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2018 Marcum Tech Top 40 Companies Announced

HomeTag "tech"

2018 Marcum Tech Top 40 Companies Announced

September 06 2018 Innovation Destination: Hartford Awards 0 comments Tags: business development, business growth, business innovation, Connecticut, Connecticut Technology Council, CT, Greater Hartford, Marcum, tech, technology

The Connecticut Technology Council (CTC) and Marcum LLP announced the 2018 Marcum Tech Top 40, the annual recognition of the fastest growing technology companies in Connecticut. This year’s group of top-ranked companies will be honored at the new ConnectiTECH Awards event at the Connecticut Convention Center on October 3.

The Marcum Tech Top 40 has honored more than 400 Connecticut-based technology and tech-enabled companies since 2008. The awards recognize technology leaders in six industry sectors: Advanced Manufacturing; Energy and Environmental; Life Sciences; New Media, Internet, and Telecom; IT Services; and Software. Tech Top 40 companies are both privately and publicly held, must have at least $3 million in annual revenue, and a demonstrated record of revenue growth in each of the preceding four years.

2018’s honorees are a diverse set of businesses from around the state. Eleven companies are publicly traded, and eight have over than $1 billion in annual revenue. Two younger companies, Farmington’s Diameter Health and Stamford’s Link AKC will be honored at the Tech Top 40 as Accelerators, a classification reserved for companies that successfully scaled to $3 million in revenue in fewer than three years.

“Marcum is extremely proud to partner with the Connecticut Technology Council to present the Marcum Tech Top 40 Awards which honor some of Connecticut’s most innovative companies,” said Michael K. Brooder, CPA, Marcum’s office managing partner in Hartford, Connecticut. “This annual program over the past 11 years has allowed us a fascinating glimpse into the forward thinking that keeps Connecticut on the forefront of technology innovation and business leadership. We heartily congratulate this year’s class of winners and look forward to watching their continuing contributions to Connecticut’s business environment.”

Bruce Carlson, CTC’s President and CEO added, “Growth in Connecticut must and does come from the technology sector, and these Marcum Tech Top 40 companies are exemplary of the achievements within the industry we represent in the state. As part of the ConnectiTECH Awards, the Marcum Tech Top 40 lauds the leaders in tech in Connecticut and inspires more to follow suit.”

To date, this year’s event sponsors include: Marcum LLP and Shipman & Goodwin LLC, with support from Webster Bank.

The October 3 awards program will include the presentation of the Marcum Tech Top 40 Awards, as well as two new honors: The Most Disruptive Technology and Coolest Tech Workplace Awards. These awards are designed to stimulate the celebration of rising tech businesses and innovators and showcase the culture of technology in Connecticut in conjunction with the Marcum Tech Top 40.

2018 Marcum Tech Top 40 Companies by Company Name

(Company Name, City, Category)

  • 3Gtms, Shelton, Software
  • ADNET Technologies, Farmington, IT Services
  • Advanced Technology Consulting (ATC), South Windsor, IT Services
  • Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., New Haven, Life Sciences
  • Amphenol Corp., Wallingford, Advanced Manufacturing
  • Barnes Group Inc., Bristol, Advanced Manufacturing
  • Booking Holdings Inc., Norwalk, New Media/ Internet/ Telecom
  • Chief Executive Group, LLC, Stamford, New Media, Internet, or Telecommunications
  • Clarity Software Solutions, Inc., Madison, Software
  • COCC, Southington, IT Services
  • Cognitive Energy LLC DBA POWWR, Newtown, Software
  • Continuity, New Haven, Software
  • Cyma Systems Inc., Manchester, IT Services
  • Device42 Inc, West Haven, Software
  • Diameter Health, Farmington, Accelerator
  • EMCOR Group Inc., Norwalk, Energy/Environmental/Green Technology
  • etouches, Norwalk, Software
  • Exago Inc., Shelton, Software
  • FACTSET Research Systems Inc., Norwalk, Software
  • Foster Corporation, Putnam, Advanced Manufacturing
  • HealthPlanOne, LLC, Trumbull, New Media, Internet, or Telecommunications
  • IT Direct, West Hartford, IT Services
  • Kyber Security, Fairfield, IT Services
  • Leap the Pond, Milford, Software
  • Link AKC, Stamford, Accelerator
  • MediaCrossing, Stamford, New Media, Internet, or Telecommunications
  • Medpricer, Guilford, Software
  • Metrum Research Group, Tariffville, Life Sciences
  • MResult Corporation, Mystic, IT Services
  • PASSUR Aerospace, Inc., Stamford, IT Services
  • Payveris, Cromwell, Software
  • Precision Combustion, Inc., North Haven, Energy, Environment, or Green Technology
  • RBC Bearings INC, Oxford, Advanced Manufacturing
  • Revolution Lighting Technologies, Inc., Stamford, Advanced Manufacturing
  • Saisystems International, Shelton, IT Services
  • Sheffield Pharmaceuticals, LLC, New London, Life Sciences
  • Southridge Technology, Brookfield, IT Services
  • Square 9 Softworks, New Haven, Software
  • SS&C Technologies Holdings Inc, Windsor, Software
  • The Marlin Company, Wallingford, Software
  • S. Computer Connection, Stamford, IT Services
  • United Technologies Corp, Farmington, Advanced Manufacturing

Learn more about the Connecticut Technology Council

VISIT: www.ct.org
FOLLOW: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube

Find out more about Marcum LLP

VISIT: www.marcumllp.com
FOLLOW: Facebook | Google+ | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

 

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UHart, UConn Set to Launch InsurTech Curriculum

August 24 2018 Innovation Destination: Hartford Higher Education, InsurTech 0 comments Tags: CT, CT startups, insurance, InsurTech, startups, tech, technology, UConn, UHart, University of Connecticut, University of Hartford

This piece originally appeared in HartfordBusiness.com August 22, 2018.

