The Recharge Reader: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as we reach another midweek turning point on our never-ending innovation journey.
Remember, socioeconomic greatness is a road, not a destination … and so, we roll out this latest installment of your favorite innovation-economy newsletter – an empowering pitstop, of sorts, designed to feed your imagination and fuel your creative engine.
On the run: National Running Day is less about speed and more about living your healthiest life.
Comeback kids! First stop: the UN’s World Environment Day, an annual ecological rescue mission focusing #GenerationRestoration (it’s a thing) on forest regrowth, water-source revival and soil restoration. (Why June 5? Keep reading.)
Also picking them up and putting them down today is Global Running Day, a first-Wednesday-in-June sprint toward more active lifestyles.
Plant sell: Speaking of healthier choices, today is National Veggie Burger Day, eschewing all-beef patties to chew on burgers that didn’t have parents.
And maybe the holiday planners misread their annual calendars, because June 5 is also National Gingerbread Day, celebrating spicy breads, cakes, cookies and biscuits most commonly associated with the Christmas season.
Air France: Also half-baked were the Montgolifier brothers, who demonstrated their newfangled hot-air balloon to the people of Annonay, France, on this date in 1783.
“Life Among the Lowly”: Fully realized was Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery masterpiece “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” introduced in serialized form (under that alternate title) by the weekly abolitionist publication The National Era on June 5, 1851.
Voice activated: Pedro was the voice of a new computer generation.
Speech! Speech! Also having something important to say was “Pedro, the Voder” – the first electronic device to mimic human speech, displayed for the first time 86 years ago today at Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute.
Conference call: So why is today, of all days, World Environment Day? Well, it was this date in 1972 when the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment – the first global conference to put environmental issues front and center – opened in Stockholm.
This time, it’s personal: And it was June 5, 1977, when the Apple II – a year after inventors Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak introduced their 8-bit microcomputer – first went on sale to the general public.
Along with Commodore’s PET 2001 and Tandy Corp.’s TRS-80 Model I, the Apple II formed the famed 1977 Trinity, which mainstreamed personal computing for the masses.
Polymath Piscopia: Elena sprang from humble beginnings to go where no woman had gone before.
Standout signora: Italian savant Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia (1646-1684) – the illegitimate daughter of a nobleman and peasant woman who studied mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, music and theology, became fluent in six languages and was, by most accounts, the first woman to receive a university degree – would be 378 years old today.
Also born on June 5 were English astronomer and mathematician John Couch Adams (1819-1892), who crunched numbers to accurately calculate the existence of Neptune; Swedish ophthalmologist and optician Allvar Gullstrand (1862-1930), whose light-refraction expertise earned a Nobel Prize; English economist, journalist and financier John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946), one of modern history’s most influential economic theorists; American anthropologist Ruth Benedict (1887-1948), who defined modern social sciences with her unprecedented cultural-personality studies; and Hungarian-British physicist and electrical engineer Dennis Gabor (1900-1979), another Nobel laureate remembered as the “Father of Holography.”
Extraterrestrial effort: And take a bow, Kathleen Kennedy! The oft-maligned film producer, Amblin Entertainment co-founder and current president of Disney’s Lucasfilm division – a phenomenal success story who’s made few friends among finicky “Star Wars” fans – turns 71 today.
Send regards to the producer of 1982’s “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” the original “Jurassic Park” trilogy and other movies you love at editor@innovateli.com, where we produce your favorite innovation-economy newsletter – but not without your news tips and calendar events.
About our sponsor: Farmingdale State College is the largest college of applied science and technology in the State University of New York system, with nearly 10,000 students and 46 degree programs focused on relevant high-demand careers. More than half of our students graduate debt-free and 82 percent are employed six months after graduation or enrolled in graduate school. Nearly 80 percent of FSC graduates stay and are working on Long Island six months after graduation. Learn more here.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Main attraction: Jones Beach welcomes more annual visitors than Montana’s Yellowstone National Park, according to New York State.
Walk in the parks: The significant economic contributions of New York State Parks highlighted a recent meeting of the Long Island Association’s Economic Development & Infrastructure Committee.
