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22 Doing Business in Connecticut | 2014 SPONSORED REPORT UConn: Connecticut's Innovation Pipeline F rom the earliest days of the Industrial Revolution, innovations in Connecticut have transformed our world. From the steamboat, helicopter and elevator to anesthesia, FM radio and nuclear submarines, America got much of its spark from the ideas of Connecticut. Now, the state is leveraging its flagship research university to create a 21st-century innovation ecosystem to support vital industries and budding entrepreneurs. "Connecticut's strengths are numerous — from its prime location between New York and Boston, to the abundance of stellar higher education institutions in our midst, to the solid foundation of industry and entrepreneurship already in place here," says UConn's president, Susan Herbst. Appointed in December 2010, Herbst, along with state legislators, have set out to put UConn in the driver's seat of an economic renaissance. "Imagine a Connecticut that has taken full advantages of its strengths and built upon them. A Connecticut that has reinvented itself as home to a burgeoning bio-tech industry that draws even greater numbers of highly skilled, educated workers and their families here to live and work. A Connecticut that brings together emerging start-up businesses with top researchers," suggests Herbst. "Picture an economy that has become a destination for cutting-edge research and the premier site for specialized fields in science and technology. Perhaps envision our own kind of East Coast Silicon Valley — a hub of novel scientific expertise and flourishing industry with renowned experts working nationwide." Herbst's vibrant economic picture might not be too far off, given the groundbreaking initiatives university and state leaders have recently unveiled in rapid progression. For starters, UConn has embarked on an Eminent Faculty hiring program, described as one of the most ambitious plans of its type in U.S. higher education, set to significantly expand the number of faculty researchers collaborating with industry partners in research and development initiatives. "UConn is pursuing this aggressive strategy to transform our institution by generating more research that has national and international impact; increasing our research productivity; building great graduate programs; providing excellent teaching and service to our undergraduate students; and expanding course offerings," says Herbst. The university is also building state- of-the-art facilities and new partnerships with businesses to help them maintain their competitive edge in the marketplace. Those efforts include three critical initiatives: Bioscience Connecticut, Next Generation Connecticut and the UConn Technology Park. Bioscience Connecticut Launched in 2011, Bioscience Connecticut is an $864-million, public- private investment designed to reinvent Connecticut's economy by aligning UConn's research strengths in biotechnology with the nation's rapidly expanding bioscience and personalized medicine industry. The initiative expands biomedical research, doubles business incubator space, and adds 100 new scientists at UConn Health, the university's integrated academic medical and research center in Farmington. "This sends a clear message and plants a very firm flag in terms of UConn, under the leadership of President Susan Herbst, has ramped up industry collabora- tions attracting industry titans like GE, Pratt & Whitney, United Technologies, Jackson Labs and Fraunhofer USA that promise to transform industries, spark breakthrough innovations and create jobs across the state. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo) UConn Faculty researcher Leslie Loew, Ph.D. works in his laboratory with graduate students on a nanofabrication device funded through a NIH National Technology Centers for Net- works and Pathways grant.