Timothy Folta, professor of management, leads a class at the Graduate Business Learning Center in Hartford. (Photo courtesy: Peter Morenus/University of Connecticut.)

Q&A talks with UConn School of Business professor Timothy Folta and University of Hartford Barney School of Business clinical instructor Ken Goldstein about the schools’ joint InsurTech program.

Q: UConn and the University of Hartford's Barney School of Business recently teamed up to develop undergraduate and graduate curricula geared toward the insurance technology or InsurTech sector. What prompted the program?

A: The primary inspiration was the opportunity to leverage the momentum with the Hartford Innovation Places InsurTech initiative, which is trying to make Hartford a center for InsurTech startups. The legwork for that effort revealed a real market need for a new type of human capital for this emerging sector. We are aiming to build that next-generation talent pool, both for the insurance companies in our region that need help integrating new technology into their core business processes, and also for the startups that are moving to Hartford to do business with them.

UConn actually started the program in January of this year by partnering students with the 10 startups chosen by Startupbootcamp to participate in an accelerator program. Those internship opportunities set the stage for a much broader initiative that kicks off in earnest in the fall 2018 semester.

 Q: What does the program entail?

A: Well, the program has three components. The first is a course. The second is experiential learning opportunities in Startupbootcamp ventures or established insurance companies. The third is a mentoring program, where each student is provided three mentors.

Q: What courses will be offered?

A: We plan to pilot a graduate-level InsurTech venturing class this fall. Building on this experience, we will then develop an undergraduate-level InsurTech concepts-and-applications class during spring-summer 2019, with delivery in the fall 2019.

The graduate-level course will build skills to be innovators and entrepreneurs in the InsurTech space. Main topics covered include an analysis of traditional insurance and InsurTech models; an evaluation of how InsurTech companies are being supported and financed (venturing); an assessment of required skills to be innovators and entrepreneurs in the InsurTech space; consideration of cybersecurity exposures posed by InsurTech startups and new technology; and an overview of diverse case studies.

Q: What skillsets do InsurTech companies look for?

A: Insurance companies are looking for diverse skillsets to help their organizations better understand, mitigate and manage risk through strategic business decisions and data, advanced analytics and other technological innovations. Adjacent skillsets such as project management, artificial intelligence and machine learning, systems integration and architecture, and cyber-security are also in demand in much greater quantities than can be filled locally at the moment.

InsurTech startups are also looking for a diverse set of skills. They need help in refining their business models to meet customer demands, building and testing the algorithms that power their technologies, and in developing methods of analyzing data and reporting it in clear and usable ways to help improve decision-making for their customers.

Q: The Greater Hartford region seems to be focused on becoming a hub for InsurTech. Several insurance technology organizations, including an accelerator, have launched in Hartford. Did the launch of this program dovetail with the increased focus on InsurTech in the region?

A: The launch of the program absolutely dovetails nicely with the increased focus on InsurTech in the region. InsurTechs are altering the terrain on which companies compete, and incumbents are investing in emerging companies as well as in their own internal technological capabilities.

Some of the more recent investments include Allianz's $96 million investment in micro-insurer BIMA; Hartford Steam Boiler's (Munich Re) $45 million investment in on-demand insurer Trov; and property and casualty software provider Guidewire's $275 million acquisition of cyber-risk startup Cyence.

Q: How rare is it for two universities to launch a joint program?

A: While it is rare to collaborate on launching a single program, we were very pleased to receive a joint curriculum innovation grant from the Spencer Educational Foundation to support our combined efforts. And, the opportunity to work together was further encouraged and championed by CTNext, a subsidiary of Connecticut Innovations.

We hope to include additional universities in our InsurTech program. Also, we are working with Wesleyan University and corporate partners to launch a program designed to train researchers in universities and corporations to encourage engagement in the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.

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Entrepreneur Runs Successful Hartford-Based Tech Company

August 20 2018 Innovation Destination: Hartford Entrepreneurial Insights, Where Are They Now? 0 comments Tags: business success, Connecticut, CT, entrepreneur, Hartford, tech

Tech to Us provides managed IT services for businesses and remote home technical support services for home users. The company has been located in the Hartford Trust Building since it launched in 2010. In April 2018, Tech to Us expanded its offices.

Innovation Destination Hartford Website Curator Nan Price spoke with Tech to Us Founder & CEO Guy Citarella about the company’s evolution and future plans.

NAN PRICE: Have you always been entrepreneurial?

GUY CITARELLA: I’ve always wanted to start my own business. My business interest began when I was a kid. My family on my dad’s side owns businesses, so I was exposed to it at a young age. My goal was to eventually start my own company and at some point, I just decided to go for it.

