ROME, N.Y. — The Griffiss Institute will use a $2 million state grant to support IDEA NY, a business-accelerator competition.
It’s a 12-month program that will “incentivize promising entrepreneurs to create and grow viable” commercial businesses in the Mohawk Valley region, the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced.
IDEA NY is short for Innovation & Development Entrepreneurial Accelerator NY Mohawk Valley program. It will focus on the cyber security, big data, information systems, and UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) industries.
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It will also build on the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Commercialization Academy, which is described in the release as a “national leader for facilitating the transfer of military technologies into the commercial marketplace.”
The Mohawk Valley Regional Economic Development Council recommended the funding award.
“The IDEA NY business competition will attract entrepreneurs to the Mohawk Valley and foster innovative businesses in fast-growing sectors of the 21st century economy,” Cuomo contended in the release.
How it works
The grant will enable the Griffiss Institute to provide seed money to entrepreneurs and businesses over three years, with two cohorts of up to 10 teams per year competing for IDEA NY funding. Teams will enter the Air Force Research Laboratory Commercialization Academy business-incubator program, and then compete for $300,000 in prize seed funding, with $200,000 going to the overall winner and $100,000 going to the runner-up.
The program will award the remaining teams up to $8,000 in “consolation” prize money to reimburse for expenses incurred during the incubation process.
The two winning teams will then participate in the year-long IDEA NY accelerator program, in which technical assistance will be provided to help them grow their businesses. The Griffiss Institute will host these teams, and they’ll be “required to reside in the Mohawk Valley for at least one year,” Cuomo’s office said.
The Griffiss Institute and its partners will recruit teams through existing local and national networks. The two prize winners will commit to moving their businesses to the Mohawk Valley for a minimum of 12 months.
An application will go live on Sept. 11 on www.griffissinstitute.org.
“I am very excited about this grant! To my knowledge, this is the most significant example of any state teaming with a national laboratory to create new business, new jobs, and economic growth,” William Wolf, president of Griffiss Institute, said in Cuomo’s release. “IDEA NY will boost talented entrepreneurs to create new business, right here in the Mohawk Valley. Building on the AFRL Commercialization Academy with its proven record of 45 new startups in the past four years, the IDEA NY accelerator program will attract even more highly-qualified visionaries to our region.”
The nonprofit Griffiss Institute “advocates and facilitates” the co-operation of private industry, academia and the Air Force Research Laboratory information directorate, in “developing solutions to critical cyber-security problems,” according to its website.
The Air Force Research Laboratory information directorate is the official name of what is known locally as Rome Lab.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
