According to ESD President, CEO, and Commissioner Hope Knight, the results “show how our strategy is delivering measurable results — supporting jobs, strengthening industries and expanding economic opportunity in every region of the state.” NYSTAR Executive Director Ben Verschueren concurred, noting how “that work translates to jobs, investments, and real progress within the industries that drive our state’s economy.”

NY MEP Improves Competitiveness

The 2025 NY MEP annual report highlights the statewide network’s role in helping small and mid-sized manufacturers improve their competitiveness through technology adoption, process improvements, workforce development, marketing, and supply chain support. NY MEP includes 10 regional centers and one statewide center, FuzeHub.

During calendar year 2024, NY MEP centers:

• Generated $1.29 billion in economic impact
• Created or retained 6,858 jobs
• Served 516 companies

NY MEP is part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST MEP), a public-private network with centers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. In 2024, New York’s NY MEP network received nearly $7 million in federal funding, complemented by approximately $3.8 million in state support.

COEs Drive Growth

The 2025 COE Annual Report highlights the program’s role in promoting partnerships between academia and industry. New York State’s 14 designated Centers of Excellence bring together universities, researchers and private-sector partners to develop and commercialize emerging technologies, attract investment, and support innovation across key industries.

During the July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024, reporting period, New York State’s COEs:

• Generated $530.8 million in economic impact
• Created or retained 776 jobs
• Served 872 companies

These NYSTAR-funded centers focus on strategic sectors such as semiconductors, life sciences, advanced materials, agriculture, and digital gaming. According to ESD, their core mission is to bridge the gap between university research and business needs to create jobs and attract private investment while providing companies with access to faculty expertise and cutting-edge resources.

As more innovations are needed to improve or bridge gaps in treatment, three New York-based businesses—Epic Airway Systems, GE Healthcare, and Z Beats—are utilizing the collaborative capabilities of the NYSTAR support network to pioneer medical devices, all of which have potential as game changers in the industry.

NYC Innovation Hot Spot client Epic Airway Systems (Schenectady) is developing a patented airway management device—focused on improving patient safety and ease of use during emergency airway procedures and surgeries—designed for use by anesthesiologists, CRNAs, emergency medicine physicians, and paramedics.

Founded by former paramedic turned anesthesiologist Eric Moses, Epic Airway Systems identified a longstanding challenge in airway management: healthcare providers are often forced to choose between devices that are easier to use but less secure for patients, or devices that secure the airway but introduce additional risks and complications. Existing solutions—including endotracheal tubes and laryngeal masks—require difficult tradeoffs involving patient safety, provider usability, and procedural efficiency.

Epic’s product eliminates these tradeoffs, creating a surgical asset that combines the advantages of existing airway solutions while reducing complications that have hampered patients and professionals for years.

Since participating in the NYC Innovation Hot Spot and New York NSF I-Corps programming—and finding product development guidance from Fuzehub—Epic Airway Systems has achieved several important commercialization milestones. The company has advanced multiple prototype iterations through testing; secured patents in both the United States and European Union; and earned $50,000 at the 2023 FuzeHub Commercialization Competition during the annual New York State Innovation Summit that has helped validate the company’s commercial potential and increased statewide visibility across the life sciences field.

For GE HealthCare, the company recognized a need for disposable healthcare monitoring devices used in hospitals and clinics to enhance patient monitoring, support infection control practices, and streamline clinical workflow.

However, conventional disposable medical electronics commonly rely on silver-based conductive materials, plastic substrates, and globally concentrated supply chains that are vulnerable to disruptions and material shortages. These systems can also be expensive, generate significant environmental waste (due to their single-use nature), and are often manufactured elsewhere, making them susceptible to possible global supply-chain issues.

To combat these issues, the company has collaborated with researchers at Binghamton University’s FlexMed CAT to develop low-cost and sustainable wearable medical electronics using printed electronics manufacturing technologies.

Supported by NYSTAR infrastructure and the advanced manufacturing capabilities of the FlexMed CAT, the product team was able to develop fully printed ECG electrode lead sets using carbon-based conductive inks printed directly onto paper-based substrates; optimize printing, encapsulation, curing, and thermal compression processes to improve conductivity, flexibility, durability, and manufacturing consistency; and demonstrate that careful design optimization, multi-layer printing, and process improvements can still provide reliable electrical connections and stable bio-signal sensing performance for selected wearable and disposable medical electronics applications.

Finally, the Stony Brook-based ZBeats set out to address a growing challenge in healthcare: the need for faster, more scalable, and more accurate cardiac diagnostics. As demand for ambulatory ECG monitoring has increased, healthcare providers have required innovative medical technology capable of processing large volumes of patient data while maintaining clinical-grade accuracy.

Through sustained and diversified cooperation with multiple NYSTAR assets—including Stony Brook University’s Long Island High Technology Incubator (LITHI), Long Island Manufacturing Extension Partnership (LIMEP), Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT), and Fuzehub—ZBeats has developed ZBPro Diagnostic, an FDA-cleared, cloud-based Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) that analyzes ambulatory ECG recordings and provides clinicians with high-accuracy arrhythmia detection, comprehensive reporting, and clinical decision-support tools.

