Hartford Business Journal

27 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | DECEMBER 13, 2021 FOCUS: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT If we are going to be the insurance capital, the world needs to recognize that, and to do that we need to create these partnerships with other countries that are strong in insurance, like the United Kingdom and Germany. In general, our economic development plan is to very aggressively go after the markets we are strong in: insurance, financial services, aerospace supply chain companies. Q: Critics say the cost of doing business in Connecticut is an impediment to growth. What's your view on that? We did an effective tax rate study last year with accounting and consulting firm CohnReznick to compare the cost of doing business in Hartford to who we compete against in different sectors. We are expanding that analysis because it was so eye opening. We are told all the time our taxes are too high. Look, if we can cut taxes I'm all for it. But when it comes to competing for new business we don't have to compete against low-cost locations because we don't really compete with them. When we compete for an insurance company to expand or relocate, they aren't looking at Fort Wayne, Indiana. I don't have to be cost competitive with Fort Wayne. I need to be cost competitive with New York, Boston and other places where that company would consider locating. And we are competitive. We are a cheaper option than those bigger cities. Q: Is the goal to bring more big insurance carriers to Greater Hartford or insurance technology (insurtech) companies? It's all of the above. We have to help our incubator programs identify companies and bring them here and make them feel welcome here. We also want to recruit the captive insurance industry. Connecticut continues to rank high for that industry to be located here. We are very active in terms of putting Connecticut and Hartford in front of those types of companies by going to their conferences and meeting with their leaders. As an economic development driver for Hartford, insurance has to be more than just our big businesses. The challenge Hartford has had in the past is we haven't generated our own disrupters. The disruption to the insurance industry has happened outside of Hartford and then we are left trying to catch up. That's why these insurance incubators and insurtech companies are so important for Hartford because it's going to create the disrupters right here, so the insurance companies are paying attention to them and partnering with them so they get to own or manage the disruption to their industry. Q: Pre-pandemic there was a major push for innovation and startups downtown, particularly around insurtech and medtech. A lot of that activity came to a halt during the pandemic. Will that activity come back and do you think insurtech is a realistic thing Hartford can be known for? I think Hartford can absolutely be known for insurtech. When we think about our companies and what they need and where they are going, it doesn't matter if it's manufacturing, health care or insurance, having a workforce that is tech savvy is key. When you look at the statistics, Hartford is now ranked in the top 25 in the country for new tech jobs. We are ranked in the top 15 for year-over-year growth in tech jobs, according to data from Burning Glass & CompTIA. The numbers pan out that we are becoming a tech hub. The accelerators, in my mind, are absolutely vital. The economic resiliency of our community depends on our ability to not only retain our legacy companies but to grow new ones. The next Fortune 500 company in the Hartford region I hope will be a homegrown company. As we start to invest in some of these startups a lot of them will fail. That's OK. We need those accelerators to continue to churn out Julio Concepcion (right) is the executive director of the Hartford Chamber of Commerce, which was re-established under MetroHartford Alliance CEO David Griggs. those new companies in hopes that for every 10 that get created, two or three actually stick. Q: Are there other industries that offer growth potential for the region? Health care is a huge opportunity for us. When you look at national rankings, Connecticut is always in the top for health care in the country. When we are trying to attract talent, schools and health care are always top priorities, and that's what we have here. We find ourselves at an interesting crossroads where we have big insurance companies and great healthcare providers all within a relatively small region. We are looking at that convergence and trying to exploit that for the common good. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Rank City Tech Jobs postings 3Q 2021 Tech Jobs postings 3Q 2020 % increase 1 Dallas 49,059 31,979 53.40% 2 Chicago 35,278 23,160 0.52% 3 Atlanta 30,444 21,111 44.20% 4 Boston 28,393 18,821 50.90% 5 Seattle 24,710 16,005 54.40% 6 Austin 19,355 13,433 44.10% 7 Detroit 16,263 9,351 73.90% 8 Miami 12,808 7,425 72.40% 9 Tampa-St. Petersburg 11,345 7,775 45.90% 10 Portland 8,699 5,657 53.80% 11 Nashville 7,552 5,236 44.20% 12 Kansas City 7,256 4,686 54.80% 13 Indianapolis 6,975 4,783 45.80% 14 Salt Lake City 6,486 3,368 95.60% 15 Hartford 5,896 4,019 46.70% Hartford sees growth in tech job postings Greater Hartford in recent years has tried to build up its tech workforce, and has seen some wins with large, global IT companies like Infosys, HCL Technologies and Galax. solutions establishing presences in the Capital City. New data show that Greater Hartford has seen an increase in the past year in tech job postings. The data below compares metro Hartford tech job postings to other major regions. Source: Burning Glass & CompTIA

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