We are hwp-contenty to announce our Spring 2018 Startup School Series! The program is made up of seminars and workshops designed to provide entrepreneurs and startup business teams with the education and guidance they need to successfully design, launch, and grow their new companies. All sessions are free and open to the community, but registration is required via the links below.
Wednesdays from 12-1:30 PM | LEARN at the Innovation Center, 640 Ellicott St.
March 14, 2018 | Hiring Your First Employees with Holly Nowak, HMN Resources, LLC Register
March 21, 2018 | Developing Your Brand with Rob Wynne, Wynne Creative Group Register
April 4, 2018 | Perfecting Your Pitch with Rob Hunter, HigherMe Register
April 11, 2018 | Lifting Off With Analytics with Adam Stotz, TROVE Register
April 18, 2018 | Introduction to Blockchain with Jon Spitz & Paul Neubecker, Z80 Labs Register
April 25, 2018 | Podcasting for Business with Nate Benson, 43North Register
May 2, 2018 | Crowdsourcing for Business with Sam Marrazzo, BNMC Register
May 16, 2018 | Protecting Your Intellectual Property with Robert Simpson, Simpson & Simpson, PLLC Register
May 23, 2018 | SEO for Startups with Anthony Blatner, ModernMedio.io Register
The newly opened $270 million John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital was a page turner in the latest chapter of the burgeoning downtown Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
So was the December opening of the University at Buffalo’s $375 million new home for its Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
The completion of the new projects mark a turning point for the 120-acre campus at the epicenter of Buffalo’s renaissance.
In 2002, the campus was in its infancy with just three companies. Now boasting 4.5 million square feet of development and $1.4 billion in investments, the campus has moved beyond just medical institutions. It has taken shape with a diverse mix of health care, life science and technology companies, becoming fertile ground for entrepreneurs and their startups.
There is still more to come.
Campus planners are aiming for BNMC to rival medical campuses in places like Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Among the next steps are strengthening ties with higher education and the private sectors.
“We are so well positioned with all the institutions and assets that are here and now want to embrace the excellent universities and colleges,” said Matthew K. Enstice, CEO and president of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus Inc. “We plan to build out” – meaning renovate – “more space for them to have a location so they can interact and be a part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem that we have here.”
A big part of that vision is twp-contenting into local small and large companies, especially mature ones, and including them in the campus’ vision for its innovation district. “The world is changing so quickly in technology, that we’re putting a structure in place to help multiple, different companies innovate,” Enstice said.
Here’s what’s coming next on the Medical Campus:
• Design work is expected to start for renovation of existing buildings on the former Osmose Holdings site. In 2016, BNMC bought the 4.4-acre parcel, which is located at the northern edge of campus at Ellicott and Best streets and has parking for 200. It is expected to be a magnet for mature private-sector companies, along with universities and colleges, but will not be a second incubator, BNMC officials say.
• Ellicott Development Co. has a $4 million adaptive reuse development project underway at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, just north of the campus at Main and Best streets. To the south, Ellicott is planning a six-story retail and office building at 1091 Main St.
• Along the western edge of the campus, design work will begin for a redo of a critical stretch of Main Street from Goodell toward Canisius College. Meanwhile, a $7.5 million overhaul of Allen Street, including redesigned sidewalks and widened sections of the street, is expected to begin. Work will be done in phases, stretching from the eastern end of Allen toward Wadsworth.
• Workers will put the finishing touches on the exterior of UB’s Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, which opened to students earlier this month at 955 Main St. Final terra cotta panels are being installed on the Washington Street side of the building by spring. Most of the university’s labs are being moved in from mid-January through mid-March. With the medical school fully operational, 2,000 faculty, staff and students will be there daily.
• The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority’s newly renovated Allen Medical Campus Station has been integrated into the medical school. The station features “Gut Flora,” a colorful public art sculpture by Shasti O’Leary Soudant, and a newsstand opens this month. A one-block tunnel that serves as a pedestrian passageway to Washington Street will open beneath the medical school.
• The campus’ ninth pedestrian skybridge will be designed and constructed later in the year. It will span High Street, linking the Conventus medical office building to the UB Medical School. The new $1.5 million connector comes after three other skybridges just opened in November: one from Conventus to Oishei Children’s Hospital, another from Children’s Hospital to Buffalo General Medical Center/Gates Vascular Institute, and a third leading out the back of Children’s Hospital to a new parking ramp at 854 Ellicott St.
• By late May, the $40 million, 1,825-space parking ramp behind Oishei Children’s Hospital at 854 Ellicott will be completed. The top half of the eight-story ramp has been under construction since late 2017. The bottom half of the eight-story ramp opened Nov. 10 with Oishei Children’s Hospital.
• The 128,000-square-foot Thomas R. Beecher Innovation Center at 640 Ellicott St. will be completely full by the end of March.
After Amherst native Matthew K. Enstice wrwp-contented up stints in the entertainment industry that took him to Broadway Pictures in Los Angeles and “Saturday Night Live” in New York City, his career dramatically swerved back to Buffalo.
He landed at the helm of the nonprofit organization overseeing the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Now, 17 years later, Enstice finds himself at the pulse of the expanding campus footprint, as he guides a shifting momentum in the campus’ growth.
With a collective projected workforce of 16,000 this year, the Medical Campus continues to make its mark – from hospitals to clinical and research facilities.