NAN: Was Tech to Us your first startup?

GUY: Yes, I had done some freelancing on the side prior to launching Tech to Us, but this is my first startup of any major consequence.

NAN: When you were first starting out, was it just you?

GUY: It was me and one other person, a close friend, who was an employee. I was intentional about not having a partner. I’m 100% owner of the company.

That’s what I would recommend for any founder who’s looking to start up: If you lack a certain skillset that you absolutely need to have, then bringing someone on may be fine for you. If not, then keep full ownership. For me, keeping 100% ownership means at least I have some value for my time and all my investment in the company.

NAN: What were the biggest challenges you faced as you were starting up?

GUY: Two major things that always come to mind are marketing and finding good quality people especially on a startup budget.

Hiring is especially challenging when you’re just starting up. Now we’re finally able to pay more for quality talent. But during the startup days, the first couple of years were hard. And, when you’re running a service-based business you need people to execute your service. You’re not just selling or shipping a product or working in a warehouse, you’re customer-facing. You need high-quality people for these interactions. So, it’s always a challenge to find qualified people.

And then the other thing would be marketing, which is always a challenge. Everyone goes into business thinking: My service is great. I’ll just do this, this, and this. And then the customers don’t show up. They don’t just come knocking at your door. You have to go get them and find them in reasonable numbers, which isn’t always easy.

Finding quality people and marketing are still challenges to this day, in different ways.

NAN: Tech to Us is now in its eighth year. Tell us how the company has evolved.

GUY: We started with Tech to Us doing direct-to-consumer, remote technical support —home users.  We still do that today

Also, the company was originally doing a lot of call center services for a mixture of customer care and tech support. We eventually eliminated any of the customer care services and focused on just providing technical services. Just over a year ago, we began providing managed IT services for businesses in addition to direct-to-consumer technical support. It was part of the reason for our expansion.

NAN: Was that based on customer need?

GUY: Yes. I think the future of our business—where we have the biggest growth potential—is based on our managed IT services. We have a tremendous opportunity to service businesses locally and nationally. Not that we’re getting away from our home user services—they’re currently still a very large part of our business, so we’re not moving away from that. But we have expanded in managed services and we already have many clients.

NAN: Speaking of customers, how have you been building your customer base?

GUY: Since we’ve been around for eight years, we get referral business and people who have used us in the past continue using our services. We also do web marketing. Obviously, the internet is a big draw for this industry—people searching for tech-support. For businesses, we do regular campaigns with cold calling and cold emailing. We also get a good amount of inbound leads from our website.

With marketing, the toughest challenge is balancing the cost of marketing with the return on investment. That’s also why we’re going more local for our B2B managed services. There’s a better value proposition of being able to go to a client’s site and meet to face to face and provide our IT expertise in person.

NAN: Do you have a specific target market?

GUY: For our home users, it’s really anyone. But our demographic is 90% are 55 or older. On the B2B side, we target smaller companies usually with 10 to 100 employees. We provide services across multiple verticals—pretty much any vertical with more than 10 employees needs IT support.

NAN: Let’s talk about the expansion. How many employees do you have now?

GUY: We recently hired a couple sales representatives for business development, so we now have 15 employees, which is a good size for us. We may expand and add more technical staff as the year goes on.

NAN: How did you choose the business location? Why Hartford?

GUY: In terms of choosing the Hartford area as our location, it was just a matter of luck in terms of an office space that fit our needs in our budget at the time. We’ve been in the same building ever since, even though the building changed ownership this past year. The location has worked out well for us.

We’ve been here for eight years and it was a good choice. I wouldn’t change anything. I personally love Hartford. I moved downtown two years ago, so I get to walk to work every day. Hartford is a good, centrally located city where it’s affordable to do business. It provides those extra city resources and pulls in a wide area of people, so you can be downtown without having the high expense.

The city is up-and-coming. Hence why I moved here. I see a lot of potential here in Hartford—it’s obviously grown a lot over the past several years. You can see the difference.

NAN: Tell us something we don’t really know about what it’s really like to be an entrepreneur. Anything that surprised you?

GUY: As an entrepreneur, you have to realize that the rest of the world doesn’t operate like Silicon Valley. Venture capitalists aren’t going to come knocking on your door dropping millions of dollars.

Tech to Us is a bootstrapped company from the ground up, built with my own money. Being an entrepreneur is tough financially, especially at first—and, to be frank, ongoing as well. Every year, every month, it’s always looking at how much money we are bringing in versus how much money is going out.

I thought it would be much easier after a few years, but that challenge always exists, even as you’re growing the business. Because as you grow, you need to put more money into the business to grow by hiring or by investing in another technology. So, there’s always that feeling that you’re behind the curve. You’re always trying to catch up to your spending and your revenue. And, until you get that big boom, it’s difficult to maintain.

NAN: Any advice for other entrepreneurs?

GUY: The number one thing is: You think it’s going to come faster or you can get more business sooner. But it takes time and patience and it takes good money management.

For someone starting up a business, they say you should have at least six months of living expenses in the bank before you launch. I would say at least double that just to play it safe, because for about the first year of this company I wasn’t really making anything myself. I was living on what I had and what I could afford to pay myself, but it wasn’t much.

NAN: What’s next for Tech to Us?

