CEG

Four New York State Tech Companies Recognized at CEG’s 8th Annual SmartStart UNYTECH Venture Forum

CENTER FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 16, 2008

Albany, N.Y. – The 8th Annual SmartStart UNYTECH Venture Forum featured 29 emerging technology companies from throughout the state on Wednesday, May 14 in Rochester, N.Y. More than 160 investors, service providers and other community members registered to attend the event, which is Upstate New York’s premier venture capital forum.

Companies receiving special recognition at this year’s event include:

  • Best Presentation – ShoptoCook, a Buffalo company that develops and operates interactive in-store media networks for the retail food industry
  • Most Promising Technology – Mezmeriz, an Ithaca company that builds small-scale projectors for use in mobile devices
  • Most Innovative Technology – Lighthouse Biosciences, a company in West Henrietta that is developing unique methods to quickly and accurately diagnose the cause of human infections
  • Most Likely to be Funded – SiMPore, a West Henrietta Company that produces membrane filters and filtration products for the nanofiltration requirements of consumer, medical, industrial and scientific products
 The SmartStart UNYTECH Venture Forum is presented by the Center for Economic Growth and is made possible through the generous contributions and support of a number of public and private contributors. Many upstate research universities also played an active role in recommending high-potential spin-out companies and contributing promising spin-out technologies to this year’s program.

Sponsors:  

Platinum: NYSTAR
Gold: Upstate Venture Association of New York, Inc (UVANY)
Breakfast/Registration: Stonehenge Growth Capital
Silver: Phillips Lytle
Bronze: FA Technology Ventures; Greenhill SAVP; Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti; Jaeckle Fleischmann & Mugel; Lemery Greisler; New York State Science & Technology Law Center; Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach (STOR); Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; SourceOne Network.
Supporting: Albany Law School; Boylan, Brown, Code, Vigdor & Wilson, LLP; Excell Partners, Inc.; Fenimore Asset Management; Finger Lakes Entrepreneurs' Forum; Hodgson Russ LLP, NYSERDA and Pam Silverstein.

Industry: Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce; AM&T; AngelSoft; Business Incubator Association of New York State, Inc.; Early Stage East; Erie County IDA; High Tech Rochester; MedTech; New Jersey Angels Network; New Jersey Entrepreneurs Forum; NYBA; Venture Association NJ

About the Center for Economic Growth:

The Center for Economic Growth (CEG) is a regional economic and business development organization dedicated to attracting high-tech talent and companies and to providing innovative services to bolster local businesses in New York state's Capital Region and Tech Valley. CEG receives significant financial support from the NYS Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR), a public benefit corporation that helps grow New York’s innovation economy with its support of high technology development and commercialization through academic and business partnerships, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). CEG serves as NYSTAR’s designated Regional Technology Development Center for Tech Valley, one of nearly 350 MEP locations across the country assisting local manufacturing and technology companies with generating new sales, creating stronger operational infrastructure and overcoming barriers to growth. CEG is based in Albany, N.Y. Visit www.ceg.org  for more information.

About UNYTECH:

UNYTECH is a collaborative effort among leading research institutions in the Upstate New York region including Alfred University, Binghamton University, Cornell University, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rochester Institute of Technology, Syracuse University, State University of New York, University at Albany, University at Buffalo, and University of Rochester, and regional economic development agencies and venture capital firms., Universities in Upstate New York contribute immensely to the intellectual capital and high technology economy of the region. The eleven participating universities together have research and development expenditures over $1 billion. Research carried out within these universities translates into commercially viable products and services.