The University of Connecticut’s incubators aren’t just hatching chicks. Storrs, home of the University’s Technology Incubation Program (TIP), is nurturing start-up companies from a mere vision to full throttle operation with a little help from Alexandra Litor, newly appointed associate director of the TIP.
“Because we are a technology incubator, all our companies are developing new technologies with important potential value. This is interesting and challenging also because I don’t have a scientific background,” said Litor, who settled in Storrs from Paris, when she came to study at UConn.
“UConn is a really great place to be,” she said. “That’s the main reason why I have not left Storrs for a city. People are very nice and helpful here. If you had the opportunity to study in a French college or university, you would understand what I mean.”
Aside from connecting university faculty with UConn students to brainstorm and staff new ventures, provide affordable lab space, or link researches at UConn to outside opportunities, among a variety of other options, Litor is on business support duty, creating business reports, writing recommendations and conjuring up a network of service providers available to help out.
While she doesn’t have a background in science beyond some high school biology and physics classes, she has degrees in just about everything else. Litor, 31, has been tumbling through academia since 1998, graduating with degrees in economics, business, law and an MBA.
“Law and business can be very complimentary. When I started, I didn’t want to stop,” she said.
Litor completed her MBA at UConn, one of a few approved school programs through her university in France. Litor said she chose to come to the U.S. because, “You have an American dream. You have more economic opportunities.”
Litor, 30, said she has plans to stay in America, particularly at UConn, for the next 10 years, to build on the incubator program. She is currently living in Stafford Springs with her husband and one year old baby. If she does go back to France, she said she would want spend time with her family, but move away from Paris.
“Why not have my incubator in France,” she said.
Amanda Blaszyk is a staff writer for the Hartford Business Journal.
