By popular demand: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, and not just any Wednesday but (already) the second Wednesday of 2025 – and the midpoint of the first full workweek of the New Year.
Many among us are still shaking off the long holiday break; others will be writing “2024” on their checks for weeks (possibly months) to come. But the innovation economy and its myriad demands never cease, so Innovate Long Island is here to keep you company and keep you going. Let’s get down to business.
Just your type: Welcome to World Typing Day, an observation worth a thousand words.
Keyed in: It’s Jan. 8 out there and we’re kicking clicking things off with World Typing Day, a global salute to home keys, the classic QWERTY and the mechanical backbone of writing, computing and – to be sure – e-newsletter production.
But don’t just sit there and stare down at your keyboard – especially you, ladies, not on National Man Watcher’s Day, a traditional role reversal wherein women are encouraged to ogle hunky men. (All we’re going to say about this is any woman who tosses an innocent man one of those “come hither” looks is lucky prissy early 20th Century New York State Assemblyman Francis Landon is long gone. More on this below.)
A little bubbly: If lurid thoughts about that handsome fella in the checkout line don’t soothe your ruffles, there are many other ways to relax – try National Bubble Bath Day, an annual rub-a-dub-dub promoting nice, long soaks in warm, soapy tubs.
Make it extra nice with something sweet – we suggest an indulgent butter brittle, star of the show on National English Toffee Day, sticking to your teeth every Jan. 8.
Fish story: Before there were any national days to observe, before there was even a nation, there was the first American corporation – the New York Fishing Co., which was chartered on this date in 1675 (or so the story goes).
Patents pending: Also swimming upstream was President George Washington, who took a moment during his first-ever State of the Union address on Jan. 8, 1790, to call on the U.S. Congress to create a national patent system.
It’s a stretch: Also taking matters into her own hands was self-taught French mathematician Sophie Germain, who on this date in 1816 became the first woman to win a prize from the prestigious (if prudish) Paris Academy of Sciences, for her unsolicited paper detailing the scientific properties of elasticity.
Don’t give me that look: This could get you thrown in the hoosegow, back in the day.
Eyes up here, mister: Also exceeding the limits of common sense was a law proposed by aforementioned Assemblyman Landon criminalizing men for “looking at a woman in that way” in public. (Unbelievably, the law – passed by the New York State Legislature 123 years ago today – was still on the books as recently as 2017.)
Shark tank: Fortunately, men and women have always been free to eyeball Great Whites, Hammerheads and other sharks however they like – and they got an eyeful on Jan. 8, 1968, when “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau” premiered on the ABC Television Network.
The debut episode, which indeed focused on shark behaviors (and shark repellents, for those keeping score), was followed by dozens of exciting and informative adventures over the next eight years.
Love me tender: American singer, musician and actor Elvis Aaron Presley (1935-1977) – the hip-gyrating, pelvic-thrusting, undisputed King of Rock ’n’ Roll and one of the 20th Century’s most significant cultural icons – would be 90 years old today.
Fact meets fiction: Hawking (and friends) during the theoretical physicist’s unforgettable guest turn on “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
Also born on Jan. 8 were English naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator Alfred Wallace (1823-1913), who beat Darwin to the punch on evolution by natural selection; American aviation and oil industrialist William Thomas Piper Sr. (1881-1970), remembered as “the Henry Ford of aviation”; American educator Evelyn Wood (1909-1995), who championed speed reading; English theoretical physicist, cosmologist and author Stephen Hawking (1942-2018), who overcame a lifelong battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to carve a legacy as one of history’s great space-time intellectuals; and British singer, songwriter, musician and actor David Robert Jones (1947-2016), immortalized as uber-influential musical genius David Bowie.
Her words are Bond: And take a bow, Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey! The Welsh singer – famed for her career longevity, powerful vocals and no fewer than three hit James Bond theme songs – turns 88 today.
Wish the “Moonraker” mistress well at editor@innovateli.com, where we can’t keep our Goldfingers off your news tips and Diamonds Your Calendar Events Are Forever.
About our sponsor: The Long Island Business Development Council has helped build the regional economy for 56 years by bringing together government economic-development officials, developers, financial experts and others for education, debate and networking.
BUT FIRST, THIS
House money: Long Island’s economic-development cornerstones want to hear from you on the critical topic of regional housing.
The Long Island Association, the Association for a Better Long Island and the Long Island Builders Institute have launched the Long Island Economic Investment Survey to better inform future residential-development strategies, a critical issue on an island hamstrung by shortfalls in housing diversity and affordability. The comprehensive survey is designed to evaluate prior real-estate investments on and off Long Island, to assess obstacles to initiating and completing Island-based residential-development projects and to evaluate potential reforms for streamlining the regional development process.
Administered by Long Island University’s Steven S. Hornstein Center for Policy, Polling and Analysis, the survey is slated to remain open through Jan. 31. Long Island Association President and CEO Matt Cohen called it “critical … to ensur(ing) policy accommodates the continued growth of our region,” while LIBI Chief Executive Mike Florio predicted it would go a long way toward “addressing the underlying issues that have contributed to our housing crisis” and ABLI Executive Director Kyle Strober said it would ultimately “create additional jobs and housing, not push them away.”
