ROCHESTER, NY (WROC-TV) – Our Greater Rochester Enterprise Why ROC conversation cast a spotlight on the Luminate NY accelerator Wednesday during News 8 at Sunrise. Jim Senall, President of High Tech Rochester, discussed the incentive program. His company will oversee its implementation. In January, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced $10 million in funding to support the effort to grow the Photonics industry in Rochester, as outlined in the Finger Lakes Forward regional economic development plan. Read more

The Luminate accelerator, a $5 million per year initiative in New York State, has officially launched with its new name and website, and is now accepting expressions of interest from startup companies, mentors, VCs, and corporate partners. A national advisory board is being assembled and a managing director is being hired, with a goal of opening the startup application window in late July. Teams will be competing for one of ten available slots in the first cohort, guaranteeing them a minimum investment of $100,000, and potentially as much as $1 million. Read more

       A photonics-focused accelerator program based in Rochester and with close links to the AIM Photonics effort is about to begin offering support to startup companies. The “Luminate” initiative, first announced in January by New York governor Andrew Cuomo as the “Photonics Venture Challenge”, is to offer an aggregate $5 million per year to young companies working in the fields of optics, photonics and imaging.” Read more 

Governor Cuomo Announces Official Launch of Luminate NY Photonics Venture Challenge Press Office, New York State, July 5th, 2017 …Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the launch of Luminate NY, the world’s largest business accelerator for startup firms in the optics, photonics and imaging industries, in Rochester. Funding for the $10 million program, previously known as the Photonics Venture Challenge, was recently approved by Empire State Development’s Board of Directors and will be funded through the Finger Lakes’ Upstate Revitalization Initiative award. Read More  

The Luminate accelerator, a new $5M per year initiative recently announced by New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, has officially launched with its new name and website, and is now accepting expressions of interest from startup companies, mentors, VCs and corporate partners.  A national advisory board is being assembled and a managing director is being hired, with a goal of opening the startup application window in late July. Teams will be competing for one of ten available slots in the first cohort, guaranteeing them a minimum investment of $100,000, and potentially as much as $1M. Rochester, NY – In January, Governor Andrew Cuomo and Empire State Development announced the creation of a new startup accelerator program for optics, photonics, and imaging (OPI) enabled companies. Today, James Senall, president of High Tech Rochester (HTR), introduced the Luminate accelerator, focused on growing the most promising OPI enabled companies in the world. Luminate seeks visionary entrepreneurs solving challenging problems including but not limited to: machine vision, inspection, biophotonics, security, surveillance, augmented & virtual reality, and autonomous vehicles. While optical technologies are ubiquitous, the industry is highly specialized and fragmented. Consequently, most accelerator programs simply do not have the focus or domain expertise to optimally support OPI startups. Luminate will address