Innovare Advancement Center in Rome formally opens

The facility at the Griffiss International Airport will bring together scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs from academia, industry, and the U.S. Department of Defense to collaborate on technology projects.

“I am thrilled to finally unveil Innovare Advancement Center to the public! We have been the Mohawk Valley’s best kept secret since the Griffiss Institute quietly moved into this innovative space this winter, working in close partnership with Oneida County and Rome Lab to prepare to welcome international scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs to collaborate with us as soon as it became safe,” Heather Hage, president and CEO of Griffiss Institute, said. “Today, with over 300 collaborators in service with the GI, we finally get to show off all that Innovare has to offer the tech community. I am so excited to be a part of this great organization and team, and the GI is committed to do all we can to grow Innovare as a global destination for scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs to collaborate as we educate, innovate, integrate and elevate the next generation of technology leaders, right here in the Mohawk Valley.”

Innovare Advancement Center is a talent and technology accelerator for artificial intelligence/machine learning; cyber; quantum; and unmanned aerial systems (UAS).

A UAS includes a drone and equipment used to control its flight. A drone is also referred to in the industry as an unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV.

Described as a 150,000-square-foot “open innovation hub,” Innovare’s capabilities include highly specialized laboratories for experimentation in quantum and neuromorphic computing; 40,000 square feet, across two floors, of collaboration spaces; an auditorium with capacity for more than 250 people; and a “first in the nation,” New York State funded 50-mile drone corridor for advanced unmanned aircraft operations.

In addition — coming in the spring of 2022 — an indoor sUAS research and testing facility with a 22,500 square foot indoor flight testing area, which will be the “largest in the United States.”

“I’m delighted to represent AFRL in celebrating this milestone of how vision, persistent leadership and teamwork have created a new engine for growing talent, catalyzing partnerships, and delivering solutions that will benefit not just the Air Force and Space Force but the nation as a whole,” Timothy Sakulich, executive director of Air Force Research Laboratory, said.