Innovate 518 Affiliate Partners

If you are a company seeking an incubator or accelerator, please contact an affiliate partner directly. If you are not sure which type of incubator will meet your needs, complete this form.

Logo of the WSU Innovation Center featuring a stylized purple and white figure of a mounted warrior holding a spear, with the text "Innovation Center" below.
Colorful logo of S.T.E.A.M. Garden with the words in purple and a digital circuit design with pink, orange, green, and blue elements.
Logo of Tech Valley Center of Gravity featuring green gear and circular text.
Logo of AMPS, Accelerator for Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, featuring a stylized swirl design in red, black, and white colors.
Logo of New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium with blue and green text and circle design.
Logo for Health Innovations Incubator & Technology Center at the Center for Disability Services
Logo for The Innovation Center at Saratoga featuring a stylized gear and drop of oil or creativity, with black, orange, and purple colors.

We are proud members of the Business Incubator Association of New York State (BIANYS)!

Incubators and Accelerators

You Might Think Of Business Incubators As Buildings

While that can be true, to us incubation really means providing tech entrepreneurs with services necessary for growth. Most business incubator clients are technology startups with significant potential to scale but whose capabilities are still incomplete. Innovate 518 provides connections to services to help entrepreneurs and ventures thrive.

Affiliated partners in Innovate 518 include Capital Region incubators. Each partner has a unique industry focus, expertise, clientele, and culture. At each incubator location, a client plan is developed as determined through their intake process. Company needs are documented, a strategy for addressing them is developed, and then Innovate 518 and regional resources are mobilized to implement the plan.

Co-working spaces and community & entrepreneurial service providers are also an integral part in supporting the local startup ecosystem, though to be considered for inclusion in the Innovate 518 hot spot, your organization needs to have an incubator program. Learn more about becoming a business incubator.

We live within a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem and our mission is to connect startups with resources that may include:

    • Access to angel investors, private equity and venture capitalists

    • Connections to banks

    • Access to various forms of grant resources

    • Onsite spaces that allow you to focus on running your business

    • Shared services including libraries, reception, copy machines, mailrooms, and high-speed internet access

    • Connections to strategic partners and higher education institutions

    • Assistance with business functions including accounting, finance, marketing, strategy, legal issues and regulatory compliance

    • Mentoring and advice from successful entrepreneurs and subject matter experts

    • Technology transfer and commercialization

    • Presentation skills and pitch practice sessions

    • Intern and student support

    • Networking events

    • Recruitment of executive leadership and employees

    • Approved vendor list (discounted services may be available)

Incubators

An incubator is a specialized program or organization that nurtures and supports early-stage technology startups and entrepreneurs. It provides these fledgling companies with resources, mentorship, and infrastructure to help them develop their innovative ideas into viable businesses. Incubators often offer access to funding, shared office space, networking opportunities, and expert guidance, accelerating the growth and success of the startups they host.

Accelerators

Startup accelerators are fixed-term, cohort-based programs that include seed investment, connections, mentorship, and educational components and culminate in a public pitch event or demo day to accelerate growth.

If you are an incubator or accelerator looking to partner, please Review our Criteria, then Click the Button Below.

  • The following are “must-haves” that we look for from applicants. Missing one or two is not a deal-breaker. You are welcome to apply if you meet most, if not all, of these criteria:

    • An integrated array of services for start-ups

    • Criteria for acceptance and graduation from program

    • Expertise from a professional management and service delivery team

    • Access by clients to mentoring, advisory and/or education services

    • Systematically track progress of client companies

    • Incubator is in existence for a minimum of six months as of the date of your application

    • Capability to submit metrics via an economic impact reporting system

  • Qualified incubators may not have all of the following, but these strengthen applications:

    • Opportunities for clients to network and collaborate with other business services

    • Access to capital via referral to financial institutions, venture capitalists, angel investors and other sources

    • Aid in accessing markets

    • Physical, laboratory and/or manufacturing space

    • Financial support from sources other than tenants/clients, the sponsoring entity or New York State governmental agencies

    • Participation by an independent advisory council or similar body

Apply Today