Internship - Innovation Lab (Part-time)

Location

New Haven, CT | United States

Job description

Connecticut Innovations (CI)

As Connecticut's strategic venture capital arm and one of the most active investors on the eastern seaboard, CI has a portfolio of 220+ companies across various industries, with strengths in life sciences, technology and climate tech. CI meets with hundreds of companies every year, identifying the most promising early-stage companies looking to grow in the state. Every year, CI invests in 20+ new companies, in addition to providing follow-on capital to existing portfolio companies.

• CI has invested $620 million in innovative startups since 1995.
• CI's leveraging power is 9X, or $5.6 billion.

CI invested $42.2 million in 71 companies in the fiscal year (FY 2023) ending June 30, 2023. CI's investments also attracted an additional $454.5 million in outside capital into its portfolio companies. This fiscal year generated $38.2 million in cash proceeds through company exits, which includes acquisitions and IPOs.

During the past two fiscal years, CI officially launched two new funds, the $100 million ClimateTech Fund and the $50 million Future Fund, both of which are actively deploying dollars into early-stage companies. In addition to these new funds, CI launched the Innovation Lab to match and fund pilots between state agency partners and CI's scalable portfolio companies, expediting the pilot-to-procurement process for innovative technologies.

Our culture is vibrant, diverse, collaborative and inclusive. We embrace perspective and have mission alignment on our impact to Connecticut's innovation ecosystem. We host or participate in over 20 ecosystem events per year, and our headquarters at The District in New Haven is a catalyst for partnership and an innovation ecosystem community hub.

CI Innovation Lab ("InLab")

The CI Innovation Lab was recently established to connect CI portfolio companies with Connecticut's government agencies and Connecticut's largest employers across diverse industries. These strategic partnerships enable high growth early-stage companies to help the state become more efficient and productive as well as create new opportunities for collaboration and impact.

In a matter of months, InLab has developed relationships with dozens of organizations across Connecticut, including more than 10 State of Connecticut agencies, the top colleges and universities, several leading healthcare systems, and multiple large employers in Connecticut. At present, the CI Innovation Lab has curated opportunities for more than 30 CI portfolio companies interfacing directly with significant new partners and customers.

InLab is helping CI become an increasingly important player in the venture capital market in the US. By helping our portfolio companies build relationships and demonstrate value to some of the largest customers in the country, CI will be able to help our founders and CEOs build their businesses in a way few others can.

Innovation Lab Internship

Due to increased demand, CI is looking to hire a part-time Innovation Lab Intern beginning in May 2024 to work closely with the InLab Director to support the scaling of this organization. This role will support relationship and stakeholder management, proposal and contract management, project and administration management, and branding and communications management.

This role resides at the intersection between the State of Connecticut's venture arm, the innovation ecosystem, the government, and Connecticut's biggest employers. We are looking for someone who is mission-aligned, interested in early-stage company development, and can thrive in an empowered culture focused on impact. The intern will interact directly with founders and their teams, commissioners, and corporate executive teams, so we need someone with strong executive presence, the ability to build consensus, excellent attention to detail and an outcome-driven mentality.

• Time commitment is 10-15 hours/week (up to 32 over summer) with the ability to prioritize CI work as meetings are booked.
• Mix of remote (online) and in-person work at CI's offices (Hartford, New Haven, Stamford) and partner site visits.
• Must have ability and authorization to drive to meetings and work sites.

Day-to-Day Duties

• Operate existing partnerships with state agencies under our founding legislation.
• Develop new partnerships and opportunities with state agencies and corporates/organizations:
  • Preparing for, booking and running routine demonstration and review meetings
  • Tracking pilot deal flow and interest across the pipeline
  • Curation of CI portfolio companies to shape tailored value propositions.
  • Qualifying and quantifying each opportunity and confirming partner interest
  • Managing a structured pipeline of pilots with each partner
• Operationalize lab pilots front-to-back, including contracts, tracking success metrics and customer satisfaction, safety standards and CI Board of Directors and state reporting.
• Summarize results to communicate success to new potential corporate and state partners showing quantifiable results, dates and timelines.

Skills & Competencies

• High personal passion for a fast-developing innovation ecosystem and an interest in expanding the partnership across multiple industries.
• Detailed, action-oriented person who takes initiative to follow-up on items to maintain momentum and growth of the lab.
• Project management and organization skills to solicit and follow up on meetings with partners and CI portfolio companies.
• Ability to multi-task a matrix of companies, state agencies and corporate partners and a pipeline of pilots
• Communicate comfortably with a wide range of stakeholders from company CEOs down to administrative assistants, creating harmonious friendly relationships that lead to trust.
• Ability to read, review, and structure legal contracts for lab pilots, knows where to get outside opinions or support and how and when to obtain signatures and execute.
• Develop a budget for a pilot and understand and communicate its components and reasons for funding.
• Review return-on-investment and help create a compelling business case for pilot and adoption.
• Works across multiple reporting lines and state agencies to create positive relationships with CI venture managers, portfolio company leadership, state employees and corporate employees.

Professional Qualifications

• MPH/MBA candidates graduating in 2025

Connecticut Innovations is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and strongly encourages the applications of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities.

Job tags

Salary

$30 per hour