Fairfield First Selectman Mike Tetreau will appear as a panelist at the upcoming 26th Annual CAST-USA (Chinese Association for Science & Technology, USA) Annual Convention and Global Innovation Summit to be held October 12-14, 2018 in New Haven, Connecticut.

First Selectman Tetreau will be delivering remarks concerning investment opportunities in Fairfield County and the Fairfield County Five, a regional economic development partnership involving the localities of Fairfield, Greenwich, Stamford, Norwalk, and Westport.

First Selectman Tetreau’s presentation will highlight the State’s and region’s attractiveness for business investment, especially vis-a-vis New York City, in terms of cost, quality of life and talent. Addressing the theme of the convention, First Selectman Tetreau will emphasize the State’s leadership position when it comes to talent and innovation, ranking third for percentage of employees with advanced degrees, and having a 33% higher concentration of high-tech workers than the national average. This abundance of talent and the region’s proximity—with access to one-third of the nation’s employment and gross domestic product—is one reason why the area is home to more than a dozen Fortune 500 companies.

First Selectman Tetreau will also discuss the Fairfield County Five initiative which was launched last year. Comprised of the chief elected officials and economic development leaders of the five member communities, the group has sponsored to date several events in New York City which tout Fairfield County as a premier business location. Most recently, the group held a business outreach and networking event last month at the Historic Hippodrome Building that was focused on NYC-based tech start-ups.

“Our goals are to attract new investment and to encourage companies to locate to, and to expand their operations in, Fairfield County,” commented Fairfield Director of Economic Development Mark Barnhart. “We’ve got a great story to tell, and, with this new collaborative initiative, we can reach an even broader audience with our message,” he added.

Fairfield First Selectman Mike Tetreau echoed these comments noting, “We sometimes take for granted all of the things that make our region such a great place to live, work and grow a business: great schools, a highly educated, talented and productive workforce, vibrant downtowns and an enviable quality of life. On top of that, we have much lower business costs than New York City—or, for that matter, the rest of the Tri-State Area—without compromising on that sense of connectedness.”

The Fairfield County Five is planning additional events as well as site familiarization tours to business prospects in the coming months.

The Chinese Association for Science & Technology, USA is a non-profit organization whose mission is to build relationships and exchange programs between China and the United States, to promote traditional Chinese culture and to provide networking opportunities between scholars and professionals. Founded in 1992 in New York City, the organization has more than a ten-thousand members, the majority of whom are Chinese-American professionals holding advanced degrees in science and technology, education, business, law, medicine, art and other fields of endeavor. CAST-USA has grown into one of the most influential Chinese American professional organizations with sixteen regional chapters and 12 liaison offices in China.

For additional information, please contact Fairfield Director of Economic Development Mark Barnhart.at (203) 256-3120 or mbarnhart@fairfieldct.org.

The photo shows l to r: Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling, Westport First Selectman James Marpe, Greenwich First Selectman Peter Tesei, DECD Commissioner Catherine Smith, Fairfield First Selectman Mike Tetreau, and Stamford Mayor David Martin.