Griffiss Institute receives $3 million in funding for Internet of Things lab

ROME, N.Y. — U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D–N.Y.) on Friday announced $3 million in funding for the Griffiss Institute, in collaboration with the Central New York Defense Alliance — nonprofit partners of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) — to build a new Smart-X Internet of Things (IoT) collaborative lab.

Gillibrand visited the Innovare Advancement Center in Rome to make the announcement.

The Smart-X IoT Living Lab will be an open and collaborative environment where vendors and developers can integrate, test, experiment, and demonstrate smart-technology capabilities.

Project funding was secured in the fiscal year (FY) 2023 federal spending package.

“This federal investment in the Smart-X laboratory will give the community at the Griffiss Business and Technology Park the resources needed to continue their groundbreaking work in information-science research and advanced technology and attract great jobs to the Mohawk Valley,” Gillibrand said in a release announcing the funding.

“The Griffiss Institute is grateful to Sen. Gillibrand and our congressional delegation for this federal investment to expand our region’s capacity for autonomous-systems innovation,” Griffiss Institute CEO Heather Hage said. “We look forward to expanding access to Innovare Advancement Center’s testbeds, where we welcome diverse innovators to converge on the challenge to deliver trustworthy technologies to the American economy.”

Central New York Defense Alliance Executive Director MC Chruscicki thanked both Sen. Gillibrand and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer for their past support of the community project, allowing the region to capitalize on the power of evolving IoT technologies including uncrewed aerial systems (UAS).

Senator Gillibrand says she also helped secure $4.2 million in the FY 2023 spending package to upgrade communications infrastructure at Rome Lab.