State research facility serves UTC companies

East Hartford center employs 500

EAST HARTFORD — The United Technologies Research Center has been around for nearly 90 years, but there is nothing old about the facility, which sits in the shadow of Rentschler Field.

Instead, the research and development arm of the Hartford-based conglomerate keeps UTC’s family of companies on the forefront of innovation. From 3-D printers that produce magnets for possible use in motors to using virtual reality to train jet engine maintenance workers, there is no shortage of brainpower at the East Hartford facility, which hosted a media day Friday.

“This is some of the most pioneering work in the world,” David Parekh, corporate vice president of research and director of the UTC, said of the magnets made from 3-D printers. “This is not something we pulled from somewhere else. Some really smart people who work here invented it.”

UTC invests about $3 billion annually in research and development, and some of that amount goes to the research center, said J. Michael McQuade, the parent company’s senior vice president of science and technology. The research facility is funded by UTC’s subsidiaries, as well as grants from government entities such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military.

“This is not pie-in-thesky work we’re doing here,” Parekh said. “It changes the way businesses think about markets. It’s a huge advantage for the company.”

Parekh said UTC subsidiaries are not required to use the research center for developing new technologies.

“They could work with anyone they want,” he said. “But over the past decade, the investment from the business units has more than doubled.”

McQuade said researchers take nothing for granted when doing work for UTC’s subsidiaries.

“Program by program, the money that comes in here has to be justified,” he said.

Although the research center has been in existence since 1929, the organization is continuing to expand, having opened a new and expanded $60 million “innovation hub” in June on its East Hartford campus. The innovation hub includes 185,000 square feet of new and renovated office and laboratory space.

UTC has announced two additional investments planned for its East Hartford campus: a $75 million Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence and a $40 million Engine Compressor Research facility.

The Additive Manufacturing Center will accelerate deployment of a broad range of metal and polymer additive technologies. And the new Engine Compressor Research facility will be used to develop advanced compressor technologies for future commercial and military engines.

“This is not pie-in-the-sky work we’re doing here. It changes the way businesses think about markets. It’s a huge advantage for the company.” David Parekh, corporate vice president of research and director of United Technologies Research Center