Slammed from the start: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as we hurdle the hump of the first full workweek of Autumn 2022 – the last workweek ever without a BrandSlam on the books.
What’s a BrandSlam? Only the coolest audience-interactive brand-building marketing masterclass on the whole Long Island networking circuit, where ace communicators from Huntington-based PR boutique Brandtelling, Innovate Long Island and Stony Brook University Economic Development whip up slogans, elevator pitches and other critical collateral – live on stage – for entrepreneurs with great products and services (but less-than-great marketing skills and budgets).
Combining brilliant innovators, clever improv and adult beverages, BrandSlam is a one-of-a-kind marketing experience (until BrandSlam 2, at least) coming Oct. 6 to LaunchPad Huntington. Last chance for sponsorships and free seats!
Give Hanks: A good day for neighbors and beer.
Mug up: Today is Sept. 28, and speaking of adult beverages, cheers – it’s National Drink Beer Day, an annual cap-twister best observed after work.
Seems like a good opportunity to hang with friends – a natural on National Good Neighbor Day, also appreciating good fences every Sept. 28.
Like a good neighbor: David Walker was there – and the African American activist published one of the seminal documents of the 19th Century, “An Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World,” on this date in 1829.
The antislavery pamphlet – which carried charges of sedition for anyone found reading it – skewered the notion of “American freedom” and called for Black self-help in the fight against oppression.
Dr. Anderson: Medicine woman.
Book smart: Also questioning oppressive societal standards was pioneering physician Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, who studied privately (medical schools turned her away) and passed her medical exams on this date in 1865, becoming Britain’s first female doctor.
Wednesday night football: The first-ever nighttime football game was played under the lights on Sept. 28, 1892, by visiting Wyoming Seminary and hometown Mansfield University of Pennsylvania. (For those keeping score, yes, it was a Wednesday.)
We’d have gone with “Juicy Fruit:” Scottish physician and microbiologist Sir Alexander Fleming (accidentally) discovered penicillin – which he first named “mould juice,” before attending some kind of old-timey BrandSlam and renaming it “penicillin” – on this date in 1928.
Millennial Falcon: And SpaceX’s Falcon 1 became the first private spacecraft to achieve orbit on this date in 2008.
Of course, that’s only if you don’t count this.
Like Banner, sans Hulk: French chemist and physicist Paul Ulrich Villard (1860-1934) – credited with discovering a new form of electromagnetic radiation in 1898, ultimately dubbed “gamma radiation” – would be 162 years old today.
Bardot none: Brigitte, brightest.
Also born on Sept. 28 were British physician Richard Bright (1789-1858), medical history’s first nephrologist; Swiss-born American meteorologist, geologist and geographer Arnold Guyot (1807-1884), who did the foundational work of the U.S. Weather Bureau; English plumber Thomas Crapper (1836-1910), who revolutionized toilets (we crap you not); American television personality, syndicated columnist and impresario Ed Sullivan (1901-1974), who played the straight man but lived a life of glamour; and American electronics engineer Seymour Cray (1926-1996), the father of the supercomputer.
Symbolic: And take a bow, Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot! The retired French actress, singer and model – the poster girl for poster girls and ultimate symbol of 1960s hedonism – turns 88 today.
Salute the celluloid goddess at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips and calendar events are the sexiest things we’ve ever seen.
About our sponsor: St. Joseph’s University has provided students in the New York metropolitan area with an affordable education rooted in the liberal arts tradition since 1916. Independent and coeducational, the university provides a strong academic and value-oriented education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, preparing each student for a life characterized by integrity, intellectual rigor, social responsibility, spiritual depth and service. Through its Long Island, Brooklyn and online campuses, the university offers degrees in 60 majors, special course offerings and certificates, affiliated and pre-professional programs. Learn more here.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Witness tampering: They’re interviewing witnesses in the Stony Brook University Department of Computer Science, where an impressive federal grant may help investigators solve some vexing quantum-computing mysteries.
The U.S. Department of Energy has issued a $400,000 grant to SBU Assistant Professor Supartha Podder, who’s very good at applying “quantum advantages” to different computational tasks. Podder will use the two-year grant – part of the DOE’s new $15 million “extreme-scale science” initiative – to interrogate “quantum witnesses” (a “witness” is a bit of computer data that certifies a computational answer, and in the case of quantum computing also distinguishes specific quantum entanglements).
