Syracuse's South Side Innovation Center is a finalist for the National Incubator Association's "incubator of the year," reports Fernando Alfonso III at the Post-Standard:
The Incubator of the Year Award has been given out since 1991 to the business incubators, client companies and graduates that exemplify the best in the industry, said the NBIA website. Business incubators, such as the one on the South Side, help people start their business by providing entrepreneurs the expertise, networks and tools they need. According to the NBIA, business incubators have helped start 27,000 companies that provide full-time employment for more than 100,000 and that generate annual revenue of more than $17 billion. About 7,000 business incubators operate worldwide. The South Side center is the only business incubator in New York state to be nominated in any category in this year’s competition, according to a Syracuse University news release.
Port of Rochester
Rochester has picked up a $1.5 million grant from the Fish and Wildlife service to help build more slips at the Port of Rochester. But Brian Sharp at the Democrat and Chronicle reports that there's still a $2.3 million gap in the funding required to bring the city's vision for a new marina to life:
To close the gap, city officials are hoping the state will release $1 million allocated for road construction during the ferry era but never spent. The last $1.3 million could come from city borrowing, adding to the nearly $5 million already planned, said Mark Gregor, the city's port development manager. "Recreational boating on Lake Ontario means big business for Rochester and the surrounding communities," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday in a statement announcing the grant. He touted the marina as a tool to boost the economy, further economic development and create jobs.
Buffalo immigrants
A bazaar on the West Side of Buffalo offers a commercial space for Buffalo's burgeoning immigrant community to sell handmade goods, reports Anne Neville at the Buffalo News:
"People should come in and speak with the vendors -- they are people with amazing stories," says Bonnie Smith, economic development director for the Westminster Economic Development Initiative (WEDI) of Westminster Presbyterian Church on Delaware Avenue, the moving force behind the bazaar. It is designed to function as a business incubator, where vendors start small, with a table or shelf, and gradually expand to a self-supporting business in larger quarters. Products for sale range from the decorative to the essential and are priced from $2 for a carved spoon to $172 for an ornately sequined crimson wedding sari from Nepal.
Quickly
- A planning board in the Southern Tier has received a $60,000 grant to create a strategy to recruit private investors, reports My-Ly Nguyen at the Press & Sun-Bulletin.
- Paul Mrozek at the Daily News reports that the cooperative relationship between private and public institutions in Genesee County was the theme of a luncheon hosted by the Genesee County Economic Development Center.
Want more money news from the Innovation Trail? Subscribe to the feed.
