Assemblyman Magnarelli was the keynote speaker at the UNYTECH 2003 conference in Canandaigua on October 20th. UNYTECH is a consortium of 9 upstate research institutions that came together to form the Universities of Upstate New York Venture Forum. The conference, held for the first time this year and anticipated to be an annual event, was designed to give venture capitalists, angel investors, and entrepreneurs access and insight into early-stage companies that are spinning out of universities in the Upstate New York region. It showcased companies that grew out of university-developed technologies covering a broad range of disciplines including biotech, information technology, infotonics, biomedical and many more. UNYTECH's goal was to provide a dynamic and focused networking opportunity for investors to learn about the significant and cutting edge R&D going on in some of the State's premier research institutions and to offer the universities and entrepreneurs an opportunity to meet potential sources of critical early stage capital so that their innovations could, in fact, progress from "lab to line."

During the very well-attended conference the nine participating universities -- Alfred University, Binghamton University, Cornell University, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Rochester Institute of Technology, Syracuse University, State University of New York, University at Buffalo, and University of Rochester - showcased research initiatives and emerging technologies that will surely change the shape of our world.