Danbury, Norwalk, Stamford named finalists for CTNext innovation grants

Danbury, Norwalk and Stamford are among the finalists for CTNext”™s Connecticut”™s Implementation Grants as part of its Innovation Places program.

Innovation Places is a program created to enable communities across the state to become top-tier destinations and magnets for talent and high growth companies. It aims to create a concentration of entrepreneurs, innovators, tech talent, support organizations and research institutions that come together in dense, walkable, transit-connected communities.

The program will distribute $30 million to the winning cities and communities over a period of five years to support catalytic projects to stimulate their local innovation ecosystem. A portion of the $30 million has been reserved for the first set of winners with future allocations to be determined by the CTNext board of directors at a later time.

Other finalists include Central CT (New Britain, Farmington, Berlin), Hartford/East Hartford, New Haven and Thames River. CTNext received applications from 12 communities across the state.

Grant winners will be announced in June.