One, 800 flowers: Welcome inventors, investors, entrepreneurs and executives, to the shiny 800th edition of your Innovate Long Island Newsletter – which is not actually the 800th edition, but that’s still a nice round number and an excessively unlikely milestone.
“Official” No. 800 arrives midway through our eighth year of chronicling the Long Island innovation economy, and right there the oddsmakers take a double beating. When he launched the thing in 2015, founder John Kominicki surely believed his advocacy journalism/socioeconomic toolbox would thrive and grow – but would anybody have believed that we’d still be at it six years after that dark day in 2017, when John left us all, so quietly, so soon?
No way. Even we didn’t know how we’d go on.
Big idea: Kominicki gave this a lot of thought.
Now it’s clear that, in our grief and uncertainty, we’d forgotten a primary lesson of innovation, repeated throughout time: Great ideas always live on.
Telling the story of regional innovation, providing resources to help it along, introducing makers to movers and early-stage enterprises to the world – and most importantly keeping it all positive, sans bullshit political rhetoric – this was pure genius.
Our incredibly loyal sponsors get it – the legacy backers of John’s big idea, the long-haulers who stuck with us through personal tragedy and fierce pandemic, new generations of supporters who see the future we champion and like it. They don’t just sponsor newsletters. They share visions.
So do our amazing technical partners, and there have been many through the years – but none quite as integral to our success as Arthur Germain, founder of tech-focused, story-first media house Brandtelling, which sponsors and produces “Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast.”
(Brandtelling also co-sponsored our first-ever, ideas-a-flyin’ BrandSlam event last October. BrandSlam 2, you ask? Stay tuned!)
Ultimately, there can be no better proof that John’s initiative had legs than our ever-increasing following – thousands of newsletter subscribers, daily website visitors and podcast listeners, with more joining the party every newsletter, every week, every year.
Eight years now. Eight-hundred sponsored newsletters.
Right … 800ish. Regular readers are by now familiar with the Myth of the Missing 22 (our endlessly entertaining newsletter archive mysteriously begins with Newsletter No. 23, with no trace of the early editions). And to this day, our Monday Calendar Newsletters remain unnumbered – a secret choice the K Man took to that big newsroom in the sky.
In actuality, we’re well north of 1,000 e-newsletters and rapidly approaching 10,000 website articles, including original news features, The Debrief (our occasional Q&A series), insightful op-eds contributed by a dazzling assortment of incredible guest writers and the fantastic Voices column, straight from the upper echelons of the regional innovation economy.
On that note, a special round of applause, please, for current Voices lineup David Chauvin, Terry Lynam, Tom Mariner, David Pennetta, Jeffrey Reynolds and Michael Sahn – a mighty squad that’s heaped piles of perspective upon foundations created by past Voices contributors Harry Aurora, Eugene Barnosky, Ambrose Clancy, Rosalie Drago, Kate Fullam, Robert Glazer, Jeff Guillot, David Hamilton, Mitch Maiman, Nancy Pak and Phil Rugile – names you know, innovators we’re proud to have channeled.
Thanks also to the A-list guests who’ve made Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast a must-listen resource for current and future innovation economy leaders. Masters of industry, academia and invention, these people, one and all.
And, most certainly, thank you, dear readers, without whom we wouldn’t be marking this milestone.
Your support through these years has been incalculable – although, if you add this and multiply that and carry the 2 … 800 seems like a pretty successful calculation.
Here’s to 800 more. Please keep reading. And keep on innovating.
– Marlene & Gregory
Two, this quick reminder: After we catch our breath for, like, the 800th-ish time, Innovate Long Island will take a well-earned sabbatical next week – watch for Friday’s week-ending Issue No. 801, then enjoy your Independence Day holiday week … back at you July 10 with regularly scheduled greatness.
Tau the line: Sticking a thumb in Pi.
In other news: Today is Wednesday, June 28 – National Insurance Awareness Day (self-explanatory), National Tapioca Day (an acquired taste for sure) and National Tau Day (celebrating circular logic that sets the circle constant at 6.28, in defiance of Pi).