“We deliver health care here, and we’re going to do high-end health care here, but it’s changing,” said Enstice, president and chief executive officer of BNMC Inc. “Health care, as you know it, is a very, very different place. As that changes and evolves, you’re going to see opportunities in our community to utilize technology to develop companies for the future.”
The Medical Campus is already home to startup companies, entrepreneurs building businesses and high-tech companies. The momentum shows no signs of tapering off.
The future vision for the campus reflects a dedicated shift toward making room for local companies as they cut their teeth on new initiatives. The Medical Campus also looks to expand its innovation district to a 4.4-acre site on the northern edge of campus that once was the home of Osmose Holdings.
A visionary with high energy, Enstice is related to the prominent Jacobs family. His late father-in-law, Dr. Lawrence D. Jacobs, was a neurologist and world-renowned researcher specializing in the treatment of multiple sclerosis.
Often wearing a blue or white button-down shirt and khakis, he is known for his casual attire and carefree manner. He rarely breaks out a tie or suit.
Enstice recently met with The Buffalo News inside the campus Innovation Center to talk about the campus’ growth and future.
Q: What do monumental projects such as Children’s Hospital and the UB medical school say about the future of the campus?
A: People talked in years past that Children’s wasn’t moving over and there was a lot of controversy. But I think it showed how the community coming together can do great things, and that’s what Children’s is a true sign of.
Right now, the (medical school) has a major presence in the city. That, to me, is a game changer that I don’t think we can define right now.
I was sitting there at the opening, looking right out the window down Allen Street, and it was just amazing to envision what is Allen going to be like. What was so wild to see, was that I used to never see people walking there and there must have been 20 or 30 people coming out of that subway. It’s just the fact that we have so much traffic starting to develop down here. And that’s a real positive.
It’s just the beginning of more opportunities for our community to leverage these great assets and great organizations being here on the campus.
Q: How does Buffalo’s regional health care hub fit within the national mix?
A: I think that we’re one of the leading innovation districts. I just don’t think about it as health. If you look back to what Jerry Jacobs commissioned for looking at the future of medicine, it’s changing dramatically. And I believe we’re very well positioned because of our computer science school, our school of engineering and our ability to be leaders in the technology field. That’s what I think of.
So, we’ve been on the map. Having Children’s and the medical school down here, puts it on the map even more.
What we need to figure out how to do, and what we really want to do, in our next phases of development is to integrate the school of engineering and the schools of business.
How does Canisius College play a role here? How does Niagara University play a role here? How does Buffalo State College play a role here? We are so well positioned with all the institutions and assets that are here. So we plan to build out more space for them to have a location so they can interact and be a part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem that we have here.
Q: What kind of involvement?
A: Let’s look at the future of medicine and all the work that we’re doing in energy, all the work that we’re doing in transportation. What’s the major driver behind those industries as they’re changing? It’s technology. We’re well positioned in building our community out to have a technology foundation that can enable health care, energy, transportation.
I’m talking this campus. We have all the resources. I don’t think we’ll build a building for a college. We want to build an environment where local businesses, big companies, are going to have a presence here.
Our plan is to build out space to embrace the local economy. I think, for too long, a lot of local businesses have not been engaged, because there hasn’t been a vehicle.
I believe that if you look across as to what’s going to help strengthen local companies, they have to be a part of what we’re doing. I think we can all help one another. That is what this is all about. How do we build a platform and a foundation in technology for everybody? Tech is not the next chapter. It’s the current chapter. It’s really what is going to be our great opportunity for the future.
We’ll use the footprint of the existing (Osmose) space that we have. As of right now, we are not planning to build a new building in the near future. We are planning to renovate the existing space. I think, over time, various companies will start to come in, but within the year is our goal is to start to see this development really start to take off.
Q: What would you say to naysayers who didn’t think this vision for the campus would ever materialize in the fashion that it has so far?
A: If you stay together and you’re straightforward and honest with one another, great things can hwp-contenten. That is at the core of what builds all the great stuff that’s down here on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus … If you look at the 4.5 million square feet of development, the $1.4 billion worth of investment, that was because people worked, planned, developed together.
Q: What is the greatest challenge facing the campus?
A: I think the greatest challenge is that people continue to work together and support one another … I think the biggest challenge you have is that sometimes people forget what got you here.
Q: Parking is a constant complaint or concern, and there’s a huge push to get people to use public transit more.
A: We have off-campus shuttles running. We have public transportation being utilized and programs in place. And it’s starting to work. People are actually trying it and it’s working. While it’s not perfect, it is an option. And so to me, we will always have a parking spot here for every patient and visitor that comes down here.
What we would hope to see is that more people live in and around the campus, in and around the subway station.
The mayor continues to talk about reinvesting in Main Street with infrastructure. He’s committed $10 million so far, going toward Canisius. We want to see the mayor continue on that and go all the way and connect us to Canisius College. … I believe if you continue to do that, you’ll see more residential units pop up on Main Street. You’ll see more people using the transit. That’s what we want to see.
Q: There are signs of spinoff development in Allentown. But for the Fruit Belt neighborhood, there always seems to be an undercurrent of concern, gentrification, trying to preserve the Michigan Avenue corridor, and a push for more parking. What do you foresee for the Fruit Belt?