GUY: Our goal is to grow our B2B managed IT services. That’s our big focus. Not that everything else is less valuable to us, but we got that figured out and we’re doing well with it.

Our next phase as we continue to grow will be eventually adding even more higher-level technicians to help us handle our increased number of projects. We’re seeing continued growth in our managed IT services that would definitely cause us to need such qualified people.

Our local presence as a full managed IT services firm is proving to be in demand as we service businesses in Connecticut and the surrounding states.

Learn more about Tech to Us

VISIT: www.techtous.com
FOLLOW: Facebook | Twitter

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Hartford Steam Boiler’s Tech Focus Aims to Transform Specialty Insurer into Problem-Solving Innovator

July 31 2018 Innovation Destination: Hartford Innovation 0 comments Tags: accelerator, Connecticut, CT, Hartford Steam Boiler, innovation, InsurTech, startups, tech, technology

This article by Staff Writer Sean Teehan originally appeared in HartfordBusiness.com July 23, 2018.

The elevator between Hartford Steam Boiler’s 12th and 13th floors is a time machine.

Hartford Steam Boiler President and CEO Greg Barats in the specialty insurer’s new innovation lab, The Mashup@HSB, which serves as the latest example of the company’s efforts to become a technology innovator. (Photo courtesy Steve Laschever)

President and CEO Greg Barats’ 12th-floor corner office at One State Street in downtown Hartford is adorned with all the trappings of a century-and-a-half-old Connecticut insurance company: large wood desks; antique fixtures; and a painting commemorating the Sultana steamboat disaster of 1865.

The short ride to the 13th floor brings you to an open, mostly co-working space with flat screens displaying data charts, sleek high-tech devices—including 3D printers—and denim-sporting 20-somethings milling around desks and glass-encased tech labs.

“We come from a … very traditional legacy company that operates and approaches the market in a very systematic way,” Barats said while giving a tour of the 13th floor known as The Mashup@HSB. “But for us to be in the new world, technology is really becoming a huge change-maker in the marketplace.”

Hartford Steam Boiler’s 13th floor opened in May, about 2½  years after the specialty insurance company started working on it, Barats said. It now serves as a future-facing innovation lab, and a physical manifestation of Barats’ intention to steer HSB increasingly into the direction of problem-solving innovator.

HSB, which Barats describes as “an engineering company that got into insurance,” has dived deeply into the tech space at its Hartford headquarters, mirroring an industry-wide trend in which insurance companies are working with, or buying, startups and housing their own in-house innovation shops to improve upon everything from customer relations to reducing a policyholder’s risk of filing a claim.

Since its founding, HSB has operated as a specialty insurer and provider of engineering risk management and technology services. It insures things like equipment breakdown, cyber risk and identity theft.

With its investment and focus on technology, HSB aims to build a new internet-of-things (IoT) services business to help small to midsized companies prevent or reduce physical damage to their operations. So far, that’s largely been done by developing or investing in sensor technology that helps businesses monitor equipment and infrastructure to prevent or reduce insured losses.

HSB, which recorded $1.3 billion in revenue last year, rolled out a $50 million venture fund in 2014 and has acquired multiple startups.

In 2016 it also acquired Houston tech company Meshify, which provides companies with industrial equipment sensor technology that can, as an example, monitor pressure and temperature to warn of problems that could lead to burst or frozen pipes. Meshify’s technology also helps link devices through a cloud-based IoT platform.

Over a 40-day period last winter, HSB’s monitoring technology prevented frozen pipes and water exposure at one business, which Barats declined to name, that could have caused millions of dollars in property damage, he said.

“We basically can turn off equipment remotely from 1,000 miles away,” Barats said. “I can tell you if it’s working, not working, if it’s too hot, it’s vibrating too much, how much flow is going.”

Germany’s Munich RE Group, which owns HSB, has taken notice of the Hartford company’s innovation and venture work, Barats said. As a result, HSB is likely increasing the fund and expanding innovation efforts.

Barats is also leading Munich RE’s IoT business strategy. Right now, a Munich RE team he oversees is working with German industrial robots manufacturer KUKA Robotics and carmaker Porsche on a “SmartFactory” concept.

The idea is to build micro-manufacturing facilities that companies can rent, in an effort to transform manufacturing into a service, Barats said.

“We’re not just a user of technology,” Barats said. “We’re going to become a buyer of technology, where technology actually becomes a part of our offering.”

INSURTECH IN HARTFORD

HSB’s focus on technology isn’t new, and neither is the idea of mixing insurance and innovation.

In 2016, about 28% of insurers were looking at partnerships with tech startups, according to a recent PwC/Startupbootcamp report on the InsurTech market. Last year, 45% of insurers were engaging in such partnerships.

The trend of insurance companies working with startups and housing in-house innovation shops is prevalent in Hartford, said Dawn LeBlanc, managing director of the Hartford InsurTech Hub, which launched last year and is run by InsurTech London, a division of Startupbootcamp.

“We really see that the trajectory of InsurTech is really going to accelerate,” LeBlanc said.

LeBlanc oversees the InsurTech Accelerator—whose investors and/or partners include Cigna, The Hartford, Travelers Cos. and the state quasi-public agency CTNext—which works to annually bring 10 to 12 InsurTech startups to Hartford, and provide support through access to mentors and investors.