This continued engagement with the NYSTAR ecosystem has helped ZBeats strengthen its technology, accelerate commercialization, achieve regulatory approval for its FDA-cleared ZBPro platform, and expand customer adoption. Today, the company generates approximately $300,000 in annual revenue while creating and retaining multiple high-level positions at the company.

And like their fellow medical device creators, the work of ZBeats has shown the potential of medical device ingenuity across all of New York—and what the support of the NYSTAR network can do for product development, commercialization, and advancing big ideas forward.

Thanks to the many NYSTAR centers, hotspots and incubators for submitting their success story. Click here to submit your stories to share with the NYSTAR network — we want to hear from you!

These highly advanced devices have transformed the detection of weak light signals. Operating at extremely low temperatures, they use superconductivity to achieve sought-after photon detection efficiencies used in quantum communication, astrophysics, and biological imaging, as well as emerging applications in quantum computing and secure data transfer.

But there’s still room for improvement.

To answer this challenge, the University of Rochester’s Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Science has partnered with digital quantum computing company SEEQC to create, manufacture, and distribute a next-generation smart sensor, designed for use in cutting-edge quantum applications such as optical quantum networks, quantum computing, and secure data transfer systems like quantum key distribution.

Current SNSPDs face a tradeoff between three key performance factors: speed, detection efficiency, and background “noise” (known as dark counts). Integrating digital circuitry directly on the computing chip could help solve this problem by improving bias control, distinguishing between real and false signals, and even measuring photon numbers and energies more accurately.

This is where SEEQC’s industry expertise meets the University of Rochester’s academic research capabilities.

As a spin-out of parent company HYPRES—the world’s leading developer of superconductor electronics—SEEQC has extensive experience in combining classical and quantum technologies to address the efficiency, stability and cost issues endemic to quantum computing systems. And as one of the leading engineering schools in the U.S., the Hajim School is uniquely equipped to advance transformative innovations.

By developing technology built on superconducting materials—and integrating single-photon detectors directly on the same chip as advanced digital processing circuits—the collaboration’s smart sensor addresses key limitations in existing technology. It can detect single particles of light (photons) with exceptional precision, and in turn, help bring the first commercially scalable, problem-specific quantum computing applications to market.

With initial help from a $50,000 Fuzehub Manufacturing Grant in 2022, the partnership transitioned an existing SNSPD model into a new simulation platform (WRSpice), fabricated prototype chips, and performed testing and characterization.

While designed for cutting-edge quantum applications (such as optical quantum networks, quantum computing, and secure data transfer systems like quantum key distribution), the sensors can also support more traditional uses that require extremely sensitive low-light detection, including medical imaging, surveillance, and scientific research.

Since initial development, the project has achieved excellent results.

SEEQC successfully fabricated the new chips, which were then tested and characterized by HYPRES. The devices performed as expected during cryogenic (ultra-cold) testing, which is a necessary condition for superconducting technology. During the course of this work (completed in 2024), SEEQC and the University of Rochester also joined the National Science Foundation’s DISCoVER (Design and Integration of Superconducting Computation for Ventures beyond Exascale Realization) Expedition research program, expanding their work into new areas of quantum interface development.

Since this initial success, SEEQC—which also has facilities in facilities in London, UK, and Naples, Italy—has expanded its work into new areas of quantum interface development, launched collaborations with major corporations IBM and NVIDIA, and grown its operations into a new 12,000-square-foot facility in Elmsford, N.Y.

This project has also led to $1 million in additional investments, $300,000 in increased and retained sales for Seeqc, and ongoing job creation and retention.

Thanks to the many NYSTAR centers, hotspots and incubators for submitting their success story. Click here to submit your stories to share with the NYSTAR network — we want to hear from you!

New initiative from FuzeHub aims to strengthen national defense through the advancement of New York’s microelectronics industry

ALBANY, N.Y. — FuzeHub, the statewide New York Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) center, today announced the winners of the New York State Microelectronics Innovation Challenge. Three projects with ties to Cazenovia, Syracuse, Utica, Albany, Rochester and Binghamton, will each receive $60,000 from the Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund. These grants will support groundbreaking advancements that enhance national defense through developments in the microelectronics industry.

FuzeHub received numerous applications for the funding initiative launched in December 2025. They challenged New York’s innovators to advance New York State’s manufacturing capabilities within the microelectronics industry, either through advancing innovative technologies, or strengthening the microelectronics supply chain within New York State.

The Innovation Challenge focuses on the following areas within microelectronics:

• Electronic components on the micrometer-scale or smaller
• Components and materials necessary for assembling printed circuit boards
• Materials, equipment, and processes necessary for the manufacturing and assembly of the above two categories

“Programs like the Microelectronics Innovation Challenge help bridge the gap between promising ideas and real-world impact,” said Ben Verschueren, Executive Director of Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR). “By supporting early-stage research and helping innovators bring new technologies to market, we can advance critical industries like microelectronics while strengthening supply chains, creating high-quality jobs and expanding economic opportunity for New Yorkers.”

