SARANAC?LAKE?- Clarkson University and the Adirondack Economic Development Corporation recently announced a partnership arrangement to bring entrepreneurial training programs and small business finance opportunities together to create a "synergy of opportunity" for entrepreneurs and small businesses in the Tri-Lakes Region.

Clarkson recently leased space in Saranac Lake to open its Adirondack Business Center to provide small business support and telecommuter workspace to the Tri-Lakes area.

Clarkson's Entrepreneurship Center has been working with small businesses throughout St. Lawrence County since 2004, based out of its campus in Potsdam. More than 350 St. Lawrence County entrepreneurs have gone through the program and their long term survival rate approaches 85 percent, well over the national average for small business ventures.

According to Center Director Marc Compeau, bringing this model into the Adirondacks and implementing the same success will require partnerships with existing service providers.

"We can't wait to work with small businesses in the Adirondack Region," Compeau said in a press release. "The culture of hard work, pride in your community and quality of life is contagious. Using Clarkson University's expertise in the greater North Country region and partnering with existing service providers to support that approach to managing business is very exciting to us."

With more than 20 years of experience in helping small businesses with training and financial products, AEDC has trained more than 300 entrepreneurs and provided financing to over 250 businesses.

"Last year, our small business training graduated our largest class in years and our lending operation increased by 140 percent," said Mike Conway, executive director of AEDC. "We are on pace to substantially exceed that. A few months ago we started discussions with Clarkson about a partnership that would bring this effort together to maximize impact... by working together, the whole region will benefit."

As an extension of the Adirondack Initiative for Wired Work, Clarkson also looks forward to partnering with Paul Smith's Business Management and Entrepreneurship Studies faculty and North Country Community College to develop entrepreneurship-training synergies.

For more information on AEDC, call Mike Conway at 518-891-5523 or visit www.aedconline.com.