In a super-simplified laymen’s nutshell, Podder will put quantum computing and classical computing through a gauntlet of computational challenges, then consult witnesses to determine the more efficient approach to completing each problem. “Think of it as solving one piece of the bigger quantum-advantage puzzle,” the researcher noted. “The ultimate overall goal is to understand when and why quantum computation outperforms traditional classical computation.”
Hot shirt: Northwell Health and the New York Islanders continue to fan the flames.
Jersey sure: Northwell Health is moving up on the New York Islanders’ advertising bench.
New York State’s largest healthcare provider and private employer, already a valuable player in the NHL franchise’s sponsor rotation, has been named the Islanders’ official practice jersey sponsor. With the team in preseason training camp at East Meadow’s Northwell Health Ice Center, players’ practice sweaters now carry the Northwell Health logo – more back-of-the-net exposure for Northwell, already the Islanders’ “official healthcare provider.”
The practice-jersey sponsorship ices a longstanding partnership between the health system and the hockey team, including that “healthcare provider” title and Northwell’s founding stake in the Islanders’ palatial UBS Arena. “The New York Islanders have an identity that’s celebrated and deeply rooted in the communities that we serve,” noted Northwell Health Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Ramon Soto. “These two storied brands have a mission that includes promoting the health and wellness of Long Islanders … and that relationship extends beyond the ice.”
POD PEOPLE
Episode 26: Paule Pachter, food fighter.
Social-justice champions, captains of industry, academic all-stars, forward-thinking inventors, award-winning filmmakers, even professional athletes and real-life-ghosthunters … the amazing roster of Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast guests is a great conversation unto itself. Wait ’til you hear what they have to say!
TOP OF THE SITE
‘Divided’ we stand: A new podcast by Huntington-based government-relations ace Millennial Strategies crosses the great divide of Long Island politics.
LIIF saver: The $350 million Long Island Investment Fund’s first grant will support new bioelectronic-medicine labs at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research.
And share alike: Thanks for sharing this terrific newsletter with your fellow innovators – now share the always easy, always free subscription link, so they can keep it going.
VOICES
Voices media master David Chauvin, executive vice president of ZE Creative Communications, smells the stink of a thousand failed PR stunts on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ controversial Martha’s Vineyard play – and wonders if using immigrant families as political pawns is the presidential hopeful’s Michael Dukakis moment.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Handy dandy: It’s not “if” Amazon’s warehouse robots will replicate human hands, it’s “when.” Vox counts fingers.
Deep thought: Japan’s “deep tech” push turns scientific discoveries into transformational products. The BBC dives deep.
Red alert: As Putin’s empire slowly crumbles, apprehension grips Mother Russia – and the world. Rolling Stone watches warily.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Transaera, a New York City-based climate-tech startup, raised $4.5 million in seed funding led by Energy Impact Partners, Carrier Ventures, Saint Gobain and MassCEC.
+ Carbon Ridge, a California-based carbon-capture and storage specialist, raised $6 million in funding led by Grantham Foundation, Crowley, Berge Bulk, Rusheen Capital Management and Plug and Play Ventures.
+ Rivus Pharmaceuticals, a Virginia-based clinical-stage biopharma focused on cardio-metabolic health, completed a $132 million Series B financing led by RA Capital Management, Bain Capital Life Sciences, BB Biotech AG, Longitude Capital, Medicxi and RxCapital.
+ Theorycraft Games, a California-based independent game studio, raised $50 million in funding led by Makers Fund, with participation from NEA and a16z.
+ The Muse, a NYC-based job-search and career-development platform, raised $8 million in funding led by MBM Capital.
+ CoverTree, a Michigan-based digital insurance solution for residents of manufactured homes, raised $10 million in seed funding co-led by AV8 Ventures, Distributed Ventures, Detroit Venture Partners, Ludlow Ventures and Annox Capital.
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 St. Joe’s). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
Fork in the road: Tine for a change.
BELOW THE FOLD
Fork: Behold, the sardine fork – the uber-utensil you didn’t know you needed.
Knife: Why Scotland is repatriating a ceremonial 14th Century Indian blade.
Spoon: Embracing the health (and relationship) benefits of spooning.
Full plate: Please continue supporting the amazing institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including St. Joseph’s University, which nourishes both mind and soul. Check them out.
