is a […]
Fri, Aug 17, 2012 Brookhaven Supervisor Mark Lesko announced this week he was leaving the town on Sept. 14 to become executive director of Accelerate Long Island, the fledgling organization he helped create last year. Lesko has served as Brookhaven’s chief executive since winning a special election in March 2009 when then-Supervisor Brian X. Foley left to […]
Originally published: August 15, 2012 7:12 PM Updated: August 16, 2012 12:44 PM Mark Lesko, tapped yesterday to lead Accelerate Long Island, brings clout and a reputation for pulling people together to a nascent organization charged with a herculean task: transforming the region’s economy. The 45-year-old Brookhaven Town supervisor was among the leaders who mobilized […]
Originally published: August 1, 2012 7:54 PM Updated: August 2, 2012 9:24 AM Start-ups across the country and here on Long Island could benefit from a new bipartisan tax bill co-sponsored by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). The legislation — called the Start-up Innovation Credit Act of 2012 — would allow fledgling companies to better access […]
May 4, 2012 11:46 AM There is $1.25 million of fresh money available on Long Island to create between 10 and 15 technology start-up companies. The money was quietly put together in the last few weeks by Resi Cooper, the business consultant who is temporarily heading Accelerate Long Island, the Long Island Association project to […]
New Stony Brook University VP to Foster High Tech Jobs on LI
April 10, 2012 12:45 PM Stony Brook University chemistry professor Benjamin S. Hsiao has been appointed to a new position as the school’s vice president for research, a role that will put him front and center in the Accelerate Long Island initiative. News of Hsaio’s appointment came in a Monday news release from Dr. Samuel […]
April 3, 2012 8:26 PM They came from as close as Brookhaven Town and as far away as Hawaii, all to familiarize themselves with the workings of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, and to find out something vital to their futures: Could they eventually sell products or services to the giant Manhasset-based health care provider? […]
March 19, 2012 Federal Reserve Bank of New York CEO William Dudley today offered his assistance in helping accelerate Accelerate Long Island. Dudley, who was speaking in Melville as part of a Long Island Association event, endorsed Accelerate Long Island’s collaborative approach to boosting the local economy and offered to be a partner in some capacity, although it […]
Originally published: February 23, 2012 7:56 PM Updated: February 23, 2012 9:52 PM Sen. Charles Schumer has asked the United States Postal Service to sell or lease its Hicksville office to a Long Island company hoping to start a high-tech business incubator. “Long Island could become a new hub for technological innovation — if we […]
February 23, 2012 Brookhaven National Laboratory announced today that it will be one of eight national laboratories to implement a new pilot initiative making it easier for private companies to commercialize lab research. While BNL, like other national lab facilities, currently has research agreements in place allowing private companies to work with its researchers to commercialize […]
January 18, 2012 7:43 PM The Long Island Index delivered both good and bad news yesterday. Its survey showed that 61 percent of Long Islanders are having problems paying their rent or mortgages. But in rolling out its ninth annual report, the Index — a data-gathering project of the Rauch Foundation — held out hope that we may finally […]
Originally published: January 17, 2012 8:42 PM Updated: January 18, 2012 12:01 AM Long Island has some ingredients needed for it to become a major “innovation powerhouse” — the Brookhaven National Laboratory and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory research centers, growing federal investment in research and development, and a growing science and engineering workforce, noted the […]
October 3, 2011 Surrounded by examples of past technological achievements at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, more than 100 scientists, entrepreneurs, financiers, and public officials heard Senator Chuck Schumer announce the September 26 kickoff of the Long Island Emerging Technology Fund. With an initial investment of $500,000 from two Long Island investment […]
Originally published: September 28, 2011 8:56 PM Updated: September 28, 2011 9:01 PM Bringing more high-paying biopharmaceutical research and manufacturing jobs to Long Island won’t happen without a concerted statewide effort to compete in the sector, research and educational leaders and industry advocates said Wednesday. “Not only are we facing increased competition from other states,” […]
September 26, 2011 Two Long Island-based investment firms have teamed up to provide $500,000 in seed funding for technology startups. Mark Fasciano, co-founder of Jericho-based Canrock Ventures, and David Calone, president and CEO of Jove Equity Partners, shared a stage at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City this morning with Sen. Charles Schumer and several members of Accelerate […]
Originally published: September 26, 2011 7:34 PM Updated: September 27, 2011 9:46 AM Long Island’s struggling efforts to produce businesses and jobs from the high-level research institutions in Nassau and Suffolk counties got a boost Monday with an announcement that two local venture capital firms have committed $500,000 in hopes of creating more than a […]
August 16, 2011 8:44 PM Venture capitalist David Calone of Babylon-based Jove Equity Partners brought along his checkbook, just in case there was something in which to invest. Nancy D. Lieberman of the Uniondale-based law firm Farrell Fritz brought along an open mind. Calone and Lieberman were among about 30 select Long Islanders invited to […]
August 11, 2011 As part of its mission to create start-up companies through the commercialization of research performed at the region’s larger institutions, Accelerate Long Island is holding its first event aimed at attracting entrepreneurs to invest in local technology. The Accelerate Long Island crew will be at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Monday showcasing several patent and […]
June 27, 2011 8:34 AM How did Silicon Valley become Silicon Valley? Long Island business and political leaders are hoping to get some answers at a meeting Thursday with officials of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, which represents companies in America’s top tech spot. The meeting was arranged by Rep. Steve Israel (D-Dix Hills) and […]
Originally published: March 17, 2011 6:48 PM Updated: March 17, 2011 6:51 PM They said it couldn’t be done — getting the Big Five together in the same room at the same time, that is. But earlier this week, at CA Technologies in Islandia, it was done. Sam Aronson, director of Brookhaven National Laboratory; Michael […]
January 28, 2011 6:57 PM Losing both young people and young companies is not exactly a prescription for a healthy Long Island economy. Now, at least, we’re on the verge of making progress on one of the two: spawning and keeping high-tech companies here. To stop being a net exporter of start-up firms, and to make Long Island competitive, […]
Originally published: January 25, 2011 6:36 PM Updated: January 26, 2011 8:58 AM The effort to produce businesses and jobs from the high-level research institutions on Long Island continued to gather momentum Tuesday, as Brookhaven Supervisor Mark Lesko and the Long Island Association unveiled an effort to commercialize research done here. The initiative, called Accelerate […]