That’s so 2015: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, and not just any Wednesday, but the last Wednesday – the last day, in fact – of April 2025.
This is significant for several reasons.
Of course, it marks the one-third pole of our annual socioeconomic sprint – four months down, eight to go in testy, turbulent 2025.
Always thinking: Even as a younger man, Kominicki was always the brains of the operation.
And, as previously noted, Innovate Long Island is taking a short Spring break after today’s edition – no newsletters this Friday, next Monday or next Wednesday. We’ll be back May 9, reenergized and rocking the innovation economy with your regularly scheduled Friday Newsletter.
But the end of this particular April also brings a milestone some might have thought impossible. Certainly, we had our doubts.
It was actually March 2015 when Innovate Long Island founder John Kominicki began circulating newsy, opinionated e-blasts to a small circle of closely held business compatriots – an embryonic proof of concept for what would become the thrice-weekly newsletters you now know and love.
His very first message – blasted out on March 13, 2015 – included references to names you know: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Developer Don Monti. And his very first words to readers, right at the top, were Kominick-ish to the max:
Good Friday and welcome to the InnovateLI weekly report. This roundup is for you, so please tell us how we can make it better. Send tips, news, ideas, events, promotions, job openings, complaints, criticisms and corrections to editor@innovateli.com. Checks also welcome.
By April 2015, the newsletters had quickly morphed into the weekly trilogy we’re all familiar with – making April 2025 our official, impressive and wholly unlikely 10th anniversary.
Why so unlikely? Well, of course, by December 2017 John was gone. Off to the great newsroom in the sky. Much, much too soon, leaving a hole as wide as his shoulders, as vast as his vision, as deep as his generosity and his genius. If you’d told us then we’d still be cultivating his legacy in 2025, well … that seemed a longshot at best.
Not that his idea – a news service that was also a toolbox for the Long Island innovation economy, business news with an entertaining panache, a true resource for inventors, investors, entrepreneurs and executives – wasn’t great. It certainly was.
But John was Innovate Long Island. Master wordsmith. Tireless promoter. Smooth-talking dealmaker with big plans and a bigger contact list. The steam-core engine of the whole damned thing.
Torch passed: After our founder’s untimely passing, Marlene McDonnell kept this dog hunting.
The fact that we’re still plugging away today speaks volumes about the strength of his original concept – and also the dogged determination of Innovate Long Island President Marlene McDonnell, who stepped into John’s oversized shoes and kept the thing afloat, against all odds.
It also says oodles about our sponsors – those who’ve come and gone, those who’ve hitched their wagon to this star only recently, those who’ve stuck with us from the very start.
And it says plenty about you, dear reader.
If you write a newsletter and nobody reads it, does it make a sound? No, it does not – but thanks to you, our efforts have never been in vain. You keep coming back, week after week, and because of that, old sponsors stay true and new ones see the light.
And because of them, we can keep cranking them out. Ten years’ worth. In a world where most startups fail quickly, that’s a very long time.
Things change – things always change – but we’re still here, writing stories, cracking wise, soliciting your tips, news, ideas, events, promotions, job openings, complaints, criticisms and corrections. And sometimes checks.
And always trying to be better. For the entrepreneur with a dream. For the executive overseeing an ambitious launch or navigating a dreadful recession. For science, suddenly fighting an uphill battle against the forces of ignorance.
For John. For regional socioeconomics. For you.
Thank you, sincerely, for 10 years of support, companionship and great stories to tell – and here’s to 10 more.
Best,
Marlene and Gregory
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: The music woman.
The fun stuff: All right, all right … enough with the mushy self-adulation. April 30 brings us International Jazz Day (celebrating the uniquely American art form), National Oatmeal Cookie Day (yes, please), the figurative birth of the famous Edison Electric Illuminating Co. (incorporated in 1883 in Pennsylvania) and the literal birth of American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (born 1939), the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.
Give the stellar symphonist your best at editor@innovateli.com. Send along some of that other stuff John was on about, too – and thanks for keeping in touch all these years.
About our sponsor: Whether it’s helping with site selection, cutting through red tape or finding innovative ways to meet specific needs, businesses that settle in the Town of Islip soon learn that we take a proactive approach to seeing them succeed. If your business wants to locate or expand in a stable community with great quality of life, then it’s time you took a closer look at Islip.
BUT FIRST, THIS
This old house: A seven-figure grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will help low-income Long Island seniors stay in their homes.
The HUD’s Older Adults Home Modification Grant Program has awarded $1.3 million to the United Way of Long Island, which will use the funds to make safety and functional-home modifications (including limited repairs) to bring the living quarters of low-income elderly homeowners up to snuff and allow them to age in place. The Deer Park-based nonprofit’s home upgrades are part of a larger effort – including veterans’ assistance, health services, the emergency fuel fund Project Warmth and financial and legal help – designed to keep aging Islanders in their homes.
