Gillibrand sponsors high-tech showcase

Some of Long Island's largest and most powerful business and technology organizations will join others from across the state in Washington, D.C., today in hopes of securing some business from the federal government.

Officials of the Long Island Forum for Technology, the Morrelly Homeland Security Center, Brookhaven National Lab, the Advanced Energy Systems at the State University at Stony Brook, and Cold Spring Harbor Labs will take part in the second-annual High-Tech Innovation Showcase, sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).

"This is not just a trade show," said Ray Donnelly, who is representing both LIFT and the Morrelly Center. "One of the downsides of a trade show is that you get a lot of people walking around kicking the tires. But this is a much more targeted effort."

The organizations from the Island, New York City and other parts of the state will meet and show off their products to an array of federal law-enforcement and technology agencies.

The event is to take place in the Kennedy Caucus Room of the Russell Senate Office Building. Donnelly said the Long Island group has high hopes, despite the setting. The Caucus Room has been the site of Senate investigations into the sinking of the Titanic, the Teapot Dome Scandal, and the Watergate scandal.