IHS now operating as WIN

Welcome to 2016!  Effective immediately, the Western New York Innovation Hot Spot will begin operating as WIN: WNY Incubator Network to better articulate our role and the work we do for incubated ventures in our region.

In 2015, we:

• Certified 15 incubator clients to leverage NYS IHS tax incentives, adding money back to their balance sheets to fuel additional growth
• Paired 7 incubator clients with outside experts to lead them past milestones in their scalable development through our Embedded Consultants program
• Launched Buffalo Student Sandbox – WNY’s first accelerator program – to help 8 teams of disruptive student entrepreneurs take giant leaps forward
• Coached 26 local ventures in our Pitch Prep series before they competed in the 43North semifinals
• Provided major sponsorship and operational support to Pre-Seed Workshop, WNY Student2Biz, Buffalo Startup Weekend, 43North, and Bright Buffalo Niagara

WIN includes nine member incubators and two partner organizations supporting incubated ventures in the five counties of WNY.  The program is chartered and financially supported as a NYSTAR Innovation Hot Spot and is managed by the University at Buffalo Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach (UB STOR). 

Opportunities in 2016:

• Student Sandbox – the opportunity of a lifetime for scalable and disruptive student-run ventures.  Application is now online.
• Embedded Consultants – subsidizes the hiring of outside experts to lead incubator clients past development milestones.  More information online. 
• IHX Tax Incentives – provides incubator clients and their founders with income and sales tax deductions.  More information online.