The InsurTech hub is currently seeking applications for its next crop of startups, which will participate in a three-month accelerator program starting in February. Applications are due September 30.

HSB is not directly participating in the accelerator, but is monitoring the program’s success and will look for opportunities to engage with it, the company said.

ENTREPRENEURIAL BENT

Barats took the helm at HSB in 2011. A longtime company employee, he began his career as a tech entrepreneur, founding two startups in the 1990s. Barats, who is being recognized in September by the University of Hartford’s School of Business for his leadership in integrating technology and insurance, still carries the sense of urgency of working at a startup.

HSB’s One State Street building, which Munich RE bought in 2014, is itself an example of modern-day and futuristic technology.

It’s filled with sensors collecting data on things like what people are ordering at the restaurants inside the building to what types of drinks employees are dispensing out of a souped-up flavored water and coffee machine in the Mashup floor’s lunch area.

The setup enables HSB to test its sensor technology before deploying it to customers.

Workers on the Mashup floor, where Barats also has a desk, toil on projects approved by the company’s “growth board.”

The board is made up of senior executives who decide to invest resources into projects that match up with the company’s growth strategy.

A recently approved project includes a team developing new online distribution channel strategies for HSB’s cyber risk insurance.

Teams are usually allowed a specific amount of time, anywhere from 30 days to a year, to complete their projects, Barats said.

“You hear the term all the time, ‘fail fast,’ and that’s what we want to do here,” Barats said. “If it’s not a good idea, let’s get it, let’s get to it, let’s kill it quickly, and move on and get the next idea.”

Workers from any part of the company may submit proposals and—if approved—work on the Mashup floor, Barats said.

It’s hard to say how much of HSB’s resources are going toward technology, Barats said, but about 20% of the firm’s business is services unrelated to insurance—like engineering and consulting.

As HSB leans further into the innovation sphere, Barats recognizes that other insurers in town are making similar investments. But, he said, that’s of little concern.

“We’re not really holding ourselves to (competing with) the insurance industry, we’re looking more toward the technology world,” Barats said. “We’re trying to hold ourselves to a different, I’d say, competitor.”

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Hartford Ranks 7th for Tech-Talent Growth

July 27 2018 Innovation Destination: Hartford Accolades, Tech 0 comments Tags: best place for tech talent, Connecticut, CT success, Hartford, tech, tech talent growth, technology

This story by News Editor Gregory Seay originally appeared in the Hartford Business Journal March 19, 2018.

Hartford is one of America’s top 10 markets for growing and attracting technology talent, a new survey says.

The Capital City ranked # 7 on commercial realty-broker CBRE’s sixth annual survey of the top U.S. and Canadian tech-labor markets. No other New England or Northeast cities appear on the latest rankings.

Hartford’s tech labor force grew 10 percentage points faster from 2016 to 2017 than in the previous 2014 - 2015 period, CBRE’s ranking showed.

CBRE, a nationwide commercial broker-adviser with operations in Hartford, says its Interactive Tech Talent Analyzer found that tech talent job growth gained momentum in 23 of the top 50 markets.

Access the CBRE Scoring Tech Talent in North America 2018 survey.

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Hartford-Based Training and Innovation Hub

April 23 2018 Innovation Destination: Hartford Innovation 0 comments Tags: Connecticut, CT, Hartford, information technology, Infosys, innovation, IT, tech

STATE APPROVES $14M TO BRING INFOSYS, 1,000 TECH JOBS TO HARTFORD

This piece by Keith M. Phaneuf, CT Mirror, originally appeared in HartfordBusiness.com April 13, 2018

Infosys CEO Salil Parekh is leading the Indian IT company’s strategy to hire more American workers at its U.S. job sites. (Photo courtesy Hartford Business Journal)

The State Bond Commission approved financing Friday to provide $14 million to Infosys, an India-based information technology company developing a new training and innovation hub in Hartford as part of a major expansion in the United States.

In return for these grants, the company will provide an estimated 1,000 jobs to the capital city by 2022.

“The bottom line is Connecticut is investing in itself,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said immediately after Friday’s meeting.

The governor, who called Infosys a leader “in global technology and next generation IT services,” added “these are monumental wins for Connecticut’s economy and a testament to the quality of our skilled, highly educated and productive workforce.”

Infosys would be eligible to receive:

  • $4 million if 200 jobs are created within two years and retained for two years
  • A second $4 million payment if 500 jobs in total have been created within the next three years, and then retained for two more years
  • A third $4 million payment if the job total reaches 1,000 created within the first five years, and if they are retained for another two years
  • And a final $2 million grant would be provided now to fund job training

The 10-member bond commission voted 9-1 to approve the assistance.

Rep. Chris Davis, R-Ellington, cast the lone dissenting vote, charging Infosys has been one of the leading outsources of U.S. jobs to other countries in the information technology field.

“That company is, I believe, the third largest outsourcer in the entire world in its field,” he said. “Infosys outsourced Connecticut-based employees at Eversource and at financial services and insurance industries across Connecticut.”

Davis added, "We are going into partnership with a company that has displaced, potentially, thousands of Connecticut employees over the years, and are giving them taxpayer money.”

