Resi Cooper, of Accelerate Long Island

Resi Cooper, a 41-year-old business consultant, is helping to kick off a major new effort by business, educational and research institutions to generate new companies and jobs here.

Cooper, who once headed Hillary Rodham Clinton's Long Island Senate office, is charged with getting Accelerate Long Island quickly up to speed. The project seeks to boost growth by imitating Silicon Valley, or the Route 128 corridor outside Boston, where technology and health innovations drive new business formation and jobs.

It's a partnership between the Long Island Association, the Island's largest business group, and the region's major research and educational institutions: Brookhaven National Lab, Cold Spring Harbor Lab, Stony Brook University, Hofstra University and the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System.

Kevin Law, president of the LIA, is chairman of Accelerate. Cooper -- her first name "rhymes with crazy," she says -- has the official title of consultant; she has made it clear she intends to stay on only until an executive director is found, probably in about six months.

Why do we need Accelerate Long Island?

It gives us an excellent opportunity to bring together all the work already being done at the research labs and universities on Long Island and apply that research to other efforts, like creating businesses and jobs. We also need to attract additional venture capital.

Aren't we already doing these things?

There are some efforts now, but everything could be done in a more efficient manner . . . Silicon Valley didn't happen overnight, and it took the entire region out there working together to get it started. The same in Massachusetts (the home of the high-tech Route 128 corridor around Boston). We have all the ingredients here, and Accelerate Long Island is going to cook them.

Are you the master chef?

I am the temporary master chef.

What are you doing until a full-time director is found?

We are making sure that we don't miss any opportunities during the search period and that we can build a foundation for the organization to better understand the assets Long Island already has, like the Center for Biotechnology and the Long Island Forum for Technology.

Do you think that in the past there was a failure to move forward in building companies out of the research institutions?

I don't think there's been a failure. Efforts like Accelerate have happened on Long Island before and were a success in their time. There was the Long Island Research Institute (at Stony Brook University). They did an excellent job in the early 1990s creating a bridge between research in the lab and the marketplace.

Their job was tough?

Taking research out of the lab is enormously complicated because, for one thing, the researchers don't necessarily see the value of their research in commercial terms. It takes different types of people to get the research out. It takes entrepreneurs and hard-core business-planners.

Where else in the country has something like Accelerate been tried?

You don't even have to leave New York State. All across the state there are similar efforts. There's the Stanford Research Institute in California. They have been the gold standard in this effort.

You recently arranged a meeting between eight small medical technology companies and the leaders of various departments at North Shore-LIJ Health System. How did that come about?

It started with a conversation Gerry Petrella -- who works on economic development issues for Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) -- had with some business people who work in the medical technology area. They talked about their frustration in not being able to access Long Island markets. We had some small start-ups selling across the country [but not here]. That got communicated to us at Accelerate, and we put together the meeting.

Why can't they sell here?

That's a good question. We're trying to resolve that. We looked at all the technologies these small companies had and decided they could be a good match for North Shore for potential sales. Out of the eight companies, North Shore had strong interest in five or six of them. We're scheduled to follow up with specific departments at North Shore to create the relationships that will produce sales or at least ongoing conversations.

Do you think we have not made enough use of our research labs?

I think it's more based on a changing economy and a changing mission from each of the different institutions. Brookhaven National Lab and the U.S. Department of Energy in decades past were not focused on commercialization. They were focused on basic research. The Obama administration has made commercialization a priority for all of the U.S. research labs.

Have you developed a target for how many jobs or businesses Accelerate will produce?

There will be goals. We have not yet decided what those metrics will be. That will be for the permanent executive director and the board to decide.

You're still widely associated on Long Island as the top aide to former Sen. Hillary Clinton. Is that good or bad?

I'm very proud of the work I did while Hillary was senator from New York, and I still wear that as a badge of honor.

Do you and Clinton still talk?

Yes. But none of my clients is dealing with international issues, and my foreign policy experience isn't sufficient to bring peace to the Middle East. So we don't discuss much of that.

Your background recently has been in politics. Where does your business acumen come from?

I was a communications major at [Boston University]. That included journalism, advertising and public relations . . . I don't write business plans. I would say what I do for various clients, and what I did for the senator, is to translate a big vision into reality and do all of the things it takes to implement a big vision, including getting over hurdles and obstacles.

What are the obstacles we face here?

I'd say one of the biggest obstacles has already been overcome by the formation of Accelerate Long Island. The board and some of the major companies and research institutions have committed to working together; that overcame a big obstacle.

But what about high taxes and all of the rest?

They're obstacles, but if you look at places like Massachusetts and Silicon Valley, they are high-tax places also. Those things can be overcome.

Why do you think those places have been so successful?

It has been a sustained effort that they have made. They have attracted venture capital to their region, and that is something we need to do a better job of.

Fast facts

Name. Resi Cooper

Age, 41

Hometown. Jericho

Position. Consultant, Accelerate Long Island

Job. Business consultant, owner of two companies: Resi Cooper and Cooper Hill, both in Melville

Last book read.  "Thinking Fast and Slow," by Daniel Kahneman

Last vacation. Block Island, R.I.