CORNING, N.Y., Oct. 10 -- Corning Inc. has established a venture capital group for the sole purpose of providing the company with new technology by investing in strategic opportunities in the optical networking market. The group has $50 million in its initial fund for 2000.Corning Innovation Ventures will focus initially on the optical networking market with a specialized staff of technical experts and marketing professionals drawn from Corning's Optical Fiber and Photonic Technologies divisions. Corning Innovation Ventures was designed to provide significant value beyond capital funding of new ventures in the optical networking space, said Greg Smith, president of Corning Innovation Ventures, Our staff was chosen for their ability to strategically leverage Corning Incorporated's insight, expertise and market presence to assist new ventures in ways that seed money alone cannot. We believe we are unique in our ability to partner with new firms.