For the video announcement, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LZDWf_0YM0

The selected projects will develop a new way to inspect semiconductor materials, smarter testing for electronic components, and rethink how computer chips communicate internally. These projects show how innovation happens at every stage of the technology community. They are:

• The partnership between the Alliance for Manufacturing & Technology of the Southern Tier (AMT) and Pelco Component Technologies (Southern Tier/ Central NY) will help to integrate advanced in-circuit testing technologies to automate the testing and verification of circuit boards. The project is expected to increase throughput by more than 20X, while improving the accuracy of detecting defects in electronic components and improving their overall performance. This will enhance Pelco’s ability to deliver reliable electronic assemblies, and it translates to a more resilient supply chain serving the defense and industrial markets.

• Syracuse University CASE Center and Mosaic Microsystems (Central NY/ Finger Lakes) will demonstrate a breakthrough approach that builds wireless communication directly into glass-based chip systems, allowing chiplets (small modular chip building blocks) to share data more flexibly and reliably than wired connections alone. The work brings together experts in advanced computer hardware and wireless technology at Syracuse University with engineers at Mosaic Microsystems to help enable faster, more resilient electronics for applications like Artificial Intelligence, high-performance computing, and next-generation communication systems, all with substantially reduced manufacturing cost.

• The Research Foundation at SUNY Polytechnic, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department will collaborate with Xallent (Mohawk Valley/ Capital Region) to validate a new inspection technology. This project is focused on developing a non-contact, non-destructive inspection system that uses terahertz radiation, a safe form of electromagnetic energy between microwaves and infrared light, to examine semiconductor materials without the risk of causing damage to them. This will translate to a reduction in waste, and improved component reliability and performance, and should be especially impactful for components with fragile films and post-CMP surfaces where probe damage is especially costly.

“New York State is leading the growth in semiconductor manufacturing,” said Patty Rechberger, Innovation Fund Manager at FuzeHub. “FuzeHub is proud to support collaboration between academic institutions, regional manufacturing extension partnership centers, and manufacturers in order to accelerate innovation and buttress the microelectronics industry.”

The Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund — which serves as the source of funding for this Innovation Challenge — supports a set of activities designed to spur technology development and commercialization across New York State. Launched in December 2016, the fund is named for Jeff Lawrence, a champion of the New York manufacturing and entrepreneurial communities. Each year, the Innovation Fund provides more than $1 million in direct assistance to the manufacturing, research and development, technology and entrepreneurial ecosystems. To date, the fund has awarded over $11 million in funding to support collaborative projects throughout the state. This Innovation Challenge is made possible through funding and support from Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR) and the U.S. Department of Defense Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation (OLDCC) as part of the Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program (DMCSP).

About Jeff Lawrence

During his more than 20 years at the Center for Economic Growth, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) affiliate in the Capital Region where he served as executive vice president and MEP Center Director, Jeff Lawrence directed programs of direct assistance to manufacturers and technology companies to increase their competitiveness. He is remembered for being an invaluable and generous mentor to many in the area’s business community and a tireless advocate for manufacturing innovation throughout New York.

About FuzeHub

FuzeHub is a not-for-profit organization that connects New York’s small to medium-sized manufacturing companies to the resources, programs, and expertise they need for technology commercialization, innovation, and business growth. Through a custom assessment, matching, and referral platform, FuzeHub helps companies navigate New York’s robust network of industry experts at Manufacturing Extension Partners centers, universities, economic development organizations, and other providers. FuzeHub is the statewide New York Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program (MEP) center, supported by Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology & Innovation.  For more information on FuzeHub, visit www.fuzehub.com.

About Empire State Development

Empire State Development is New York’s chief economic development agency, and promotes business growth, job creation, and greater economic opportunity throughout the state. With offices in each of the state’s 10 regions, ESD oversees the Regional Economic Development Councils, supports broadband equity through the ConnectALL office, and is growing the workforce of tomorrow through the Office of Strategic Workforce Development. The agency engages with emerging and next generation industries like clean energy and semiconductor manufacturing looking to grow in New York State, operates a network of assistance centers to help small businesses grow and succeed, and promotes the state’s world class tourism destinations through I LOVE NY. For more information, please visit esd.ny.gov, and connect with ESD on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X.

About U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)

The Department of Defense is America’s largest government agency. With the military tracing its roots back to pre-Revolutionary times, the department has grown and evolved with the nation. Their mission is to provide the military forces needed to deter war and ensure the nation’s security. https://www.defense.gov/

The 2025 competition season introduced a new fleet of innovators across contests like the agriculture-focused Grow-NY, the photonics-geared Luminate NY, and the startups-supporting 43 North and Genius NY. Here’s a rundown of this year’s competitions and winners—representing various regions across the globe, as well as industries represented across New York’s vast innovation ecosystem.

Grow-NY 

The food and agriculture business competition Grow-NY, administered by the Center for Regional Economic Advancement (CREA) at Cornell University, identifies, supports, and funds the top food, beverage, and agriculture innovations, annually awarding $3 million in prize money along with mentorship and business development support. Winners are required to relocated to the Grow-NY region (Central New York, Finger Lakes, or Southern Tier) for one year to receive the monetary award.

