Home > About BNE > Press Room > 2009 Archive > December > SUNY Fredonia incubator comes on line

SUNY Fredonia incubator comes on line

Business First of Buffalo - by David Bertola

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

The Fredonia State Business Technology Incubator opened on Monday, Dec. 21.   [visit web site]

The $6 million facility will provide support and shared services to as many as 30 start-up tech companies at a time, increasing the odds of each company’s survival and the chances for economic growth in Western New York.

The 21,000-square-foot, two-story building at 214 Central Ave. in Dunkirk also offers shared space including a “smart” conference room, meeting rooms and laboratories. The facility provides support to companies for up to three years. Then, those companies will “graduate” from the incubator and be guided to permanently settle in Western New York.

As part of Monday’s ceremony, five start-up companies were introduced as the inaugural class of tenants in the new facility: Cell Text Data Systems (CTDS), the Fredonia Shale Institute, Van Buren Bay Cosmetics, mArté and Zenhire. In addition, the founders of social media developer Noobis — a graduate from the previous location — were on hand as an example of the success the new facility hopes to share with many other entrepreneurs.

“Once they are economically viable and capable of operating independently, these companies will create jobs, revitalize neighborhoods and strengthen regional economies,” new incubator director Robert Fritzinger said.

Fritzinger, who has much experience in starting up companies of his own, is also the founder and chairman of Zenhire, a search engine technology innovator which operates in the human resources industry. He and his team are presently in negotiations with several other entities which are considering entering into lease agreements with the new facility.

“Normally, a start-up company has a one in five chance of succeeding,” Fredonia State President Dennis Hefner told those in attendance Monday. “However, when that start-up is affiliated with a university incubator, historically that ratio increases to four in five. That’s what this facility represents, the chance to turn that ratio around, and turn our region’s economy around in the process.”