[Mike 75]

In hindsight, Jackson Labs looks more like a sop to UConn than anything else. It would have been much better suited in New Haven from an economic standpoint.

Which is due to the fact that Hartford draws a lot of water due to its role as the state capitol - probably more than it should. The state seems very focused on funding projects in and around Hartford - the busway, Jackson labs, the baseball stadium (indirectly), the XL center, the UConn campus. These projects are, IMO, dubious from an economic standpoint. And yet you don't see the state spending this type money on projects in either Stamford or New Haven, even though from an economic standpoint the return would likely be greater.

[HeadedWest]

Originally Posted by Sigequinox

I think it's more about value than raw taxes-not that high taxes are ever good IMO. For example NY is the epitome of the tax rapist, yet many companies do or wish they could afford to be there. NY offers prestige, energy, density for many fields etc.

That's only true around NYC. Those same taxes have turned Northern and Western NY State into economic zombie territory.

[mlassoff]

Originally Posted by HeadedWest

That's only true around NYC. Those same taxes have turned Northern and Western NY State into economic zombie territory.

Double edged sword obviously. The low tax environment attracts some-- The high service environment attracts others.

[Sigequinox]

Originally Posted by Mike 75

In hindsight, Jackson Labs looks more like a sop to UConn than anything else. It would have been much better suited in New Haven from an economic standpoint.

Which is due to the fact that Hartford draws a lot of water due to its role as the state capitol - probably more than it should. The state seems very focused on funding projects in and around Hartford - the busway, Jackson labs, the baseball stadium (indirectly), the XL center, the UConn campus. These projects are, IMO, dubious from an economic standpoint. And yet you don't see the state spending this type money on projects in either Stamford or New Haven, even though from an economic standpoint the return would likely be greater.

Agreed about Jackson. Jackson only has regional influence and mostly because of all the media hype when bringing them into CT. Most of you probably never heard of the Jackson Laboratory before they moved here. Unless you were in the "mice-as-model-organism research space", no one really did.

My point is, they alone do not have the gravity to bring in dozens of other high profile companies--at best we can hope for research spin-offs. Therefore, locating them in NH would put them with yale U., yale medical center, and now Alexion among others. NOW there's some serious collective gravity. Especially if next gen CT and bioscience CT were located there as well. Now we have the primer for a hub. Unfortunately, we lost that opportunity. Not sure when the next chance we will have to spend that kind of money again on similar efforts, so it will be a while before there's even another chance.

[Mike 75]

Originally Posted by Sigequinox

Agreed about Jackson. Jackson only has regional influence and mostly because of all the media hype when bringing them into CT. Most of you probably never heard of the Jackson Laboratory before they moved here. Unless you were in the "mice-as-model-organism research space", no one really did.

My point is, they alone do not have the gravity to bring in dozens of other high profile companies--at best we can hope for research spin-offs. Therefore, locating them in NH would put them with yale U., yale medical center, and now Alexion among others. NOW there's some serious collective gravity. Especially if next gen CT and bioscience CT were located there as well. Now we have the primer for a hub. Unfortunately, we lost that opportunity. Not sure when the next chance we will have to spend that kind of money again on similar efforts, so it will be a while before there's even another chance.

Agreed. Its about creating critical mass.

[HeadedWest]

Originally Posted by mlassoff

Double edged sword obviously. The low tax environment attracts some-- The high service environment attracts others.

So I guess the people living in rural and small city NYS are just collateral damage, then.

[Sigequinox]

Originally Posted by HeadedWest

So I guess the people living in rural and small city NYS are just collateral damage, then.

Not sure if I'm misinterpreting, let me know if I am....Drawing the parallel, with "upstate NY" being roughly equivalent to "Storrs" CT, I don't think it's an inherently bad thing to add these research opportunities there, but when struggling to compete against the already established "hubs" we need to strategically make every multi-billion dollar decision with greatest impact in mind.

NH is far from overdeveloped or saturated with opportunity, but it's also the most logical place for a CT tech hub. Therefore, the greatest impact would be consolidating high tech resources in NH to create a larger attracting force and building out from there. The employee demographic is also much more concentrated in the area of the state, not in willimantic and storrs etc.

[CTDex]

Originally Posted by Sigequinox

I saw some postage about "next generation connecticut" on campus today and am curious on peoples thoughts.

Is this going to create more jobs, or will it be a 1.7 billion dollar philanthropic gesture to the likes of Boston, CA, TX, NY etc?