Saucy: Also fairly defiant was military veteran-turned-gentleman farmer Robert Gibbon Johnson, who ate a tomato on the steps of a New Jersey courthouse on this date in 1820, dispelling myths that the fruits were poisonous.
Sax education: Antoine-Joseph finally hit high notes after falling flat with the saxotromba, saxtuba and saxhorn.
Saxy: Also turning convention on its ear was Belgian inventor Antoine-Joseph “Adolphe” Sax, who patented the saxophone 177 years ago today.
Sojourn-y: June 28 is big for holidays on other days – Congress made Christmas, New Year’s Day, Independence Day and Thanksgiving national holidays on this date in 1870, and President Grover Cleveland added Labor Day in 1894.
Signatory: The Treaty of Versailles – officially ending World War I and establishing the League of Nations – was signed on this date in 1919 in France’s Palace of Versailles (in the Hall of Mirrors, for those keeping score).
Spacy: And it was June 28, 1965, when the world’s first commercial communications satellite, Intelsat I, was activated for customer service.
Orbiting 22,300 miles above the equator, the NASA satellite was the first to give nongovernment users nearly instantaneous telephone, television, telegraph and fax connectivity between North America and Europe.
Breaking through: German American theoretical physicist Maria Goeppert Mayer (1906-1972) – who correctly theorized a shell around the atomic nucleus and became the second woman (after Marie Curie) to win a Nobel Prize – would be 117 years old today.
Huge “Balls”: Ultimate Hollywood insider Brooks has mercilessly mocked virtually every Tinseltown trope.
Also born on June 28 were oft-married King of England Henry VIII (1491-1547), the “Father of the Royal Navy”; French surgeon Paul Broca (1824-1880), who helped develop modern physical anthropology; English surgeon Sir Robert Jones (1857-1933), a WWI hero who established modern orthopaedic surgery; American composer Richard Rodgers (1902-1979), history’s first EGOT; and lightning rod industrialist/investor Elon Reeve Musk (born 1971), who might be training for a UFC cage match against fellow billionaire Mark Zuckerberg (no, really).
History of the world (which he’s seen a lot of): And take a bow, Melvin Kaminsky! The American actor, comedian and filmmaker – known best as Mel Brooks, master of the broad farce for seven decades and counting – turns 97 today.
Relieve your High Anxiety by wishing the director of The Producers well at editor@innovateli.com, where we’re Blazing Saddles new paths with your news tips and Life Stinks without your calendar events. (Like we said up top … Dead and Loving Hating It without you, dear readers).
About our sponsor: Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz PLLC is one of the region’s most highly regarded and recognized law firms. Our attorneys are thought leaders, dedicated to achieving success through excellence. With our broad experience in land use, development, litigation, real estate, corporate and environmental law, we have the vision and knowledge to serve our clients and our communities. Please visit sahnward.com.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Voices raised: Four forward-thinking Long Island high schoolers have earned college scholarships in ERASE Racism’s Raise Your Voice student-essay contest.
Malverne Senior High School graduates Javonni Green and Sabrina Ramharakh – along with Amber McLeod and Rainer Pasca, graduates of Centereach and Bay Shore high schools, respectively – have each earned $500 scholarships through the annual contest, funded by SCOPE Education Services of Smithtown. The winning entries, which this year considered “The Importance of Teaching Students About Racism in U.S. History,” were honored June 14 at ERASE Racism’s Annual Benefit.
In their essays, Javonni noted that “teaching students about systemic racism and discriminatory policies can lead to it being recognized” while Sabrina chronicled an “uphill battle” to change a local street name honoring a Klu Klux Klan leader. Amber noted that “oversimplification leads to lack of representation” and argued that “Black history should be a bigger part of the curriculum”; Rainer, who drew parallels between society and automated airport walkways, encouraged his generation to “turn and move against the tide, actively and deliberately.”
Well said: (From left) ERASE Racism Board Chairwoman Kalpana Bhandarkar, Amber McLeod, Rainer Pasca and ERASE Racism President Laura Harding celebrate the 2023 essay contest winners.
