SYRACUSE — Entrepreneurs, startup companies, and early-stage technology businesses have until Sept. 16 to apply to participate in the state-supported Genius NY competition that CenterState CEO is administering. “The Genius NY competition, a signature part of our region’s economic-development strategy, is now open and accepting applications from companies all over the world,” Robert Simpson, president […]
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SYRACUSE — Entrepreneurs, startup companies, and early-stage technology businesses have until Sept. 16 to apply to participate in the state-supported Genius NY competition that CenterState CEO is administering.
“The Genius NY competition, a signature part of our region’s economic-development strategy, is now open and accepting applications from companies all over the world,” Robert Simpson, president and CEO of CenterState CEO, said in his remarks at the Syracuse Technology Garden on June. 14.
The program will invest more than $4 million in participating companies, including three grand prizes valued at up to $1 million, $600,000 and $400,000, “making it one of the largest business competitions in the world,” the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo contended in a separate news release.
The competition is similar to 43North in Western New York, which is part of Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion initiative.
Genius NY stands for Growing ENtrepreneurs & Innovators in UpState New York. Howard Zemsky, president and CEO of Empire State Development, first announced the program in the same venue in June 2015.
After a year of program development, Zemsky returned to the Tech Garden on June 14 to speak as the program begins the application period.
Genius NY is the” key business accelerator program” at the Tech Garden.
The business competition targets companies in the “unmanned aerial, ground, and marine systems and cross-connected platforms sectors.”
The competition would also welcome startups that focus on precision and remote sensing, data collection, guidance systems, communication systems, sensors, and data analytics among other technological categories.
“We think we have deep expertise and we want to continue to build on this region’s reputation as a leading place to do business as it relates to sensing technology, wireless communications, cyber security, and more,” Simpson contended.
CenterState intentionally aligned the Genius NY program with CNY Rising, the region’s winning proposal for the Upstate Revitalization Initiative (URI), he added.
Upstate Revitalization Initiative is the official name of Cuomo’s economic-development contest held in 2015 that some media outlets dubbed the “Upstate Hunger Games.”
Simpson noted that the Central New York regional economic-development council (REDC) outlined an “ambitious” goal to create a “global center for unmanned systems in cross-connected platforms right here in Central New York.”
“This is the industry sector where we think we’ve got deep capability,” said Simpson.
About Genius NY
The application period opened June 15 and will continue through Sept. 16, according to Rick Clonan, VP of innovation & entrepreneurship at CenterState CEO.
“That’s a pretty good time frame to get a lot of applicants here to do a lot of outreach and to get a good pool,” said Clonan.
A panel of judges will evaluate the applications and select 12 semifinalists to present live demonstrations and pitches this fall.
Judges will select the first cohort in mid-November. Six companies will then advance to begin the competition on Jan. 2, 2017, which marks the beginning of the year-long accelerator process.
The program is open to startups from around the nation and the globe, according to Clonan.
“We think that when people come here and they are able to leverage the money, they’re able to leverage the resources that we’re going to provide and are able to experience Central New York that they’re actually going to stay here and build a business here,” he said.
Besides funding for the grand prizes, CenterState CEO will use another $1 million of the ESD funding toward resources at the Tech Garden. “We’re really going to put a lot of effort into our workshops, our training, our mentors and advisors, and that’s really going to make a big difference,” Clonan said.
Companies can find out more information on the competition’s website (www.geniusny.com) and apply to participate in the program, which CenterState believes will make a big impact on the area.
“This program is probably going to be the biggest game changer that we’ve had in this area ever for entrepreneurs or for startups,” Clonan contended.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com