Finger Lakes Wired tops $3.9 million in funding

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Since its inception in August 2006, Finger Lakes Wired has given out $3.9 million in funding to help spur economic growth in the region through entrepreneurship and innovation.
Finger Lakes Wired is one of 13 regional organizations nationwide awarded $15 million in mid-2006 over three years through the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wired initiative. It runs through Jan. 31, 2010.
The local unit-led by a 33-member governing board comprised of business, investor, entrepreneurial, philanthropic, government and academic leaders-has charted a course aimed to create jobs and help develop projects.
The board’s key strategies are:
–Increase private-sector job growth relative to the national average.
–Increase average wages relative to the national average.
–Increase retention of 20- to 34-year-old workers in the region.
–Adoption of a regional identity resulting in collaborative networking and communication in support of regional economic strategies.
The initiative supports innovative approaches to education and work force development that go beyond traditional strategies preparing workers to compete and succeed in the global marketplace, said Matthew Hurlbutt, managing director of the Finger Lakes partnership and executive director of RochesterWorks Inc.
“We continue to provide resources to support entrepreneurs, small-business leaders as well as upgrade the skills of workers throughout the region in addition to several additional efforts,” Hurlbutt said.
Last week, Hurlbutt announced he was leaving RochesterWorks to become managing director of business development at Greater Rochester Enterprise Inc., effective April 25. That means he will leave his role with Wired.
Claudia Burcke, Wired’s project manager, will serve as interim managing director of Wired.
The largest project for Wired has been the scholarship program, which helps businesses increase the skills of workers in key industries in the region, Hurlbutt said.
Since September 2006, $1.4 million has been allocated to more than 100 businesses to increase the skills of 2,671 workers with $3.3 million in matching funds-from public and private sources. Wired recently allocated an additional $1.6 million in funds for businesses in the nine-county Finger Lakes region.
Businesses in the following industries may apply for up to $25,000 in funding advanced manufacturing, alternative energy, bio/life sciences, business services, engineering, food and agriculture, health care (including non-profit health care organizations), information technology and optics/imaging.
Wired also is administering funds to local efforts, from the master of science degree in science and technology commercialization at the University of Rochester to a predictive analysis for business retention and expansion through GRE.
One program that has received funding from Wired is the Entrepreneurs’ Network, a six-month program designed to connect area management with leading local and national entrepreneurial experts. Wired funding has been used to pay for things such as hard-to-get speakers and a chunk of the fees businesses would pay to send senior management to the programs.
Members of the network, called TEN, attend boot camps and workshops focused on entrepreneurship, sales effectiveness and financing.
Some 70 company executives have participated. Three sessions have been completed since 2006 with a fourth to begin soon with 20 high-tech business leaders.
TEN members have created more than 50 jobs, increased revenue by more than $5.7 million and secured $7.2 million in angel and venture capital investments, data from Wired show.
Nagappa Ravindra, president of Ravi Engineering & Surveying P.C., attended a TEN program to learn new management skills.
“After attending the program, I felt reassured that whatever we are doing to grow the business is on the right track,” Ravindra said, adding the program is ideal for those looking to start or grow a business.
As a result of the program, Ravindra’s firm made changes in the management structure, which helped streamline operations.
“We feel that we are better positioned for growth in the Rochester area,” Ravindra said.
Michael Pavia, president of Sydor Instruments LLC, said programs such as TEN are important to the community.
Pavia, a past TEN participant, said the program also had an impact on his firm.
“What I learned there has enabled me to become more efficient in growing my company,” Pavia said.
What set TEN apart was the quality of its presenters who could speak from personal business experiences and the networking opportunities it presented, he said.
“The future of Rochester’s knowledge economy depends on creating new businesses from our intellectual capital,” Pavia said.
Peter Robinson, chief operating officer of the University of Rochester Medical Center and chairman of the Finger Lakes Wired board, said the Wired program has had an impact on talent development in the region, as well as improving the collaboration among the partners involved in the effort.
“Wired has actually made an important contribution to the community and region,” Robinson said, noting Hurlbutt played an integral role in bringing different parties together.
The local program was able to adapt after the state Department of Labor changed its focus for Wired from a broader approach on regional economic development to one that is more focused on a skilled work force.
Wired has worked well with the local community colleges and area Workforce Investment Boards to obtain a skilled work force, and those efforts are beginning to show with graduates of programs entering the work force and finding local jobs, Robinson said.
The next phase of the initiative is sustaining the programs Wired has funded, continuing to make sure the region has skilled workers for firms.
“A major accomplishment of Wired is that we have created a regional forum where everyone-from those in rural areas to the cities-are working together to support development, grow existing businesses and make this region an attractive place for new businesses to locate,” Robinson said.
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04/04/08 (C) Rochester Business Journal