SUNY Oswego to sponsor Chinese firm in START-UP NY space in Tech Garden II

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — SUNY Oswego will sponsor a Chinese company that will occupy part of its tax-free, START-UP NY space in the Syracuse Technology Garden II in AXA Tower II in downtown Syracuse.

The START-UP NY provides new and expanding businesses the chance 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 Monday.

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.

The collaboration with Snow Dragon grew from a visit that SUNY Oswego President Deborah Stanley and Pamela Caraccioli, deputy to the president for external partnerships and economic development, made to China in December 2014, according to the university’s news release.

With the assistance of Syracuse–based Tech Bridge International and CenterState CEO, they 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.

 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.”

Cai agreed to form a new, separate company called Snow Dragon to explore potential markets for the technology in North America.

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The venture also seeks to leverage SUNY Oswego’s “strength” in wireless research and technology. The school’s Advanced Wireless Systems Research Center focuses on research in wireless science and technologies, including wireless sensors and devices.

It 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, Todd Sullivan of Tech Bridge International, speaking for Snow Dragon, said in the release.

To get there, the new company needs to spend several months in research, development, technology demonstrations, and in sales and marketing, he added.

“Snow Dragon is delighted to partner with SUNY Oswego in START-UP NY,” said Sullivan. “The company has technology that has very broad applications. Mr. Cai plans to choose projects that are going to develop revenues early and get Snow Dragon’s name out there.”

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