This year’s top prize of $1 million went to Brekland of Brooklyn, a company that develops biodegradable foam coating that brings new in-field functionality to crop protection products. Other honorees included:

$500,000 winners:

• Mothership Materials (New York, NY) – Transforms agricultural waste into carbon-negative raw materials such as glucose and cellulose.
• Seen Nutrition (Ithaca, NY) – Food tech startup focused on the menopause market with patented dietary calcium chew made with dairy produced in Central New York.

$250,000 winners:

• Living Ink Technologies (Berthoud, CO) – Repurposes renewable biomass waste like algae into sustainable black printing inks and pigments.
• Trebe Biotech (Pergamino, Argentina) – Uses insect larvae to produce faster, more scalable bioproducts for animal health such as recombinant proteins and vaccines.
• Whipnotic (New York, NY) – Develops fruit-infused whipped creams with unique nozzle tech.
• ZILA BioWorks (Renton, WA) – Converts vegetable oils into recyclable bio-epoxy resins.

Luminate NY 

Administered by NextCorps in Rochester, N.Y., Luminate NY is the world’s largest business accelerator for emerging companies with technologies enabled by optics, photonics and imaging (OPI). Each year, Luminate NY selects 10 to 12 companies to participate in its program, providing instruction and resources, including $100,000 apiece in funding upon the start of the program. Participating teams also compete for awards, which totaled more than $2 million in 2025.

This year’s $1 million “Company of the Year” was San Diego, California’s Pensievision, whose breakthrough 3D imaging technology for demanding environments from medical diagnostics and factory floors to orbital missions, using miniaturized single-lens setup, AI, and astronomy-inspired optics.

Other winners included:

$500,000:

• amPICQ (Hyderabad, India) – Designs and develops Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) to make quantum-safe security both practical and accessible across Quantumcom, Datacom, and Telecom industries.

$200,000:

• Oblate Optics (San Diego, CA) – Makes ultra-thin lenses that keep laser beams in perfect focus—even on curved or uneven surfaces—without the need to move or refocus the optics.
• Pixel Photonics (Münster, Germany) – Removes the barriers to the widespread use of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) with its waveguide-integrating design (WI-SNSPDs) to support OEM integration across quantum communications, microscopy, medical diagnostics, and advanced sensing.
• SNOChip (Princeton, NJ) – Produces on-chip optical components, such as microlens arrays, computer-generated holograms, and metasurfaces, designed for seamless integration with semiconductor lasers and sensor chips.

$10,000 Audience Choice Award:

• LirOptic (Dublin, Ireland) – Produces adjustable solid-state lens that offer optical innovators unparalleled precision, reliability, and compactness in the realm of medical imaging devices, communication, more.

43North

New York State’s startup competition held in Buffalo invests $5 million into seed-stage companies, offering founders a chance to secure $1 million in funding and gain access to support services including mentorship, connections to investors, and inroads to customers. Winners are required to relocate to Buffalo for one year to receive funding.

The competition looks for startups that have a strong team in place, traction with customers, and have received previous investment. The 2025 43North cohort, each earning a $1 million investment, included:

• Cellsense (New York, NY) – Transforms algae and cellulose into compostable beads that eliminate microplastics across the fashion and cosmetic industries.
• Cosi Care (London, UK) – Created the world’s first medical devices that offer instant itch relief and safe alternative to scratching for those living with eczema or chronic itch. (The company also won $25,000 People’s Choice Award.)
• Floe (New Haven, CT) – Offers smart, cost-effective and eco-friendly solution for ice and snow management on roofs.
• RadEmploy (New York, NY) – Radiology staffing platform that leverages conversational AI to efficiently connect radiology professionals with large hospital systems.
• Tukki.ai (Miami, FL) – Uses AI to help immigrants and companies manage visas and green cards efficiently.

FuzeHub Commercialization Competition 

As part of the Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund, this competition is administered by FuzeHub and held annually at the New York State Innovation Summit. The Commercialization Competition awards totaling more than $500,000 to New York State-based startups that can demonstrate the commercialization potential of their technology or product.

The funding awarded is intended to help small manufacturing and technology companies further develop their prototype in an effort to pursue additional investment and customers as well as strengthen their “go-to-market” strategies.

This year’s top prize ($150,000) went to Southern Tier biorecovery scale-up, REEgen, who has genetically engineered a new approach for recovering and purifying critical minerals from industrial waste, making their production cleaner, safer, and more efficient. Scarsdale’s Gyn-Strong ($100,000) earned runner-up honors for creating the world’s first intravaginal device that uses electrical pulses to provide targeted pain relief and menstrual collection in one discreet, app-connected product.

Other winners included:

• $80,000: CryoBio, Inc. (Southern Tier) – Developing a one-of-a-kind spray solution that prevents ice formation on crops to eliminate frost damage.
• $60,000:
  • IVSonance Biomedical, Inc. (Southern Tier) – Addresses in-vitro fertilization (IVF) challenges with a transformative acoustic technology built on the powerful principle of moving objects without touching them.
  • TunaBotics (Central New York) – Develops robotic grippers made of soft materials that let robots pick up objects that are too small, delicate, or curved for existing tools.

