INNOVATE STAMFORD 1 Enhance it, and more will come.
Innovate Stamford will unite people, ideas and investment. 2 Was awarded $2 million for FY18 by CTNext, a program of Connecticut Innovations. Contract development is underway. Links independently developed initiatives and individual visions into a coherent whole, with compatible objectives and shared resources. Enables innovators private and public, large and small, established and start up - to anticipate, collaborate and pick up the pace. Lets entrepreneurs do what they do, without the time and financial burden of creating and managing their own support systems. Will grow jobs, tax revenues and a sense of belonging in one the nation s most diverse cities.
Six Goals 3 1. Accelerate the development of Stamford s incubatoraccelerator community, enterprise growth services network, and large corporate-small supplier procurement relationships. 2. Strengthen current efforts to build our innovation community by producing events that provide content, promote connections and generate collisions. 3. Physically and technologically enhance spaces that serve as gathering points for our diverse population and define a connected urban culture.
Six Goals 4. Strengthen our talent pool by (a) creating an anchor institution that responds to changing talent demands, individual learning needs, and trends in higher education and worker skills development; and (b) formalize and expand current cooperative younger talent recruitment and retention programs. 5. Create an ongoing social media presence which delivers a consistent strategic message, empowers local voices and attracts early stage businesses that fit with Stamford s strengths and opportunities. 6. Constantly update our understanding of conditions affecting us and develop options to assure that the future will be an opportunity, not a surprise. 4
Work. Together. Acknowledgements 5
Initiatives & Teams Coordinating teams comprised of representatives from each initiative will meet regularly. Each team will have the responsibility to periodically report on their work in Innovate Stamford initiative-wide meetings to assure information exchange and explore opportunities for cross-initiative cooperation. 6
Accelerating Innovation Capacity Incubators and Accelerators NatWest Markets Innovation Incubator FInsureTech Accelerator Business Development Assistance 7 Coordinated access to statewide growth resources: CI CTNext EIR s, CT SBDC advisors, CT PTAP counselors, CT DECD SBE program, CERC, CTC, CASE, etc. Training and technical assistance to small and early stage companies to effectively sell to large organizations. Space Bank On-line Stamford Dept. of Economic Development space inventory Building owners providing short term, rent free space.
Acknowledgements 8 Connected
Wayfinding Building our Innovation Community 9 Linking Transportation Center to anchor institutions and key venues with improved routes, signage, apps, landscaping, lighting and more. Updating of STC Stamford Lights Illumination. Bike Share program Personal mobility, on demand, in multiple convenient locations. Enhanced Trolley Service (circulating through district on fixed route) Extended hours (2 hours added, to 1:00 a.m., Friday and Saturday nights) On-board Announcements (Next stop, local venues and attractions) GIG Public WiFi, engaging residents and delivering improved municipal services. Install six POP locations to selectively broadcast high-speed Wi-Fi to defined areas. Commons Park, 500 Mbps in Year 1. Shared Experiences DSSD: Alive @ Five summer concert series technology upgrade Harbor Point s Commons Point & Boardwalk programming expansion
More Than a Park 10
Shared Public Spaces, Innovative Community 11 Veteran s Memorial Park Public/Private partnership formed to create vibrant, amenity-filled, urban piazza from rundown space. The Ferguson, a 21 st Century Library Community engagement in Innovation, Technology & Entrepreneurship. The Palace Theater Re-invention of historic theatre to accommodate concert preferences of millennials (standing and dancing while at concerts), while increasing capacity allowing for bigger acts which attract bigger audiences and decrease price per ticket.
Talent 12 Acknowledgements
Talent, The Source of Innovation 13 Co-Learning Space & Gig-Economy Career Services A downtown, co-working style facility providing working professionals with access to distance learning technology, instructional and study facilities, and cohort support. Conceived with input from Charter Oak State College, Norwalk Community College, Sacred Heart University, Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, and The WorkPlace Inc. A neutral convener of employers and educators to identify in-demand skills and credentials. Centralized student intake, assessment and referral resources. Flexibly-scheduled classroom spaces for capacity-constrained local campuses and other CT higher education institutions. Events designed to build a learners community and to promote career advancement.
Talent, The Source of Innovation (cont.) 14 LAUNCH: Talent Recruitment & Retention Internship Roundtable. Ongoing peer group of business recruiters and academic career services professionals to develop programs designed to fill local talent needs from local sources. Intern conversion-to-employment program. Summer social events and activities designed to improve acceptance rates of employment offers. (2015-2017 events have averaged 300+ interns from 40+ employers, representing 115 schools. Student familiarization trips, jointly designed by universities and employers. Road Trip to the Real World - (7 colleges, three employers, 40 students per day, three days planned for 2017-18) Annual Internship Summit. Recruitment and internship program leaders at major employers share best practices with early stage company leaders. Young Professional Network. Social, community service and professional events planned by a peer steering committee, supported by staff.
Acknowledgements 15 Live. Work. Play. Learn.
Building Brand and Awareness 16 Recruitment campaign targeting early stage, innovative companies with specific relevance to Stamford s strengths and Innovate Stamford s objectives. Developed with professional consulting services, chosen through competitive bidding. Conducted by Stamford Dept. of Economic Development, within comprehensive strategy. Integrated with social media outreach strategy (described below). Innovate Stamford website Innovate Stamford website will be the go-to digital platform for innovation news and community engagement. Website and social media accounts include innovators, events and activities, information on public transit and parking, social media stream, links to innovation resources and stories about companies and people doing awesome things. Social media voices support Accepting coordinating responsibility for assuring a regular program of meet ups and events. Outreach to tech scene publications and thought leaders. Technical assistance to new social media voices, as needed, with: initial set-up and strategy; evaluation of custom branded visual content; support for daily posting; follower engagement; spam monitoring; social reputation management.
Looking Ahead: Conditions and Choices On-Demand and Autonomous Vehicle Technology 17 City of Stamford Municipal Readiness Analysis (adequacy of digital. Design competition for pedestrian bridge over harbor spur channel linking Shippan Point to Harbor Point. Stamford Town Center Reimagining the purpose and operation of a downtown retail mall in the Amazon-era. Experimenting with new space uses and configurations
Acknowledgements Innovate Stamford has benefited from the personal participation of scores of individuals in meetings and events and hundreds more who participated in digital surveys. We are also pleased to acknowledge the work of the following organizations whose online postings and personal interactions provided invaluable insights into the range of possible purposes and components of Innovation Districts. Innovation Districts Brookings Institution Trends in Smart City Development, Brooks Rainwater, Senior Executive and Director Center for City Solutions National League of Cities Innovation Village: Baltimore's First Innovation District St. Petersburg Innovation District N2 Innovation District Silicon Valley Competitiveness and Innovation Project - 2017 Report Seaport Square in Boston s Innovation District 16 Tech : Innovation District Indianapolis 18
Thank you! 19