Innovation Boost to be held Saturday
New London — As part of efforts to jump-start innovative new companies in the region, a series of free entrepreneurship "boosts" is being planned, starting with the first session from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Visual Art Library Conference Room at Harris Place, 165 State St.
Hannah Gant, co-leader of the Thames River Innovation Places initiative, intended to improve the region's business environment, said the first Innovation Boost workshop will encourage entrepreneurs to share their project ideas in hopes of getting other perspectives that could make them more successful.
Entrepreneurs are asked to bring in teams of at least three people. People interested should provide a brief description of their project and email ThamesRiver@Spark.coop.
"It's about matchmaking," Gant said. "It's a co-creating process."
Gant said the idea of boosts is to seek out "wider engagement" with the community as she and other Thames River Innovation Places organizers start to finalize a "master plan for innovation" required by the state. Projects identified as the most promising — whether the glimmer of an idea or a fully prototyped business — could be eligible for funding through the Innovation Places process, she added.
"We want to incentivize collaboration," Gant said.
The Innovation Boost will occur one day after the Regenesis Group presents the Thames River "Story of Place" that is expected to help local entrepreneurs focus on projects that have a good chance of working, given the region's assets, Gant said. The Santa Fe-based consultant will hold the event from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Harris Place conference room.
"Story of Place" will take a historical view of businesses that have prospered in the past along the Thames River corridor in hopes of identifying patterns pertinent to today. It also will help identify some of the region's geographic, economic and creative strengths.
Gant said the Innovation Boosts will become a regular phenomenon in the area, and promising projects identified through the process will be included as part of the Thames River Innovation Place plan that will be submitted to the state in April. The region is one of several statewide that is still in the running to split $5 million in state grant money supporting projects that could make Connecticut more alluring to entrepreneurs.
"The idea is to activate hot spots that can help Connecticut at some level ... play with Boston and New York," Gant said.
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