New York Business Plan Competition

The New York Business Plan Competition is a statewide, intercollegiate entrepreneurship competition, administered by Upstate Capital, that awards more than $100,000 in cash prizes to up to 30 student teams in six tracks.

Columbia University’s Sara Technology took home the $25,000 Grand Prize for its AI-powered platform that expands access to pediatric speech therapy. The team’s mission to make speech therapy more affordable and accessible for families and Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) stood out for its impact and scalability.

See the complete list of this year’s winners here.

HUSTLE

Administered by Griffiss Institute in Rome, N.Y., the HUSTLE Defense Accelerator is for early-stage and pre-seed tech startups pushing artificial intelligence, machine learning, cybersecurity, quantum science, or aircraft system solutions, culminating with a Demo Day Competition that awards a total of $600,000. Winners are required to conduct substantial businesses operations in the Mohawk Valley for at least 12 months after the HUSTLE Defense Accelerator.

This year’s application deadline was extended to December 19. Following an initial down-select, selected teams will be notified after the deadline to participate in a Virtual Pitch event. From this pitch, five winners will be chosen to participate in the HUSTLE cohort, starting in March 2026.

GENIUS NY 

Based in Syracuse and administered by CenterState CEO, GENIUS NY is an accelerator in the UAS (uncrewed aerial systems) industry, distributing a total of $3 million across five winning teams. Winners are required to relocate two of their leadership staff to Syracuse for a minimum of 12 months.

This year’s cohort is:

• Flox (Stockholm, Sweden) – Employs AI on drones to deter wildlife from critical infrastructure.
• Lamarr AI (Georgia) – Provides faster, more affordable building exterior inspections using drones and AI. A Syracuse University professor is a co-founder.
• Lighthouse Avionics (Ohio) – Offers cost-effective optical solutions for monitoring low-altitude airspace to detect drone and bird threats.
• Modovolo (New York) – Develops low-cost, modular drones with extended flight capabilities for commercial and defense applications.
• Skyfire AI (New Jersey) – Uses autonomous drone swarms and AI to enhance situational awareness for first responders and defense teams.

Winners of up to $1 million will be announced in May 2026.

Congratulations to the most recent winners! To learn more about New York’s startup accelerators and competitions, click here.

As the demand for domestic lithium-ion battery production grows, U.S. manufacturers face increasing pressure to secure their supply chains and meet federal requirements for domestic sourcing while maintaining performance and cost competitiveness.

The companies Natrion and BridgeGreen Upcycle—both empowered by Koffman Southern Tier Incubator—identified the opportunity to expand their possibilities, all while creating a significant and locally sourced production footprint, job opportunities for New York’s manufacturing workforce, and significant efforts toward building a resilient and sustainable battery supply chain for the U.S.

For Natrion, the battery technology company significantly increased its production capacity to meet growing demand for high-performance, American-made battery components officially by opening its new manufacturing site in Buffalo in early September 2025. Supported by a $1.3 million grant from the New York Power Authority (NYPA)—as well as $250,000 from Empire State Development’s performance-based Excelsior Jobs Tax Credit Program to support staff additions and a $1.5 million investment in continued growth through New York Ventures— company’s expansion underscores Natrion’s commitment to advancing domestic battery manufacturing and innovation, and now houses production lines for the company’s proprietary Active Separator: a key technology that enhances battery safety, energy density, lifespan, and fast-charging capabilities. Critically, Natrion’s Active Separator supports domestic American battery builders in qualifying for Section 45X subsidies under new federal legislation while simultaneously diminishing cell manufacturing costs and material intensity.

Heading into 2026, the new Buffalo facility has already achieved 20,000 square meters of monthly capacity throughout with its first commissioned line at the site. At full projected utilization, the new site is expected to supply Active Separator for over 500 MWh of lithium-ion batteries per year—equivalent to approximately 11,000 electric vehicles. The expansion is expected to create 19 new jobs and positions Natrion as a key contributor to New York’s advanced manufacturing ecosystem, and is accelerating its mission to deliver safe, high-performance, and domestically produced battery solutions to meet the nation’s energy transition goals.

For Bridge Green Upcycle, the tech company is redefining battery end-of-life management by returning valuable materials to the circular battery economy. Their technology supports the full recycling ecosystem—from battery health monitoring and second-life innovation to extracting high-grade black mass and precursor materials for new batteries.

To enable this work, Bridge Green is using two wet labs at the Koffman Incubator, each equipped with fume hoods, filtration systems and specialized infrastructure for safe R&D and validation of lithium-ion battery feedstock. When the company first connected with the Southern Tier incubator, it initially operated one wet lab at Koffman, but rapid growth quickly called for even more space for operations including staging, assessment and evaluation, and expanded manufacturing space that could support a larger and more efficient workflow.

