Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com May 30, 2016 • Hartford Business Journal 21 medical-devices technology promoter Hart- ford.Health.Works is housed; and in downtown Hartford, anchored by the former Travelers education building in Constitution Plaza that Trinity owns and is redeveloping not far from UConn's pending new downtown campus. "This is why we believe GE moved to Bos- ton,'' Fonfara said. "It's not about our tax pol- icy or our thought that Connecticut wanted them here or not. [GE CEO] Jeff Immelt wants to be in an environment that feels like what he wants his company to feel like.'' While much of the public testimony on the measure was favorable, there were some con- cerns raised. Suzanne Bates, policy director of the conservative Yankee Institute, argued innovation places "picks winners and losers among Connecticut's municipalities. Our whole state should be open to innovation." Sen. Minority Leader Len Fasano (R-North Haven) said that while he voted against the implementer bill, he backed the business- support elements. However, Fasano said the measure fails to address the lack of technical support for urban small businesses, many of which don't know how to prepare a business plan. Longer term, Fasano said, the state must find ways to cut the cost to companies and entrepreneurs of doing business and meeting state regulations, "or you could end up shut- ting these businesses down.'' 'Learn about this' Birthing the legislation, Fonfara said, required that he go back and literally start from the beginning. He spent more than a few weekends re-researching and re-discovering everything he thought he knew about tax policy and the economy, including Googling such terms as, "entrepreneur in residence''; "coworking spaces''; and "incubators." With the aid of staff legislative policy ana- lyst Dave Steuber, Fonfara explored the cor- relation of tax policy and economic growth in neighboring Massachusetts and New York. New York, for instance, ranks among high- tax states, yet is also near the top in econom- ic growth. He sought to understand why. He called on a tax-policy expert, he said, who helped him understand that, while tax policy is too important to be ignored, its economic impact is often overstated. For instance, California's tax and regulatory policies are among the nation's most reviled, Fonfara said the expert told him, yet it is home to one of the world's most thriving and influential technology clusters, Silicon Valley. "That started me saying, 'I've got to learn about this','' Fonfara said. CT's vs. Mass.' prosperity Fonfara, who also is Senate deputy presi- dent pro tem, admitted his quest was prompted partly after being worn down by the constant wrangling inside and outside the Capitol over the state's chronic budget deficits and declining tax revenues, and decided the only way the state would reverse course is by growing the economy. He looked to places like Boston and Mas- sachusetts as well as Pittsburgh, Pa., best known as a Rust Belt former "steel town," which has emerged as a hub of innovation and startups centered on technology and tal- ent flowing from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie-Mellon University. "And yet we're both old industrial states, strong labor states," he said of Connecticut and Massachusetts. "Strong in terms of the environ- ment, all the things that raise the cost of living in this state, but yet they seem to be so much stron- ger than we are. So, that began the journey." Amid Fonfara's deliberations and research, Fairfield's GE publicly declared its choice of Bos- ton for its new corporate headquarters, in part because of the critical mass of young talent being developed at nearby colleges and universities. GE's reasoning, Fonfara said, cemented for him that the best tack in elevating Connecticut's own innovation infrastructure lay with CTNext. "For me,'' Fonfara said, "it's really about saying to young people, 'You don't need to go to Boston. You don't need to go to California' to work in an exciting environment." n Here's a breakdown of other economic- development initiatives in SB 502: • Connecticut Innovations must con- sider relocating its Rocky Hill head- quarters to an innovation place, or establish one or more satellite offices in those places. • CI is allowed to invest its unrestrict- ed funds in private equity funds and provide financial assistance from the Connecticut Bioscience Innova- tion Fund in the form of investments in PE funds, whether in state or not. But the PE funds must match 100 percent or more of the investment. • Businesses located in an innovation place may receive priority from the state Department of Economic and Commu- nity Development (DECD) in awarding Small Business Express loans. • The recently expired angel-investor tax credit will be extended to July 2019. • DECD may forgive a portion of loans awarded to tech businesses that men- tor other businesses through CTNext's network of young companies. • Requires DECD to create a Technology Talent Advisory Committee to study the number of software developers and other tech employees in the state and identify areas where there are shortag- es of qualified workers. The committee would then design a pilot program to recruit developers and train state resi- dents over the next 10 years. • CTNext would build and promote a crowdfunding website to advertise Connecticut startups that have been approved by CI to receive angel invest- ments and that are seeking capital. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Catherine Smith shown at reSET's Business Factory in Hartford observing a robot developed by Movia Robotics. P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D Honor your Chief Financial Officer for their outstanding performance and commitment. The CFO of an organization is a vital and often overlooked position in creating business success. The CFO of the Year Luncheon honors these financial professionals for their commitment to excellence and outstanding performance. In addition to an awards event, winners will be recognized in a special issue of the Hartford Business Journal. Finalists will be recognized at an AWARDS EVENT on: September 8, 2016 at FARMINGTON GARDENS in Farmington, and in a SPECIAL ISSUE of the HARTFORD BUSINESS JOURNAL publishing September 12, 2016. Presented By: Event Sponsors: Event Partners: #HBJCFO

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