There's already vast numbers of university educated people in CT (dare I say too many?), but not nearly enough jobs to employ them--I believe this academic inflation is why CT science jobs pay rather poorly given the COL. Anyway, will creating yet more university-based research opportunity result in additional jobs, or will we just be further qualifying students here for jobs elsewhere at our expense? Its a bit "chicken and egg" but does the educated workforce bring the companies or do the companies bring the educated workforce?

At this point, with all the GE/boston news in CT, most of us should be familiar with the concept of "tech hubs". With that in mind, does rural storrs, in the middle of nowhere, make sense for the location of NGC? Would New Haven not have been an infinitely better choice? or even farmington, right next to their new fancy multi-billion dollar Jackson Laboratory and near the Health Center, where researchers can collaborate with clinicians and medical researchers?

I definitely don't know the answer, but it appears to me like another isolated endeavor. For example, one of the only reasons florida is not a "tech hub" is because their tech companies are all over the place. FL has a particularly high number of biomedical engineering companies, but some are in Tampa, others in Miami, more in Orlando area etc. This isolation does not result in the synergy that occurs when they are in proximity.

Connecticut is a small state and when you get in your car it's a relatively short distance between most towns. You cannot compare such a small state with much larger ones like Florida.


How far is a drive from New Haven to Farmington? Or from Farmington to Storrs? They are not really that isolated if you have a car. It will take just as long and sometimes longer to get from places like Williamsburg in Brooklyn to Manhattan or from upper to lower Manhattan yet nobody thinks they are "isolated".


Considering the innovations in communication that have taken place, why do they all need to be physically located next to each other? Just get on the phone/skype/internet and talk to whoever you need to.


Most companies have their own technology and are competing for profit and market share. One of the reasons they don't want to be located too closely is because they are afraid of losing proprietary information as well as having their talent poached by competing firms. They already have products to focus on and develop and don't need constant interaction like they do in an academic setting.

[Sigequinox]

Originally Posted by CTDex

Connecticut is a small state and when you get in your car it's a relatively short distance between most towns. You cannot compare such a small state with much larger ones like Florida.


How far is a drive from New Haven to Farmington? Or from Farmington to Storrs? They are not really that isolated if you have a car.


Considering the innovations in communication that have taken place, why do they all need to be located next to each other? Just get on the phone/skype/internet and talk to someone else.

Most companies have their own technology and are competing for profit and market share. One of the reasons they don't want to be located too closely is because they are afraid of losing proprietary information as well as having their talent poached by competing firms. They already have products and don't need constant interaction.

It's just how the phenomenon appears to work. Agree the size of CT could mitigate the effects compared to somewhere like florida, but in general, when we look at all the other successful hubs, they have density, prestigious schools, top rate medical centers, VC firms, high rate of entrepreneurs and very active research community all in very close proximity.

The drive from NH to farmington is 1 hour. from NH to storrs is about 1:20. Not super long, but annoying enough and they definitely don't share the same resources, restaurants, culture etc. Maybe it will work, it hasn't so far. Not sure why we didn't follow the "winning recipe".

again, skype and all that are great, but looking at successful hubs, the concept of "distance collaboration" has not been a correlating factor. Nor has the competition. If anything that competition is what drives the energy.

Boston and springfield are only 1.5 hours apart, I don't think most would consider springfield part of the hub. I think most would agree that spirngfield has little affect on the success of boston. These hubs are very much self sustaining when mature. Same thing with SF and sacramento.

[CTDex]

Originally Posted by Sigequinox

Not sure if I'm misinterpreting, let me know if I am....Drawing the parallel, with "upstate NY" being roughly equivalent to "Storrs" CT, I don't think it's an inherently bad thing to add these research opportunities there, but when struggling to compete against the already established "hubs" we need to strategically make every multi-billion dollar decision with greatest impact in mind.

NH is far from overdeveloped or saturated with opportunity, but it's also the most logical place for a CT tech hub. Therefore, the greatest impact would be consolidating high tech resources in NH to create a larger attracting force and building out from there. The employee demographic is also much more concentrated in the area of the state, not in willimantic and storrs etc.

It could be but there could also be considerations from Yale or with the city of New Haven. Unfortunately peoples private agendas and motivations stand in the way from making the most logical decisions.


There could be competing interests or legal issues that prevent them from continuously developing.


I know I was discussing this issue a month or so ago with some people on why New Haven hasn't done so well despite having Yale. Yale's own students and employees have stood in the way of the University from "gentrifying" too much of the city out of "moral" considerations.


Prospective private companies could decide it's too much of a hassle/not worth the time/cost/effort and just move on.


I don't know the specifics in this case, just speculating.