Innovative Challenge to Result in Six Actionable Economic Development Plans for Hartford, CT

SC2 Hartford Challenge winners to share $800,000 in prize money

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Feb 24, 2015, 11:32 ET

HARTFORD, Conn., Feb. 24, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The EDA-funded SC2 Hartford Challenge, launched February 2014, is in its final phase. Ten multidisciplinary teams are working on economic development plans that will establish Hartford as the city for entrepreneurs. Six winners will be announced in May 2015.

According to Thomas E. Deller, Hartford's Director of Development Services, "The final deliverables must be comprehensive economic development plans that are both feasible and sustainable. Having read the initial proposals, I am optimistic that the impact of the SC2 Hartford Challenge will be significant and felt throughout the entire city."

Plans are due April 20. Deller, along with other community leaders, will judge the plans and choose six winners who will share $800,000 in prize money, with the top plan receiving $500,000. The City of Hartford and the EDA will jointly own the winning plans and be able to implement the ideas—both in Hartford and in other cities around the country.

"It's far from the typical process where the City hires a consultant, the consultant produces an economic development plan, and then we sell the plan to the City's residents and business owners. SC2 Hartford plans are being developed, in large measure, by thought leaders, academicians and business leaders who either live in greater Hartford or have a strong connection to our city."

Teams and their focus:

Beacon Healthcare: An industry led effort to create healthcare technology development and manufacturing jobs in Hartford.
Choose Hartford: Innovative capital to grow businesses.
CJM Innovations: Fostering an entrepreneurial ecosystem for students and young professionals.
Entrepreneur Foundation: Community bootstrapping through entrepreneurship.
Hartford Rocks: Addressing Infrastructure, transportation systems, arts and entertainment to attract and support young entrepreneurs.
It's All Here: Translating talent into ownership.
Made at Swift: A food-driven innovation cluster to create jobs and improve population health.
MUD Workshop: An entrepreneurial ecosystem to empower Hartford's community.
Team Fotofiction: An affordable, creative, mixed-use urban development solution.
Solutionists: Social entrepreneurship to address high unemployment and poverty in Hartford.

Hartford is one of only three U.S. cities selected as part of a competitive process to participate in the Obama Administration's Strong Cities Strong Communities (SC2) Initiative.

For more information: www.SC2Hartford.com.

SOURCE The City of Hartford