Bridge Green looked to expand within Koffman, specifically occupying the facility’s 1,200-square-foot high bay space. This offered the open, versatile, and adaptable area the company needed, with 20-foot ceilings, room for vertical storage, staging and equipment setup, and the customizable square footage suited to their evolving processes, allowing the team to scale their battery evaluation process and create needed efficiencies in processes, transportation of materials, and more. In addition, the facility’s configurable infrastructure supports required safety protocols and employee training for compliant handling of lithium-ion raw materials, and is now able to serve as the central intake hub where batteries are assessed before moving to the wet labs for mineral extraction.

But Bridge Green is not only expanding its physical footprint. With $250,000 in additional support from New York Ventures, it’s building the skilled workforce needed to support the circular battery economy. As the company prepares for future manufacturing scale-up, the ability to train, upskill and grow talent within the Koffman ecosystem will be a critical driver of New York’s clean-energy innovation leadership. The high bay facility strengthens Bridge Green’s ability to develop a skilled workforce in the Southern Tier. As Bridge Green looks ahead to establishing a full-scale manufacturing facility in New York, this consolidated environment provides a foundation for operational excellence and future talent development.

And as is the case with its fellow battery tech contemporaries at Natrion, the company’s growth contributes to regional economic development by preparing workers for emerging roles within the circular battery industry—and is making Western New York and the Southern Tier a vital part of the U.S. battery supply chain.

Thanks to the many NYSTAR centers, hotspots and incubators for submitting their success story. Click here to submit your stories to share with the NYSTAR network — we want to hear from you!

“The SUNY AI Symposium at UB was a powerful demonstration of what is possible when we come together across disciplines and sectors,” said F. Shadi Sandvik, PhD, Senior Vice Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Economic Development, State University of New York. “It reflected SUNY’s deep commitment to advancing collective innovation-not only in research labs and classrooms, but also through dynamic industry-academia collaborations and faculty and student-driven startups. AI is not just a technological frontier; it is a catalyst for advancing student success, economic mobility and real-world solutions that benefit our communities.  At SUNY, we remain steadfast in our commitment to advance AI in service of the public good.”

The event brought together more than 330 attendees from across New York State, including AI-focused panelist participants, researchers, and speakers from throughout the SUNY system and other universities. Joined for lectures and demonstrations by leaders from IBM, Moog, Inc., M&T Bank and over 40 other companies and partners, the multifaceted event showcased how innovators are harnessing AI for the good of communities around the world.

The NYSTAR-supported event also highlighted the creation of UB’s Department of AI and Society, established to highlight and expand the possibilities of artificial intelligence in our daily lives, and set to launch in Fall 2025. The department plans to advance UB’s position as a national leader in AI; leverage significant investments from New York State; and support AI-focused degrees across an array of undergraduate programs and academic disciplines that will distinguish UB and attract students and faculty to campus.

According to details from the university, the department will complement existing academic departments and units, including UB’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, and Empire AI, the $400 million statewide consortium whose supercomputing center is located at UB. The consortium’s key research partners in the SUNY system also include the University at Albany, Binghamton University, and Stony Brook University.

SUNY and New York State have committed significant funds for the new department, and the University at Buffalo’s Provost’s Office will provide recurring funds and enable eventual location of the department in a new AI and Society Shared Research facility—which will feature computer labs, offices, conference rooms, and incubator space for startups—on UB’s North Campus. UB will also use the state funds to purchase high-performance computing equipment for use by UB researchers and students, and to recruit faculty to join the more than 200 professors already researching AI across various industries.

In addition, university leaders celebrated the ribbon cutting for the UB School of Management’s Center for AI Business Innovation. The center will bring UB’s leadership in AI to businesses and industries looking to leverage AI solutions.

The cumulative impact of these developments for UB and New York State is considerable, and like its AI Symposium, complements the university’s burgeoning expertise in this evolving field of study.

“New York State is home to both incredible talent and also a spirit of collaboration that defines our community,” said Venu Govindaraju, PhD, vice president for research and economic development at the University at Buffalo. “The SUNY AI Symposium at UB forged new connections across our campuses and with industry, making it clear that UB and SUNY are realizing AI for the public good.”

Envisagenics, supported by the Center for Biotechnology at Stony Brook University, is a pioneering biotech company that has been applying AI to drug target discovery for over a decade. In drug development, targets are molecular structures (often proteins) where drugs bind to exert their therapeutic effects. For cancer, an ideal target is a cell-surface protein found exclusively on tumor cells but not in healthy tissues.

To identify such targets, Envisagenics developed SpliceCore®, an AI-powered platform that mines and analyzes large-scale RNA sequencing data from patient samples to uncover disease-specific splicing events. Although RNA splicing is one of the most important mechanisms for generating protein diversity—impacting over 95% of human genes—it has historically been underutilized in drug development due to its biological complexity and the computational scale required to study it. SpliceCore was designed specifically to address this gap. It applies AI throughout the target discovery pipeline, from raw data processing to the generation and validation of therapeutic assets, enabling the identification of disease-specific splicing events that traditional methods miss.

