Mary Anne and Craig Kaputa are setting up a software development office at SUNY Canton.

CANTON – SUNY Canton has received approval to begin its first Start-Up NY partnership providing space on campus and tax-free operation for a company developing construction management software.

Adirondack Operations LLC has been approved to begin working with the college and to receive tax incentives as it expands its operations in Canton under Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s development plan called Start-Up NY. They expect to create five jobs within five years.

“Our partnership with Adirondack Operations will offer new professional opportunities for our students," said SUNY Canton President Dr. Zvi Szafran. "We'll have an innovative and progressive business that fits squarely within our mission right here on campus."

SUNY Canton is the first college in the North Country to have a Start-Up NY company in operation on its campus, and the first college in the SUNY technology sector to have an approved business in the program.

Clarkson University has said they are preparing announcements about four companies that will be taking advantage of the program on their downtown Potsdam campus. Those announcements are due in the next few weeks, according to Matt Draper, director of Clarkson’s Shipley Center for Innovation.

Adirondack Operations will be using the SUNY Canton Start-Up NY partnership to create a new division specifically focused on developing software for facility and construction management.

Owners Mary Anne and Craig M. Kaputa of Croghan said they were eager to work with faculty and students from SUNY Canton. They will be offering student internships to assist with marketing. They plan to work with the construction management and computer information systems programs and will provide lectures supporting the college's entrepreneurial instruction.

“We are looking at using innovative technologies to launch the next generation of construction management," Craig said. "Students and faculty from the Canino School of Engineering Technology can help us with this project."

The company plans on creating five new jobs within its first five years of operation.

"Opening a technology-based business is going to help keep qualified graduates in the area," Mary Anne said. "We will be looking for someone immediately to work with us in the Canton office."

Adirondack Operations will be housed alongside the SUNY Canton Small Business Development Center in Wicks Hall.

The Start-Up NY program was developed by the state to make SUNY campuses and other university communities across the state into tax-free areas for new and expanding businesses.

Eligible businesses that partner with SUNY Canton and the other program sites will be able to operate state tax-free for 10 years, including property, income, sales and corporate tax.