Mar. 15—Members of the local business and educational communities officially launched the Regional Innovation Council on Wednesday, March 15.

About 75 individuals representing 30 organizations have worked together for the past eight months to start the council, SUNY Oneonta President Alberto Cardelle said during Wednesday's kickoff event.

Cardelle said as a newcomer to the area, he didn't know if he should start the council, but decided it was important to start one after holding some informal meetings with business leaders in the area last spring. He said the council was formed and a leadership team was put into place that included SUNY Oneonta Chief of Staff Danielle McMullen, Hartwick College President Darren Reisberg, Springbrook Chief Executive Officer Patricia Kennedy, Senior Vice President for Sales and Operations at Ioxus Chad Hall and Otsego-Northern Catskills BOCES Superintendent Catherine Huber.

According to a media release, the purpose of the council is to:

—Increase coordination between the various economic and community development entities in the region;

—Identify, develop and implement continuing initiatives and opportunities for collaboration;

—Identify new and emerging partnership opportunities; and

—advocate and secure state and federal funding for identified points of collaboration/initiatives.

Cardelle said the council held a "soft launch" in the fall, but decided to have a formal launch on Wednesday at the B Side Ballroom & Supper Club in Oneonta.

The group includes the two anchor colleges, SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College, as well as Springbrook, Bassett Healthcare Network, Otsego County, the Community Foundation of Otsego County, ONC BOCES and some members of the business community, he said. He said he hopes to extend the council to include SUNY Delhi and Delaware County businesses, since "Delaware County starts behind Walmart." SUNY Delhi officer-in-charge Mary Bonderoff also attended the launch party.

Cardelle said one of the goals of the council is to create economic development "pipeline pathways" from SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College to the area to entice students to stay in the area after graduation.

"The area is short of teachers," he said. "Our best and brightest students are studying to become teachers. This is a great opportunity."

Huber said the group created a rural educational collaborative with the colleges to encourage the college students to stay in the area.

The group has been split into nine subgroups that will collaborate on regional issues and opportunities in health care and human services, education, business development and entrepreneurship, employee recruitment and retention, arts and culture, sustainability and agriculture and nonprofit support, McMullen said.

Hall said he is overseeing the agriculture and sustainability subgroup. He said the group is important as future job growth and worker training are important issues that need to be addressed locally. "Workforce development is key for us," he said.

Reisberg said there is "a wealth of resources here in Otsego County" that will be leveraged by the council going forward.

Kennedy said she joined the council to get people together to make the county and Oneonta successful for years to come.

Oneonta Mayor Mark Drnek said the timing of the council "couldn't be better." He said the city is moving forward economically and it's nice to see the businesses and educational institutions working together to focus on specific problems facing the area. He said Cardelle and Reisberg taking over the leadership at the two colleges was "a godsend to the community."

Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221.