Voices mixed: Farmingdale State College has received two federal designations intended to honor institutions with significant minority-student populations – and make it easier for them to attract even more diverse undergraduate students.
The U.S. Department of Education has designated Farmingdale State a Hispanic-Serving Institution, for achieving undergraduate student enrollment that is more than 25 percent Hispanic, and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution, denoting undergraduate enrollment that’s at least 10 percent Asian American/Native American Pacific Islander. The new designations qualify the college for increased federal funding to support programs aimed at recruiting and retaining minority undergrads.
Referencing last summer’s Higher Education Excellence and Diversity campus designation from Insight Into Diversity magazine, Farmingdale State College President John Nader trumpeted a heterogeneous hot streak and called multinationalism “a point of pride” across the FSC campus. “It’s not just the color of people’s skin,” Nader noted. “[It’s] about who feels included in our institution and receives access to the opportunities that we offer.”
POD PEOPLE
Episode 39: Dominic Coluccio, mall cop.
Season 4 of aforementioned Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast shops around with Lesso Mall Development Director of Real Estate Dominic Coluccio, who describes the particular challenges of designing a post-pandemic shopping mall – and the world-class response that is Samanea New York, the unique dining/entertainment/retail destination rising in Westbury.
TOP OF THE SITE
Put it in park: A $47 million State Parks restoration effort has improved visitor experiences and supercharged storm resiliency across Hempstead Lake State Park.
Never too late: You don’t want your innovation team to miss another 800 issues, do you? Sign them up, quick – individual subscriptions to this entertaining and educational newsletter are always easy, always free.
VOICES
Voices Healthcare Anchor and former Northwell Health Senior Vice President Terry Lynam presents a no-holds-barred dossier on the Alzheimer’s Disease War, where next-level drug discovery, dubious FDA approvals and absurd profit margins regularly shift the tide.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Small chances: The nuclear-energy industry is betting big on downsizing. Vox splits the atoms.
Middle ground: A split SCOTUS has rebuffed a GOP attempt to radically overhaul national election laws. Politico checks the ballots.
Big winner: Ryan Seacrest will succeed veteran host Pat Sajak on “America’s game.” Deadline spins the wheel.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Apex, a California-based spacecraft manufacturer, raised $16 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz and Shield Capital.
+ Hungry, a Washington-based food-tech marketplace, raised $10 million in Series C1 funding. Backers included Sands Capital Ventures, Motley Fool Ventures, Evolution VC Partners, Tom Colicchio and Ming Tsai.
+ Caraway, a New York City-based, Gen Z-focused digital healthcare platform, raised $16.75 million in Series A funding led by Maveron and GV, 7wireVentures and Hopelab Ventures.
+ Guardian Agriculture, a Massachusetts-based innovator developing vertical take-off and landing technologies for commercial-scale farming, raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Fall Line Capital.
+ Captions, a NYC-based, AI-powered creative studio, raised $25 million in Series B funding led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and SV Angel.
+ Cargobot, a Florida-based-based international digital freight innovator, raised $6 million in Series A funding led by BPBI, Total Management 2 Inc. and Transborder S.A.S.
Like this newsletter? Innovate Long Island newsletter, website and podcast sponsorships are a prime opportunity to reach the inventors, investors, entrepreneurs and executives you need to know (just ask Sahn Ward). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (800th Anniversary Edition)
Strong genes: Arnold’s illegitimate son is a legitimate beast.
Cold calls: Who keeps calling you from those 800 numbers? Let’s find out.
Forbidden zone: The 800-year-old secret of Genghis Khan’s final resting place.
Terminator 2: Could Schwarzenegger’s musclebound son become the new T-800?
Eight-hundred-plus thank-yous: Please continue supporting the amazing organizations, cornerstone institutions and fantastic firms that have supported Innovate Long Island all these years – including relentlessly loyal sponsor Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz, the true land-use ace that is one of our oldest and most steadfast supporters. Check them out.
