NewHavenBIZ

Historically a hub of innovation, New Haven looks to nurture an entrepreneurial ecosystem for the 21st century 2 1 s t C E N T U R Y Eli's Coming? I n the late 18th century, Yale College graduate and cotton gin inventor Eli Whitney built a manufacturing village near New Haven for workers in his firearms factory, and revolutionized arms production with the use of interchangeable parts. at innova- tion help to chart the course for the growth of America's economy and By Karen Singer its 19th-century transformation from an agricultural to industrial foundation. More than two centuries later, New Haven continues to spawn innovators, in many cases midwifed and nurtured by local initiatives to create spaces and programs to foster their creativity. ere are countless examples. "We have become one of the world's centers for quantum computing," says Jon Soderstrom, managing director of Yale's Office of Cooperative Research (OCR), which facilitates the translation of faculty research into products and services. At a January 24, 2019 rib- bon-cutting ceremony at Science Park, newly sworn-in Gov. Ned Lamont was on hand to celebrate the opening of the new headquar- ters for Quantum Circuits Inc., a startup founded by Rob Schoe- lkopf, Luigi Frunzio and Michel Devoret of Yale's Department of Applied Physics, which helped to pioneer the field of quantum computing. eir goal is to develop, manufacture and sell the world's first practical quantum computer. Two New Haven–based biophar- maceutical companies, BioHaven Pharmaceuticals and Arvinas, have generated major news for the city in the last two years, by going public and developing drugs now in clinical trials. "e level of venture-capital interest in New Haven, and Yale startups in particular, has grown enormously due to successes like these," explains Soderstrom. "Historically, New Haven has been a place driven by invention and manufacturing, from carriages to clocks to rifles," says Michael Harris, director of the Elm City Eli Whitney 8 n e w h a v e n B I Z | J u l y / A u g u s t 2 0 1 9 | n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m Cushioning the blow: New Haven's Holberton School has pioneered a new business model for training the next generation of software engineers.

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