Looks simple enough: But Gore’s Thoracic Multibranched Endoprosthesis is actually a quantum leap in difficult aortic surgeries.
Branching out: Northwell Health has employed a cutting-edge medical technology to treat a complex thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm – a potentially deadly aorta dysfunction that can’t be treated with conventional stents.
Manhasset-based North Shore University Hospital became the first Long Island institution to use the Gore Thoracic Multibranched Endoprosthesis during a Dec. 6 procedure inside NSUH’s state-of-the-art Petrocelli Surgical Pavilion. Created specifically for high-risk patients with complex aortic conditions, the specialized stent graft – which emphasizes endovascular therapy (combining wires and catheters) over traditional surgical thoracoabdominal aortic replacement – centers around an advanced FDA-approved implant that was successfully deployed at Northwell’s Manhattan-based Lenox Hill Hospital earlier in 2024.
Northwell officials are already planning to introduce the next-generation device, created by Delaware-based med-tech innovator W.L. Gore & Associates, to patients at Bay Shore’s South Shore University Hospital and other hospitals across the vast health system. “The new technology’s multibranched design allows for more precise vessel targeting,” noted Mohsen Bannazadeh, director of the Aortic Surgery Division in NSUH’s Department of Surgery. “We are so grateful to be able to help the patients with thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms who otherwise might not survive.”
POD PEOPLE
Episode 48: Linda Armyn, making her best bank shot.
Since joining Bethpage Federal Credit Union as a senior vice president in 2001 (and especially since ascending to president and CEO in 2023), Linda Armyn has helped grow the not-for-profit financial institution into a top-15 national credit union boasting $13 billion-plus in assets – and that’s before it rolled out 2025’s hot new marketing campaign and innovative rebranding effort.
In today’s episode of “Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast,” Linda joins host Gregory Zeller to explain why a busy extracurricular agenda is critical to effective corporate management – and share why Bethpage’s biggest and brightest days are on the horizon.
TOP OF THE SITE
Well, that’s nice: The latest Mount Sinai South Nassau Truth in Medicine Poll spotlights the holiday-season stress levels of Long Island and New York City residents – and reveals what they really think about their family and friends.
Action hero: It’s a new year out there and your entire innovation team needs to be on the same page. Their own individual Innovate Long Island Newsletter subscriptions is a great place to start – always easy, always free and always bringing the actionable intel. Take action!
VOICES
The nation’s marketing, advertising and public-relations industries will never be the same following the huge Omnicom/Interpublic merger, according to ZE Creative Communications Executive Vice President and Voices Media Anchor David Chauvin, who laments a direct hit on the spirit of American innovation.
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. Everything you need to know.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Now hiring: Various economic factors are shaping the 2025 jobs market. Indeed’s Hiring Lab applies itself.
Now innovating: This week’s CES 2025 technology conference leans heavily into artificial intelligence. Engadget works the floor.
Now or never: The New Year finds the national transportation industry at a critical crossroads of safety and efficiency. Forbes maps it out.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ PBS Biotech, a California-based biotech focused on single-use bioreactor systems and bioprocess-development services, raised $17 million in growth funding. Backers included Avego Management and BroadOak Capital Partners.
+ Qolab Inc., a Wisconsin-based superconducting quantum-computing pioneer, raised more than $16 million in Series A financing led by Octave Ventures, with participation from the Development Bank of Japan, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and Phoenix Venture Partners.
+ Gemma Biotherapeutics, a Pennsylvania-based biotech focused on new therapeutics, closed a $34 million Seed funding co-led by Double Point Ventures, Bioluminescence Ventures and Earlybird Venture Capital.
+ Portal Biotechnologies, a Massachusetts-based biotech focused on cell engineering, raised $7 million in Seed funding led by IA Ventures.
+ Culina Health, a New Jersey-based digital platform for clinical nutrition care providers, raised $7.9 million in Series A funding led by Healthworx.
+ Ottimo Pharma, a New York City-based biotech focused on wide-therapeutic bifunctional medicines, raised more than $140 million in funding led by OrbiMed, Avoro Capital and Samsara BioCapital.
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 LIBDC). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (New Year’s Predictions Edition)
Future tense: Freakishly accurate mystic Baba Vanga sees dark times ahead — though “transformative opportunities” await Geminis, Cancers and others in 2025.
Tech team: Robots, AI resistance and other 2025 technology trends, according to industry insiders.
Sign on: Celebrated clairvoyant Baba Vanga forecasts a transformative year for these zodiac signs.
Love actually: Sober dates, better hygiene and other outlooks for the 2025 dating scene.
They can see it coming: Please continue supporting the outstanding organizations that support Innovate Long Island, including the Long Island Business Development Council, which has applied robust conversation, best practices and a touch of crystal-ball foresight to regional socioeconomics for more than five decades. Check them out.
