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Education Research & Technology INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT › 22 Doing Business in Connecticut | 2017 and WiFi devices, and craing products and services from it," Manzione said. "ese are skills we didn't have 15 or 20 years ago. It's a new world order, and we need to stay connected to these companies." Manzione estimates that between 60 and 70 percent of the University of Hartford's students stay in Connecticut after graduation. ere's another important step colleges and universities can take to remain relevant in a demanding, fast-moving job market. ey can invest in initiatives that help ensure that student innovations are prepared to suc- ceed in the market, said Nicole Wagner, CEO of Lambda Vision Inc., a Farmington-based biotech start-up launched out of the Univer- sity of Connecticut in 2009. Business assistance Lambda Vision has developed a protein- based retinal prosthetic for patients diag- nosed with macular degeneration or retinal pigmentosa. Without funding and support from UConn and several other state pro- grams, Lambda Vision's efforts could still be pie in the sky. Lambda Vision has participated in UConn-based programs designed to help start-ups formulate business plans and show the wider market that their innovations are worth pursuing. "As a scientist, that's challenging — patents, accounting," Wagner said. "UConn has put a lot of effort into commercializa- tion, finding student interns, developing prototypes, how to write your plan, how to structure your plan, and we've leveraged a lot of that. We've been put in touch with accountants, lawyers, investors. We have access to faculty, equipment, students. We have access to people who want to work for a small business, people who want to work for a start-up, and they get experience. It's something UConn has spent a lot of time on. How do we create jobs? How do we train scientists to take these great ideas they have and make it something that's not just a science project? How do we take this great idea and bring it to fruition and commer- cialization?" While colleges and universities may be playing a more active role in ensuring that their students are prepared and supported as they try to develop the next radical technol- ogy innovation, they've also recognized that the technology advances driving cutting-edge start-ups like Lambda Vision are also trans- forming Connecticut's older industries. And they've begun retooling their programs to help students succeed in today's complex, demanding manufacturing sector. For Joe DeFeo, program director at Thienly Nguyen, a student at the University of Hartford, demonstrates how to use a virtual reality headset and controllers. Nguyen is an intern at Hartford Hospital's Center for Education, Simulation and Innovation (CESI), a training facility that is developing its first virtual reality training application. > Continued from page 21 PHOTO/UNIVERSITY OF HARTFORD ' We emphasize strategic partnerships to keep us plugged into the needs of an industry. ' — Lou Manzione, director of coLLaborative research and econoMic deveLopMent, university of hartford Lou Manzione