Entrepreneurship@Cornell and Entrepreneurship@Johnson have signed on as founding partners with the non-profit organization Upstate Venture Connect (UVC) to support the creation of a social network for advancing high-growth entrepreneurship in upstate New York.

As a result, UVC will have access to a variety of Cornell resources to help it develop its VConnect platform and the rollout of its services to the larger Ithaca community. UVC will also be visible to Cornell alumni as a pathway for engaging with the broader upstate startup community.

In return, UVC will engage Cornell entrepreneurs and alumni to track and publicize student startups and research spinouts via its own and partner websites. UVC will also collaborate with Cornell in seeking funding to benefit the sustainability and growth of partner programs.

"UVC's vision of building an upstate New York entrepreneurial hub is critically important," said Zach Shulman, director of Entrepreneurship@Johnson at Cornell's Johnson School. "Connecting various upstate regions will magnify the impact of our human capital talent pool and help build a forceful and sustainable startup business environment."

"This agreement positions Cornell's vast research, student and alumni resources as the cornerstone of upstate's emerging high-growth economy," added UVC's CEO Nasir Ali.

According to Martin Babinec, UVC chairman, "a core tenet underlying our efforts is that upstate's higher education institutions carry the seeds of our future economy. The positive response we received from Cornell alumni was also a critical factor in our desire to create a more focused and long-term relationship."

UVC focuses on creating thousands of high-tech, high-growth, private capital-backed companies in upstate New York that will provide entrepreneurial opportunities for a new generation of highly educated and highly skilled talent.

Its VConnect platform will serve as the foundation of a system linking upstate venture entrepreneurs to sources of talent and support across the region and its vast alumni and expatriate resources.