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The Story Behind the Story
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Business New Haven
11/2/1998
By: BNH
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The Connecticut Technology Council (CTC) on October 14 released its second annual ranking of the 50 fastest-growing technology companies in the state (see story, page 8). Topped by the Shelton software firm of FlexiInternational, which between 1993 and 1997 posted revenue gains of a staggering 13,851 percent, the “Fast 50” illustrate the growing impact of technology on a state economy previously dominated by defense-related manufacturing and the so-called FIRE (finance, insurance and real estate) industries.
South-central Connecticut is not under-represented among the Fast 50: Other area companies making the Fast 50: American Technology Inc. of Shelton; Bassett Computer Systems of North Haven; Fast Mathematical Algorithms of Hamden; Haydon Switch & Instrument in Waterbury; Information Management Associates in Shelton; Neurogen Corp. of Branford; Orbit Design & Tool in Bethany; New Haven's Precision Combustion; SAI Systems International of Shelton; TransAct Technologies of Wallingford; and TransSwitch Corp. of Shelton.
Explained CTC Executive Director Laura Kent: “There are over 110,000 companies in Connecticut, and between 1993 and 1997 each of them added an average of 0.8 jobs. Over that period the Fast 50 companies added an average of 45 jobs each, representing three percent of the total jobs created in the economic recovery in the state.”
Added Kent, “Truly, these are the companies that are leading Connecticut's transition to the technology economy of the next decade.” Addressing the winners at the awards banquet in Westport, U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd seconded that motion: “It is important that we encourage the development of high-tech industry and continue to train skilled workers.”
We agree. But there is ample evidence that we are not doing enough as a state, or that we're simply not doing all of the right things.
The October 28 Wall Street Journal reported on a new study by a Cambridge, Mass.-based economics-research firm ranking the 50 states according to how effectively each foster entrepreneurial growth. In a knowledge-based economy, said David Birch, president of Cognetics Inc., which created the rankings, states and regions need five things to nurture new and fast-growing firms: great research universities, an educated workforce, a nice place to live, an entrepreneurial environment and good airports.
Judged on those merits, Connecticut fared very poorly indeed: It ranked 47th out of 50. It seems our research universities like Yale and UConn aren't yet giving birth to many successful startups, the state's technology-savvy workers have either left the state or aren't technology-savvy enough, business and living costs are astronomical, we have only one functioning airport and besides, Birch said, “It's a lousy place to live five months out of the year.”
Well. We frankly have no idea what to do about the weather, but the remainder of Birch's findings ought to serve as a wake-up call to those who choose not to bury their heads in the sand.
The success of the CTC's “Fast 50” is encouraging evidence that entrepreneurial drive and first-class minds can achieve business success despite the obstacles facing all Connecticut companies. But to grow on that success - to be celebrating a “Fast 1,000” and not just a fast 50, we need to be mindful of how far yet we have to go.
We need a business cost structure that encourages our best university-trained minds to hatch their ideas and start their companies here - not in California or North Carolina. We need to create more of those brains, too. The state needs a functional airport in the southern part of the state. The weather will take care of itself - seven months out of the year, anyway.
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