Rhode Island’s manufacturing sector has undergone somewhat of a rebirth in recent years, and Christian Cowan has been one of the people leading the way.
Now he’s moved to the next level, and he wants to advance the state’s manufacturers too.
Cowan had served six years as the director of the Polaris Manufacturing Extension Partnership, the nonprofit that provides a wide array of programs designed to help Rhode Island manufacturing grow and operate more efficiently.
But in September 2020, he was named executive director of the 401 Tech Bridge, an economic development initiative launched in 2019 that seeks to connect the U.S. Navy, universities, nonprofits and businesses in Rhode Island to develop advanced materials and technologies.
There’s a lot riding on 401 Tech Bridge’s success.
In the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tech Bridge aided manufacturers such as the Pawtucket-based Cooley Group, which was developing a material used to make isolation gowns, in finding partnerships for their products.
Under Cowan’s leadership, the Tech Bridge has also launched programming designed to encourage businesses to conduct research and development for potential commercialization of technology.
A dedicated 17,000-square-foot research and development lab under construction in Portsmouth is slated to be the centerpiece of Tech Bridge offerings, designed for short-term projects where organizations can collaborate.
“We’re now at a point where … the viability of our space has never looked better,” said Cowan, who also serves as chief operating offer of the University of Rhode Island Research Foundation.
