Syracuse Tech Garden unveils Power Up room

SYRACUSE — CenterState CEO today announced the opening of the Power Up room, a new suite inside the Syracuse Tech Garden.

The Power Up room is designed to house several regional programs offered at the Tech Garden, becoming the “latest resource in CenterState New York’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem,” CenterState CEO said in a news release.

The space includes several unique features, such as nearly 1,000 square feet of workstations, whiteboard walls, interchangeable murals and banners, graphic designs, and a hallway timeline that “celebrates” the region’s industrial and technology history, CenterState CEO said.

The young firms that participate in regional programs, such as Syracuse Startup Labs, Hack Upstate, and Syracuse Startup Weekend, will have access to the space.

Those programs are “fundamentally driven by their highly collaborative structure,” according to CenterState CEO.

Syracuse Startup Labs brings “accelerating” companies to Syracuse for a one-month, business-development experience each January. Each team will incubate in the Power Up room during the program and for six months after the program.

Hack Upstate, a weekend-long “hack-a-thon” held each autumn and spring, draws software developers, innovators, and designers from across New York to share ideas, form teams, and build products.

Syracuse Startup Weekend, part of the global Startup Weekend event series, is an “interactive and collaborative” program that brings together innovators for 54 hours to share ideas, create business models, and launch startup companies.

With its development of the Power Up room, National Grid (NYSE: NGG) is “enhancing” the physical infrastructure available to facilitate incubation and acceleration within the Tech Garden, CenterState CEO said.

National Grid’s economic-development programs include investments in commercial and industrial-business customers and programs. National Grid in 2013 has invested in four Central New York incubator programs totaling more than $400,000 in entrepreneurial funding, according to the CenterState CEO.

CenterState CEO, the area’s main economic development and chamber of commerce organization, serves about 2,000 companies in a 12-county area of Central and upstate New York.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com