New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that the Empire State will be launching three “Proof of Concept” Centers that will help inventors and scientists turn high-tech, clean-energy ideas into entrepreneurial successes.
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Gov. Cuomo said that $15 million in additional funding had been granted to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to develop the three new centers.
“These centers will strengthen New York’s already robust clean technology sector and help create new public-private partnerships between our scientific research institutions and business community,” Governor Cuomo said.
The Proof-of-Concept Centers will invite universities, scientists, and research organizations to partner with business experts and early-stage investors in order to move technical innovations beyond the lab and into the market.
Each center will be developed at a cost of $5 million over a five year period, with the costs being shared by a chosen organization within which the center will be created. The announcement says the centers will focus on commercialization of innovations by helping launch new start-up companies. This support will primarily be in the form of connecting developers of promising new technologies with investors and mentors.
“There is a key gap at the proof-of-concept stage of product development,” said Francis J. Murray Jr., president and CEO of NYSERDA. “The goal of this program is to create an innovation ecosystem that helps turn promising cleantech business ideas into reality. By funding these new centers, New York State demonstrates its commitment to growing the clean-energy economy and its support of economic development through public-private partnerships.”
The way NYSERDA works is that they partner with another organization to get such long-term programs started. After the NYSERDA funding expires, the partner organization has to be able to continue running the program on its own.
In this case, applicants who want to partner with NYSERDA to create and run one of these three “Proof of Concept” Centers in New York will have to continue running the center by themselves when NYSERDA funding runs out after 5 years. Applicants have until July 18, 2012 to submit their proposals and the names of the three institutions selected will be announced in Fall 2012.
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