Study Shows Connecticut's Linkages to Northeast Economy; Report Calls for Regional Planning for Economic Development; Governor Backs Effort With Call for Action.

HARTFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 22, 1999--

A study released today by the Connecticut Regional Institute for the 21st Century, a group of the state's public and private leaders, shows that unprecedented changes in the global economy link Connecticut's economic future to eastern New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Northeastern North America. The group says that for Connecticut to thrive in the new "borderless marketplace," state and local governments, businesses and institutions must cooperate in planning and executing economic development activities.

Governor John G. Rowland backed the effort by calling for state's leaders to take immediate action to address a number of the study's findings and recommendations. "Connecticut can direct our own economic and social future, but we can't operate in a vacuum. Our success will require partnerships with other northeast states," Rowland said. He added, "This study provides the state with a new policy framework that outlines the opportunities and challenges facing Connecticut in the new global economy."

Connecticut Regional Institute Chairman Oz Griebel, president and chief operating officer of MacDermid, Inc., said the study results support the Institute's goal of working cooperatively on economic issues. "We believe that sustained, quality economic development requires us to think and act from broader, more regional perspectives. This report emphasizes the importance of that goal in the context of the dynamic global economy and encourages us to act cooperatively on major issues with a greater sense of urgency," Griebel said.

Three Regions

According to study consultant Michael Gallis, a distinct configuration of five metropolitan regions, bounded by New York, Albany and Boston, form a continuous network of social and economic activities that provides a new framework for New England. Connecticut's economic activity is concentrated in three of these regions. Each has different resources, different types of economic activity, different ways of competing in the world and faces different competitive challenges. In the report, metro regions are defined not in terms of traditional political or jurisdictional boundaries, but by social and economic activity and transportation connections. Connecticut's three economic regions are:

Coastal Corridor - This is one of nine radial arms of the New York metro region. The cities of Stamford, Bridgeport and New Haven anchor this corridor within the New York metro region and form Connecticut's gateway to the global economy and continental transportation patterns.

The Hartford/Springfield metro region - This region stretches along I-91 and the Connecticut River Valley from Northampton, Massachusetts to the north and New Haven to the south.

Southeast Coastal metro region - This area extends from New London to Newport, Rhode Island.

"All of these regions cross state boundaries," said Griebel. "Clearly the study validates that economic regions cross political jurisdictions at all levels. It underscores the importance of coordinating our economic development activities rather than pursuing them as individual states or municipalities."

Access - Key to economic prosperity

With a significant portion of economic activity in the "New Atlantic Triangle" concentrated in the Boston and New York metro areas, Connecticut's ability to access those regions is increasingly important. Taking advantage of the New York market and working with the other corridors will provide Connecticut stronger access to the global and continental marketplaces. That access will be important to sustaining the quality of the state's economy, the report says.

"While Connecticut's three economic regions are located close to major global and continental transportation and logistics hubs, they are difficult to access," said Gallis. "The efficient and environmentally responsible movement of people and freight are necessary to sustain the long-term growth and vitality of economic activities."

Bioscience and pharmaceuticals - The opportunities

The report points out that although Connecticut is emerging as a leader in the new "knowledge-based" economy, it lacks dynamism in its ability to generate business start-ups. The area's strong concentration of educational and research facilities offers great potential for bioscience and pharmaceuticals to become an important component of the economy.

Other study findings include:

-- Providing opportunities for young professionals to continue living in this region is vital to the state's long-term economic strategy.

-- The coast and the river valleys are important to urban regeneration. Urban revitalization strategies should include stronger relationships to the rivers and coastlines. These relationships should be based on care in protecting and reclaiming the environmental quality of these same resources.

-- Recreation, cultural activities and management of open space can be important components of economic development.

-- The creativity manifested in culture and arts is a fundamental quality in the "new economy."

Recommendations

According to Griebel, the project has created a framework that can be used by Connecticut's public, private and institutional leaders to identify opportunities, create visions, develop plans and take action. "By working together from a common framework, Connecticut, the rest of New England, and the adjacent areas can marshal our collective resources to maximize our extraordinary advantages and opportunities and develop creative approaches to the challenging issues on the horizon."

