Clarkson awarded state funding for Shipley Center, campus project

POTSDAM, N.Y. — Clarkson University in Potsdam has been awarded a total of $1.4 million from the 11th round of the state’s Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) initiative.

This round of REDC funding seeks to “stimulate New York’s post-pandemic recovery,” per the Clarkson website. The money will target two projects.

The majority of the $1.4 million grant award ($1.25 million) will allow the Shipley Center for Innovation to continue its operation of the North Country Innovation Hot Spot through 2026.

Empire State Development provided the funds as part of the state’s Incubator and Innovation Hot Spot program. The program pays for one Hot Spot in each of New York’s 10 economic-development zones, along with a total of 20 certified business incubators across the state.

With this money, the Shipley Center will continue providing support to inventors and entrepreneurs throughout the North Country. The services include business mentorship, prototype development, marketing assistance, connections to investors, and subject-matter experts.

The grant will also allow the Shipley Center to continue facilitating in-person and virtual workshops for inventors and entrepreneurs around the region. In the past, these workshops have been held in Canton, Lake Placid, Clayton, Plattsburgh, Tupper Lake, and Ticonderoga. They’re hosted in collaboration with the Point Positive angel-investment group, Clarkson noted.

In addition to providing these services to the region, the Shipley Center operates the North Country Business Incubator on Clarkson’s downtown Potsdam campus. This space allows aspiring entrepreneurs to maintain a physical office or lab and to have “even greater access to the resources and expertise available at Clarkson,” the school said.

As the designated Hot Spot for the North Country region, the Shipley Center also coordinates its efforts with economic-development organizations and professionals around the region.

Additional project

Besides the Shipley Center programming, Clarkson University will also use the remaining $150,000 for the Dennings Point campus build-out project at Clarkson’s Beacon Institute for Rivers & Estuaries.

The Dennings Point build-out is a project that will renovate a 40,000-square-foot former paperclip factory. The university hopes the project will bring job creation to Beacon and support its science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programming for both Clarkson students and the public.