Hot Topics

Hofstra University Center for Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs March 19, 2020

All things being unequal, Hofstra’s Challenge lives on

By GREGORY ZELLER // Health equity – a concept freshly redefined by our times – takes center stage in this year’s Healthcare Entrepreneurship Community Challenge. Hofstra University’s long-running entrepreneurship competition is offering $50,000-plus in cash and business-resource prizes to early-stage enterprises addressing socialized healthcare problems in underserved Long Island, New York City and Hudson Valley communities. This year’s “challenge topic” is “advancing health equity,” focused on innovative products and services that “improve the total health…

Newsletters December 18, 2019

No. 462: Silver bells, silver medals and the ‘Silver Tsunami’ – plus, STEM education for grown-ups

  Are those bells we hear? Santa’s sleigh is warming up, dear readers, as we hurdle another Wednesday and trigger the one-week countdown to Christmas Day. That makes it Dec. 18 out there, and around the world we go: Republic Day in Niger, National Day in Qatar, International Migrants Day and the U.N.’s Arabic Language Day, recognizing a true pillar of human history. This little piggy: Pork will likely be scarce at Arabic Language Day…

Newsletters November 13, 2019

No. 454: Making Whoopi, seating Parks and (kinda) quoting Franklin – plus, the winds of cyberwar blow

  Half full: You’ve made it this far, dear reader – it’s Wednesday, Nov. 13, and you’re already halfway through this busy workweek. Well done! Tell everyone how you did it – it’s National Start a Rumor Day. You don’t Sadie: Empowering to some, infuriating to others, life imitates art this and every Nov. 13 – Sadie Hawkins Day, as first celebrated in the satirical “Li’l Abner” comic strips of the 1930s. Here’s one we…

Newsletters October 9, 2019

No. 444: In which supernovas explode, Northwell’s blood flows and Nikola Tesla goes Hollywood

  It all adds up: It’s addition by subtraction, dear readers, as we count off the days of this latest busy workweek and multiply our chances for socioeconomic success. Welcome to your Wednesday newsletter, which according to Innovate LI’s mystifying numbering system (Kominicki didn’t count the first half-dozen or so, and we kinda forgot to number the Monday calendar newsletters) is No. 444 – a blessing, according to numerologists. On your Marc: It’s Oct. 9…

Awards and Events September 26, 2019

Innovation does well at 2019 Healthcare Challenge

By GREGORY ZELLER // Healthcare was the challenge and the entire community was the winner – though really, a cutting-edge app that helps users make more nutritious food selections was the actual winner. The in-development CATSCAN app captured first place at this year’s Healthcare Entrepreneurship Community Challenge, Hofstra University’s annual pitch contest designed to inspire market-based community-health solutions by downstate entrepreneurs. The competition, part of a larger 2019 Community Health Symposium held Tuesday at the…

Economic Development September 10, 2019

The ‘underserved’ aim high, via Ascend Long Island

By GREGORY ZELLER // The rubber meets the roads Thursday at Hofstra University, when the innovative Ascend Long Island program holds its first-ever “procurement conference.” Combining small Nassau County businesses and buyers from bigger regional corporations and government agencies, the conference is built to bolster Ascend Long Island’s primary mission: to provide essential business resources, primarily capital, to early stage enterprises in underserved Nassau communities. Specifically, what Hofstra calls “The Corridor:” the villages of Hempstead…

Newsletters August 28, 2019

No. 433: A cannabis crew, a windy forecast, and something’s very fishy in Long Island Sound

  Almost there: Hang on, dear readers … you’re halfway through this unofficial last workweek of the Summer of 2019, with a well-earned holiday weekend in sight. Tie one on: It’s Wednesday, Aug. 28, and we’re not saying things are dragging or people have mentally checked out as summer winds down, but the best we can do today is National Bow Tie Day. On that note, a gentle reminder that Innovate LI will be sticking…

Medical devices August 7, 2019

Hofstra helps healthcare startups meet their matches

By GREGORY ZELLER // Nassau University Medical Center hosted a healthcare summit on Wednesday that put up-and-coming healthcare entrepreneurs in front of two important audiences. The innovators, all participants in Hofstra University’s federally funded Healthcare Entrepreneurship Community Challenge, met with decision-makers from large-scale health systems and Long Island residents – the people most likely to need their products – in a “Customer Discovery Day” conference designed specifically to inform the entrepreneurs during their early-stage formations….

