On October 4th Central New York’s innovation and entrepreneurial community is gathering for Innovation Night, a celebration and recognition of the region’s recent advancements in technology. The evening at the Marriott Syracuse Downtown elevates the surrounding tech ecosystem, fostering collaboration among entrepreneurs, investors and industry leaders.
The GENIUS NY pitch finals is the highlight of the event during which five finalist teams from GENIUS NY present their groundbreaking technology and innovative solutions to a panel of judges. The presenting startups from the world’s largest accelerator for uncrewed systems vie for $3 million, with a $1 million grand prize and four $500,000 awards for runner ups.
The program is funded by Empire State Development and administered by CenterState CEO. Since 2017, GENIUS NY has invested more than $21M in 37 companies who have gone on to raise more than $100M in follow-on funding and created 80+ upstate New York jobs.
During their presentations each startup team presents the problem their company is solving, their plans to scale, and importantly, why they want to do it in Central New York.
The five startups are:
Aloft from Silver Spring, Maryland is an FAA-approved UAS Service Supplier (USS) for LAANC, powering the vast majority of recreational and commercial airspace authorizations. Aloft also has an exclusive public-private partnership with the FAA to power B4FULY. Aloft aims to enhance the safety and efficiency of drone operations, facilitating their integration into the National Airspace System.
Blueflite from Detroit, Michigan is designing and manufacturing a logistics drone platform to solve the modern-day challenges in the logistics industry. Blueflite’s drones offer faster and greener deliveries at a lower cost compared to conventional transport. The digital element of the platform allows for integration into an all-automated supply chain for high-speed deliveries at scale.
Greenjets from Milton Keynes, UK is building next generation electric propulsion systems for advanced air mobility. Their ducted fan propulsion technology is the quietest, safest and most efficient of its class. The Greenjets team has over 300 years of deep domain knowledge carried over from Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems & Formula 1. Learnings from these experiences are reflected in a unique design & manufacturing methodology, which allows production of propulsion systems at an unrivalled pace.
Voltela from Brooklyn, New York provides connectivity assurance for commercial drones. Remote pilots must rely on reliable Command and Control connections. The mobile network was not built for aerial connectivity and changing the infrastructure is not viable. Voltela’s superior connectivity performance achieves aviation-grade reliability levels and is the foundation for building the Aerial Virtual Network Operator.
Votix from Weston, Florida is an American Enterprise Drone Orchestration and Automation platform and the first universal (hardware-agnostic) drone operating system for commercial operations at scale. VOTIX integrates the entire drone ecosystem, guaranteeing compliance with regulators and stakeholders.
The event and networking give guests access to other emerging startups in Central New York within the Surge Accelerator and Tech Garden in the Innovation Alley. Cost to attend is free, but registration is required due to limited space.
