SYRACUSE — The U.S. operations of a Chinese company is beginning work in the Syracuse Technology Garden II in AXA Tower II in downtown Syracuse. SUNY Oswego is sponsoring Snow Dragon as part of its tax-free, START-UP NY space in the Tech Garden II. The START-UP NY program provides new and expanding businesses the opportunity […]
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SYRACUSE — The U.S. operations of a Chinese company is beginning work in the Syracuse Technology Garden II in AXA Tower II in downtown Syracuse.
SUNY Oswego is sponsoring Snow Dragon as part of its tax-free, START-UP NY space in the Tech Garden II.
The START-UP NY program provides new and expanding businesses the opportunity to operate tax-free for 10 years on or near an approved university campus.
Snow Dragon is a firm that’s working to develop and market applications for finger-vein security authentication. It wants to develop products that serve the security needs of institutions and businesses in the U.S. and, “eventually, the rest of North America,” SUNY Oswego said in a news release issued May 2.
The company, owned by Beijing entrepreneur Jie Cai (pronounced Tsigh), has pledged to employ seven people at its Syracuse headquarters within the next five years.
“What this technology does is it scans the vein structure in your finger,” says Todd Sullivan, president and co-founder of Syracuse–based Tech Bridge International.
The veins in the human finger are “unique,” says Sullivan.
“This is a pretty sure way, a much higher probability of success of knowing that the person … is who they say they are,” says Sullivan.
He also noted that most authentication is currently done through fingerprints, but fingerprints with oil, dirt, or water can produce “erroneous” readings.
Once the system scans a human finger, the software behind the system requires the individual to provide personal information for future recognition purposes, says Sullivan. He spoke with CNYBJ on May 10.
Based at the Syracuse Technology Garden, Tech Bridge describes itself as an “international business development” firm. It worked with SUNY Oswego in developing the relationship with Snow Dragon.
When asked about the name, Sullivan says Cai refers to Syracuse as “Snow City,” much like local citizens refer to it as the “Salt City.” Plus he also likes snow, according to Sutton.
Dragon is a “powerful” mythical figure in the Chinese culture, he adds.
Trip to China
The collaboration with Snow Dragon grew from a visit that Deborah Stanley, SUNY Oswego’s president, and Pamela Caraccioli, the university’s deputy to the president for external partnerships and economic development, made to China in December 2014, according to the release.
Stanley was visiting China and South Korea “to recruit students,” says Caraccioli. She spoke with CNYBJ on May 6.
With the assistance of Tech Bridge International and CenterState CEO, they also met with representatives of several businesses, including Cai, in Zhongguancun in the Haidian District of Beijing.
Zhongguancun is referred to as China’s “Silicon Valley,” according to SUNY Oswego.
During the trip, Caraccioli delivered a Power Point presentation on START-UP NY, which had been translated into Chinese.
“I had two Chinese companies contact me, one of which was [Cai’s] Cein Biotechnology,” says Caraccioli.
Cai is majority owner of Beijing’s Cein Biotechnology Ltd., a biometrics company developing customized uses for patented, finger-vein scanning hardware and software to serve the security needs of clients that need “living, no-card identity verification.”
Cein officials have visited both Oswego and Syracuse about a “half dozen times” since then and made the decision to pursue operations in Central New York, says Caraccioli.
Cai agreed to form a new, separate company called Snow Dragon to explore potential markets for the technology in North America.
Support, investors
The venture also seeks to leverage SUNY Oswego’s “strength” in wireless research and technology, the school said. Its Advanced Wireless Systems Research Center focuses on research in wireless science and technologies, including wireless sensors and devices.
That facility started operations in the fall of 2015, according to Caraccioli. The research center was under construction when officials from Cein Biotechnology first saw it, she adds.
The university is working “closely” with Snow Dragon to develop a “collaborative” program in finger-vein imaging, Patanjali Parimi, the center’s director, said in the SUNY Oswego release.
One of the company’s goals is to attract U.S. investors, much as Cein has attracted two rounds of angel investment in China, Sullivan said.
To get there, the new company needs to spend several months in research, development, technology demonstrations, and in sales and marketing, he added.
The technology can apply to several types of transactions that require authentication, including a bank transaction, a purchase at a point-of-sale terminal, or logging into an educational course.
“It’s pretty broad,” Sullivan says.
SUNY Oswego Metro Center in Syracuse, the college’s branch campus, is also exploring “synergies” with Snow Dragon, the school said.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com