A: For the Fruit Belt, I hope that there’s continued investment there in the infrastructure. The mayor has done a great job at fixing the streets, the sidewalks, the trees and the lights. I hope they continue to do that because I want to see more people invest in that neighborhood. … We believe that will be a positive if the community is part of the solution there.
I’m really intrigued by what’s going on in Masten, Fruit Belt and Allentown – to me, they’re very similar in the sense that they’ve always been engaged in a part of the process with what’s going on with the campus. Everybody’s always talked about it. Everybody’s had a light on it.
What I’m interested in is what is going on to the north. We believe there’s going to need to be more of an engagement there. I think it’s a community that people maybe have not paid as much attention to. But they’re on the border of all this stuff that’s going on here. So, it’s probably already hwp-contentening and we don’t know it.
On Wednesday, December 27, 2017, the BNMC held “Home for the Holidays” at the Innovation Center, an event designed to inform and inspire expats about the growing opportunities on the Medical Campus and throughout the area. More than 40 former Buffalonians now living in cities like New York, Boston, D.C., Nashville, Austin and Portland arrived in the bitter cold eager to hear about the buzz in their hometown and left with a renewed sense of excitement in the possibility of returning to the city they once left. Watch the coverage from Channel 2. Are you or someone you love interested in coming home to Buffalo? Join our mailing list for information about moving back.
This fall, our team was proud to host the Topcoder Open (TCO), a prestigious global programming, design, and data science competition, and welcome the world’s top technology talent – representing 29 different countries – to our Innovation Center on the BNMC.
Hosting Topcoder was a big win for Buffalo and the BNMC as it allowed us to showcase our community to some of the top technology talent in the world and bridge the connection between technology and the medical field. Topcoder moves us one step closer to aligning current technical capabilities and our educational networks with our vision of building an ecosystem that grows and fosters technological and economic development.
Topcoder, the leading workforce marketplace with 1.1 million developers, designers, and data scientists around the world, chose BNMC to host this year’s finals competition as the city of Buffalo has recently emerged as a center for innovation and entrepreneurship, particularly in life sciences. TCO has been recognized as the world’s premier competition for the most talented technical minds; many of the world’s most respected tech companies keep a close watch on the competition and often hire top performers immediately. Past winners have gone on to successful careers at Google, Facebook, Blizzard Entertainment and Cisco.
At the Event
BNMC hosted the four-day competition, primarily in the Innovation Center, that culminated in Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul presenting a total of $60,000 to six top winners of the TCO. The multi-day UI Design Application Competition, sponsored by M&T Bank, challenged participants to develop an wp-content to connect eighth grade students at Westminster Community Charter School with adult mentors to help guide them through high school, college and life challenges after graduation.
We also held a number of complementary events surrounding TCO including school visits by the competitors and local tech talent; a video gaming competition attracting competitors from throughout New York State and Southern Ontario; and an Innovation Summit, sponsored by the BNMC and Topcoder, featuring leading experts from across North America who discussed issues including artificial intelligence (AI), the gig economy, and the future of digital along with other topics. BNMC also sponsored a local algorithm competition for college students and a STEM video challenge, powered by AT&T, awarding $1700 to nine local middle & high school students from the city of Buffalo and surrounding suburbs.
Why the BNMC?
The BNMC brings together design thinkers, social innovators, entrepreneurs, engineers, physicians, and researchers in Buffalo, New York. The Medical Campus is already home to disruptive new technologies and scientific advancements driven by thought-leaders in clinical care, research, education and business. Continuing to stay ahead of technology is critical to the future of medicine and to the further development of life sciences, materials informatics and biotechnology companies.
Thanks to the leadership of Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York State, Buffalo is on its way to becoming a technology supercenter by building on the density of our resources.
WNY boasts more than a dozen colleges and universities, including the University at Buffalo, a premier research-intensive public university with a significant computer science and engineer department and an academic supercomputing facility of more than 170 Tflops of peak performance computer capacity; leading-edge hospitals and health care providers; world-renowned research institutions; and socially innovative private companies.
From world-class clinicians and researchers delivering outstanding health care and working toward medical breakthroughs, to innovative entrepreneurs bringing talent and business acumen, the Medical Campus is leading Buffalo’s economic renaissance.
Our team at BNMC is creating a dynamic Innovation District here in Buffalo by asking how we can better further the economic growth of our member institutions and partners, ignite urban revitalization, and build a strong thriving community.
The Innovation Center (powered by BNMC) is the largest business incubator in Buffalo, currently serving more than 100 companies, including 43North, the largest ($5.5M) business plan competition in the world, and the Z80 Labs technology accelerator.
Want your BFF to move back to Buffalo? On Wednesday, December 27th, the BNMC invites all expats (those who grew up here but for some reason have left Buffalo) to see what the buzz is all about in their hometown! Matt Enstice, BNMC’s President & CEO, will present on Buffalo’s booming Innovation District at 10 a.m., followed by tours of the Medical Campus led by the BNMC team.
Note: this event is only for people with Buffalo ties now living in other cities. We do host other events for the local community throughout the year.
It’s been clear for awhile that ACV Auctions needed an office.
Turns out it didn’t need to leave the building.
The fast-moving technology startup, which offers a software platform for wholesale used car auctions, signed a lease Monday for a 10,000-square-foot office in the Thomas R. Beecher Jr. Innovation Center. The space will be renovated by building owner Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus Inc. and the company expects to move in by spring.
