Thames River Innovation Place (Groton and New London) Selected as Innovation Places Finalist
Thames River Innovation Place, which is composed of the Town and City of Groton and the City of New London, has announced its selection as a finalist in CTNext’s Innovation Places program. Along with six other applicants, Thames River Innovation Place will vie for an Implementation Grant that will help establish Groton and New London as an Innovation Place.
“Today is such an exciting step forward in our hopes and efforts to transform Groton and New London into a center of innovation and business growth,” said project co-leads Susan Froshauer of The CURE Innovation Commons and Hannah Gant of Spark Makerspace, “We are delighted and honored to have been selected as a finalist. We thank the CTNext Board of Directors and look forward to sharing more details of our vision as we move forward in the process.”
A public presentation and site visit will be held on May 12, 2017 starting at 9 am at CURE Innovation Commons, located at 93 Shennecossett Road, Groton and then taking the water taxi over to walk through downtown New London. The journey will end back at The Commons. Grant winners will be announced in June.
Innovation Places is a CTNext-run program created to help the state’s communities become centers for entrepreneurism and innovation, magnets for talent, and launching points for growth-stage companies. The program will ultimately distribute $30 million over a period of five years to the winning cities and communities to support implementation of their strategic plans.
“With so many worthwhile applications, we congratulate Groton and New London on being named an Innovation Places finalist and we look forward to learning more about their vision, team and approach in the coming weeks,” said Glendowlyn Thames, executive director of CTNext.
About CTNext
CTNext is Connecticut’s go-to resource for entrepreneurial support. The goal of the program is to build a more robust community of entrepreneurs and to accelerate startup growth by providing access to talent, space, industry expertise, services, skill development and capital to foster innovation and create jobs for people in Connecticut. CTNext launched in 2012 and has more than 1,700 members in its network. Visit ctnext.com for more information.
About Thames River Innovation Place
The Thames River Innovation Place initiative is an unprecedented alliance of public, private, and nonprofit sectors in New London and Groton. Major institutions are collaborating to design a blueprint for the future of our communities that integrates existing plans and projects with new ideas that leverage and enhance all that is unique about the community & economy at the mouth of the Thames River. Visit thamesriverinovation.orgfor more information.
