BINGHAMTON, NY – A collaboration between Binghamton University and Cornell University is looking to lure international entrepreneurs to our region, especially if they’re working on green technology.

The Center for International Business Advancement, or CIBA, held its annual global forum at the Innovative Technologies Complex in Vestal today.

The focus was on battery technology and energy storage.

The keynote address was made by B-U Chemistry Professor, 2019 Nobel Prize Winner and inventor of the lithium-ion battery Stan Whittingham.

CIBA Senior Policy Fellow Ed Kowalewski says CIBA helps local businesses expand into international markets.

“We have lots of research power, we have lots of student power that can be harnessed to actually stimulate the local economy, create new businesses , grow existing businesses and create more jobs and hopefully generate some prosperity,” says Kowalewski.

CIBA also announced the creation of its Soft Landing Program which is working to attract start-ups from foreign countries to our area.

B-U hosts the CIBA offices and provides engineering expertise while Cornell offers help from its business students.

Andrew Karolyi is Dean of Cornell’s S-C Johnson College of Business.

“It’s actually a match made in heaven. You see teams of students from our college up at Cornell in groups of 5 or 6 finding an opportunity to work with one of the companies that are here in the Koffman incubator toward achieving some kind of business plan advancement through that collaboration,” says Karolyi.

After a series of panel discussions, attendees were treated to a live performance by veteran Broadway star Liz Callaway during lunch.

This afternoon, they were able to tour the new facilities of I-M3 New York which plans to start manufacturing lithium-ion batteries on the Huron Campus in Endicott later this year.