Lamont, CT officials headed to Germany for business recruitment

Gov. Ned Lamont and other state officials are headed to Germany next week to discuss local business expansion opportunities with German companies, his office announced.

Lamont, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Daniel O’Keefe, Connecticut Innovations CEO Matt McCooe and AdvanceCT CEO John Bourdeaux will be in the country from July 15 to July 19 for several meetings in Munich, Stuttgart and Berlin with German business leaders.

The “economic development mission,” as Lamont put it, aims to identify opportunities for these German companies to expand or establish a presence in Connecticut. Germany has the third-largest aerospace and defense market in Europe, so the connection with Connecticut companies is a natural one.

More than 100 German companies have operations in Connecticut, Bourdeaux said, with four companies, including manufacturers TRUMPF Inc., Roehm, Eppendorf and biomedical institute BioMedX, launching local expansion efforts in 2023. Those expansions created more than 300 new local jobs across 309,000 square feet of new facilities, Bourdeaux said.

Further, German company Ebm-papst Inc. earlier this year announced plans to expand its Farmington North American headquarters with a 14,671-square-foot addition to its manufacturing and engineering facility.

The country has established itself as Connecticut’s largest export partner over the last several years, jumping ahead of mainstays like Canada and France.

In 2023, the state exported $2.1 billion in goods to Germany, per Lamont’s office, representing 13% of the state’s total goods exports. Germany also ranks as Connecticut’s top source of foreign direct investment.

Germany was the state’s fourth-largest import partner in 2022, trailing just Canada, Mexico and China.

The trip is consistent with other economic development and business recruitment tactics Lamont and the state have been involved in recently.

The General Assembly earlier this year established a 23-member CT-Ireland Trade Commission that aims to advance trade and investment between the country of Ireland and Connecticut, and encourages mutual business-related investment and collaboration.

In February, the Lord Mayor of London and other U.K. officials visited Hartford to highlight the growth of the CT-UK InsurTech Corridor, a partnership that launched in 2022.

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