Expanding Connecticut’s Tech Workforce

College and university faculty, CEOs, hiring managers, and workforce strategists gathered at the Sept. 19 Tech Talent Ecosystem Summit to discuss strategies for ensuring Connecticut’s economy has enough tech-ready workers.

The Connecticut Tech Talent Accelerator, an idea of the state’s Office of Workforce Strategy, was launched in 2022, to create pathways from the state’s public and independent higher education institutions to the desirable jobs of the present and future.

Supported by two rounds of funding, this required collaboration between business leaders and college/university faculty to identify knowledge, skills, and abilities that everyone agreed were necessary for students to enter tech professions, to revise or create the curriculum to teach these skills, and document competency with credentials.

The Tech Talent Accelerator has:

• Created 15 academic pathways
• Engaged 13 higher education institutions
• Engaged 34 industry partners
• Logged 305 course enrollments to date
• Capacity for 300 students per semester to participate statewide
• Made progress on bringing more underrepresented students and workers into tech programs and positions. Notably, Black and African American students represent 15-24 percent of the total TTA program enrollment, and women represent about 30 percent.

“We are making historic investments in workforce development in Connecticut,” Gov. Ned Lamont said at the summit, urging participants to further innovation. 

“The Tech Talent Accelerator recognizes the critical role that colleges and universities play in educating the workforce, strengthened by the insight and involvement of business leaders.”  

Leadership

“Through the collaborative leadership of the Business Higher Education Forum and the New England Board Higher Education these programs have worked with Connecticut higher education and industry partners to help provide training for students now and in the future,” said chief workforce officer Kelli–Marie Vallieres. 

“Connecticut is fortunate to have industry leaders who are driving the conversation to identify unique and innovative ways to meet their workforce needs. 

“Having BHEF and NEBHE supporting this work and helping to translate between academic and business creates meaningful and impactful programming. 

“The Tech Talent Accelerator model is a best practice to engage key stakeholders to collaborate on building the talent pipeline for the future technology workforce.”

The event also focused on the next frontier of businesses’ tech talent needs, including artificial intelligence and quantum computing, and explored how the TTA model can be leveraged as technology continues to advance rapidly and Connecticut strives to be a leading force in the tech economy. 

“There is a crucial link between Connecticut’s higher education institutions and our economic competitiveness in the tech field and others,” said Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development commissioner Daniel O’Keefe.

“Collaboration between these two sectors will strengthen economic growth and workforce development.” 

Workforce

NEBHE and the BHEF built the program and helped make the matches between employers and higher education institutions with the goal of preparing the next generation of employees in the fields of cybersecurity, cloud computing, bioinformatics, game development and others.

The industry-recognized credentials that students earn in the pathways include Amazon’s AWS Machine Learning, Google Cloud, and CompTIA Security+.

“Connecticut has one of the most highly skilled workforces in the world,” said CBIA president and CEO Chris DiPentima. 

“With emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing, growing the tech talent ecosystem is critical for unlocking the state’s tremendous economic potential.”

Collaborative Partners

The two organizations that created the program with the Office of Workforce Strategy look to the future of this work. 

“Across the country, businesses are seeking access to workers with modern, transferable tech skills and credentials aligned specifically to their needs, and Connecticut is no different,” said BHEF CEO Kristen Fox.

“We are pleased to contribute BHEF’s approach to building a nimble, industry-informed tech talent pipeline to ensure the inclusive competitiveness of Connecticut’s economy and workforce.”  

“Connecting postsecondary education with high-demand talent needs is essential strategic work, benefiting all sectors involved—higher education, government, and employers,” said NEBHE president and CEO Michael Thomas.

“The Tech Talent Accelerator has the capacity for sustained impact now that the pathways have been built and is a powerful model to inform future work.”

Key Players

The following higher education institutions and industry partners participate in the Tech Talent Accelerator:

Institution	Area Focus	Industry Champion
Albertus Magnus College	Applied Data Science for Bioinformatics	Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce
Charter Oak State College	Cybersecurity	Travelers
Connecticut College	Information Technology	Accenture
CSCU	Cross-Cutting Digital Skills	Stanley Black & Decker, Accenture, Pitney Bowes, IBM
Fairfield University	Cybersecurity	Vancord
Mitchell College	Professional Technology Skills	INscrD
Quinnipiac University	Cybersecurity for Healthcare	Clearwater Compliance, Cornell Weill Medical Center, Cornell-Scott Hill Medical, Fortify Security, Help at Home, IGT Gaming, ISC2CT Industry Group, Kyber Security, Vancord, Yale New Haven
Southern Connecticut State University	Cloud Computing	Ancera
University of Bridgeport	Cybersecurity for Finance & Tech	CGD LLC, CYPROTECK Inc.
University of Connecticut – Stamford	Cloud Computing	Synchrony Financial
University of Hartford	Mobile App Development	Infosys
University of New Haven	Augmented/Virtual Reality Modeling	Arsome Technology Group, Pleiadian Systems Corporation, SphereGen
University of Saint Joseph	Data Analytics & Business Intelligence	Consultants in Government and Industry (CGI)