UB is partnering with the SUNY Research Foundation to offer a key benefit to startup companies with UB ties: affordable insurance.

Through the SUNY-INC Insure Insurance Program (SUNY-INC Insure), a new SUNY-wide program, certain UB-linked businesses will be able to buy discounted liability and workers compensation insurance from the insurer Amsure.

Qualifying companies include those located in the UB Technology Incubator in Amherst or the UB Biosciences Incubator in downtown Buffalo; spinoffs formed to commercialize UB technology; and startups participating in a UB commercialization program, such as the UB Center for Advanced Biomedical and Bioengineering Technology’s funding program.

Companies are eligible for the program for the first three years after formation.

“Small companies often have a limited budget for a large number of expenses, from patent costs to costs associated with research and development,” says Robert Genco, the vice provost who heads UB’s Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach (STOR). “The ability to purchase affordable insurance through SUNY-INC Insure will help new companies get off the ground.”

SUNY-INC Insure will make it more attractive for new businesses to partner with SUNY campuses, adds Jeffrey Dunbar, director of STOR.

Dunbar worked with the SUNY Research Foundation to develop the program and explained that insurance is critical for startups hoping to grow and expand. He pointed out, for instance, that it’s difficult for companies to establish a board of directors without adequate directors and officers insurance.

SUNY-INC Insure includes options for purchasing general liability, product liability, directors and officers’ liability, and statutory workers compensation insurance.