June 8, 2011

REP. HADDAD LOOKS TO ENCOURAGE
HI-TECH INNOVATION WORK AT UNIVERSITIES

Legislation introduced by State Representative Gregory Haddad (D-Mansfield, Chaplin), Vice-chair of the Commerce Committee, designed to spur economic growth in high technology industries was approved by the House of Representatives and is expected to be signed into law by Governor Malloy.

Last year the legislature created the Pre-seed economic assistance program which provides start-up companies with critical resources to turn new technology into products that can attract private investment. This period of time in a tech company’s life is often called “the valley of death” because of the lack of capitol available to finance the development of new technology patents.

The bill (SB1173) expands the program by permitting companies started from university research to count early expenses such as patent and prototype development provided by universities in the match required when seeking Pre-seed funding from Connecticut Innovations Inc. (CII), a state economic development arm which runs the program.

“When the Pre-seed program was created, there was no intention of putting our own state university start-ups at a disadvantage, but that is what has happened. Passage of this bill will help create new companies out of the research conducted at UConn,” said Haddad. “Connecticut will benefit in two ways. New tech companies will mean more jobs for our residents and new businesses created from UConn research raises revenue for UConn through licensing and profit sharing agreements.”

For a company to receive CII funding they must be principally located in Connecticut and have secured outside investment equal to half of the state funding sought. The bill allows certain public university investments to count toward the required matching funding.

Last month Haddad announced plans for the state to fund a multi-million dollar technology park on the University of Connecticut campus. “Creating business and academic partnerships is a critical part of any successful formula for encouraging sustained economic growth,” said Haddad.