Malloy announced in mid-March a deal to bring Infosys to Hartford. The talks leading up to that agreement included appeals from the state, Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin’s administration, and several corporations in the region.

“This investment will be recognized on a national basis as a further step in repositioning Connecticut in the marketplace of the future,” Malloy said during the March 14 announcement. “And this opportunity to train tomorrow's workforce today in Connecticut is what this announcement is all about.”

Infosys, a global provider of information-technology and training services, is in the midst of shifting much of its training from India to the United States, where it is planning to open four or five hubs. The initiative was announced last May, with a plan to hire 10,000 U.S. workers. Worldwide, the company employs 200,000.

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Hartford, CT Tops Fortune List of Top Metro Areas for Tech Jobs

January 15 2018 Innovation Destination: Hartford Accolades 0 comments Tags: Connecticut, CT success, ecomonic growth, Hartford, tech, technology

This story originally appeared on Fortune January 7, 2018.

In the company of tech-hubs including Austin, Boston, and San Jose, Fortune ranked Hartford the #4 metro-area for jobs in technology.

The Brookings Institution studied a database of computer skills (from database entry to coding software) used in various occupations, then made a map of “digital scores” for U.S. metropolitan areas.

Researchers from Brookings ranked cities’ scores from 2002, then looked at how much each of those cities had improved as of 2016. They found that, in general, the cities whose scores used to be lowest have been closing the gap with the ones that used to be stronger, as technology infiltrates all kinds of occupations, from nursing to construction work.

People benefit from “living and working in the right place,” says Mark Muro, a senior fellow at Brookings. “That’s always been true, but digital technologies have really amplified that effect.”

Read the entire article, Technology Is Everywhere. Tech Jobs? Not So Much.

 

 

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UConn TIP Helps Tech Startups Thrive

December 15 2017 Innovation Destination: Hartford Innovation 0 comments Tags: biotech startups, Connecticut, CT, entrepreneurs, Greater Hartford, innovation, tech, technology, Technology Incubation Program, TP, UConn, University of Connecticut

The University of Connecticut Technology Incubation Program (UConn TIP) is currently home to 33 tech-based startup companies.

By combining UConn’s research resources, facilities, and business support services with a network of experienced investors and entrepreneurs, TIP helps launch startups ready to transform their respective markets.

Learn more about the TIP companies

TIP has made significant headway in 2017. See below for a recap.

TIP STARTUPS RAISE $54+ MILLION IN FUNDING IN 2017

TIP companies have exceeded the stretch goal for funding in 2017. The tech startups have raised more than $54 million in company funding, exceeding the $45.3 million raised in 2016 and $19.2 million in 2015.

Two examples:

  • TIP member Thetis Pharmaceuticals, which is funded by Connecticut Innovations was recently awarded a $2.3 million NIH grant. Find out more.
  • Amastan Technologies, which graduated from the TIP, raised $13.85 million in new funding. Find out more.

JOHNSON & JOHNSON’S INNOVATION DIVISION SCOPES OUT UCONN’S INCUBATOR STARTUPS

TIP director Paul Parker said incubator companies are always on the hunt for outside financing and research partnerships. He noted that many TIP companies are working in an area of medical science that could be of interest to Johnson & Johnson.

Learn more in the feature article from Hartford Business Journal.

INSIDE UCONN TIP: MAKING THE TECH OF TOMORROW, TODAY

Inside UConn TIP is a look into the University of Connecticut’s Technology Incubation Program. Discoveries made in UConn labs turn into the tech of tomorrow. In the podcast series, UConn graduate and Podstories Founder Ali Oshinskie shows how three companies are innovating in their fields.

  • Listen to Podstories podcasts about UConn TIP startups
  • Learn more about Podstories Founder Ali Oshinskie in our interview

Interested in learning more about the University of Connecticut Technology Incubation Program?

  • Find out how the TIP is fostering innovative startups and enhancing economic development throughout Connecticut
  • Read our interview with Shoreline Biome Co-Founder Thomas Jarvie: Biotech Startup Develops Innovative Sequencing Technique
  • Read our interview with LamdaVision President Dr. Nicole Wagner: Biotech Startup Develops Innovative, Protein-Based Retinal Implant
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CT Builds Bridges with Israel’s Tech Economy

December 05 2017 Innovation Destination: Hartford IDH Global 0 comments Tags: Connecticut, Connecticut Economic Resource Center, economic development, global startup, innovation, International Business Council, Israel, Israeli startups, startup, tech, technology MetroHartford Alliance, Upward Hartford

This story by Matt Pilon originally appeared on Hartford Business.com November 20, 2017.

Miri Berger, co-founder of the Israeli startup 6Degrees, demonstrates an armband to enable those who have lost the use of their hands to use a computer mouse or smart phone. (Photo courtesy Matt Pilon)

Nearly two dozen Israeli startup executives and government officials, fresh off visits to New York and Philadelphia, made one last stop on their East Coast road show this month—to downtown Hartford.

It was the first visit of its kind to Connecticut by Israeli economic development officials, and the goal was to advance a relationship between a country and state/region that have spent years trying to strengthen their economic ties.

“An Israeli delegation has never stepped foot in Connecticut,” said Shana Schlossberg, founder of Hartford’s new accelerator Upward Hartford, who, along with the Connecticut Economic Resource Center (CERC), organized the gathering. “I said ‘come and I’ll give you a day you won’t forget.’”

