The Ain Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CfE) provides the University of Rochester and the local region numerous resources to support technology development and commercialization. The CfE offers entrepreneurial programming, student incubation, coordinates and oversees multiple business plan competitions, and offers a master of science in Technical Entrepreneurship and Management (TEAM). It serves to identify and create new partnerships with students, alumni, local businesses, and non-profit organizations and also coordinates and publicizes school-based experiences, including courses and signature programming. Key programs to Rochester student and faculty entrepreneurs include mentors, experts-in-residence, the student incubator at NextCorps, and numerous programs and competitions. Housed on the River Campus and led by University Vice Provost for Entrepreneurship, Dr. Duncan Moore, the CfE is a node to the Northeast NSF I-Corp Hub with Cornell University (9/22).

UR Ventures provides the University’s technology transfer functions. Their mission is to protect, develop, and commercialize the intellectual property arising from research at the University of Rochester. URVentures also manages the Tech Development Fund (TDF) to accelerate the commercialization of UR research.

The Technology Development Fund exists to support University of Rochester researchers as they develop their innovations to get them ready for the marketplace.

Established in 1993, the Center for Emerging and Innovative Sciences (CEIS) is a NYSTAR-sponsored Center for Advanced Technology—one of 15 throughout New York State. CEIS promotes economic development in New York and the greater Rochester region through technological innovation with a focus on successful technology transfer. When the right match is established, academic researchers can advance their projects while companies access the skilled resources needed to improve product development and create new technologies.

NextCorps, an affiliate of the University of Rochester, is a nonprofit whose mission is to be a catalyst for entrepreneurship and innovation-based economic development in the Finger Lakes region. Located in the in Sibley Building in downtown Rochester, it provides flexible incubator space, programs and services for early stage startups, and growth services for existing manufacturing companies. Programs include Pre-Seed Workshop, NYSERDA sponsored NEXUS-NY for clean energy companies, mentoring, 3D printing prototyping lab, and hotspot tax incentives. The University of Rochester Ain Center for Entrepreneurship student incubator space is located at Nextcorps. A key program is the Luminate Accelerator, the world’s largest business accelerator for optics, photonics, and imaging (OPI) startups. Entrepreneurs from around the world together with OPI pioneers and qualified investors speed innovation and time to market. It also helps early-stage startups gain clear competitive advantages in a $25 million program funded by Empire State Development’s Finger Lakes Forward Initiative.

Excell Partners, Inc., an affiliate of the University of Rochester and a venture capital fund manager with over $40 million under management. Excell invests in high-tech, high-growth startups in New York State (focused on upstate NY) and provides hands-on support and investment capital to drive economic impact. Excell has a 15-year track record of creating jobs and bringing matching investment capital, which goes back into the region.

Greater Rochester Enterprise (GRE) is an economic development organization committed to attracting new capital investments, creating regional wealth, and new jobs throughout the Greater Rochester region. GRE recruits, attracts, and retains companies in the region by acting as an agent to access real estate, business partners, local suppliers, economic incentives, world-class R&D assets, workforce recruitment, and training resources in the Finger Lakes region.

The Rochester Angel Network (and its associated Angel Fund) is a private group of accredited investors in the Greater Rochester, NY Region with an interest in investing in early-stage startup companies. The network administered by HTR provides an accessible and efficient forum by which entrepreneurs can find potential investors, and investors can find deals of interest.

The Entrepreneurs Network (TEN) is one of Upstate New York's fastest growing initiatives designed to bolster new ventures (early-stage technology; life sciences) and established firms (scalable, high-revenue potential; family-owned; and/or ownership transitioning.) TEN members do better: winning government grants and contracts, increasing revenues by retooling sales and marketing strategy, and securing equity financing or traditional sources.