The Center for Biotechnology at Stony Brook University played a key role in Envisagenics’ early development, advising the founders on company formation, business model strategy, intellectual property, and licensing. This foundational support helped Envisagenics build a robust and scalable target discovery engine.

Today, Envisagenics operates one of the industry’s leading platforms for target discovery. Its proprietary splicing database—now exceeding 14 million splicing events—powers AI-driven identification of novel drug targets at an unprecedented scale. This innovation has led to strategic partnerships with leading pharmaceutical companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Biogen, and Bristol Myers Squibb. By unlocking new therapeutic opportunities in oncology and neurodegeneration, Envisagenics continues to lead the convergence of AI and biotechnology, transforming how the next generation of precision medicines are discovered.

Up the Thruway toward Syracuse, another innovative startup is leaning on AI in the fight against cancer, too.

Backed by SUNY Upstate Medical University’s business incubator, BiRed Imaging, Inc.—a CNY Biotech Accelerator (CNYBAC) 2023 Medical Device Innovation Challenge graduate and client startup company—is commercializing an innovative AI-enabled thermophysics approach for early detection of breast cancer, the one of the most common cancers and second-leading cause of cancer deaths among women.

The American Cancer Society estimates 317,000 new cases of and 42,000 deaths in 2025 from breast cancer. Early detection continues to be the best weapon in the fight. BiRed’s system—which uses AI and thermal imaging to detect tumors without breast compression or radiation, and to obtain the accurate size and location of malignant tumors—makes early detection easier and more precise.

Developed through six years of research at Rochester Institute of Technology and Rochester General Hospital (RGH)—and backed by a $305,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) Phase 1 grant to advance its AI-powered technology—the BiRed Imaging technology has accurately identified tumors in 25 biopsy-proven cases. As a complement to mammography, it remains effective even for dense breast tissue and offers a non-invasive, cost-effective alternative for early detection. Currently undergoing additional clinical studies at RGH under an approved institutional review board (IRB), BiRed is working towards proving the efficacy of their technology while improving patient comfort and overall clinical workflow.

Together, the efforts of Envisagenics and BiRed have provided a glimpse of AI’s potential benefits for patients and healthcare providers, all while highlighting New York’s willingness to invest in the development of innovative approaches to cancer care.

It starts with curiosity.

That’s where the science nearly always begins, leading researchers to discoveries — both of what works and what doesn’t.

These days, thanks in part to collaborations with businesses across New York State, curiosity is leading researchers out of their specialty silos into interdisciplinary projects. It’s work with potential that can lead to game-changing industry innovations.

Bruno Xavier and Silvana Andreescu are two researchers leading cutting-edge, interdisciplinary teams that are having a significant impact on the food and agriculture space. Their work is a key resource for entrepreneurs and food manufacturers across New York State’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR) network.

At Cornell, Xavier is leading the Fermentation Farming Lab, while at Clarkson, Andreescu leads a team of students applying sensor technology to food packaging to address spoilage and waste.

The disruptive capabilities of fermentation farming

A native of Brazil, Xavier says farming runs in his blood. While his parents were the first generation to leave the farm, he felt a strong relationship to agriculture. Trained as a dairy technician in high school, he worked on a dairy farm to put himself through college where he studied food engineering. As a graduate student, he developed an appreciation for academia and interdisciplinary studies focused on sustainability, putting together his strengths in engineering and microbiology into the research of biofuels and alternative antibiotics.

A move into food safety research was his first opportunity to work with entrepreneurs. And that’s where the lightbulb came on.

“I was working with people that were dedicating their lives to these very audacious goals and loving that,” Xavier said. “I saw change in the food industry and a huge push toward sustainability. [People addressing] challenges [related] to the ways we make food were using the same technologies that I was using before in the production of biofuels. So, I decided to put some time into it, and it snowballed from there.”

Xavier now leads Cornell’s Fermentation Farming Lab, which supports potential disrupters in the food industry as entrepreneurs look to utilize new technology to increase nutritional value, remove allergens, and reduce the environmental impact of traditional farming practices. This includes the fascinating world of mushrooms and the ability of the fungi to transform food waste materials into proteins that mimic the properties of meat.

“The possibility of creating these types of protein and making them available to people without access to high quality protein is inspiring,” Xavier said. “That’s only happening because we are taking technologies that were developed in other sectors and applying them to food production systems. The type of work that we are doing is innovation. It is research that is fresh out of the oven.”

Applying the technology is an expensive and often prohibitive undertaking for small businesses and entrepreneurs, which is one of the reasons why the Fermentation Farming Lab was created in 2023. Thanks to its place in the NYSTAR network, the cost of using the Lab’s services to go from idea to proof of concept is accessible for smaller companies and start-ups looking to create new sources of protein for the world’s food supply.

Moving beyond the expiration date

During her 25-year career as a bioanalytical chemist, Andreescu has been researching ways to innovate sensors and sensing technology and convert those results from a laboratory into useful products for consumers.

Her latest research has focused on developing product sensors that would be incorporated into food packaging to indicate the freshness of food. Utilizing biocompatible packaging, the research focused on design formulations that were made of entirely of green and sustainable materials.

