FuzeMoves

Steve Melito: Hey everybody, welcome to New York State Manufacturing Now, the podcast that’s powered by FuzeHub. I’m your host, Steve Melito. Today we’re talking to Elena Garuc, the Executive Director of FuzeHub, and my boss. We’ll be talking about FuzeHub’s current initiatives and what they mean for New York State manufacturers and technology companies. If you need a reminder, FuzeHub is the statewide center for the New York Manufacturing Extension Partnership, or NY MEP, and we’re funded in part by NYSTAR, which is a division of Empire State Development or ESD. Elena, welcome to New York State Manufacturing Now.

Elena Garuc: Thank you, hello, everybody.

Steve Melito: It’s great to have you with us, and now that I’ve got a few of the acronyms out of the way, let’s talk about some FuzeHub initiatives, starting with the Upstate Defense Initiative. What’s that all about and how will it help New York State’s microelectronics industry?

Elena Garuc: Okay, good question, because we just had a big event yesterday and I’m sure you’re going to ask me about that too. But Upstate Defense is now a designated defense manufacturing community. This is a program led by the Department of Defense’s local office of community cooperation. It really was created to support long-term community investments that strengthen innovation and expand the capabilities of the defense manufacturing ecosystem nationwide. And you can obviously understand why national security is a big concern and these efforts really help to support what’s happening, especially in microelectronics. So FuzeHub, together with Center State CEO, Griffith Institute, the Syracuse University for Institute for Veteran and military families, we’re all working to leverage our ties with the upstate microelectronics industry to address the needs that the DoD has in three main areas, and you’re going to actually hear this theme a lot in some of our conversation today. But it’s innovation, supply chain and workforce. That is really the hot topics right now in economic development in the space that we’re working in. Those are the pillars of the program. It’s a five-year program. The funding was actually awarded to Empire State Development, so we are all partners on that program.

Steve Melito: Excellent, and you mentioned that there was an upstate defense event this week and it was at the Inovare Advancement Center in Rome, New York, which is at Griffiths. How did that event go? I’ve heard the turnout was fantastic.

Elena Garuc: Yes, and anybody who does events, knows it always starts a little shaky. You know you’re like, hmm, I don’t know, 10 people are registered, what’s happening? But ultimately we sold out. We hit the capacity of their center there, so we had over 100 people that came. The event was terrific. It really was our unveiling of this program. We had folks from the DOD that came and spoke to talk about the funding effort and there was a lot of good conversations and dialogue on the activities that are needed to build out the microelectronics ecosystem in upstate and I think it’s clear that it can’t be done by one organization right, it’s a collaboration of folks and the center state is working a lot in the workforce and doing so many different programs to support workforce and Griffiths is doing so much in the innovation and supply chain is a little bit scattered to different organizations and we’re kind of trying to bring that all together to make sure again, and it’s not just for one organization, it’s for the whole industry. So it was a very good turnout. We began the day with a panel discussion with Empire State Development, New York Creates and Micron. It was a very good update on who’s doing what and how to connect with Micron, if you could imagine, there was a little line for Joe Nemi who was our speaker afterwards for folks trying to engage, but he gave a lot of good information on how to connect and their procurement process and what to expect. So I think it was really good for the audience.

Steve Melito: Great. I’m glad to hear that. Let’s switch gears and talk about another initiative. FuzeHub was recently awarded a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation, or NSF, for something called Upstate Makes. What’s that about, and how will that help New York State manufacturers and technology companies?

