Up and at ’em: Wakey wakey, friends! Your favorite innovation newsletter has risen from its Memorial Day slumber, bright-eyed and refreshed and ready to carry you straight into the heart of Summer 2026.
It’s May 27 out there and we’ve got a couple of interesting developments to share in this latest Wednesday Newsletter, so let’s not waste any time. Rise and shine, intrepid innovators!
Proper introductions: First, a round of applause, please, for new contributor Marilynn Elie, who breaks in this week with her first-ever Innovate Long Island news feature (see below – it’s a good one, filled with promising news for biotech-heavy Long Island!).
Also debuting this week is our first-ever Reader Pledge Drive. You know how every so often, your local NPR and PBS stations ask for viewer/listener support to keep their operations afloat? It’s kinda like that.
Theeeyyy’rrre grape!: But maybe you like cherry?
Honestly, we hate to ask. Innovate Long Island has always prided itself on stellar content and on providing it to you cost- and subscription-free (except for our subscriber-only Monday Calendar Newsletter, but even those subscriptions are free, and of course we never sell off our subscriber lists).
We’ve never put our content behind a paywall and we never will. But you don’t need us to tell you that the cost of living (and the cost of maintaining a media empire) ain’t cheap these days, especially when you’re giving away your product.
And so, we (reluctantly) introduce our first-ever Pledge Drive. Your modest gift through our safe and secure donation page will help keep this dog in the hunt – and keep these educational and entertaining newsletters, feature stories and podcasts coming your way.
No worries if you can’t help us out right now … like we said, things are tough and we know it. But if you can help keep Innovate Long Island going, then thank you in advance for your generous support – we can’t do it without you!
Burn, baby, b – no, wait. Don’t burn: Speaking of bright ideas (and the start of Summer), we’re officially kicking off today’s edition with a salute to National Sunscreen Day, cranking up the SPF on mandatory UV precautions, even for the briefest sunbaths.
Also keeping you cool today is National Grape Popsicle Day, honoring the greatest of all artificial flavors, and no, this is not open for discussion. (Unless artificial grape offends you so much that you won’t visit our Reader Pledge Drive page, in which case the greatest flavor is actually cherry, orange, lime … take your pick.)
High: We’re happy to rise above such petty differences (you just don’t like artificial grape, and hey, everyone’s entitled to be wrong). Also rising above was New York City’s Chrysler Building, the 1,047-foot Art Deco masterpiece that opened to the public on this date in 1930.
Mighty: Also flexing some muscle on that very same day was Minnesota-based inventor Richard Drew, who patented “Scotch Cellulose Tape” – later marketed by 3M as Scotch Transparent Tape, or just Scotch tape – on May 27, 1930.
Golden age: She’s not the tallest or the longest anymore, but the Golden Gate Bridge is still a beauty.
High and mighty: From New York to Minnesota to California, where the glorious Golden Gate Bridge opened to pedestrians on this date in 1937. (At the time, the world’s tallest and longest suspension bridge, for those keeping score.)
High (baked?): It was 81 years ago today when the U.S. Federal Register published specifications requiring certain amounts of iron, vitamin B-1 (thiamine) and either nicotinic acid (niacin) or nicotinic acid amide (niacin amide) in powdered grains, roots, beans, nuts and seeds – the birth of “enriched flour.”
High (baked!): And it was May 27, 1974, when political activist Thomas King Forcade founded High Times magazine, the radical counterculture classic.
According to legend, Forcade (an ace marijuana smuggler by day) intended the magazine as a one-off Playboy parody, with pot replacing porn – but as the paper rolled out, it sparked unanticipated interest and spread like a weed, with an initial press run of 10,000 copies (and two 10,000-copy reprints) selling out fast.
The short version: Muslim Arab sociologist, economist, historian, demographer and philosopher Ibn Khaldūn (born Abū Zayd ‘Abdu r-Rahman bin Muhammad bin Khaldūn Al-Hadrami, 1332-1406) – who, by any other name, ranks among the Middle Ages’ greatest social scientists – would be 694 years old today.
Dee-lightful: That’s three Grammys and a Tony for Bridgewater, thank you very much.
Also born on May 27 were American tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877), master of 19th Century transportation; American gunfighter, lawman and U.S. Army scout “Wild Bill” Hickok (born James Butler Hickok, 1837-1876), sharpshooting folk hero of the American Old West; American marine biologist, writer and conservationist Rachel Louise Carson (1907-1964), whose influential “Silent Spring” and other works significantly advanced the global environmental movement; German American diplomat, political scientist, politician and U.S. Army veteran Henry Kissinger (1923-2023), who earned a Bronze Star, a Nobel Peace Prize and a Presidential Medal of Freedom, among other accolades; and American singer, songwriter and actress Dee Dee Bridgewater (born Denise Eileen Garrett, 1950), a Grammy and Tony award-winner and U.S. Goodwill Ambassador known best for hosting NPR’s “JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater.”
Greene, with envy: And take a bow, Marjorie Taylor Greene! The American politician, conspiracy theorist, stock market mastermind and cult survivor – who has somehow executed a heel-to-face turn that would make Rowdy Roddy Piper proud – turns 52 today.
Make Email Great Again by sending birthday wishes for the former Congresswoman to editor@innovateli.com, where we always play your news tips and calendar events right down the middle.
About our sponsor: Accelerate Long Island is celebrating 15 years of advancing entrepreneurship and strengthening the region’s innovation economy. As manager of the Long Island Innovation Hot Spot, ALI connects startups, research institutions and investors to drive economic growth across the region. Join Accelerate Long Island June 11 for the first-ever Long Island Tech & Innovation Summit – tickets now available!
