SBA Successfully Brings Emerging 200 Initiative to Syracuse

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), an agency of the federal government that aids, counsels, assists, and protects the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation, recently graduated its first class of Emerging 200 (e200) business leaders in Syracuse.

The e200 initiative is to identify 200 inner-city businesses across the country that show a high potential for growth. The chosen businesses are provided with the network, resources, motivation and opportunity to participate in an intensive curriculum focused on developing a winning expansion strategy for their business, including options for capital access and contracting, required to build a sustainable business of size and scale. As the program was a first for Syracuse this year, the overall success encouraged the SBA to begin developing plans to hold the program in the city again next year.

According to The Central New York Business Journal, SBA associate administrator for entrepreneurial development, Michael Chodos expressed their satisfaction with bringing e200 to Syracuse. "Syracuse is incredibly blessed with a very active university and college community, a very active business community, and a lot of folks who are really interested in providing coordinated support."

After participating in and completing a seven month program, The Syracuse e200 program graduated 13 local business leaders in a November 2 ceremony at Marhsall Hall at the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF).

The Syracuse e200 program partnered with a number of local organizations, including CenterState CEO and The Tech Garden.

For the full article, view The Central New York Business Journal's November 18, 2011 issue.

Clarkson University and AECOM form Academic Alliance

Clarkson University, an institution with a strong technologically rich curriculum and state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities, and AECOM, a global provider of professional technical and management support services, have teamed up to explore innovation, research and development, technical excellence and advancement, recruiting, diversity, social responsibility, and educational partnerships.

Water research will be a main focal point of the alliance as both organizations view it as an important topic.

In a Central New York Business Journal article, Clarkson President Tony Collins expressed the importance of the partnership in evolving the University's core values. "This important partnership with AECOM will address one of our key institutional priories, 'Technology Serving Humanity.' Academic alliances with key corporate partners such as AECOM allow Clarkson to enhance and accelerate our institution's evolution to excellence in education and research."

For more info, view the full article at CNYBJ

Brand Yourself CEO Patrick Ambron Named to the “Empact 100” List

BrandYourself, an incubating company at The Tech Garden, and its CEO Patrick Ambron are being honored this week at the White House for being named to the “Empact100” list. The list recognizes the top 100 companies run by young entrepreneurs age 30 or younger who are making a significant impact on the economy and inspiring others to launch entrepreneurial ventures.

The list is compiled by a group of partners including Empact, the Kauffman Foundation, Opportunity International and the Startup American Partnership.  To be eligible, candidate U.S. companies must have 100% of the founders under 30 years of age, and more than $100,000 in revenue in 2010, or 2011 year-to-date.

“The entire team is incredibly humbled to be put on this list,” said Ambron.  “The Syracuse community has been an incredibly important part of our success and more than anything else, I think it shows that Syracuse is ahead of the curve in reshaping the nation’s economy. This entire event is about honoring growing small businesses that will spur economic growth, and about putting our hope and resources behind them. I don’t think any place reflects that mission more authentically than Syracuse.”

BrandYourself will be honored at the invite-only White House event on November 17, 2011 as part of The Future of Entrepreneurship Education Summit. The Summit is designed to convey the message that entrepreneurship a viable career pathway, and a solution to solving the national job crisis. Event participants were chosen for their unique ability to contribute from a high level perspective.  They will be encouraged to build sustainable and meaningful relationships that last beyond the Summit. The event will be streamed at www.whitehouse.gov

For  more info visit Empact

Polaris Library Systems Announces the Great App Challenge!

Polaris Library Systems have announced their Great App Challenge which will extend through February 20, 2012. 


The contest will challenge entrepreneurs and startup developers to build unique, innovative software applications using the Polaris application programming interface (API).  The Polaris API is a web-based service comprised of a set of universal resource identifiers (URIs) which return data from the Polaris application database. This interface provides controlled access to Polaris software so that customers, third party vendors – and now students -- may build their own Polaris-integrated applications for the web or for desktop and mobile devices. One individual or team judged to have the best application ready for deployment will win $5,000.  If a winner is sponsored by another organization, that organization will be awarded an additional $1,000.

The competition is intended to incent talented software developers from regional colleges and universities, as well as startup entrepreneurs and existing Polaris customers, to create a dynamic new mobile application based on the Polaris API.

"When we give people the tools to customize our technology and a license to be as creative as they want, we get really innovative, useful ideas as a result," said Bill Schickling, president and CEO, Polaris Library Systems. “The best thing about this Challenge is that we will have students competing who may not know a thing about the library software business, and that kind of fresh thinking is bound to generate some incredible applications that none of us may have ever thought possible.” 

For more information and/or to register visit the Great App Challenge

Clarkson University Designated Lead Site for Identification Technology Research

The National Science Foundation has designated Clarkson University as the lead site for its Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR), one of NSF’s Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers. 

Clarkson’s site focuses on biometric vulnerabilities and intelligences. CITeR advances identification technology by focusing on biometric systems and credibility assessment. The center performs research on emerging technologies, interdisciplinary training of scientists and engineers, and technology transfer to the private and government sectors through its affiliates. 

For more info visit the Center for Identification Technology Research