New Energy New York outlines battery-industry programs; Chemung County incubator highlighted

New Energy New York and local entrepreneurship partners briefed Chemung County leaders Wednesday on efforts to build a regional battery industry cluster, describing education and workforce programs, a supplier database and a battery prototyping center planned for Endicott.

The presentation, delivered by Emily Marino, deputy director of New Energy New York, and Carrie Bayett, the program's marketing and communications manager, covered the initiative's five pillars — innovation and technology, supply chain, workforce development, equity and justice, and community engagement — and highlighted partnerships with Binghamton University, the SUNY Research Foundation, SUNY Broome, RIT and local incubator IncubatorWorks. Ashley Madison, executive director of IncubatorWorks, and Leanne O'Brien, program director, described the Elmira Incubator's local programming and student entrepreneurship efforts.

New Energy New York is a federally funded regional initiative that has operated since 2020 and later received a TechHub designation from the U.S. Economic Development Administration and an NSF Engines award. Marino said the program runs about 26 programs serving K–12 students, college students, entrepreneurs, researchers and manufacturers. "We wanted to come to you today and talk to you a little bit about the New Energy New York initiative that's been running since 2020," Marino said.

Why it matters: Presenters said the initiative aims to retain talent, grow supply chains inside New York state and create local job pathways into battery- and clean-energy-related manufacturing. County officials and IncubatorWorks leaders framed those goals as part of broader economic-development efforts tied to local workforce capacity and site-readiness for manufacturers.

What presenters described

- Prototyping and testing center: Marino and Bayett described a planned battery prototyping, testing and certification center in Endicott tied to Nobel laureate Stanley Whittingham’s lab at Binghamton University; presenters said the refurbished facility is expected to be completed by 2026 and is intended to help translate research into scalable, safer battery products.

- Workforce and training: New Energy New York supports a Battery Academy (an online upskilling platform) and hands-on training delivered with SUNY Broome, Broome–Tioga BOCES, Corning Community College and RIT. Presenters said Corning Community College’s manufacturing technician program is oversubscribed and that graduates have been quickly hired by local employers.

- Supply-chain mapping: The coalition described a New York-focused supplier database maintained with partners including the Alliance for Manufacturing and Technology and New York BEST; Carrie Bayett pointed attendees to a QR code linking to the database and said it includes more than 200 supplier data points.

- Equity and entrepreneurship: IncubatorWorks detailed local programs that funnel entrepreneurs through a 12-class CoStarters accelerator, business-plan workshops, a maker space at Corning Community College’s Elmira campus (the Elmira Incubator) and a summer youth entrepreneurship program for Elmira High School students.

Program scale and funding cited

Presenters gave the following program-level figures (as stated at the meeting): New Energy New York supports about 26 programs; 66 businesses have expanded into new markets through the initiative’s services; about 90 businesses have been established with program support; organizers said they have engaged more than 700 companies through supply-chain work; more than $185,000 in microgrants were awarded to community startups; more than $1 million has been paid in stipends to college students; presenters said companies in affiliated innovation programs have raised roughly $147 million since 2023 and that more than $7 million has been distributed to support programs and jobs. Presenters attributed many of those results to IncubatorWorks and the Southern Tier Clean Energy Incubator as subawardees and service providers.

Questions from the meeting and local context

A resident who identified himself as Tom asked whether the Endicott facility would manufacture batteries or only perform testing and certification. Marino and IncubatorWorks representatives said the center will provide testing and prototyping services rather than manufacturing at present; Marino said manufacturing would be up to companies that choose to locate in the region. "You're testing and certifying this stuff. You're not manufacturing anything?" Tom asked. An IncubatorWorks speaker replied, "Not at the moment. Not currently." Presenters emphasized that the initiative’s role is to build an ecosystem that makes the Southern Tier an attractive place for companies to site manufacturing.

IncubatorWorks and the Elmira Incubator

Ashley Madison, executive director of IncubatorWorks, and Leanne O'Brien, program director, described how IncubatorWorks’ CoStarters accelerator, maker space and youth programs have supported local entrepreneurs. Madison noted that the Elmira Incubator (on the Corning Community College Elmira campus) was funded by Chemung County and said local graduates from IncubatorWorks programs have gone on to paid jobs and further training. Madison said 94 CoStarters graduates and 29 business-plan graduates are from Chemung County (figures provided at the meeting) and highlighted summer youth participants who later took jobs or enrolled at Corning Community College.

Upcoming outreach and events

Presenters said they are doing a roadshow across the Southern Tier to raise awareness after a Newmark site-readiness study found low public awareness of New Energy New York. They noted an October "battery week" of public events, including a manufacturing forum and a battery safety symposium for first responders and transportation professionals.

Votes at a glance

During the same meeting the presiding official presented three county resolutions for approval. A voice vote was taken and the presiding official announced the motion carried.

- Resolution 1: "Resolution authorizing transfers and appropriation on behalf of the county executive." Outcome: approved (voice vote; motion carried). Details on specific accounts and amounts were not specified at the meeting.

- Resolution 2: "Resolution authorizing the addition of Customers Bank to the authorized financial institutions and dealers list set forth in Appendix B of the Chemung County investment policy." Outcome: approved (voice vote; motion carried). The investment-policy appendix was referenced by the presiding official at the meeting.

- Resolution 3: "Resolution approving certain applications for disbursement, community funds." Outcome: approved (voice vote; motion carried). Specific applicant names and disbursement amounts were not specified at the meeting.

Notes on attribution and scope

The article draws from a public presentation in which New Energy New York and IncubatorWorks staff described program-level goals, partners and high-level impact figures. Where presenters gave numeric totals, those figures are reported as stated. Where details (specific grant amounts tied to a single line item, exact vote tallies or the names of individual movers and seconders for the resolutions) were not provided in the meeting transcript, the article notes that those specifics were not specified.

Ending

Presenters asked local leaders and economic-development partners to help raise awareness and point companies and students to training and supplier resources; organizers said the coalition will continue outreach across the Southern Tier as it works to translate research and training into local economic opportunities.