BUT FIRST, THIS
Gender bender: With the FY 2026-27 New York State Executive Budget now two months overdue, a broad coalition of civil liberties groups – including several based on Long Island – is challenging legislation tucked into the proposed budget bill.
Thirty-eight organizations – including Huntington Station-based Gender Equality New York and the Long Island Social Justice Action Network, itself a coalition of 60-plus regional community groups – have signed a letter urging legislators to omit “digital platform legislation” from the budget bill, which remains stalled in statehouse negotiations well past its April 1 deadline. While the groups “share the goal of protecting young people online,” the proposed budget rider would create “a sweeping system of age verification, parental notice and design mandates that undermines privacy, chills protected speech and further alienates the most marginalized young people,” according to the letter.
Opponents further lament that dramatic changes to state law are being advanced through the Executive Budget process, “rather than through the regular legislative process” – out of order for a proposal affecting “constitutional rights, digital privacy, youth safety and the architecture of online communication.” Now operating on their 13th budget extender of the season, gridlocked lawmakers are expected to finalize the new state budget this week.
Cash click: There’s money in your “private” Internet choices … and Big Data knows how to find it.
Value, added: If you’ve got it lying around, it might be easier to just give Big Tech your $831,497 contribution right now.
According to our friends at the Switzerland-based Web3 Foundation, that tidy sum (in “commercial value,” calculating clicks, purchases, prompts, messages, preferences and other digital signals that are analyzed and monetized by corporate actors) is the amount Big Tech will harvest from every U.S.-based Internet user over their “digital lifetime.” The foundation, which supports the development of a decentralized user-led Internet, employed a complex model to calculate that companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and Anthropic scrape up to $6,565 per year from each American Internet user – way more than users in Europe ($1,605 per year) or the rest of the world (about $694).
Over a 60-year span, that U.S.-harvested commercial value balloons to a staggering $268 trillion. “For decades, digital platforms have been built around centralized control, where users hand over their data, identity and value in exchange for access to services,” noted Web3 Foundation Vice President of Technical Operations Bill Laboon. “Web3 represents a fundamentally different model, one where individuals can own their digital assets, verify their identity without surrendering personal information and participate more fairly in the online economy.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Speaking the language: Meet MABG, a Patchogue-based startup consultancy aiming to help Long Island’s smartest scientists explain their cutting-edge work in ways potential investors, end users and other layman audiences can readily understand.
Pace yourself: The intimate Debrief Q&A, our front-line op-ed page, our detailed business-events calendar and our fantastic podcast interviews, on top of our endless news-feature coverage … so many brilliant leaders, so much actionable intel, all waiting to fill your spare time. Check it all out – whenever you’re ready!
VOICES
The biggest behind-the-scenes brains on Long Island – experts in law, technology, healthcare, media, environmental science, social services and other sectors critical to your personal and professional success – sharing their front-row perspectives and best-practice solutions. Welcome to Innovate Long Island’s amazing Voices Library … pick a topic, choose a teacher and start learning now!
STUFF WE’RE READING
Problematic patents: Big Pharma has “weaponized” innovation, favoring investment over invention. STAT News springs the patent trap.
Any questions? Don’t be shy – “relentless questioning” is the fuel breakthrough innovation needs most. Forbes seeks answers.
Twisted logic: Flavor innovation is propelling pretzel producers. Food Business News crunches the data.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Clouted, a California-based virality engine for consumer and entertainment brands, raised $7 million in Seed funding led by Slow Ventures, with participation from Gold House Ventures, Weekend Fund, Z VC, Gondor Capital, Iterative, AppWorks, Surge and a16z Speedrun.
+ CasaPerks Technologies, a Texas-based provider of AI-powered rewards platforms for resident loyalty and workplace recognition, raised $15.8 million in Seed funding led by Longevity Equity.
+ P2 Science, a Connecticut-based “green chemistry” pioneer turning sustainable feedstocks into high-performance ingredients, raised $23 million in funding led by Sofinnova Partners.
+ Catena Labs, a Massachusetts-based native-banking and automated financial services platform, raised $30 million in Series A funding led by Acrew Capital and a16z Crypto, with participation from Breyer Capital, General Catalyst and QED Investors.
+ Exa Labs, a California-based, AI-native search engine and web-data retrieval platform, raised $250 million in Series C funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Benchmark, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Y Combinator, Scott Wu, Igor Babuschkin and Tal Broda.
+ Stord, a Georgia-based consumer-experience platform, raised $250 million in Series F funding led by Strike Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Franklin Templeton, Baillie Gifford, G Squared, Bond and Lux.
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 – on Long Island, and soon, across New York State (just ask Accelerate Long Island). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Tanking Tourism Edition)
How Vegas got its groove back: The long Nevadan nightmare may finally be over.
Four million fewer visitors, $8 billion in lost revenue: Besides COVID, America suffers its worst international-tourism year in two decades.
Thoughts and prayers: All this global turmoil is very hard on the super-rich, who can’t decide where to vacation.
Place your bets: Looks like Las Vegas is finally breaking its long tourism slump.
Trip advisor: National tourism may be suffering, but the regional innovation economy is stronger than ever – just ask Accelerate Long Island, one of the outstanding organizations that support Innovate Long Island (and the host of the first-ever Long Island Innovation Summit, drawing visitors from near and far to Uniondale on June 11). Check them out.
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