A Long Island economic development organization will be competing with nine similar organizations across New York for a $50 million state grant to help startup businesses on the Island and in New York City.
Cara Longworth, executive director of the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council, told the Press that the organization hopes to win the funds in order to help startups in high-tech manufacturing, technology, and energy programs. Longworth said the plan is to build a 50,000-square-foot manufacturing hub on Long Island so that the startups selected for the program could produce products eventually for sale. A site has not yet been decided on.
“This is a state-wide competition to develop transformative projects that would be good for our region,” Longworth said in an interview. “We took a look and wanted to leverage our assets.”
She noted that Long Island has major research facilities such as Brookhaven National Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the State University at Stony Brook and technology and business organizations geared to helping startups.
Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this fall announced the launch of the 2025 Regional Economic Development Initiative. Since 2011, the initiative has allowed the state’s 10 Regional Councils to advance regional and statewide priorities.
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This year, Hochul added a $150 million competition called Advancing Collaboration for High-Impact Initiatives for Economic Visions & Expansion, or ACHIEVE.
“The regionally-designed plans will support the goals of the new Achieve competition, creating investment opportunities that will help build a more sustainable, successful future for all New Yorkers,” Hochul said in a statement.
The Achieve program invites all ten regional economic development councils to compete to receive up to $50 million “in implementation funding to advance anchor projects,” the state said in an announcement.
Walter T. Mosley, New York’s Secretary of State who has been named chairman of the initiative, said, “Over the past year, as I’ve traveled across this vast state, I’ve seen first-hand the great work of the Regional Economic Development Councils, and I’m humored to help lead this knowledgeable and dedicated group of individuals.”
At a meeting in Melville earlier this fall, Longworth said startup manufacturing efforts will be run by Newlab LLC, which is based at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Newlab, a for-profit entity, run business incubators in Detroit, New Orleans, Saudi Arabia, and Uruguay.
Liz Keen, Newlab’s chief technology officer, said the city and the Island lose companies often because they are unable to find manufacturing space in the region.
Startup entrepreneurs will be able to take courses in tech training with Activate, a training organization based in California.
“There are great ideas on Long Island,” Longworth said. “There are a lot of startups, but not a lot of companies” emerging from startup mode. Sometimes not a lot of venture capital is available, she said.
Linda Armyn, co-chair of the economic development council and Chief Executive of FourLeaf Federal Credit Union, formerly Bethpage Federal Credit Union, said developing startups would be a major boost to Long Island.
“This will make Long Island a hub by connecting the assets that we have – universities, hospitals, incubators, business investors and manufacturers – with the city’s assets to start companies and help them grow here,” Armyn said.
Long Island business leaders and government officials have been trying for years to build new companies and industries in Nassau and Suffolk counties to replace the defense manufacturers who either shut down or left the Island for more affordable places like Florida or Texas.
Efforts have been halting. But Long Island continues to focus on developing a thriving bio-technology industry shaped around Cold Spring Harbor Lab and Stony Brook University.
Such ideas have been promoted by Martin Cantor, an economist and director of the Long Island Center for Socio-Economic Development in Melville.
“This is the way Long Island needs to be heading,” Cantor said.
Longworth said she believes the Long Island region is in a good position to win the competition.
“I have reviewed some of the other plans,” she said. “They are all very impressive. But I always feel that I have an edge. I think we have a good shot at winning it.”
The submissions to Achieve will be presented to a team composed of the governor’s cabinet, which will identify the winning regions.