And indeed, it was a production.

The Israeli companies, all of which are in the medical-technology space, pitched and were introduced to representatives from some of the region’s largest employers in Upward Hartford’s slick new co-working space in the Stilts Building, 20 Church Street.

Local companies in attendance included Aetna, Cigna, Travelers, The Hartford, Hartford HealthCare, St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, Stanley Black and Decker, and United Technologies Corp., among others. The Israeli delegation also dined in downtown Hartford and was welcomed by state lawmakers and Connecticut’s top economic development chief, Catherine Smith.

Connecticut, with assistance from groups like CERC, the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford and the MetroHartford Alliance, has been trying to woo Israel—sometimes referred to as Startup Nation—for years. Those efforts have included hosting Connecticut-Israel technology summits and a 2013 trip by the state Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) to Israel.

The courting has borne some fruit: In recent years Israeli companies Biological Industries, a stem-cell culture distributor, and software developer Applango, have opened Connecticut locations in Cromwell and Stamford, respectively.

But the delegation’s recent visit was seen as a potential next step in developing the relationship.

“This has really solidified our work over the past couple of years,” said Jason Giulietti, a business recruitment vice president at CERC, which helps companies, including foreign ones, find locations, connections and incentives in the state. “It takes us out of the minor leagues and puts us in the major leagues.”

Israel, a country of 8.5 million people that nourishes its robust tech economy by doling out approximately $500 million a year in economic incentives, wants to have a closer relationship to Connecticut.

“What we’re identifying here is how we can create that deal flow,” said Jonathan Cohen, North American manager for the Israeli Innovation Authority, which is the country’s economic development agency.

Ultimately, Cohen said he would like Israel and Connecticut to sign a memorandum of understanding that would formalize the commitment of each government to an economic partnership and would lead to more Israeli companies coming here.

The delegation had just come from signing a memorandum of understanding with Pennsylvania state officials.

With or without that formal agreement, more Israeli startups are planting roots in Hartford — an area that has struggled to attract early stage companies, compared to New Haven and Fairfield counties.

Schlossberg, who is connected to Israel’s startup community after living there from 2008 to 2012, has signed leases with four Israeli startups this year, and she expects to sign on three more from the delegation, though she wasn’t yet ready to name them.

Schlossberg said signing the first company—Project Ray, which makes braille-like technology to help the visually impaired use smartphones—made it easier to attract others.

“Israelis work based on trust—they go where someone told them it works,” she said. “If you make a good experience for one, it’s word of mouth.”

Schlossberg has enjoyed the support of DECD and Connecticut Innovations, which have issued joint $250,000 low-interest loans to the companies she has recruited thus far.

Cohen said Hartford’s and Connecticut’s well-publicized fiscal problems won’t necessarily deter Israeli companies from thinking about a presence in the city or state.

“In Israel you can go and find deficits too,” he said. “I think if you invest in those companies, in those stakeholders, the economy will flourish.”

Inon Elroy, Israel’s economic minister to North America who was also in Hartford, said Israeli startups, located in a tiny but dense country that largely doesn’t have good relations with its neighbors, must look outward.

“Israeli companies need to have an international presence from almost the very first day,” he said.

Elroy accompanies groups of Israeli companies—organized based on industry type—on delegation trips every six weeks or so.

“This time it’s digital health and big data,” Elroy said of the Hartford visit. “We’re looking at doing a cyber delegation [to Connecticut] in the second part of 2018.”

DEVICES FOR ALL

The Israeli startups that visited Hartford are in the medical and health technology industry.

The companies ranged from AEYE Health, which is using artificial intelligence to read retinal scans to Dr. Ora L.T.D., which is using voice recognition to detect emotional stress.

Tech Innosphere is developing a medical device to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, while Myreleaf has a drug-free device to treat anxiety attacks.

Miri Berger was among the entrepreneurs who pitched during the Israeli delegation’s Hartford visit. She and her husband Aryeh Katz co-founded a company called 6Degrees, which is developing an armband that enables those who have lost use of their hands to use laptops, smartphones and other gadgets.

The company’s device, currently being piloted in Israel by several rehab hospitals and schools, is called Crescent.

Berger demonstrated how using subtle arm movements with the armband, which links to her laptop through Bluetooth, can replicate traditional mouse functions including left clicks, right clicks, double clicks and click-and-drag capabilities.

6Degrees’ technology has received some recognition. It earned a $100,000 award in a recent competition hosted by MassChallenge in Israel.

Currently, Berger is weighing her company’s location options. After the Hartford trip, she was headed off to MassChallenge events in New York and Boston.

Berger and her husband lived in New York for seven years as they earned degrees (Berger in industrial design and Katz in engineering), but moved back to Israel over the summer.

She said she can envision 6Degrees in Hartford.

“Any place that has the capability to help launch a startup is the place I want to be in,” she said.

Interested in learning more about international business opportunities in the Hartford region?

