Cultured Growth: CT’s economic, cultural siren song attracts Israeli firms
Article by: GREGORY SEAY, Photograph by STEVE LASCHEVER
Connecticut’s coordinated recruiting efforts to lure more international firms to the state are resonating loudest among nascent technology firms in Israel, observers say.
At least two Israeli technology firms have opened doors in this state in recent years, and dozens more are exploring opportunities to lease or buy real estate and employ workers to ply the broader U.S. market with their products and services.
One, Biological Industries, last fall opened in Cromwell, where it stores and distributes cultures used to grow stem cells. In March 2014, Israeli software developer Applango opened its U.S. headquarters in Stamford, with financial backing from the state Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD).
Their arrival, says the state’s top economic-development promoter and others, illustrates Connecticut’s successful efforts at taking its message to commercial corners around the globe.
Along with job prospects, the Israeli transplants’ heavy technology focus — biopharma, medical devices and software development — augments Connecticut’s deep technology and manufacturing roots, observers say. Connecticut, in return, offers them a gateway into the vast, lucrative U.S. marketplace.
