Dunkirk business students tour incubator

The Fredonia Technology Incubator welcomed 20 students from Dunkirk Senior High School for a tour of the incubator and its Innovation Design Studio and to hear presentations by an award-winning student entrepreneur and multimedia developer on March 24.

Open to all Fredonia students, faculty and incubator clients, the Innovation Design Studio offers access to high-performance computers, specialized software, peripherals, recording equipment, virtual reality and other interactive media that use and fuse the visual arts that include animation, video recording, sound recording and podcasting, writing and coding for innovative cross-disciplinary collaborations and development. 

The students are enrolled in a business course at the high school that encompasses business plan development and financing and are receiving college credit for the class.

Following the tour, students attended a presentation by Jeremy Casso-Garcia, winner of the incubator’s Fall 2022 Student Business Competition, who introduced his start-up company, Bluestripss Apparel. The mission of the newly established fashion brand is to raise awareness of people’s inherent comfort level. 

Students were given an in-depth look at what it takes to start a business and at lessons learned and how to grow in the industry. They also engaged in a candid discussion with incubator client Ted Sharon, of Play on Arts. A professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance, Mr. Sharon is the creator of Venture Productions and owner of Main Street Studios, a downtown Fredonia event venue for theater, film, live music, dance, business and cultural activities. Sharon has been an incubator client since 2014.

After hearing presentations by Mr. Casso-Garcia and Sharon, students began the process of developing their own business ideas. They were given an exercise, called combination innovation, which required them to create a new business idea by combining two random objects – in this case, a lightbulb and a pencil – they were given. Once their ideas were developed, students pitched their products to a panel of judges.

To round out their day at the incubator, students attended the arts and business luncheon that featured a presentation by Livi Perrone, a writer, director, producer and multimedia story developer. Ms. Perrone shared her entrepreneurial journey to launch Lost Princess Presents, a brand-new multimedia development and production company, and also answered questions after her presentation. 

The incubator, an economic development program of SUNY Fredonia, works with external partners to promote economic growth by supporting entrepreneurship and development of new, innovative companies into successful business ventures. 

For more information about Fredonia Technology Incubator visit their website: or find them on Twitter @Tech_Incubator or on Instagram @fredtechincbtr.