  • Read our interview with Rebecca Nolan, Vice President of Business Development at the MetroHartford Alliance and Jason Giulietti, Vice President of Business Recruitment at CERC:
    Introducing IDH Global
  • Read a Connecticut By the Numbers story about VentureClash:
    CT Makes Efforts to Engage Global, Innovative, Early-Stage Companies
  • Read IDH interview with two Israeli-based startups:
    SCADAfence – Israeli IoT Startup Second Place VentureClash Winner
    Nervomatrix – Israel-Based Startup Finds Its Place in CT

 

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5 Tips to Help Women in Tech Develop an Executive Presence

September 12 2017 Innovation Destination: Hartford Women In Business 0 comments Tags: business women, STEM, tech, technology, women entrepreneurs, women in business

Entrepreneur Guest Writer Safia Ali provides techniques to help give women in tech an advantage. This article originally appeared on Entrepreneur - Women in Business July 10, 2017.

Entrepreneur Guest Writer Safia Ali is Director of Product Design at StubHub.

I never planned for a professional career path. I disliked high school, and I struggled with traditional academia.

Luckily, my mother recognized my keen eye for art and design and realized that my poor academic performance was simply misguided. Disregarding tradition, and in a move considered extremely progressive in our native Pakistan, she placed me in the country’s top coed art school—and from there, the spark was lit. I graduated with honors and already had a flourishing business in my final year of college.

Today, as the head of product design for a global technology company, I’ve seen—and experienced—the challenges that women face when advancing their careers in technology, especially when it comes to establishing their reputations as leaders. Women make up a small percentage of the technology workforce, earning just 20% of all bachelor’s degrees in computer science. For the percentage that do break into the field, a tougher challenge remains: staying there. Consider the following:

Only 26% of computing jobs are held by women, with just 5% in managerial roles. Women working in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are 45% more likely than their male peers to leave the industry within the first year.

The long-term effects of these turnover rates can be discouraging. But, I believe that for all women, understanding and personifying five key skills and behaviors can help us establish an executive presence—one that commands respect among our peers, helps us manage up and keeps us motivated to continue the climb. Over the years, employing practices such as working smarter, exuding confidence, showing empathy, mastering strengths and following my gut helped me establish myself as a leader in my area, and I’ve been fortunate to watch several of my female mentors use these traits to succeed at companies like Oracle, Intuit and eBay.

After defying the odds myself, here are my favorite techniques to help give women in tech an advantage:

KNOW YOUR STRENGTHS AND MASTER THEM

With my mother’s support, I channeled my artistic energy and played into my strengths, earning a graduate degree in web design and becoming an expert in what I love most. I got my design start early; from age 7, I would arrange furniture in the house, design clothes for my dolls and give fashion advice to my mom.

If you haven’t already, find out what you love doing most and master that skill; turn your passion into a career and it won’t feel like a job. You will be far more successful at what comes naturally to you than any job or skill you pick up. Once you have identified your super power, take classes, read, and continue investing in that path on a daily basis.

WORK SMARTER

Women work far more hours than men in the modern workplace, averaging an extra 39 days per year at work.

But, in my experience, it’s not how much you do, but what you do that matters. Learn to say no. Prioritize ruthlessly, pick your battles and stay aligned with the business. Assess opportunities and identify where you can add value strategically, rather than spreading yourself too thin. Doing so will not only prevent you from burning out, but will also make you look smarter and more strategic.

HONE YOUR PEOPLE SKILLS

Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize both your emotions and the emotions of others, adapting and adjusting your actions as appropriate. When measured against 33 other important workplace skills, emotional intelligence was the “strongest predictor of an individual’s performance.”

To build your leadership skills, practice empathy and learn how to manage situations as they unfold. Listen actively, get familiar with employee pain points and put yourself in your colleagues' shoes. Network with people across all levels in the company. As a designer, I had to serve my customers; as a design leader, I have to serve my team.

LEVERAGE CLARITY AND CONFIDENCE

Strong communication is essential to your perception as a female leader. I’ve found that speaking with impact to colleagues, superiors and even strangers requires clarity and confidence. It's particularly important to maintain composure in high-stress situations, with 79% of senior executives noting that confidence and “grace under fire” are important characteristics in female leaders. What’s more, overconfidence is a consistent character trait among successful entrepreneurs.

Speak and act with purpose and ownership in the workplace. If you know your space really well you will be able to speak to it with clarity and confidence.

TRUST YOUR GUT

Too often, women become comfortable in their current positions and fail to grow into management roles or take on new challenges. I’ve found that the solution to stagnation is to trust your gut.

Take action when you feel yourself becoming static in your position. It’s easy to stay in a role once you are comfortable. Push forward as soon as you become comfortable. Every six months, take some time to reflect on your current role. Are you doing something more than last year, have you grown professionally, what are you learning, who are the people around you? Are you learning from them or are they burning you out? If you find yourself questioning your honest answers, move on. Don’t stay too long in a role or a company that doesn’t challenge you.

All women face considerable challenges when it comes to advancement in tech. Establishing executive presence is a key factor in building your perception as a leader. Use these tactics—master your strengths, work smarter and well with others, exude confidence and trust your gut—and you'll continue climbing upward toward a healthy and enduring career.

Executive presence doesn't always mean being the best in the room. Instead, strive to be the person that people want to work with. Remember that a boss has a title, a leader has people.

About the Author
Safia Ali is Director of Product Design, StubHub. Originally from Pakistan, Safia holds a master’s degree from San Francisco's Academy of Art College. Before StubHub, she led product design teams at Intuit.

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