Q&A talks with Glendowlyn L.H. Thames, director of small business innovation and CTNext, about the inception of innovation places, which aim to create a more vibrant startup culture in Connecticut.
Get Instant Access to This Article
Subscribe to Hartford Business Journal and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.
- Critical Hartford and Connecticut business news updated daily.
- Immediate access to all subscriber-only content on our website.
- Bi-weekly print or digital editions of our award-winning publication.
- Special bonus issues like the Hartford Book of Lists.
- Exclusive ticket prize draws for our in-person events.
Click here to purchase a paywall bypass link for this article.
Q&A talks with Glendowlyn L.H. Thames, director of small business innovation and CTNext, about the inception of innovation places, which aim to create a more vibrant startup culture in Connecticut.
Q: Connecticut Innovations is out with a new program called “innovation places.” What is it and who is the program targeted towards?
A: Innovation places seek to support entrepreneurs and leaders developing places that will attract the talent high-growth enterprises need. It is a five-year, $30 million program that will provide funding for entities that support innovation and entrepreneurship in their communities and/or regions and create a common vision, strategy and plan to make their community a sought-after location for people and companies.
Q: What's the general philosophy behind “magnets for talent?” Do these hubs prove more effective for building networks that produce more jobs?
A: According to Enrico Moretti's, “The New Geography of Jobs,” research supports the general idea that cities are more than “just a collection of individuals.” Rather, they are “complex, interrelated environments that foster the generation of new ideas and new ways of doing business.” Innovation places set out to embrace that idea and create the vibrant environments that attract and retain quality talent.
Q: Are there ways programs like these can be done without public seed money? Granted, it's not a large amount of funds, but why isn't the private sector, maybe in the form of chambers of commerce, getting behind programs like this?
A: This program will not reach its full potential unless there is private-sector involvement. In all successful entrepreneur communities, the private sector plays a big role. There will be the opportunity to encourage participation from the private sector through financing, developing a master vision, mentoring and other collaborative efforts.
In addition, in most successful innovation hubs, the public sector has played a big role. In Silicon Valley and Boston, defense funding for public, private and university research and development provided the core from which the tech community grew. In New York City, the Bloomberg administration pulled together the people, resources and strategy to diversify the city's economy from finance and fashion into technology and entrepreneurship. In Raleigh-Durham, the public investment in Research Triangle Park was crucial to its growth.
We welcome the private sector to take the lead. In some places it has.
Ideally, this investment will bring together the right players and resources so private leaders will be inspired to invest more energy and additional funds in Connecticut's entrepreneurship communities around a common vision.
Q: One of the aspects of the program is to attract anchor institutions. What's an example? Are they similar to anchor stores in malls?
A: An anchor institution can be a large organization, hospital, university or cultural institution to name a few. Anchor institutions attract highly skilled people whose work, ideas, participation in the community, and spending improve the local economy and attract more business and talent to the area.
Q: Is any preference being given to where these magnets for talent would be set up? Are you focusing on mostly urban areas like Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport for these centers?
A: The legislation outlines density and walkability as priorities in the innovation places program because it increases the odds of running into people who can share ideas, networks and resources that allow for increased innovation. It also emphasized the importance of proximity to amenities such as public transportation, restaurants, affordable housing and retail spaces. Though these resources often occur in urban settings, smaller cities are encouraged to apply if they have a compelling case to make about the existing entrepreneurial and innovation activity in the community and their ability to attract more talent.
Q: One of the aspects of the program is a grant competition. Do grant competitions like this just favor those towns and cities that are good at grant writing? Do they always find the best use of the funds?
A: The innovation places program is a two-phase process — phase 1 is a planning grant application process where communities can access up to $50,000 to assist them with strategic and master planning, and phase 2 is for the implementation grants, which will be a multi-faceted approach and involves a written application, site tour and interviews. Creativity and a well-thought-out vision will factor into the decision to receive a grant but the goal of this program is to create a set of measureable objectives that can be assessed on a yearly basis.
Young people and innovative organizations want to be in dense, vibrant, walkable places with public transportation and a mix of uses. Enterprises often grow quickly in areas with anchor institutions and where cutting-edge research is taking place. innovation places will set out to identify the places that are already doing a piece of that or have the framework to develop it over time.
