APRIL 2019 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 29
ACCELERATE LI
SPEEDING UP STARTUPS
BY CLAUDE SOLNIK
In a push to turn brainpower into business,
the nonprofit Accelerate Long
Island provides money, mentoring
and more to launch companies based
on work at local research institutions.
“It’s important for retaining innovation,
jobs and economic development
through commercialization
in our area,” says Peter Donnelly,
Stony Brook University’s head of
technology commercialization and
the group’s managing director.
Accelerate is a partnership between
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory,
Brookhaven National Laboratory,
Stony Book and Hofstra universities,
Northwell Health, and the Long Island
Association.
“The research institutions we have
are fantastic,” Donnelly continues.
“However, we’re not as good at
commercializing and retaining that
innovation on Long Island or the City.
There’s opportunity there.”
New York State provided $500,000 in
initial grants that Accelerate invested
in 10 companies, such as Sulfcrete,
developing environmentally friendly
concrete; Envisagenics, a bio-informatics
firm; and Traverse Biosciences and
DepYmed, both developing drugs. The
10 companies have received almost $30
million in follow-on funding since then.
“Its goal is to help launch early-stage
companies,” adds David Calone, an
Accelerate Long Island Board member
and CEO of Jove Equity Partners,
a venture capital firm. “They had
science and concepts and ideas, but
not necessarily finished product.”
Investors ordinarily wait until companies
are further along, making seed
money scarce: This funding fills a gap.
Accelerate provided a $50,000 state
grant to SynchroPET, a company
that develops high-tech imaging
products. The company also received
that amount combined from the Long
Island Emerging Technology
Fund, which Calone
launched, and Topspin
Partners.
“Without Accelerate, I
don’t know if we could
have interested venture
capitalists to make that
early investment,”
SynchroPET CEO
Marc Alessi
says.
Cornell University
is
testing Synch
r oPET ' s
human PET scan device, but not
on humans. Researchers are using
“phantoms,” plastic modules injected
with dye. Alessi expects work with
human beings to begin soon.
These investments can be risky
business, but can help turn technology
into products, saving lives and
creating jobs.
“We have all this great science
happening,” Calone says. “We need
to make job-creating companies
happen. This is how you get it
started.”
PRESS BUSINESS
Accelerate Long
Island Managing
Director Peter Donnelly
is helping bridge
the gap between
researchers and venture
capitalists.
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