Company CEO George Chamoun said the space will be a large open floor plan with conference rooms and a modern tech vibe – including no executive offices. Chamoun and other managers will sit among the rest of the company’s employees.
The office is expected to accommodate up to 130 employees, which means it’s likely to be full soon. Chamoun said ACV will keep its various smaller offices around the building for personnel overflow.
Overall, ACV Auctions currently has 160 full-time employees.
That’s a far cry from the company’s formation in 2014, when Joe Neiman, Dan Magnuszewski and Jack Greco announced they had co-founded the company. Since that time, the company has raised about $21 million in private capital in three separate fundraising rounds. It also won the $1 million grand prize in the 43North business competition in 2015.
Since it was founded, ACV’s home base has been the Z80 Labs technology incubator, which is on the Innovation Center’s ground floor. Its team now takes up a sizable chunk of that real estate, while engineers, sales teams and others have separate offices in smaller rooms around the building.
Chamoun said the move gives ACV its own branded space without the tremendous logistical hurdles of an extensive real estate search. Various local technology firms have taken years to find the right mix of price and parking combined with a modern technology vibe in downtown Buffalo.
The third floor office also has large windows looking out to the burgeoning medical campus, with views of new buildings like the University at Buffalo’s Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and Kaleida Health’s new John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital.
“The landlords here have been great to us, and this allows us to continue doing our job right now,” Chamoun said. “It’s a great location and allows us to put around own brand around it.”
According to Chamoun, ACV’s job is to continue establishing its presence in new territories throughout the United States. ACV hires employees in each of its territories – including 33 territory managers – and then seeks to build a market of wholesale dealers and buyers, who can do real-time auctions on an wp-content instead of bringing vehicles to a physical auction.
The company has now extended south to Florida and has begun fielding requests from new territories. It is in the preliminary stages of considering a large new injection of funding in 2018 to accelerate growth.
Chamoun said ACV’s revenue is up 600 percent from 2016 and the company is hitting its financial milestones.
The company is also developing new products toward the goal of being a comprehensive solution in the wholesale automotive world.
“Buying and selling wholesale is all about trust,” Chamoun said. “We are building a product portfolio that’s built around trust for both buyers and sellers.”
In this week’s #TalkingCities, hear from Holberton School cofounders Julien Barbier, Sylvain Kalache, and Julien Cyr, pioneers changing the way education is delivered. Just named one of Business Insiders 19 Hottest San Francisco Startups to Watch in 2018, Holberton is a project-based college alternative for the next generation of software engineers seeking to diversify the tech industry.
Matt talks with Asi Burak, CEO of Power Play NYC, about the growing popularity of e-sports over traditional sports among millennials and women; Asi’s role as the producer for the largest industry-facing gaming festival in NYC, the Games for Change Festival and how games impact education, healthcare, research, civics, and social issues; and new research on neurogaming and the ways in which it can improve health, fitness and cognitive skills.
Matt talks with Sam Marrazzo, the BNMC’s new Chief Innovation Officer. Sam talks about why he sees himself as a connector of technology, people, and places. He also touches on how being stationed on the U.S.S. Independence kicked off his career in technology; the importance of strong university alignment to drive innovation within cities; his longtime partnership with Topcoder; and why we should all “run to math”.
The Innovation Summit on Tuesday, October 24th will bring together business and thought leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs from across the country, and the event is set against the backdrop of the Topcoder Open Finals — the ultimate programming and design tournament for elite members of the Topcoder Community.
You’ll get to witness live, on-stage competition between top designers, developers, and data scientists, and speakers from organizations such as M&T Bank, Illuminare Group, and Visionware Solutions will lead discussions on topics including:
Digital transformation and customer experience
Agile and the art of mindfulness
Blockchain, AI, and the next wave of digital
Finding the right tech talent in the gig economy
Changing work styles for millennials and remote teams
Get all the details here and reserve your seat here.
Back by popular demand, our Startup School & Creativity Series are back this fall in LEARN at the Innovation Center! All sessions are free and open to the public, but registration is required.
Startup School | 12-1:30pm
September 27 Protecting Intellectual Property Simpson & Simpson, PLLC Register
October 10
Benefits of Being Part of the Western New York Incubator Network WNY Incubator Network (WIN) Register
November 8 Crowdfunding a Startup Thimble.io Register
November 9
User Experience & Design Thinking Helm UX Register
November 29
Perfecting Your Pitch HigherMe Register
December 5
From Concept to Prototype Product Logic Register
December 6
Social Media Marketing U.S. Small Business Administration Register
December 12
Benefits of START-UP NY Program START-UP NY Register
Creativity Series with Dr. Roger Firestien | 8:30-11am
October 11
How to be Deliberately Creative Register
STEM Video Challenge for Students in grades 5 – 12!
How will advances in technology lead to a better future for Western New York?
This video challenge, powered by AT&T, is an opportunity for students in grades 5-12 to create a video to show how they predict technology will lead to a better future for Western New Yorkers. It can be anything you can imagine, as long as it’s improving the future of our community. Utilize technology (mobile devices, drones, animation, special effects) to make your video as impactful as possible – just make sure it’s wp-contentropriate for all ages and less than 60 seconds long.
Ideas include technology that:
Improves the health of our community;
Advances our school systems;
Provides better connectivity among neighbors;
Improves transportation options;
Any technology advancements that you think will create a better Western New York.
