Alexion Latest BioScience Headliner in CT; Industry Depth Grows

The impending arrival of Jackson Labs in Farmington, the year’s blockbuster deal in Connecticut’s efforts to build its economic base in the biotech industry into national leadership, is far from the only game in town.  Connecticut is already home to 800 biomedical companies, according to data from D&B Sale & Marketing Solutions (2011) as reported in the Connecticut Economic Review, produced by Northeast Utilities.  Connecticut’s 10 largest biomedical companies (alphabetically):

• Alexion Pharmaceuticals
• Boehringer Ingelheim
• Bristol-Meyers Squibb
• Clinical Laboratory Partners
• Dianon Systems
• Hamilton Sunstrand
• Pfizer
• Pharmaceutical Research Associates
• United States Surgical
• Zygo

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced this week that it will open a new headquarters in New Haven, adding hundreds of jobs to the region with the help of state financial backing.

Under the deal, Alexion will move and consolidate more than 350 workers that are currently spread over several buildings in Cheshire, to a new 400,000-square-foot facility with office, laboratory and research and development space. Alexion will be the anchor tenant in a $100 million facility that will be a centerpiece of New Haven's downtown redevelopment efforts known as Downtown Crossing.  The company returns to New Haven, where it began in a small office in the city's Science Park.

Seeking Social Entrepreneurs Demonstrating It Can Be Done

Are you a Connecticut entrepreneur interested in starting your own business that will improve the community, create jobs, and generate profit with a purpose? If this sounds like you, it may be worthwhile considering an entry for the reSET 2012 Social Entrepreneur Award.  The award recognizes aspiring individuals with viable, sustainable business concepts for social enterprise that will improve the community, create jobs, and demonstrate the power of harnessing profit to purpose. The Grand Prize Winner and finalists will receive a cash start-up award and other benefits to help take their idea to the next level.  Application Deadline is July 1, 2012; the Juror Panel includes reSET Board Members and Advisors.  Award recipients and Grand Prize Winner will be announced at an October 10, 2012 gala.

reSET was formed in Connecticut in 2009, when a group of concerned citizens, educators, and leaders from business and nonprofit organizations got together  to talk about the growing Social Enterprise movement and our desire to see it catch on in a big way throughout Connecticut.   Social Enterprise is a new business model that puts people and purpose before profit and uses the free market to create positive social change.  Becoming a Social Entrepreneur means moving from the profit paradigm to a more satisfying and sustainable way of doing business, and one with a lasting positive legacy.

CT Ranks #8 in USA in Patents

Connecticut is known as the land of Yankee Ingenuity, with good reason, but if the state is to retain its historic preeminence, it will need to step up its game.  The state ranks #8 in patents per 100,000 workers, according to data compiled by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2010).  The top ten:  Vermont, California, Washington, Idaho, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, Connecticut, New Hampshire and New Jersey.  Connecticut’s 131.3 patents per 100,000 workers is well above the US average of 93.3 patents. Hoping to spur more collaboration locally, The Business Council of Fairfield County has launched a new Center for Growth Resources, in collaboration with the Connecticut Technology Council, Connecticut Innovations, and the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, among other entities, the Fairfield County Business Journal has reported.  Connecticut is also actively promoting initiatives such as the Stamford Innovation Center and Startup Connecticut, among others.

Another $9.8 Million for Stem Cell Research in CT; Yale Leads

Governor Dannel P. Malloy has announced the awards of $9.8 million in stem cell research funds to 19 Connecticut–based researchers. The awards were made by the State of Connecticut Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee at its grant review meeting in Farmington. Thirteen of the 19 grants will be headed to Yale researchers, reflecting the institution’s cutting-edge work through the Yale Stem Cell Center.  Three grants will be awarded to researchers at the UConn Health Center, two to research work at UConn Storrs campus, and one grant being awarded is a joint initiative between research scientists at the UConn Health Center and Wesleyan University in Middletown.  UConn Health Center’s Stem Cell Institute is located in Farmington.

“Connecticut’s continued support of stem cell research has allowed for exciting and innovative research to take place right here in our state,” said Governor Malloy. Echoing the state’s new tourism and business development slogan, Malloy added: “The research projects funded by these grants allow scientists to do revolutionary work that puts Connecticut at the forefront of bioscience industry.”

