Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • April 29, 2019 • Hartford Business Journal 5 PDS has been meeting the needs of the construction industry since 1965. Our dedicated team of design and construction professionals welcomes the challenge of serving its past and future customers on their most demanding projects. O'Neill's Chevrolet and Buick, Inc. | Avon, Connecticut This project is a renovated car dealership in Avon, CT which includes a showroom, offi ces, and a service department for approximately 15 vehicles for repairing. Specifi c construction elements included mechanical, electrical, plumbing, concrete, drywall, painting, landscaping and fi nish carpentry. Total Project Size: 12,000 SF 107 Old Windsor Road, Bloomfi eld, CT 06002 (860) 242-8586 | Fax (860) 242-8587 www.pdsec.com DESIGN BUILDERS • GENERAL CONTRACTORS • CONSTRUCTION MANAGERS SPOTLIGHT ON: C PDS ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION, INC. THINK • PLAN • BUILD Mutual success: a better approach to business banking. BUSINESS BANKING • COMMERCIAL LOANS TREASURY MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS Our products, services and team approach were designed with your growing needs in mind. Visit chelseagroton.com/growthatbusiness or call 860-448-4203 to learn how we can grow that business of yours together. Hartford HealthCare, Trinity, UConn to launch Hartford medtech accelerator By Matt Pilon mpilon@hartfordbusiness.com H artford HealthCare, Trinity College and the UConn School of Business announced the launch a medical technology and digi- tal health accelerator, which will join insurance and manufacturing startup programs that have debuted in the Capital City in recent years. The partners have chosen London- based Startupbootcamp to operate the new accelerator, which is designed to attract promising startups to the city, where experts will help them develop and implement their strategy, hoping they might find a customer base here and stick around for future growth. Startupbootcamp is the same enti- ty operating the Hartford InsurTech Hub accelerator downtown. Thus far, the state-funded entrepre- neurial ecosystem, CTNext, has allo- cated about $942,000 to develop the ac- celerator. The funding comes from the Innovation Places program, which was created by the legislature in 2016. The MedTech Accelerator's overseers are set to ask CTNext for a third year of In- novation Places funding in June. The 12-week accelerator program aims to attract to Hartford 10 digital health and medtech startups an- nually, similar to its insurance and manufacturing counterparts. The accelerator will be housed in Trinity College's space on the third floor of One Constitution Plaza, just above the Stanley+Techstars Additive Manufacturing Accelerator, which launched last year. Trinity College President Joanne Berger-Sweeney said her school is donating the approximately 4,000-square-foot space to the MedTech Accelerator for the first two years and is also pitching in $75,000. Meanwhile, Hartford HealthCare is contributing $500,000. "Perhaps the biggest challenge the state of Connecticut faces going forward is the need for a thriving economy and an accelerated econom- ic-development engine, particularly in the Capital City and Hartford region," said Hartford HealthCare CEO Elliot Joseph. "I certainly believe that the strength in health care, across Con- necticut and here in Hartford, is a tremendous opportunity for us." He said Hartford HealthCare might end up investing in accelera- tor startups it finds promising. Berger-Sweeney said she hopes the accelerator will be a way for students at the traditionally liberal-arts college she leads to link up with "jobs of the future." Trinity has already been probing new roles for its students in the technology space, through a recent partnership with Infosys — a training program that is also housed at Constitution Plaza. There is renovation work to be done at Constitution Plaza, but the partners are hoping the work will be completed later this year, in time to get the inaugural accelerator class into the space this fall. A scaled-down plan The MedTech Accelerator has been envisioned for years, but the latest plan represents a scaled-back version of what was previously planned. In addition to the accelerator, prior plans called for a major redevelop- ment of President's Corner, a portion of Washington and Jefferson streets owned by Hartford Hospital. A former Trinity College trustee named David Wagner pledged to build a 70,000-square-foot office building on those properties to house three of his medical technology startups, but the state-subsidized plan fizzled after he failed to meet project milestones and the Hartford Business Journal uncovered a litany of federal lawsuits against him. (From left) Trinity College President Joanne Berger-Sweeney; Hartford HealthCare CEO Elliott Joseph; Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin; Startupbootcamp's Alex Farcet. PHOTO | MATT PILON

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