Eligibility
Must be in grades 5-12 and under 18 years of age
Middle school contest is for students in grades 5-8
High school contest is for students in grades 9 – 12
Entries accepted in both the individual and group categories
Must be a resident of Erie & Niagara County
Timeline
September 11, 2017 – Challenge Opens
October 6, 2017 – Deadline for video submission
October 17, 2017 – Finalists announced
October 24, 2017 – winners announced
Prizes
Individual winners in middle & high school (1st, 2nd & 3rd places)
Group winners in middle and high school (1st, 2nd & 3rd places)
Cash prizes of up to $500 for all finalists.
Competition Guidelines:
There will be two categories of video competition: Individual and Group for both middle & high school
There is no limit to the number of members of a group in the group video category, however all participants must be supervised by their school teacher, principal, or club leader
Video should be wp-contentrox. 45 seconds in length, no more than 60. Any video exceeding 60 seconds will be disqualified.
Students should use the video to showcase their creativity. There are no restrictions on video content however video should not contain any nudity, vulgarity, or other offensive language or images.
Criteria for Judging
The video must explore how technology advancements will improve the Western New York in the future. The video must demonstrate an idea and its impact. For example, the video may look at how autonomous vehicles may reduce the need for the number of parking spaces currently available in the city, and offer ideas for what that space could be used for instead.
Videos will be evaluated based on the following areas:
Creativity
Originality
Technical skills used to create & edit video (meaning, how difficult was it to make)
Clear message that sticks to the theme
Videos will be judged by a panel of judges to be announced soon.
Email accompanying the video should include:
Student’s name/s
Parent or legal guardian names
Supervising teacher/adult name
School name and contact information including address, phone number and email address
Grade level of student/s
Each entry must be the original work of the student(s).
By submitting a video, each student confirms that he/she has received all relevant and wp-contentropriate permissions from all individuals who wp-contentear in the video, and their parent/ guardian, and that he/she has obtained all necessary permissions to use all material such as images, text, voice, music, and any other content.
Video Submission Requirements:
Complete the submission formand upload your video. This wp-contentlication is required for all submissions. Please fill out the form with a parent, legal guardian or school representative – they will need to accept the terms and conditions.
Must be in grades 5-12 and under 18 years of age.
Open to youth in grades 5-12 in Erie or Niagara Counties.
Middle School contest is students in grades 5-8; High School contest for students in grades 9-12
Entries accepted in both individual and group categories
The deadline for submissions is on or before October 6, 2017
Finalists will be announced October 17, 2017 and winners will be announced on October 24th at the TCO Finals at the BNMC.
Some of the world’s top technologists will get to see what Buffalo has to offer during a four-day competition in October.
The Topcoder Open 2017 will be held at the Thomas R. Beecher Jr. Innovation Center from Oct. 20 to 24, featuring more than 85 competitors from 25 countries facing off in areas such as data science, programming and design.
Topcoder is a San Francisco-based company that hosts biweekly competitions that lead to regional matches and ultimately to an annual finale, which is what will be held this year in Buffalo.
Buffalo Medical Campus Inc. officials said Topcoder officials were attracted to the region’s technology assets, including the biomedical Jacobs Institute, National Grid ‘microgrid’ project on the medical campus and University at Buffalo Center for Computational Research.
“A lot of the big industries in Buffalo are going to need designers, software engineers and coders to make sure they’re continuing to grow and prosper,” said Matt Enstice, president and CEO of BNMC Inc. “This conference will help put Buffalo on the map and show ex-pats that we’re doing this stuff in Buffalo too, so why don’t you come on back.”
The Topcoder conference was recruited to Buffalo with the help of Sam Marrazzo, chief information officer at Superior Talent Resources Inc. and a longtime Topcoder participant. He said the Topcoder finale prizes are prestigious ones – and often lead to exciting job offers – so the field converging on Buffalo will be looking to win.
That level of competition will create a definite buzz in the Buffalo tech community, Marrazzo said.
“This is something that needs to hwp-contenten for Buffalo to become known as a technology hub,” he said.
Sean Heidinger, who is the curator of the d!g space that will be transformed for the event, traveled to China to observe one of the regional Topcodercompetitions. He said there will be a series of ancillary events, including an Oct. 24 forum led by women in the Buffalo technology world and visits from some of the competitors to technology programs in local high schools.
“I’m anticipating a world-class event,” Heidinger said. “The campus is going to be ready and we’re very excited.”
Dan Miner covers startups, education, manufacturing and public companies.
There’s no disputing that the Buffalo Niagara region isn’t Silicon Valley.
It’s not even close.
But officials at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus are hoping to shine a spotlight on the region’s undersized tech sector and try to give it a boost by hosting a global contest for the technology industry’s top developers, designers and data scientists in October.
The Topcoder contest will bring more than 85 of the world’s top technology development and design experts to Buffalo for the contest, but the competition also will attract attention from top technology companies, which often view the annual event as a way to identify talent within the coding industry.
“This is very prestigious within the coding community,” said Sean Heidinger, the manager of the dig co-working space at the Innovation Center on the Medical Campus. “It’s similar to March Madness in the programming world.”
Local organizers, however, hope the contest will be much more than that, providing an opportunity for the region to highlight its technology assets, ranging from the University at Buffalo supercomputer to the fast-growing medical campus and the region’s significant banking and financial services sector.
