Schumer, Gillibrand Announce $500K In Fed Funds Awarded To Southern Tier Startup Alliance - Schumer, Gillibrand Pushed For Funds That Will Support Entrepreneurs Developing New Products And Ideas

Press Release

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand announced $500,000 in federal funding for the Southern Tier Startup Alliance, a collaboration between Binghamton University, Cornell University, Corning Inc., and the Ceramics Corridor Innovation Center. These federal funds will help to support the Alliance's development of a Hardware Entrepreneurship Ecosystem (HEE) in the Southern Tier. In February, Schumer wrote a letter to the federal Economic Development Administration (EDA) urging the agency to award the Southern Tier Startup Alliance this $500,000 -- to be awarded over two years -- to support their efforts, which would then come with a match from New York State and the applicant, bring the total funding to $879,000. Senator Gillibrand also wrote EDA in December 2014. The total project will cost $1.379 million over the two years, and Schumer and Gillibrand said these federal funds are critical to getting this project off the ground.

"This federal funding is great news for job-creating entrepreneurs throughout the Southern Tier who will now benefit from the Startup Alliance's ambitious plan to get product-manufacturing businesses off the ground. I was proud to push for this federal funding and am pleased the EDA has made this wise investment in Southern Tier businesses and jobs," said Senator Schumer. "The Southern Tier Startup Alliance's plan will boost the economy and companies like Corning and institutions like Cornell and Binghamton University will now be able to provide the perfect environment for this innovation hub to take off."

"I fought for this critical funding that will boost manufacturing in the Southern Tier by combining the region's strength with cutting-edge business incubation, acceleration, and entrepreneurship" said Senator Gillibrand. "I'll continue to push for funding that leverages the region's strong research university and private sector assets to spur economic development and job growth in the Southern Tier."

"This EDA award leverages the Southern Tier's historical strengths in advanced manufacturing -- we have great engineering programs at Binghamton University and Cornell, and a longstanding history of bringing high tech products to market through companies like BAE, Corning, Lockheed, Raymond, and others," said Harvey Stenger, President of Binghamton University, co-chair of the Southern Tier Regional Economic Development Council and member of the executive steering committee of the Southern Tier Startup Alliance:. "This award dovetails nicely with the work we're doing through the Regional Economic Development Council to support both entrepreneurship and advanced manufacturing as focus points for the region."

"We have seen a lot of interest in what we call "the entrepreneurship of making things'. New York's Southern Tier is a great place to start and grow a company -- particularly one that makes physical products, which is why we're seeing tremendous interest in our SBA-funded Hardware Accelerator program that we're piloting this summer," said Ken Rother, Entrepreneur in Residence of the Southern Tier Startup Alliance.

Schumer and Gillibrand explained that the Hardware Entrepreneurship Ecosystem will leverage the investment of New York State, Cornell University, Binghamton University, and Corning, Inc. in the Southern Tier Startup Alliance. He explained further that the Small Business Administration's investment in the pilot "Southern Tier Hardware Accelerator" program at Rev: Ithaca Startup Works, will also facilitate product entrepreneurship in central New York. This ecosystem will now combine the region's strengths in engineering, materials science, and manufacturing with cutting-edge business incubation-and-acceleration and entrepreneurship to quicken the development of product-oriented startups and grow the region's economy and employment. This project will help re-establish the identity of the Southern Tier as a great place to start and grow a product-manufacturing company.

The Startup Alliance is a member organization of five business incubators: Incubator Works- Corning, The Center: Built for Small Business Growth, The McGovern Family Center for Venture Development in the Life Sciences, Rev: Ithaca Startup Works and the Startup Suites at Binghamton University, soon to be the Southern Tier High Tech Incubator.

Schumer pushed for these funds in February 2015 through the EDA's i6 challenge, which is a multi-agency grant that encourages and rewards innovative, groundbreaking ideas that accelerate technology commercialization, new venture formation, job creation, and economic growth across the United States.

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