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30 Hartford Business Journal • November 26, 2012 www.HartfordBusiness.com Celebrating 20 Years of Business News TECHNOLOGY 20 Years of Section Sponsored By By John A. Lahtinen Special to the Hartford Business Journal T en years ago, the Hartford Business Journal's 10th Anniversary issue reflected on the tremendous prog- ress the state had made since the early 90's in the bioscience and technology fields. The decade from 2002 to today has shown the state's continuing commitment to being a technology player is paying off. And with the bioscience center rising in Farmington, the next decade may well show even greater success. A decade ago, Connecticut's tech produc- tivity, in particular, had been transformed from almost non-existent to one of the fast- est growing sectors in the country at the time, ranking sixth best in the nation with a nearly a 60 percent increase. However, even with productivity on the rise, the news was not all good. New tech companies were still not setting up shop in the state in large numbers. In fact, at that time, Connecticut rated just 47th in the nation for its share of technology establishments. The bioscience picture was much easier to sum up — growth, growth and more growth. The state's bioscience cluster — so dubbed by then Gov. John Rowland — was experiencing a growth rate of about 140 percent at the time and covered an array of scientific research, from cutting-edge phar- macogenomics development taking place at Genaissance Pharmaceuticals to cloning cows up at UConn, the first animals cloned from an adult farm animal in the U.S. In 2002, the nonprofit Connecticut United for Research Excellence (CURE), designated by the state as an organizational center of the cluster, reported that R&D investments in the cluster had increased from $1.5 billion in 1995 to $3.6 billion in 2001. Jobs in the sector more than tripled from 5,000 to more than 16,000. In addition, the number of biotech firms in the state jumped from fewer than 10 to more than 30 between 1995 and 2001. And the climb has continued. Bioscience, especially in the last five years, has gotten renewed support, particu- larly from state government. And the state's key research universities — Yale and UConn — have stepped up their games as major centers of technology innovation, particu- larly in bioscience. The game changer came with Gov. Dan- nel P. Malloy's ambi- tious $864 million "Bioscience Connecti- cut" initiative, which he proposed in 2011 and was subsequently approved by state lawmakers. The far-reaching plan is an attempt to lure top doctors, researchers and sci- entists to Connecticut by building state-of-the art research facili- ties. The investments are mostly being made in Farmington and include the renovation of the UConn Health Center›s existing research facilities, the creation of an additional 28,000 square feet of incubator space, renovations to John Dempsey Hospital, and the construc- tion of a new patient tower and ambulatory care center. Funds will also go to expand the UConn Medical School. That initiative, which has a construction completion date of 2016, already helped lure to Farmington Jackson Laboratory, a Maine- based research firm that focuses on genom- ics research, or the study of personalized medicine. It's a specialized field of medicine that involves gaining a better understanding of human genome sequences for various dis- eases like cancer, and tailoring treatments and medications to each person›s unique genetic code. Construction on Jackson Laboratory's new 250,000 square foot Farmington research lab, show below, is scheduled to begin early next year. Bioscience, especially in the last five years, has gotten renewed support, particularly from state government. Bioscience, tech sectors continue to make big strides Don Schoeny, president and CEO of Protedyne, says he is confident 2004 will be the 'best year ever' for the biotech company. Continued on page 32