2015 | Doing Business in Connecticut 101
Quick Links
Angel Investor
Tax Credit Program
www.ctinnovations.com/
angels
Business Support
www.ctinnovations.com/
entrepreneurs
Small Business
Innovation Team
www.ctinnovations.com/sbi
CTNext
www.ctnext.com
Connecticut Bioscience
Innovation Fund
www.bioinnovationct.com
IRBs and Specialty Finance
www.ctinnovations.com/irb
SPONSORED PROFILE
is comprised of two funds,
is to help scientists and
entrepreneurs speed their
health care innovations
toward commercialization.
Through the funds—the
$200 million Connecticut
Bioscience Innovation
Fund and the Regenerative
Medicine Research Fund,
which has allocated nearly
$100 million toward stem
cell research to date—we
offer a select group of the
world's most innovative sci-
entists and entrepreneurs
the financial and strategic
support they need to move
their idea from lab to
life. Filling the gap dur-
ing the critical "Valley of
Death," the early stages
where capital is so hard to
come by, these funds not
only help keep companies
and innovations here in
our state, but will help to
improve human health
worldwide.
Small Business
Innovation
CI's SBI group supports
innovation, promotes col-
laboration and fosters an
entrepreneurial environ-
ment in Connecticut. One
of the primary ways this
group assists Connecticut
companies is by helping
them obtain a share of
the billions of dollars the
federal government has
earmarked for small busi-
ness research through the
federal Small Business Inno-
vation and Research (SBIR)
program. Specifically, we
offer grant and strategic
support at three different
phases as a business ad-
vances through the federal
program. Last year, CI's SBIR
program awarded $970,000
in grants to 15 companies,
leveraging approximately
$24 million from the fed-
eral government.
This group also devel-
oped Technology Talent
Bridge, a grant program for
companies looking to hire
interns. The popular pro-
gram, which offers compa-
nies up to $25,000 to offset
the cost of hiring an intern,
has been held up as a best
practice in other states.
CTNext
Created as an initiative
of Governor Dannel P.
Malloy, CTNext is Con-
necticut's innovation
ecosystem, a public-private
partnership and network
of mentors, coaches,
entrepreneurs and ser-
vice providers that equips
startups and entrepreneurs
with resources, guidance
and networks to acceler-
ate their growth. The
ecosystem seeks to build
a more robust community
of entrepreneurs, and to
provide access to talent,
space, industry expertise,
services, skill development,
capital, and more. To date,
more than 600 young
companies have received
help. The network's signa-
ture event, the Entrepre-
neur Innovation Awards,
or EIAs, a Shark Tank-style
pitching competition held
four times a year through-
out the state, has awarded
more than $216,000 in
grants to help these start-
ups further their business.
For more information
about Connecticut
Innovations, you can
reach CI by calling
888-337-5454
or by visiting
www.ctinnovations.com.
ZetrOZ, based in
Trumbull, has invented
"sam," the first and only
FDA-approved wearable
device to use ultrasound
therapy to control pain
for up to four hours.
Photo credit: ZetrOZ LLC