Using dyes that are responsive to freshness and safety indicators, the changing color on a package gives consumers information on if their food is spoiled. This provides a more accurate measure than the confusing world of “sell by,” “best by,” and “use by” dates, according to Andreescu. This in turn helps cut down on food waste and increases food safety.

“The fundamental work is processing these materials, making them mechanically strong, sensitive or responsive to biomarkers in food, and biodegradable,” Andreescu said. “When we started, this was more of scientific curiosity. We have advanced in the last two or three years to something we can consider a product ready for prototyping.”

That’s where researchers and industry come together.

The laboratory work was part of an inaugural student and faculty research program, Food Spoilage Mitigation through Packaging, funded through a grant from The New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I). Now, Andreescu and her team will work with the Center for Advanced Materials Processing (CAMP) at Clarkson, and part of the NYSTAR network, to connect with food manufacturing companies interested in collaborating on prototype testing.

One of the greatest strengths of this work for Andreescu is the opportunity to give students meaningful experience in research, opportunities to collaborate with industry partners, and exposure to the multidisciplinary work that will drive innovation in the future.

“This symbolizes the sort of investments from New York State in centers, like CAMP, that are really important for training the next generation and for bringing faculty, entrepreneurs and industry together,” Andreescu said. “It pays off in terms of student placements in really good jobs, but also in growing the reputation of researchers and New York State as a place creating these opportunities for businesses.  Essentially if we want to see more of a translation from curiosity-driven research into a market-like culture, or from innovation to consumer use. This type of culture shift is important.”

These are just two examples of researchers who are part of the NYSTAR network supporting innovations in food and agriculture spaces. To learn more about NYSTAR and the resources available to innovators in New York, visit Empire State Development’s website.

What are the best ways to recycle disposable medical gowns, masks, and other one-time-use personal protection equipment?

It was an interesting question, raised at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The possibilities piqued the interest of Dr. Fengqi You, an engineering professor in Cornell University.

But the New York Embroidery Studio (NYES) asked something different, which led Dr. You down an unanticipated path.

Instead of looking at how to recycle these products, how about starting the process by making hospital gowns out of biodegradable material? Would that be better for the environment?

The company approached the Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR), funded by New York State’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR) for help finding an answer.

That’s when Dr. You, the Roxanne E. and Michael J. Zak Professor in Energy Systems Engineering, came on board to look at the overall “energy system” of biodegradable medical gowns. He analyzed more than just the makeup of materials that could be used in the manufacturing process; his research took the total lifecycle of biodegradable medical gowns into account — from production to disposal.

“It’s not only looking at a single stage of how we make it, but also how we use it, and at the end of the product’s life, how we dispose of it, which is critical,” Dr. You said. “During the pandemic, people were looking for a better process to recycle and dispose these medical gowns and face masks, but NYES had an interesting question about deciding what kind of materials to use in the gown.”

Suppliers touted using biodegradable raw materials, which, at first glance, seemed promising. But the available research at that point was too limited to draw any conclusions.

“In this case, CCMR was more than just a third-party doing auditing. We worked to understand from a scientific level if this was the right thing to do or not, in a rigorous and systematic way” Dr. You said.

He found that while there were some differences between using biodegradable versus conventional raw materials in the manufacturing process of medical gowns, the impacts on the environment would be negligible. Likewise, there was no difference in the wearing of the gown.

However, he made a significant discovery in the disposal process.

“Biodegradable gowns will degrade faster than traditional ones, and we systematically evaluate on whether that’s really good or bad,” Dr. You said. “It sounds like, ‘Oh degradable. It’s always good!’” We took a systems approach, looking at the whole system very comprehensively, and found out in this particular case, that degrading faster is actually worse because the used product releasing emissions into the air faster in the degradation process.”

Ultimately, Dr. You’s research showed that biodegradable medical gowns would not have a net environmental benefit, unless the landfill gas capture efficiency could reach 85%. While it wasn’t the result NYES had hoped for, the research allowed the organization to make an informed business decision.

“While disappointing, this analysis was really a huge success, as we were able to avoid further investment into [this] technology,” said Mike Saxon, general manager at NYES. “We’ve gone on to use this data to develop alternate strategies, such as promoting reusable gowns. We’ve also shared this research with other firms who were exploring the technology and help them focus their efforts elsewhere.”

Dr. You is eager for similar projects which bring marketplace-based problems to researchers, particularly as he explores the next frontier in advanced materials research: artificial intelligence.

Serving as the co-director of the Cornell University AI for Science Institute (CUAISci), he sees great potential for using AI as a tool in advanced materials research as academics and companies continue to search for more sustainable raw materials and processes.

“This particular domain of material research has traditionally relied on trial and error, and that takes a long time to validate solutions,” Dr. You said. “AI can speed that up. I think for material research, there are so many opportunities that we could explore, because these are new tools like generative AI that could help us develop something more powerful.

“We are doing interesting research driven by societal needs.”

Visit CCMR and NYSTAR online to find our more information about the programs and ways in which business and research are transforming New York’s innovation economy.