Awards and Events April 29, 2019

Island student entrepreneurs shine in NY Biz Plan finals

By GREGORY ZELLER // Long Island may be a state-designated biotech corridor, but its student entrepreneurs have some pretty bright ideas regarding the environment, too. That according to the 2019 edition of the New York Business Plan Competition, a privately funded venture-creation competition established in 2009 to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship throughout New York’s colleges and universities. Each of the state’s 10 economic regions, including Long Island, hosted regional competitions earlier this month, with 92…

Newsletters April 26, 2019

No. 400: The big four-oh-oh! (Starring Hofstra’s cleverest, Stony Brook’s smartest and Old Westbury’s most creative)

  That’s a lot of nuts! Welcome, dear friends, to a special anniversary edition of your Innovate Long Island newsletter. Yes, this is our 400th edition (not counting our calendar newsletters, which we never got around to numbering), and yes, that’s lotsa nuts. It’s a big number and we’re proud of it. And we’ve had loads of fun creating these informative and entertaining roundups, just as founder John Kominicki did when he e-blasted the very…

Newsletters April 12, 2019

No. 396: Inventing spam, honoring McCall and challenging Hofstra’s entrepreneurs (plus Modern Monetary Theory, in color)

  It’s Friday the 12th: And there’s nothing to fear, dear readers, as we reach the end of this latest springtime workweek and welcome another well-earned weekend. Rocket man: Today is Cosmonautics Day in Russia, the International Day of Human Space Flight and, in many countries, Yuri’s Night – all commemorating Vostok 1, the first manned spaceflight in human history, which blasted off April 12, 1961. The short spaceshot carried Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin through…

Economic Development March 5, 2019

Minority-owned businesses benefit as Hofstra ‘Ascends’

By GREGORY ZELLER // A new university/government/industry outreach program focused on minority entrepreneurs received an executive-grade kickoff Tuesday at Hofstra University. Funded by a $350,000 grant from JPMorgan Chase, the Ascend Long Island program – what Hofstra called “the first suburban outpost” of Chase’s larger Ascend 2020 effort – launched with a half-day symposium and an impressive 24 regional businesses already in the fold. Ascend 2020 is a joint effort of JPMorgan Chase’s Small Business…

Awards and Events February 19, 2019

Community wellness wins in Hofstra’s 2019 ‘Challenge’

By GREGORY ZELLER // Roughly $60,000 in cash and prizes is up for grabs in an ambitious Hofstra University competition designed to improve health, wellness and socioeconomic conditions in underserved communities throughout Greater New York. The 2019 Healthcare Entrepreneurship Community Challenge is now accepting innovative proposals for “market-based products or services” that can improve wellness in communities stretching from Long Island to New York City to the Hudson Valley, according to Hofstra. The theme for…

Newsletters January 11, 2019

No. 371: On Hollywood Whisky, organic sweeteners, zero-calorie chocolate and other tasty matters

  Welcome to Friday: You’ve done it, dear reader – the first full workweek of 2019 is just about in the books, and a very welcomed weekend is upon us. It’s Jan. 11 out there, and yes, Grand Canyon National Park – which today celebrates the 111th anniversary of Teddy Roosevelt declaring the canyon a national monument – is open, despite the partial federal government shutdown. Code maker: Today is also an important anniversary for…

Mergers & Acquisitions December 6, 2018

New parent for Long Island travel-data ‘Expert’

By GREGORY ZELLER // A data-science and analytics company has added an original Long Island dotcom to its long list of assets. Red Ventures, a South Carolina-based operator of websites including the popular travel site The Points Guy, has acquired Patchogue-based Expert Travel Services LLC (dba ExpertFlyer), a circa-2005 startup focused on flight data and loyalty programs. ExpertFlyer was created by a group of frequent flyers from Long Island, including IT expert Chris Lopinto; his…