The recent premier of two new web-based resources-BU Connects and the E-novation Exchange-will help underscore and strengthen Binghamton University’s connections with the surrounding region. The resources are designed to make University programs and intellectual capital more accessible to the public by providing electronic venues to facilitate the exchange of information.

BU Connects is a searchable online directory that provides a comprehensive guide to the outreach programs and services offered to the community by Binghamton University. A variety of programs, services and activities are described in the directory, ranging from professional development opportunities to corporate and industrial services. The directory, which is expected to continue to grow and evolve as more programs and services come to light, marks the first comprehensive effort to capture the broad scope of University-community connections, said Anita Knopp Doll, interim associate vice president for communications and marketing.

“The University offers a wide range of services and programs to the community,” Doll said. “While we have not always been very coordinated in how we spread the word about them, the public can now quickly and easily search for the services they need and just as easily connect with the people who provide them through BU Connects and the power of the Web.”

E-novation Exchange is a electronic resource designed to grow the links between faculty researchers and industry and community representatives by allowing for the posting of technical and business problems and opportunities, and facilitating the synergistic coupling of each, said Susan E. Barker, director of Research Advancement and Communications.

“Now faculty who have exciting opportunities to share can post them to the exchange and can respond to opportunities or problems posted by the public,” Barker said. Unlike BU Connects, which seeks to address all University programs, the E-novation Exchange is designed to target and develop opportunities with a distinctly intellectual or technical bent that could catalyze commercial or business applications of knowledge, she added.

“From the opening of dialogues to the spawning of new partnerships, the E-novation Exchange offers another exciting portal to the intellectual capital of Binghamton University,” Barker said.