Eighty-eight stem cell funding applications were accepted for consideration in January 2012 – nine more than a year ago. The Connecticut Stem Cell Research Peer Review Committee reviewed these applications in accordance with National Institutes of Health guidelines and provided to the Advisory Committee its recommendations with respect to the scientific merits of each application.

A year ago, Gov. Malloy announced the award of $9.8 million in stem cell research funds to twenty Connecticut–based researchers, selected from 79 stem cell funding applications that year.

In 2010, former Governor M. Jodi Rell announced $9.8 million in state grants to support nearly two dozen stem cell research projects by scientists at the University of Connecticut and at Yale.  The grants were part of the $100 million Stem Cell Research Fund, which was created by legislation that Rell signed into law in 2005 making Connecticut the third state in the nation to offer public funding for human stem cell research. The program was created to support the growing bioscience industry and the jobs it creates in Connecticut.

“The projects funded by these grants will advance the clinical use of stem cells to treat some of the most debilitating diseases and injuries,” said Department of Public Health Commissioner and Advisory Committee Chairperson Dr. Jewel Mullen of the 2012 grants. “The research conducted as a result of these grants brings hope to people coping with difficult health conditions.”

How Does Your Historic Garden Grow? 14 CT Sites Answer

Next Sunday, June 24 is the 9th Annual Connecticut Historic Gardens Day – a perfect day to visit one or several of 14 historic gardens across Connecticut. Each site offers special activities emphasizing their site and its unique history.  Connecticut residents (and visitors from beyond the state’s borders) are urged to visit a site or two in their immediate area, or make a day of it and head off to explore another part of the state.   The 14 historic sites are throughout the state, from Wilton to Old Lyme, Bethlehem to Woodstock. Connecticut's Historic Gardens raises awareness of distinctive historic sites and gardens within Connecticut's borders. By pooling funding, design, marketing and volunteer resources, the organization increases programming opportunities, offering the public experiences rich in beauty and history, and brings greater recognition and visitation to member sites.

Connecticut's Historic Gardens was started in 2002 by a small group of historic sites with gardens that pooled resources to participate in the annual Connecticut Flower and Garden Show held in Hartford. Out of this collaboration came the development of a comprehensive brochure, funded by a grant from the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, that has been distributed in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York, and is available online. The group also participates in the New England Flower Show in Boston.

Programs and fees vary at each of the historic sites; hours are 12 noon to 4 pm unless noted on their respective web sites.  The 14 locations are:

• Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden, Bethlehem
• Butler-McCook House & Garden, Hartford
• Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme
• Glebe House Museum, Woodbury
• Harkness Memorial State Park, Waterford
• Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, Hartford
• Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington
• New London County Historical Society and Shaw Mansion, New London
• Osborne Homestead Museum, Derby
• Promisek at Three Rivers Farm, Bridgewater
• Roseland Cottage, Woodstock
• Thankful Arnold House Museum / Haddam Historical Society, Haddaam
• Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum, Wethersfield
• Weir Farm National Historic Site, Wilton

Diminishing River Herring Draw Environmental and Economic Attention

It is difficult for most people to get worked up about herring, even in New England, but the Pew Charitable Trusts Environmental Group is leading a charge to preserve the herring population, and with it much of the region’s fish-related industry.  Connecticut is among the states at the center of the effort, given the prominence of Long Island Sound and the Connecticut River. The concern, as reported by the Associated Press, is that off-shore trawlers pull up hundreds of thousands of pounds of herring at a time, depleting a species that is a critical food for just about every commercial fish in the region. The small, nutrient-rich fish are eaten by larger fish we love to catch and eat–tuna, haddock, cod and striped bass.  Without herring to chase and eat, these fish could fade from inshore waters. The herring's influence even extends to ocean tours, which depend on abundant herring to attract whales and birds to the ocean surface to feed and be seen.

The numbers, Pew points out, are nothing short of alarming.  Catching herring is prohibited in Connecticut waters, but as the numbers reflect, the fish aren’t reaching those waters like they used to.  According to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), millions of river herring once returned annually to Connecticut, but environmental officials say that by 2006, only 21 passed the Holyoke Dam on the Connecticut River.

The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) – which manages fishery resources within the 200 mile limit of the coasts of the New England States - meets June 20 in Portland, Maine to decide how to protect river herring at sea, and Pew is urging Connecticut to help protect the herring.  The NEFMC members include the principal state official with marine fishery management responsibility (or their designee) for Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.  Members are nominated by the governors, and appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce.