The federal stipend is critical to that effort, according to UWLI, which projects a sizeable spike in Long Island residents ages 70 and up over the next 25 years. “Small changes in seniors’ homes can make a huge difference in their lives,” noted United Way of Long Island President and CEO Theresa Regnante. “This HUD modification program will enhance United Way’s existing Safe at Home for Seniors program, allowing our elderly neighbors to safely age in place.”
This new house: Farmingdale State’s Smart Energy House is a big part of the college’s clean-energy workforce training initiatives.
Clean sweep: The State University of New York is pumping millions into campus-based clean-energy workforce-training initiatives, including new learning opportunities at two Long Island schools.
Farmingdale State College and Selden-based Suffolk County Community College are among the 12 SUNY campuses sharing $2.6 million in awards announced this week by the Green Workforce Grant program, which is designed to encourage students to pursue clean-energy jobs by generating new academic programs and covering the costs of cutting-edge training equipment. Farmingdale State will use its cut to create new building-electrification programs, while SCCC will mold new classes focused on building electrification and state-of-the-art heat pump technologies.
Helping its colleges and universities train a next-generation clean-energy workforce is in line with SUNY’s Climate and Sustainability Action Plan, which aims to assist New York State’s ambitious transition to sustainable, low-carbon energy sources. “Addressing climate change and thriving in the clean-energy economy will require a highly educated and well-prepared workforce,” noted SUNY Chancellor John King Jr. “That is why SUNY is committed to empowering our students with the skills and training they will need to advance their careers in high-demand fields.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Just Dowling it: As Northwell Health finalizes its big merger with Nuvance Health, Voices Healthcare Anchor Terry Lynam praises Northwell President and CEO Michael Dowling for another bold move — the latest in a 50-year career absolutely overflowing with them.
Don’t be sad, subscribers: We know you’ll miss us during our short Spring recess (we’ll miss you, too!). But this reinforces what an essential tool Innovate Long Island’s thrice-weekly newsletters have become over the last decade – and we’ll be back next week to make you happy again (and smarter!). Make sure your entire innovation team is in the loop … subscriptions are always easy, always free.
VOICES
Last month’s FIRST Long Island robotics competition speaks volumes about STEM education and regional socioeconomics, according to Long Island Bio Executive Director and Voices History Anchor Tom Mariner, who notes a direct correlation between high school robotics and professional manufacturing.
Something to say? Welcome to The Entrepreneur’s Edge, Innovate Long Island’s new promoted-content news feature platform – a direct link from you to our innovation-focused audience. Progressive product to promote? Singular service to sell? Sociopolitical position to push? Shine a bright light on the big picture, the little details and everything in between with The Entrepreneur’s Edge. Living on the edge.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Chiller theater: Melting permafrost is reanimating zombie-like bacteria and unleashing new infectious diseases. Salon sounds the alarm.
Into the Spiderverse: The amazing Spider-Man teaches us plenty about responsibility and the importance of doing good. The Conversation swings into action.
Re-born in the USA: For decades, Bruce Springsteen’s “protest song” was lost in translation – but now its meaning is crystal clear. Mental Floss shows who’s Boss.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Overture Life, a California-based biotech focused on embryology lab procedures, raised $20.6 million in funding. Backers included Overwater Ventures, GV and Khosla Ventures.
+ Push Security, a Massachusetts-based cybersecurity specialist, raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Redpoint Ventures.
+ Araceli Biosciences, an Oregon-based biotech working to accelerate new drug discoveries, raised $11.2 million in Seed funding. Bill Cortelyou was the lead investor.
+ Electra, a Colorado-based clean energy innovator focused on clean-iron production, raised $186 million in Series B funding led by Capricorn Investment Group and Temasek Holdings.
+ ChEmpower, an Oregon-based advanced materials/specialized chemistry startup focused on abrasive-free planarization, raised $18.7 million in funding led by M Ventures and Rhapsody Venture Partners.
+ Coologics, an Ohio-based clinical-stage medical device company focused on vaginal infections, raised $3 million in Seed funding led by Prevail and Dream Ventures.
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 the Town of Islip). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Outside The Box Edition)
Fantastic summer: The Fantastic Four (not to mention Superman!) headline an exciting season ahead at your local googolplex.
Box: Meet the content-management startup that rejected a $600 million buyout – and is now valued at seven times as much.
Box office: From superheroes to the “Fountain of Youth,” the summer blockbuster storms back this year.
Box in: Behold, Philadelphia’s window-box gardens – the once and future key to urban reform.
Checks all the boxes: Please continue supporting the brilliant business builders that support Innovate Long Island – there have been many over the last 10 years, including the Town of Islip Office of Economic Development, a longtime sponsor that knows a good deal when it sees one (and will help your company spot them, too). Check them out.
