Advanced Manufacturing in Action: FORGE and CCAT Host Connecticut’s Hardtech Community

FORGE collaborated with the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT) to host emerging hardtech companies, manufacturers and industry leaders for a tour and networking event at CCAT’s Advanced Technology Center. The morning brought together founders and manufacturing partners from across the region for an inside look at the technologies, expertise, and partnerships helping companies evaluate, implement and integrate advanced manufacturing into their workflows.

The event opened with networking before moving into a presentation from CCAT’s Chief Technology Officer Amy Thompson and Director of Partnerships Eileen Candels. Thompson and Candels shared the many ways the organization supports manufacturers and emerging hardtech companies across Connecticut. Their overview spanned CCAT’s technical programs, regional collaboration efforts, and workforce education and training resources, giving attendees a clear picture of the support available to companies at every stage of growth.

The CCAT team led a guided tour of the Advanced Technology Center, showing attendees capabilities across additive manufacturing, precision machining, advanced composites and digital design and metrology. The tour offered a tangible sense of how these tools can move a product from prototype toward production and how a resource like CCAT fits into that journey.

A highlight of the morning was the presentation of a $45,000 FORGE Product Development Grant, funded by the Connecticut Manufacturing Innovation Fund, to Connecticut-based medical device company Blue Elm Scientific. Born out of the Yale School of Medicine and Yale School of Engineering, Blue Elm is developing the Patient Controlled Drug Dispenser and Deactivator, a secure device that automates oral liquid medication delivery in hospitals, reducing dosing errors, preventing drug diversion and freeing nurses to focus on direct patient care. The grant will support the company as it works with its selected Connecticut-based manufacturing partner Synectic to develop its next-generation product and advance toward clinical deployment and commercialization.