ROCHESTER, N.Y.--()--Eastman Kodak Company and Innovation Accelerator, a national public-private entity, today announced an agreement under which Innovation Accelerator will step into an active leadership role of the Innovation and Materials Science Institute (IMSI), Kodak’s technology accelerator established to help move early- to middle-stage companies from innovation to commercialization.
“This ‘invented here, built there’ problem poses a threat to our nation's economic well-being. It is our hope that collaboration with Kodak's Innovation and Materials Science Institute can buck this trend, to the great benefit of both our nation and Eastman Business Park.”
“The Institute was founded to take intellectual property from prototyping and proof of concept into commercialization, thereby substantially reducing the time and expense it takes technology innovators to become self-sustaining, to create jobs and turn a profit,” said Brad Kruchten, President of Kodak’s Graphics, Entertainment and Commercial Films group and a founding board member of IMSI.
“Moving IMSI into a tightly-aligned relationship with the Innovation Accelerator is a great step forward, and we’re thrilled to work in partnership with an organization that has common goals, a national reach and a strong track record of success,” Kruchten added.
Innovation Accelerator’s vision is to drive America’s competitive advantage in the global marketplace by promoting innovation as an economic growth engine. John Pyrovolakis, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Innovation Accelerator, said that he and his team work with hundreds of entrepreneurial start-up companies across the country, and many could benefit from the infrastructure IMSI provides.
“Our nation remains the global innovation leader in areas of Kodak's historical strength: materials and chemicals. But our innovations in these areas are increasingly being manufactured – and monetized – abroad,” Pyrovolakis said. “This ‘invented here, built there’ problem poses a threat to our nation's economic well-being. It is our hope that collaboration with Kodak's Innovation and Materials Science Institute can buck this trend, to the great benefit of both our nation and Eastman Business Park.
“Our work today – bringing highly innovative small and middle-stage companies from all over the nation to the Park – is a first step in this direction. It is a first step in the direction of restoring our nation's global manufacturing and innovation dominance, leveraging the Park and its unique assets and infrastructure as an iconic symbol of this dominance,” Pyrovolakis added.
“In addition, we now have access to people with the experience and know-how to operate these machines and manufacture next generation thin film and coatings products for a multitude of applications,” Pyrovolakis said. “These physical and knowledge assets are a tremendous and ready resource to the kind of companies with whom we work.”
IMSI will emerge as a not-for-profit entity, and along with Innovation Accelerator, will continue with a significant presence at Eastman Business Park, where Pyrovolakis said he expects to see strong future growth – both in the number of companies operating there and the number of advanced manufacturing jobs created.
On a broader scale, Pyrovolakis said the model established in Rochester will take on national relevance as “we begin to identify assets in other locales which are similar to those available at Eastman Business Park, and use the IMSI accelerator model to create similar manufacturing partnerships.”
About Kodak
Kodak is transforming itself into a B2B company focused on its Commercial Imaging business. Kodak will be centered on commercial, packaging and functional printing solutions and enterprise services, businesses in which it offers customers advanced technologies and products that give them a competitive advantage. The company also offers leading products and services in Entertainment Imaging and Commercial Films. Its Personalized Imaging and Document Imaging businesses are being marketed for sale. For additional information on Kodak, please visit our website at www.kodak.com.
About IMSI
The Innovation and Materials Science Institute (IMSI) is composed of academic and business leaders from key areas of the innovation economy – sustainability, clean technology, energy efficiency, consumer electronics and health care. They have come together to focus on leveraging innovation as means to promote economic growth through the application of Materials Science. The Institute is committed to serving as an accelerator for middle-stage technology companies in today's Innovation Economy – allowing them to fully develop their business concepts from the lab-scale prototype stages of innovation to the later stages of production and commercialization. For more information, visit www.imsibiz.com.
About Innovation Accelerator
Innovation Accelerator is a public-private partnership with a federal agency. Innovation Accelerator’s mission is to promote our nation’s economic competitiveness in the global economy by promoting American innovation. IA's impact and approach to commercialization of extremely high tech and generally early stage federally backed technologies has been cited by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology as a model platform. IA supported companies have received funding from top shelf venture capital funds, and been acquired by fortune 500 companies over the past three years.
PCAST report available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ostp/pcast/docsreports
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