Elena Garuc: Yeah, you know it’s funny. I look at the Upstate Makes and Upstate Defense and if you’re in marketing or branding, my advice is don’t overdo it, just utilize what you’re already doing and create a second name. So that’s kind of what we did here. So you have upstate defense, which is obviously areas of focus for the defense community, and microelectronics, and upstate makes is really all about advanced materials. So it was formed to advance the materials innovation ecosystem for manufacturing sustainability in New York. Again, we are just really focused on the regional strengths that we have in our Upstate area and these are some of the funding opportunities that we are, you know, looking forward to. So a little history here. In 2003, the National Science Foundation held its first ever NSF engine competition. This was a $160 million funding opportunity over a 10-year period. The goal of the program again, here’s some of the key words right was to foster regional innovation by investing in R&D, innovation and workforce, and you had to pick a specific geographic area. So, of course, you know, hence the upstate. So last year New York State came close to getting two first ever NSF engines in the country. One of the awards went to New Energy New York, which was awarded the $160 million Innovation Engine for all of their activity in battery energy out of the southern tier, and that award was led by University of Binghamton. So, although we were a finalist at FuzeHub, the NSF determined that we needed to realign our R&D agenda with our regional strengths. So we did receive a million dollar, what they call the Development Award, and we are doing just that now. We are realigning our R&D agenda and preparing for the next round.

Steve Melito: Okay, good, so let me ask a harder question, if I may, and I think you answered part of it just now that larger NSF award. What did you learn from that application process? It was pretty intensive, and is there a chance you’ll apply for a larger award again?

Elena Garuc: So, yes, as I mentioned, we are applying. We just submitted our preliminary proposal on August 5th. We’ve been working the last several months with our R&D partners, such as SUNY Albany, Cornell, Clarkson, RPI, just to name a few, Alfred, to really look at the advanced materials innovations that can move the needle forward in the semiconductor industry. So I feel like this whole podcast is about semiconductor microelectronics right, but that’s what’s happening, right, that’s where the hotspot is, that’s where all the economic development work is happening, and we’re pleased to report that we submitted our proposal, as I mentioned, entitled “A Materials Innovation Engine for Microelectronics Manufacturing.” So we are shifting our industries. We are still staying with advanced materials as a topic of our engine, but we are looking to focus more on microelectronics, which is a different industry than our last proposal, and then we’re looking forward to submitting the full proposal in 2025, should we be accepted into the second round. What did I learn? Well, this is not for the faint of heart. The effort to apply for a program this size is intense, as it should be. You know, I think you’re not just submitting for a small funding opportunity here. It takes a village, and I was really taken back by the support received from our partners across the state. I still tell the story to this day that we had our three-day site visit in Buffalo, New York, and it was a pretty intense, you know, grueling three days of questions and understanding the vision of our partners. And we had folks from New York City that flew in for a two-hour session just to support the Engine and be a part of it. So you know, I was really taken back by that and it just shows how far, you know, FuzeHub has come to have these supporters and everybody sort of backing us for applying for the Engine. So, and it was clear, our region’s strength in advanced materials is very unique asset for the state and really unmatched by any other.

Steve Melito: That makes sense and, yeah, that was a lot of work, so I’m glad that there were some good lessons learned. So there’s another initiative as well. FuzeHub received a grant to help entrepreneurs from historically underserved communities. Can you tell us about that?

Elena Garuc: Sure, and this is actually very timely. We’re working on a press release right now. So, with the support from Senator Schumer and Gillibrand, we received an appropriation that came through the SBA and it was to support manufacturing companies in underserved communities. We’re actually kicking the program out as we speak and, for those that don’t know but I think, Steve, you mentioned it in the beginning that FuzeHub is part of this MEP program. It’s a national program. There’s one in every state and in New York we have a network of 11 centers that are all doing the work to help small and medium manufacturers stay competitive. So this is a collaboration of FuzeHub and some of the regional centers. We’re working with AMT in the Southern Tier, CITEC in the North Country and TDO in Central New York, and we’re gonna be looking at a program and curriculum to really help those companies that we’re calling it equity in manufacturing and it will bring forward technical and business services and training targeted for certain individuals and folks of the underserved community. So we look to start having some cohorts and events in early 2025.

Steve Melito: All right, that’s coming up fast and I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you about the Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund. According to the FuzeHub website, the fund has awarded $9.5 million and produced $181 million in economic impacts, and I’d say that’s a pretty darn good return on investment. But what are your thoughts on the Fund these days?

