October 13, 2011
FORMER STORRS FIRM BENEFITS FROM NEW LEGISLATION
by Heather Lake, Chronicle Staff Writer
STORRS/ FARMINGTON — With rebooting the state’s economy a top priority, state legislators know that sometimes you have to give a little before you can get something back.
State Rep. Gregory Haddad, D-Mansfield, introduced changes in state legislation designed to incite high-tech economic development. The legislation became law in July and Haddad announced recently it’s already working for state-based startups.
A new medical device company, originally founded in Storrs, would receive $40,000 in state financing to help move a new product closer to the market.
“The idea of this legislation is to help develop and encourage new high-tech startup companies created from research conducted at UConn, and I’m glad to see it is already paying dividends,” Haddad said.
One business with local roots has done just that.
Lambda Vision Inc. of Farmington is developing a protein-based retinal implant intended to restore sight to patients blinded by degeneration in the outer retina.
It is exactly the kind of innovation the state is looking for to help make its financial comeback.
“This is all about encouraging more working partnerships between business and the university, which is important for sustaining future economic growth in the region,” said Haddad.
UConn’s Research and Development Corp. created Lambda Vision and UConn professor Robert Birge — working with students — developed the core technology for the implant in 2009.
The $40,000 will be used to embark on “ proof-of-concept” studies, which are conducted to demonstrate the clinical efficacy of a product.
Haddad’s bill, SB 1173, expanded the state’s “ pre- seed” economic assistance program by permitting companies started from university research to count early expenses — such as patent and prototype development — as the outside match required in seeking state funds from Connecticut Innovations (CI).
Connecticut Innovations is a high-tech investment firm that runs the state’s economic assistance program. Lambda was started from money from UConn’s Prototype Fund.
“Without the successful legislation introduced by Rep. Haddad amending the CI Preseed Program, the investment by CI would not have been possible,” according to Rita Zangari, director of the UConn Technology Incubation Program, which is home to a number of startups.
UConn’s facilities are appealing to startup enterprises because they have access to much of the universities resources.
In turn, they often give back to the campus community either by hiring students or by other means of contribution related to their work.
Loans of up to $150,000 are available to state-based startups and early-stage technology companies that can be applied to a wide range of work-related expenses from product development to hiring employees.