State Once Again to be Center Stage for Meetings On Funding and Commercializing Technology Start-Ups
Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced that the 2010 National Small Business Innovation Research Conference will be held in Connecticut, the second time in three years that the national conference on encouraging technology transfer and boosting start-up technology firms will be held in Connecticut's capital city.
Connecticut was chosen to host the national conference April 21-23, 2010, largely because of the success of the 2008 event held last November at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford. The nominating committee told Connecticut's Office for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) that they were confident Hartford would once again provide the "catalyst for collaboration" necessary to forge successful business partnerships.
"We are naturally very proud that the nominating committee was unanimous in its decision to award Connecticut this honor," Governor Rell said. "By leveraging the billions of dollars available through the federal SBIR program and by partnering with industry, research institutions and universities, small businesses can turn their technologies into global, market-driven products. Meetings like the national conference offer outstanding opportunities for companies to make connections and it makes perfect sense for Connecticut to be at center of it all."
Attendance at the 2008 conference was robust, with about 900 visitors from 46 states and several different countries. All 11 federal SBIR agencies attended and spoke individually to companies and presented funding strategies at workshops.
"The conference opened up new business opportunities we might not have been exposed to had we not attended," said Andy Timmerman, President of Fairfield Crystal in New Milford. We've already received contracts from the Army and other proprietary customers based on relationships we made at the national conference. In addition, it strengthened our relationships with our current customers. Overall, it was a very successful event for us."
Many industry leaders attended, eager to advance innovation through collaboration. Universities and national laboratories that are focused on technology transfer also came in significant numbers.
"Bringing the national conference back to Connecticut will help stimulate our economy and keep good companies here in the state," said Deb Santy, Director of Connecticut's SBIR. "The most effective way for small innovative businesses to develop and commercialize their technologies is through partnerships - small businesses just cannot do this alone. Our team will work very hard over the next 10 months to ensure that a world-class conference program is developed, including significant opportunities to meet with potential collaborators and investors."