“This could be a great opportunity,” said Matt Enstice, the Medical Campus’ president and CEO.
“We have a lot of great software engineers and coders engaged with what we’re doing on the Medical Campus,” Enstice said.
The contest also will allow the region to focus attention on UB’s Center for Computational Research and the supercomputer capabilities at UB, along with the Jacobs Institute, a medical innovation center located on the Medical Campus, he said.
“We want people to see that there is a lot of opportunity in Buffalo,” Enstice said. “We want more of these software engineers and coders to be living in Buffalo.”
At the moment, the region’s technology sector is undersized by national standards, which means the Buffalo Niagara region is missing out on much of the impact the fast-growing sector is having on the economy in other places, especially in hot spots like Silicon Valley in California and cities like Austin, Texas.
The information sector, which includes some but by no means all activity within technology professions, barely grew in the Buffalo Niagara region from 2009 to 2015 – a time when the overall economy here expanded by more than 6 percent, according to federal economic data.
The amount of personal income generated by the information sector actually declined by 1 percent during that time, even though jobs within that sector pay better than the average job in the Buffalo Niagara region. The average compensation per job in the Buffalo Niagara region rose by 15 percent during that time.
Organizers are planning to hold a series of related events during the coding competition, which will be held at the Medical Center’s innovation center from Oct. 20-24. Those events will include contests and meetings with local students to encourage them to pursue studies in the coveted science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields as well as an “innovation summit” with local and visiting technology leaders at the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute.
The contest, which was held last year in Washington, D.C., will bring together winners of regional competitions held in seven cities, such as Austin and Pittsburgh, as well as Beijing and St. Petersburg, Russia.
While the contest could be overshadowed in bigger cities, such as Washington, organizers hope that bringing it to Buffalo will shine a brighter spotlight on it locally.
“It’s going to be a big fish in a small pond,” said Sam Marrazzo, the chief information officer at Amherst employment agency Superior Talent Resources, who came up with the idea of trying to bring the contest to Buffalo.
Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus to Host Topcoder Open 2017 in October
International Crowdsourcing Competition Attracts World’s Most Advanced Designers, Developers and Data Scientists and Companies Wanting to Recruit Them
Buffalo, N.Y., August 23, 2017 – The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC) announced today that it will be the host of the 2017 Topcoder Open (TCO), the prestigious programming, design, and data science competition that attracts some of the world’s most talented design and technology experts. The event, which was launched in 2001, will take place at dig, the coworking space at BNMC’s Innovation Center October 20-24. Topcoder, the leading workforce marketplace with 1.1 million developers, designers, and data scientists around the world, chose BNMC to host this year’s competition as the city of Buffalo has recently emerged as a center for innovation and entrepreneurship, particularly in life sciences.
The World’s Premier Crowdsourcing Competition
Topcoder Open has been recognized as the world’s premier competition for the most talented technical minds; many of the world’s most respected tech companies keep a close watch on the competition and often hire top performers immediately. Past winners have gone on to successful careers at Google, Facebook, Blizzard Entertainment and Cisco.
Topcoder Community members from around the world compete online and accumulate points in Development and Design Tracks, and in online elimination-style rounds for the Data Science tracks. Those that qualify to compete in the TCO finals earn prizes and an all-expenses-paid trip to Buffalo to compete live, network, and meet other competitors in person. More than 85 participants from 25 countries are expected to travel to Buffalo to compete.
In addition to the main competition, Topcoder and BNMC are hosting a series of complementary events, including a student video competition, a STEM career event with local high schools, and others to be announced.
Buffalo Hosts Both TCO and Leading-Edge Technology Innovation
Buffalo was chosen as the 2017 TCO site due to its leading-edge hospitals and health care providers, world-renowned research and banking institutions, and socially innovative private companies as well as its concentration of colleges and universities, most notably the University at Buffalo, with its significant computer science and engineering department and one of the world’s leading academic supercomputing center. Organizers also cited BNMC’s focus on disruptive new technologies and scientific advancements driven by thought-leaders in clinical care, research, education and business.
Matt Enstice, President and CEO of BNMC commented, “We continue to see the intersection of technology and health care and we know it is critical to the future of medicine and to the further development of life sciences, materials informatics and biotechnology companies to stay ahead of new advances. We are actively pursuing new ways to develop and promote the advancement of technology on the Medical Campus and coding is central to this focus. We look forward to hosting this dynamic event and collaborating with the TCO team in the future.”
Howard Zemsky, President, CEO & Commissioner of Empire State Development said, “Buffalo’s selection as host to a global coding competition tells the world that New York State is home to top tech companies and talent, and to respected higher educational institutions that prepare graduates for competitive, well-paying jobs in the tech industry.”
About Topcoder and the Topcoder Open
Topcoder is a workforce marketplace with 1.1 million developers, designers, and data scientists around the world. For more than a decade Topcoder has helped customers ranging from startups to Fortune100 companies accelerate innovation, solve challenging problems, and tap into hard to find skills. Enterprises distribute work to our global network through the Topcoder Marketplace, where individuals with the right skills participate in competitions to win money, build skills, and earn recognition. Topcoder Open is the flagship event of the community. The best performers qualify to enter the Topcoder Open finals through acculumating points on the platform and in regional competitions around the world. Previous finals have been held in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. Learn more at www.topcoder.com.