The Institute recommended a number of items that should be addressed in Connecticut's economic development planning, including: 1) Establish a mechanism for the state's three economic regions to meet their collective economic challenges; 2) Adopt a multi-modal transportation strategy for the state (in conjunction with the five other New England states, New York and Canada's maritime provinces) that ensures the movement of people and goods in a cost-competitive and environmentally responsible manner, including more effective connections to the New York area; 3) Adopt a plan to increase the number of engineering and other technical degrees granted by higher education institutions and a workforce development training plan that provides employees with the skills necessary to support the state's businesses and institutions; and 4) Support the commercialization of technology created through the region's institutional and private research activities.

The Institute also urged the governor to engage the collective talent and resources of he other New England governors, the New York governor and the premiers of Canada's maritime provinces in an understanding of the framework. These leaders should develop an agenda that considers and acts upon the economic issues facing the New Atlantic Triangle.

The study, which began in April, included data gathering and analysis by Michael Gallis & Associates, Inc., a strategic planning firm in Charlotte, N.C. that has pioneered a program to educate metropolitan regional leaders and citizens about the opportunities and challenges they face in today's global economy. The firm has conducted similar studies for the Charlotte, Cincinnati and Rhode Island metro regions. In addition to the data analysis, Gallis received input from more than 100 people from Connecticut's public, private and non-profit sectors who participated in various roles in the study process.

"Members of the Institute will work to discuss the study with various groups around the state and New England to ensure that more of our leaders are conversant with its findings. We look forward to working with that broader group to implement the recommendations," said Griebel.

The Institute

In 1997, BankBoston convened a group of private- and public-sector leaders interested in discussing regional issues in a non-political format. Those participants formally established the Connecticut Regional Institute for the 21st Century in 1998 to provide an on-going forum to discuss regional opportunities and issues and identify areas of regional cooperation. The group's goals include developing a more comprehensive understanding of the opportunities and challenges of other regions; developing a stronger network among private and public sector leaders and thereby a better understanding of the leadership structure and culture of other regions; and discussing issues of inter-regional interest and the opportunities to strengthen the identity of the state and each region as premier places to live, work and visit. For more information about the Connecticut Regional Institute for the 21st Century, see the organization's web site at http://www.ctregionalInstitute.org. -0-

                            Connecticut
                     Strategic Economic Framework
                        Highlights/Key Findings

A New Global Age

     With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, a new global age
began. A hallmark of this new age is global integration that is
leading to unprecedented changes in the global economy and pattern of
connectivity.
     The massive restructuring of the world's economic geography has
resulted in the formation of new trading blocs and "super regions" and
has caused the importance of metropolitan regions to increase
dramatically. Today, metropolitan regions function as the foundation
units of economic activity and hubs in the global transportation and
communications network. Linked together in the continuous global
network, metro regions compete on a global basis.
     Metro regions are inherently fragmented and are composed of a
multitude of governmental jurisdictions, business and corporate
entities and institutional bodies, each of which typically acts and
operates as a separate and independent entity.
     During similar periods of major change in the global network
throughout history, businesses, governments and institutions that
recognized change and prepared for it prospered. Those that did not
missed significant opportunities and were left behind.


Metro regions go beyond traditional and political boundaries.

--   Metro regions are structured in a pattern of centers and
     corridors created by freeways, transit systems, international
     airports and the suburban population explosion of small cities
     and towns surrounding the core cities.

--   This configuration of centers and corridors forms a single
     continuous and functionally interactive pattern of linkage across
     the area of southern New England and the eastern New York and New
     Jersey edge of the Mid-Atlantic region.

--   Within this framework, the importance of political boundaries and
     traditionally defined regions (based on political boundaries) is
     diminishing as a new market dynamic defines the functional
     economic geography that no longer can be measured by political
     jurisdictions.


A massive restructuring of North America is underway.

--   A vertical industrial axis, called the NAFTA corridor, is taking
     shape-connecting points in between Montreal and Mexico City.

--   This corridor, linking the three countries of North America, is
     reshaping the distribution of continental economic activity and
     changing the dynamics of every metro region along the Atlantic
     seaboard.

--   Within the restructuring North America, the traditional
     boundaries separating New England, the Mid-Atlantic, eastern
     Canada and the upper Midwest are blurring. One of the effects of
     this is a redefined Northeast super region.

--   The Northeast is now defined by a new and integrated set of
     continental corridors. On the north is a corridor anchored by
     Halifax.