Elena Garuc: Yeah, and I always want to tell people, when you see an economic impact, right? You have to think, so we collect those from, they’re self-reported by the company. So the company, this isn’t just stuff we’re making up the company, we have to log it and track it and it’s all done in a federal system, and that’s just what we collect. And all of the MEP centers and a lot of these economic development organizations have so many more impacts that you just obviously can’t collect. So I just wanted to kind of give everybody a pat on the back for their economic impacts, because even though we have 181 million I’m sure it’s much more, but I remember the day still that I discovered the name of the Fund. So there’s a little bit more of a soft spot here for me on this Fund. So Jeff Lawrence for those that don’t know, I worked for Jeff for almost a decade and doing all of the same work that I’m doing now. I’ve kind of been in this industry of manufacturing, innovation, economic development for two decades and he died unexpectedly. That left a big hole in the hearts of many people who worked with him and who loved him, and you know, he was like sort of the father of our organization at the time. So once I had the opportunity to create this, what was originally called the Technology Acceleration Fund, being the marketing person that I am, I knew there was a place for Jeff and so I had to make him a part of it. So that’s just a little bit of a soft story that every time I hear the Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund, I just feel so proud that everything that it embodies reminds me of Jeff. But the testimonials received from the companies that we fund are just golden. I mean, this fund really helps them through what you know, quote unquote the valley of death of really kind of getting their product to or their project to the next phase. We did a lot of research early on creating this fund and we really wanted to find where the gaps were in the funding that was available to companies and startups. And I think you know we’ve tried to make our application process very easy. Our grants are very easy. We’re not sending 70 page grants for, you know, a $65,000 award. We’ve really tried to react and understand our audience and make our fund, I would say, unique to what we’re trying to accomplish in New York State. And lastly, I will say the companies that are coming through the fund are just amazing. I mean, the products that are medical devices, that are saving lives, products for sustainability in the food that we eat, consumer products that are just making everybody’s lives easier. Just such an array of different types of innovations and technologies, it’s truly amazing.

Steve Melito: It’s very impressive, so listen. Last question for you the New York State Innovation Summit is coming up in October, and this isn’t the first time we’ve done this. So what’s new this year? Why come to Syracuse, to the Oncenter?

Elena Garuc: Okay, yeah, so the Innovation Summit. So every year, if you don’t know, we hold a New York State Innovation Summit. We launched it in 2019. So it’s still a little bit of a baby, but you know she’s there, she’s our baby, she’s our biggest event and we move it around the state. So in Syracuse this year we are really working to kind of provide the same experience that we have in Buffalo and Saratoga and Rochester in previous years. We have an exhibit hall that will have over a hundred companies that are going to be showcasing a technology or a product that they’re developing in New York state. So it’s a really great opportunity to come and see what’s happening in innovation. We have two days of breakout sessions on topics from semiconductor of course, we’re going to be in Syracuse, to life sciences, from, you know, programs that help entrepreneurs, to investment, to smart cities. So really just looking at the ecosystem and developing those topics around what people want to hear. We have some keynotes that we’ll be announcing soon. I can’t give away yet until we hear back and confirm. But you know, expect to network and learn and you know we usually attract between five and six hundred people to the event, so it’s usually a good time.

Steve Melito: Excellent, Elena. Thanks so much for being part of New York State Manufacturing Now.

Elena Garuc: Thank you, Steve.

Steve Melito: So we’ve been talking to Elena Garuc, the Executive Director of FuzeHub, and at this time of year we’re especially grateful to have her on the podcast, because Elena is the one who makes the New York State Innovation Summit happen each fall. This year’s Summit is scheduled for October 28th and 29th in Syracuse, New York, and it’s an event you won’t want to miss, as either an exhibitor or an attendee. To learn more, go to NYSInnovationSummit.com, and if you didn’t get that URL, don’t worry, just email us at info at FuzeHub.com. On behalf of FuzeHub and New York State Manufacturing. Now this is Steve Melito signing off.