The committee welcomed New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Commissioner Pro Tempore Randy Simons to Gatsby on the Ocean at Jones Beach for a roundtable discussion highlighting key parks-related statistics, including the $31.2 billion in economic activity generated by statewide outdoor activities in 2022 and the 29 million visitors attracted by Island-based State Parks in 2023, accounting for more than one-third of all statewide State Park visitations.
With the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis crediting more than 256,000 New York State jobs to outdoor-activity industries, the importance of State Parks to Long Island socioeconomics cannot be overstated, according to Simons. “New York’s state park and historic site system provides residents and visitors the opportunity to explore our state’s incredible scenery and diverse communities,” the commissioner noted. “Our agency looks forward to working with our many partners across the state to continue to build and sustain these recreational assets over the next century for future generations to enjoy.”
Wind, changed: It’s official – new contracts for Empire Wind 1 and Sunrise Wind are on the books.
Empire Wind 1 (an 810-megawatt offshore-wind project developed by Norwegian energy firm Equinor) and Sunrise Wind (a 924-megawatt wind farm developed by Denmark-based Ørsted and its project partner, Massachusetts-based Eversource Energy) have finalized their deals with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, struck in February through Albany’s fourth offshore-wind solicitation process. Both slow-moving projects had been approved in prior solicitations, but supply-chain realities and other shifting socioeconomics forced their respective energy firms to scrub those deals and seek new ones.
With the new contracts finalized, New York can anticipate 1,700 megawatts of wind-driven electricity (enough to power 1 million-plus homes), hundreds of construction-phase and permanent jobs and some $2 billion in related economic activity, according to NYSERDA President and CEO Doreen Harris. “These landmark projects … will be a historic milepost in New York’s transition to a clean-energy economy,” Harris said Tuesday. “Achieving a zero-emissions electric grid will deliver significant economic and public-health benefits as well as reliability to all New Yorkers.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Prehistoric prize: A previously unknown dinosaur species – one of the largest ever discovered – has been identified in Zimbabwe, thanks in large part to a Stony Brook University paleobiologist.
Close call: Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast puts you next to dozens of smart and funny executives, educators, activists, inventors and other influencers powering the regional innovation economy. Get up close and personal with proven leaders and hear how they do it!
VOICES
Post-pandemic childcare costs are soaring and less-fortunate families need all the help they can get to offset the high cost of baby diapers – fortunately, several national and Long Island-based organization are on the case, according to Family and Children’s Services Association President/CEO and Voices Social Services Anchor Jeffrey Reynolds.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Fast lane: Bowling is back, and private-equity investors are rolling with it. The Hustle strikes.
Missing the mark: Biden’s plan to slash pharmaceutical costs could devastate high-tech innovation. The Hill laments.
Future imperfect: From declining obesity to brain implants to nuclear attacks, predicting a busy decade ahead. Vox prognosticates.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Odyssey, a New York City-based edu-tech startup, raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Tusk Venture Partners, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Cubit Capital and Bling Capital.
+ Frore Systems, a California-based thermal-technology pioneer focused on electronic and consumer devices, raised $80 million in Series C funding led by Fidelity Management & Research Co., with participation from Prosperity7 Ventures.
+ Reibus International, a Georgia-based independent metals marketplace, raised $30 million in funding led by Canaan and Nosara, with participation from HSBC.
+ Kintsugi AI, a California-based tax-automation platform, raised $6 million in Series A funding led by Link Ventures, Venture Highway, KyberKnight, Plug and Play and DeVC.
+ Basalt Technologies Corp., a California-based spacecraft original supplier, raised $3.5 million in seed funding led by Initialized Capital.
+ Claros Technologies, a Minnesota-based leader in PFAS analysis and destruction technologies, raised $22 million in new funding led by the Ecosystem Integrity Fund and American Century Investments.
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 Farmingdale State). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Six Degrees Of Innovation Edition)
Back to school: Bacon (left) tours Payson High in Utah.
Starring role: Science says the “Kevin Bacon gene” could determine a bug’s popularity.
“Loose” change: What Bacon found when he revisited the “Footloose” high school.
Soap opera: How bacon grease is helping one diner owner clean up his books.
Kevin can wait: Please continue supporting the innovative institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including Farmingdale State College, where stardom comes second – and the quality education students need to compete in a high-demand, technology-driven world comes first. Check them out.