In the Connecticut River, habitat restoration has helped river herring return to their native areas. In the 1970s, runs had dwindled to about 200 fish. With community efforts, half a million blueback herring were counted in 1986. But by 2008, the run had again plummeted to only 84 fish.

NEFMC is also in the midst of a search for a new executive director.

Preventative Care Lacking Among Large Percentage of State's Women

The number of Connecticut women who are foregoing annual preventative health care is growing, especially among minorities and young adults, according to a survey commissioned by Women's Health Connecticut and reported by the Connecticut Health I-Team. Less than half of those surveyed said they were "very satisfied" with the information they receive from their doctors about common health issues, and only 52%, for example, knew the age at which they should start undergoing mammograms.  The survey found that 28% of women in the state had not had an ob-gyn exam in the past year - among minority women, the number was 38%.

The Permanent Commission on the Status of Women, citing data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, recently indicated that as health care grows more expensive, more than 1/4 of non-elderly women (27%) and two-thirds of uninsured women (67%) report that they delayed or went without care they believed they needed because they could not afford it.

Connecticut's French Connection Leads Export List

Connecticut’s major trading partners among the world’s nations may be somewhat unexpected.  Topping the list is France, with 14% of exports.  Rounding out the top five are Canada (10%), Germany (8%), China (6%) and Mexico (6%).  The remainder of Connecticut’s top ten trading partners - in exports - are Belgium, Singapore, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Japan.  Together, those 10 nations account for 64% of Connecticut’s international exports; the rest of the world accounts for 36%, according to 2011 data from the U.S. Department of Commerce as published by Northeast Utilities. The Connecticut Small Business Development Center (SBDC) points out that 95% of the world’s population  and 66% of the world’s purchasing power are outside the United States, providing American businesses a world of opportunities to explore.  SBDC helps Connecticut businesses establish business relationships overseas from their offices at Connecticut's state universities and the Department of Economic and Community Development in Hartford.

GE Foundation, Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation Top Grant List

Statistics from The Foundation Center, which tracks philanthropy across the country, indicate that hundreds of millions of dollars flow annually from the largest foundations based in Connecticut to charities worldwide.  As reported in The Hartford Courant, the top grant maker in Connecticut is the GE Foundation ($103.5 million), followed by the Boehringer Ingelheim Cares Foundation ($81.1 million). Following the leading foundations - bearing the names of two of the world's leading corporations - are a handful of foundations likely less well known:  Steven A. and Alexandra M. Cohen Foundation ($27 million), Hartford Foundation for Public Giving ($25.7 million), and Smith Richardson Foundation ($23.5 million).

At #6 on the list is Newman's Own Foundation ($20 million) followed by The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven ($15.5 million).  The Dalio Family Foundation ($12.7 million) and the Aetna Foundation ($12.2 million) complete the top nine foundations by grants paid.  The numbers are from 2009, the most recent data available.

"Civics First" to Honor School Champions in Trial, Debate

If you're a fan of civic education, particularly in Connecticut, May 31 will be a special day.  That is when the organization Civics First conducts its annual awards dinner, and recognizes  this year's stellar teams and individuals in various competitions sponsored by the organization.  Among this year's champions:

• Crosby High School, 2012 High School Mock Trial State Champion
• Kennedy High School students Shyler Losty, Arlee Biggins, and Anxheliki Duro, 2012 High School Forensics Competition champions
• Academy at Little Farm students Genevieve Riccoboni and Hannah Hunt, 2012 High School Debate State Champions

The Middle School Debate final rounds were held yesterday, with the winners (Our Lady of Mercy) to be honored as well.   The Awards recognition dinner will take place My 31 at 30 Bank Street, New Britain at 6 p.m.

Civics First is a private, non-profit association that promotes and conducts law-related education programs and projects in Connecticut's public and private schools, courtrooms and communities. Its goal is the incorporation of citizenship education into the curriculum of all schools, from kindergarten through high school.

Wondering about the civic health of Connecticut?  Check out the latest data from the Corporation for National & Community Service and the National Conference on Citizenship about Connecticut, now on the Civic Life in America website.  Among the data:  45.9 percent of residents in Connecticut voted in the 2010 National election - ranking them at number 19 among the 50 states and Washington, DC.