About the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Inc.
The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Inc. (BNMC) is a self-sustaining social enterprise successfully combining innovation, job creation, and urban revitalization. It serves as the umbrella organization of the anchor institutions that make up the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus located within the 120-acre campus bordering Allentown, the Fruit Belt and Downtown. The BNMC Inc. fosters conversation and collaboration among its member institutions, its partners and the community to address critical issues impacting them, including entrepreneurship, energy, access and transportation, workforce and procurement, neighborhoods, and healthy communities, with the goal of increasing economic development and building a strong community. www.bnmc-old.local.
Buffalo is becoming a hotbed for business entrepreneurs. The city is ranked number two on Entrepreneur Magazine’s list of booming communities for start-ups.
On a list of eight cities, Buffalo trailed only behind San Diego, receiving high marks for “a healthy environment of investment and innovation.” The magazine gives credit to Buffalo’s revitalization and investments in existing infrastructure for financial services, biotech, sports science and education, as well as “great incubators” like 43North – the group that organizes an annual business competition.
43North Director of Marketing Peter Burakowski said Buffalo should celebrate this achievement.
“Our community should be proud of the momentum we’re having right now; which is greater than we have seen in more than a generation. Now is the time to keep the foot on the pedal, and keep our entrepreneurial ecosystem heading in the right direction.”
Being on Entrepreneur’s list could bring numerous business opportunities to Buffalo. Burakowski agrees that the city has momentum when it comes to attracting start-ups and luring companies that have room to grow.
43 North Director of Marketing Peter Burakowski
CREDIT 43 NORTH
“It’s important to shape perceptions of Buffalo as a city on the rise for entrepreneurship. That helps us attract more great entrepreneurs to our community. That also helps us get on the radar of investors who can refer good companies to our community, but also put their money into startups that are settling their roots here in Western New York,” said Burakowski.
The city is developing from its strengths and its long history in advanced manufacturing. Many of the city’s assets, such as the growing medical campus, allow for the development of biomedical start-ups. Buffalo can attract millennials who are looking to get involved in certain start-up businesses.
“This is really looking at the jobs of tomorrow,” Burakowski said. “We want to keep millennials here, keep the next generation that follows here, and attract young talent here. We want to start now, and bring the jobs of the future here to Buffalo.”
Many people in the city – mainly the large college population – have a great deal of opportunities to get in on the ground floor of new companies. Burakowski hopes many of the start-up businesses that are beginning in Buffalo could blossom into the large employers of tomorrow.
“Whether it’s helping SWAT teams be able to see a live shooter situation with 360 degree video, or trying to develop a target cancer therapy so people can fight cancer with less side-effects, these are big ideas with brilliant people working on them.”
Rounding out the list of eight are Richmond, VA; Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC; New Orleans, LA; Cincinnati, OH; Nashville, TN; and Baltimore, MD.
We are excited to announce the new Innovation Center website, a resource for companies and entrepreneurs looking to grow their business alongside startups, social impact organizations, tech innovators, and major health care, research & education institutions all co-located on the Medical Campus.
The Medical Campus is already home to disruptive new technologies and scientific advancements driven by thought leaders in clinical care, research, education and business. Learn more about how to access Campus-wide resources, including workspace, networking events, programming, and more on our site. Feedback is welcome! We look forward to connecting with you.
We are excited to announce our Spring Build a Better Business Series in LEARN at the Innovation Center! The program is made up of seminars and workshops designed to provide entrepreneurs and startup business teams with the education and guidance they need to successfully design, launch, and grow their new companies. All sessions are free and open to the community, but registration is required. Upcoming sessions:
March 30: Lead Generation, presented by Tipping Point Communications
April 5: Hiring Your First Employee, presented by Holly Nowak
Visit our website for the full series, including topics on marketing and branding, sales, finance, hiring, strategic planning and more!
Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus to Host Internship Fair for Undergraduate and Graduate Students
WHAT: The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Inc. (BNMC) will host an Internship Fair to connect companies on the Medical Campus with undergraduate and graduate students for spring and summer internships.
WHEN: Thursday, March 2, 2017 from 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM EST
WHERE: dig at the Innovation Center, 640 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, NY 14203
WHO: Nearly 30 companies in a variety of fields will be on hand to meet with local students for potential internship positions in areas including: technology, laboratory, engineering, business development, marketing, and much more.
JMS Technical Solutions is sponsoring the Internship Fair.
The event is free and open to all current undergraduate and graduate level students. To register, go to https://bnmc-old.local/events/bnmc-internship-fair/
ABOUT: The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Inc. (BNMC Inc.) is a self-sustaining social enterprise successfully combining innovation, job creation, and urban revitalization. It serves as the umbrella organization of the anchor institutions that make up the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus located within the 120-acre campus bordering Allentown, the Fruit Belt and Downtown. The BNMC Inc. fosters conversation and collaboration among its member institutions, its partners and the community to address critical issues impacting them, including entrepreneurship, energy, access and transportation, workforce and procurement, neighborhoods, and healthy communities, with the goal of increasing economic development and building a strong community. www.bnmc-old.local.
