Alfred University’s David Gottfried elected to IncubatorWorks Board

IncubatorWorks, based in Painted Post, NY, is a resource for business startups and expansion across the Southern Tier region in New York State, with facilities in Alfred, Corning and Elmira. Its mission is to promote economic development through support for entrepreneurial growth and development of businesses and the creation of jobs. IncubatorWorks state-of-the-art-incubator in Alfred offers services and facilities to foster growth of businesses in ceramics, glass, advanced materials, and related technology-based industries. The incubation program was established in 1992 and previously operated as the Ceramics Corridor Innovation Center.  

Alfred University, the CACT, and IncubatorWorks have partnered for several years—in partnership with Alfred State College and Houghton University— on the annual AHA! Competition. AHA! Supports student-led teams to develop business plans and pitch them to a panel of judges. The CACT also maintains a ceramic user lab at the Alfred incubator, which includes access to a number of ceramic processing tools such as dry pressing, pellet pressing, milling, and a range of furnaces for material firing. CACT’s lab is currently housing Glass Lab, which is Alfred University alumnus Aiden LaCourse’s (’21, glass engineering science; ’22 MBA) strengthened glass drinking straws startup company.

The incubator previously housed a microwave-assisted kiln, currently on loan to Blue Star Manufacturing in support of Alfred’s new Space Materials Institute and NASA-funded programming. John Simmins, director of Alfred University’s GE Vernova Advanced Power Grid Lab, and Danielle Gagne, professor of psychology at Alfred University, also have an active National Science Foundation project that is utilizing CACT’s 80-ton Aeonic Dry Press to better understand the benefits of augmented reality for improving training outcomes/knowledge retention/manufacturing operations. 

Gottfried said the incubator also maintains a full suite of ceramic tape casting equipment (casting, stacking, punching, drying, screen-printing, and slip development) in another lab that is currently on loan to FosterRush for the development of thin-film ceramic substrates used in a wide range of applications, from multi-layer capacitors, to semiconductors, to energy storage technologies.

As a new member of the Board, Gottfried said he will pursue a number of strategies for increasing IncubatorWorks’ facilities utilization, specifically at the Alfred incubator.  That will likely include modifying the Alfred University campus plan to expand its “Tax Free Area” under the Startup New York program to the entire Alfred incubator facility, to encourage firms to relocate to Alfred from out of state. 

“I’m also interested in cross promotional activities to increase awareness of the local facilities’ capacity to support ceramics, glass, and materials science technology companies in partnership with Alfred University and the CACT,” he said, adding that IncubatorWorks also plans to seek state and federal funding opportunities to drive more student-led entrepreneurship at the undergraduate and graduate levels to encourage venture creation and increased occupancy at the Alfred IncubatorWorks facility.