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CEIS: Center for Emerging & Innovative Sciences
Resources

Collaboration

CEIS has supported collaboration between universities and dozens of companies across the Finger Lakes region and New York state for more than three decades.

Collaborative Research

CEIS invests into collaborative research, leveraging findings and results to advance partner companies, helping them to increase revenue, find cost reductions, and grow and retain jobs. CEIS supports small, medium, and mid-size companies.

Community Outreach

The Center for Emerging and Innovative Sciences (CEIS) at the University of Rochester serves as a bridge between university research and real-world applications.

The outreach conducted by CEIS helps to translate research into commercial innovation, stronger companies, and economic growth, in collaboration with businesses, technology leaders, researchers, and the broader regional community.

CEIS’s outreach activities include:

Finger Lakes Science and Technology Showcase
CEIS co-hosts an annual spring event with the University’s Center of Excellence in Data Science. Researchers present applied research, and business leaders meet faculty and potential collaborators. We invite members from the industrial community to learn about key research and enjoy networking. The event is open to all university researchers with fieldwork in optics, photonics, imaging, and laser or applications in biomedical, energy, and microelectronics.

Spotlight on Rochester’s innovation ecosystem
CEIS founded and presented the Light and Sound Interactive conference in 2017 and 2019, bringing together technical and creative communities. CEIS has also supported other arts-and-technology initiatives, such as the Soundtrax Music Film Festival in 2025.

 Technology events
CEIS collaborates to present a variety of events, including the annual Technology Woman of the Year Awards, and past events such as the AR/VR Mini Symposium, and the Department of Defense Northeast Regional Council Conference in Rochester.

Federal-funded initiatives
CEIS has a long history of coordinating and administering g federal economic-development grants, in addition to the primary funding for research-matching programs by New York State.

These initiatives include the Rochester Regional Photonics Accelerator, Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortia, AIM Photonics, and Investing in Manufacturing Community Partnerships.

For Companies

CEIS provides corporate partners with a tremendous competitive advantage when it comes to developing state-of-the-art products — New York state’s leading research universities.

We identify university researchers whose interests match industry needs and we also provide matching state funds.

At a time when many companies are reducing their research and development budgets, CEIS provides access to sources of innovation and technology.

 

For University Researchers

Are you interested in collaborating with a company on a promising line of research?

If you are a research faculty member or scientist at the University of Rochester, RIT, or other participating university in New York state, university, CEIS can help.

We can match you with a company with similar research interests and provide matching funding to support your collaboration.

 

Our Partners

CEIS works primarily with faculty and scientists at URochester and RIT, while also supporting research at other universities in New York. And we work closely with companies in the Finger Lakes region and across the state.