Official Launch and Celebration of Buffalo’s First “Idea Lab” to be Held Tuesday, February 28
i4 Studio is a Collaboration between BNMC’s Innovation Center and The International Center for Studies in Creativity
What: A celebration of the official launch of i4 Studio, the first Idea Lab located in Western New York. i4 Studio will offer programs for businesses and individuals to wp-contently creative thinking tools and processes to generate breakthroughs in idea generation, creative problem solving, strategic planning and business modeling.
The concept was created through collaboration between the Innovation Center, powered by the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, and the International Center for Studies in Creativity (ICSC) located at SUNY Buffalo State. ICSC is the first program to offer the science of creativity at the graduate level and is globally recognized for its programs that teach skills in creative thinking, innovative leadership practices and problem solving skills. For more details go to www.i4studiobuffalo.com.
When: Tuesday, February 28 from 5pm – 7 pm
Where: At i4 Studio is on the third floor of the BNMC’s Innovation Center, located at 640 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
Why: The launch event is a chance for interested individuals to visit the i4 Studio and check out its inspiring environment that includes flexible work and meeting space, creative materials, musical instruments, toys and other tools designed to get creative juices flowing!
Attendees can also meet co-directors Vic Nole, Director of Business Development for the BNMC, and Roger Firestien, senior faculty member of the International Center for Studies in Creativity to learn more about offerings at i4 Studio.
Who: The event is free and open to the public. More than 200 individuals are expected to attend including entrepreneurs, students, business owners and individuals.
Learn more: The Innovation Center, powered by the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Inc., is the largest business incubator in Buffalo. It is home to dig, 43North, Z80 Labs, and some of the fastest growing, most successful companies and start-ups in the region. Through its Innovation Center, the BNMC provides workspace, education, business services, and networking opportunities to entrepreneurs and young companies in all industry sectors.
Vic Nole had spent the past decade trying to help medical companies commercialize products and technologies when, in 2014, he was hired to do a similar job on behalf of an entire region.
Nole is director of business development for Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus Inc., a process that involves getting personally involved with companies on the medical campus and building broader strategies to support their growth.
BNMC Inc. owns several facilities that house high-tech companies and also exists to serve other major commercialization actors on the campus, including the University at Buffalo, Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute.
Nole holds an important job on the campus, where the combined public and private investment of the last 10 years has been more than $1 billion, partly to improve health care in Buffalo but also to help generate a new economy.
How would you describe your job? Part of it is working with small teams to help them build business models to commercialize a product or technology. BNMC Inc. doesn’t have a huge staff or depth of knowledge in that area, so we rely on our network to facilitate introductions and access to resources. Another area is working with our member institutions on the medical campus, helping them map out assets and open doors so we can market a broader capability outside of Buffalo in the hopes of attracting new companies.
What kind of environment are you trying to build for startups? We’re trying to provide workspace, education, access to business resources and then networking opportunities, and to put in place infrastructure and amenities in those four areas. Then any company that is part of the campus community can plug into any of those things. They can come to me and say, “Hey, do you know an expert in regulatory affairs?” Or “Can you help me sell my product in China?” There is still a lot of work to do. Lab facilities are quickly filling up across campus. Our mentor network still needs to grow. We recently launched our i4 Studio (in collaboration with SUNY Buffalo State’s International Center for Studies in Creativity), a creativity lab that’s part of our evolving education program.
The campus is a widely used symbol of Buffalo’s economic resurgence. Is there real momentum here? The reason the campus has been so successful is that everyone is working together. Three years ago, we had 35 to 40 companies on the campus; now there are more than 120, and nearly 50 of them are in life sciences. Ten years ago, most intellectual property generated at the University at Buffalo or Roswell Park Cancer Institute got licensed and went outside of Buffalo. We’re finally at a point where we have enough infrastructure, processes and systems in place, and enough collaboration between our members, that we can design and launch our own life sciences companies. The growth is good but we still need critical mass. When I am out in Boston talking to investors, you need a certain amount of companies to get them on a plane. If you tell them you have 200 companies, it’s going to catch their attention.
What do you think the future of the campus holds? I’m bullish. Some of these companies are going to start to emerge and catch the attention of people outside the area. The image of the campus has grown, which is helping us attract more talent and more money. And as you start to bring in more assets, it just accelerates your programs. So I would think that if we’re sitting here today at 120 companies, we could double that in five years.
Dan Miner covers startups, education, manufacturing and public companies.
WBFO’s Chris Caya reports on the many new businesses that have set up shop on the BNMC.
In just three years, the number of businesses on the Medical Campus increased 300%.
“Going in to 2013 we had about 40 companies that were located here in the Innovation Center. And at the close of 2016 we’re supporting a little over 120 companies across the Medical Campus,” said Vic Nole, the BNMC’s Director of Business Development.
Nole says, they’re not all involved in healthcare or life sciences either. There’s a diverse mix of companies.
“We’ve got quite a bit of technology, we’ve got a little bit of manufacturing. We have some social impact entrepreneurs,” Nole said.
There’s even some retail and a few artists. Nole says the strategy is to have an open door and bring in anyone who has an interest in starting or growing a business. The state recently designated the BNMC’s Innovation Center as a certified business incubator.
“So in the Innovation Center we’ve really been successful in creating a self-contained little ecosystem. And then our intent is to get them scaling to a point where we can transplant them in to the community and they can continue to grow and create new jobs for Buffalo,” Nole said.
The state recently awarded the BNMC $625,000 to expand its business development program.