--   In the center, the New York metro region anchors two corridors:
     one extending west through Pittsburgh to Chicago or St. Louis and
     the other north through Albany to Buffalo and then west to
     Chicago. A southern corridor anchored by air at Washington and by
     sea at Norfolk also extends west to Chicago and St. Louis.


Five metro regions now define the framework for New England -
Center of "New Atlantic Triangle".

--   The Boston and Albany metro regions, together with the New York
     metro region, form the three points of a distinctive triangular
     structure.

--   The triangle, called "The New Atlantic Triangle," is bisected by
     the Hartford/Springfield metro region and bounded by the
     Southeast Coastal metro economic region. The state of
     Connecticut's urban and economic pattern is set in the center of
     this "New Atlantic Triangle."

--   The defining characteristics of the New Atlantic Triangle are its
     massive concentrations of economic, institutional and cultural
     resources not equaled in any other geographic area of the world.


Global linkage and continental access is split through the center of
the New York region

--   The group of metro areas to the southwest of New York,
     Philadelphia and Washington/Baltimore are emerging as the
     principal points of continental access to the global network.

--   Those to the northeast, the "New Atlantic Triangle," are becoming
     isolated with limited air service, without a significant port and
     with poor connections to the continental grid.


Three metro regions are located in Connecticut - all cross state
boundaries.

--   Three of the five metro regions in the New Atlantic Triangle are
     principally or partially located within Connecticut.

--   One of the eight radial arms of the New York metro region beyond
     I-287 is the Coastal Corridor anchored by Stamford, Bridgeport
     and New Haven. This corridor competes for economic activity
     within the New York metro region and forms Connecticut's gateway
     to the global economy and the continental grid.

--   The Hartford/Springfield metro region with New Haven as its
     southern gateway extends along the I-91/Connecticut River Valley
     into Massachusetts.

--   The New London, Norwich and Mystic area forms a significant
     portion of the Southeast Coastal metro region extending into
     Rhode Island.


Transportation

--   Although Connecticut's three economic regions are located close
     to major global and continental transportation and logistics
     hubs, they are difficult to access.

--   Each of Connecticut's three regions is affected by the dynamics
     of the New Atlantic Triangle network.

--   The freight transportation structure of the region is shifting as
     Northern New Jersey emerges as the best place for global freight
     to connect with the continental grid.

--   The pattern of congestion limits access and dynamism. Congestion
     effectively blocks economic activity from extending farther than
     Stamford in the Coastal Corridor. Opening this corridor would
     allow economic activities to extend more into the statewide
     network.

--   The area east of the Hudson is in danger of becoming a giant cul
     de sac, or dead end, in the global network.

--   The New Atlantic Triangle transportation and logistics systems
     are severely congested and "locked" and unable to respond to
     global change.

--   The I-91 corridor is an important transportation and logistics
     corridor.



Education, Medical Research

--   The evolution and continued development of the "New Economy" is
     largely dependent on the resources available in large
     research-oriented universities.

--   New Haven occupies an important position in the institutional
     pattern.

--   Connecticut's institutions require access to national and global
     markets.

--   The I-91/Connecticut River Valley Corridor is important to the
     future of the state. The state has never had a "Silicon Valley"
     or "Route 128" as a focus for its technology sector. The I-91
     corridor could provide this type of location.

--   The emerging pharmaceutical economy is important to the long-term
     development of the state.


Economic Development

--   Over the past 50 years a significant shift in the structure and
     pattern of economic activity has taken place.

--   Economic activity is increasingly concentrated in the Boston and
     New York metro areas.

--   The social and economic future of the areas in between the two
     dominant metro centers of New York and Boston are highly
     dependent upon their access and relationship to the economic
     activities and markets located within these two very large metro
     regions.

--   The structure of the Connecticut economy and its development
     pattern are changing from a traditional manufacturing economy to
     an R&D economy. This shift has to be supported by an
     institutional structure that provides the resources and training
     required for sustaining new economy activities.

--   Manufacturing is important to Connecticut.

--   Connecticut is a leader in the "new knowledge and technology
     based economy," yet lacks dynamism in its ability to generate new
     business startups.

--   Gaining a larger share of the New York market and stronger access
     to the global and continental marketplace will be central to the
     continuing development of the state's economy.


SEE RECOMMENDATIONS ON PAGE 18 OF THE STUDY.