Technology Corridor Happenings

We have Dean Mun Choi from the UConn School of Engineering (SOE) to thank, along with a small team of 2nd year UConn MBA students, for the UConn Tech Park presentations shared earlier this week with the Tolland PZC.

As a member of both the UConn SOE Advisory Board and Visioning Committee for the Tech Park, I was pleased to be invited to the PZC meeting to share my personal insights, as well as Dean Choi’s presentation outlining the Tech Park’s role and impact regionally.

The report from the Visioning Committee, a committee comprised of key members of private industry, DECD and the University leadership, agreed that “the emphasis of the first Tech Park building at UConn will be to broadly serve the 8,000 companies (located within a 120-mile radius of Storrs, CT) that are closely aligned with the three core competencies of advanced  product development, biomedical engineering and advanced information systems.  

While their sizes, markets and technologies vary widely, there is a unifying theme of the central role that advanced materials and manufacturing will play in their future viability and growth. The principal objectives of the Connecticut Collaboratory for Materials and Manufacturing (C2M2) are to provide Connecticut companies with access to discovery, product development and design, and manufacturing.”

The C2M2 building, with an anticipated cost of $125MM, will include an additional $40MM in new specialized equipment and recurring costs of $2.5MM for 20 new Eminent Faculty. Additional and ongoing funding is anticipated through the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Centers, NSF Science & Technology Centers, NSF Emerging Frontiers in Research Innovation and similar programs within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Energy (DOE) forming symbiotic relationships between the universities, small enterprises and large businesses devoted to stimulating entrepreneurship and innovation. 

This framework is expected to; bolster Advanced Manufacturing, Materials & Cyber Physical Systems in the region; build partnerships to accelerate innovation; and reinvigorate new business startups and economic development. In addition, the framework is intended to create specific programs with input from industry leaders and entrepreneurs: with a unique focus for the UConn Tech Park; with sustainable models of collaboration and pathways to market and commercialization.

Further discussion about the Tech Park’s probable regional impact can be found in the following by Jayme Kunze: and minutes from the January 9th Tolland PZC meeting.