On December 7 the Connecticut Economic Resource Center (CERC) hosted its second annual Celebrate CT event. Two hundred economic developers, businessmen and state officials from around CT gathered at the Bushnell to recognize projects, programs and businesses that have contributed to the economic well being of the state in 2011. Hosted by CERC, the event featured recent accomplishments of each of the state's regions and networking opportunities for participants to connect to others who have a similar goal of making Connecticut a more competitive business environment – the core of CERC's mission.
Startup Weekend Hartford was recognized as one of those successes, bringing together 75 entrepreneurs over the course of a weekend in September to design from the ground up and proceed to build ten new web or mobile based applications. Startup Weekend covers every aspect of the development from technical to legal and marketing. Accepting the award on behalf of HYPE and the MetroHartford Alliance was Clif Hirtle (2010-11 HYPE Entrepreneur Chair) and Nick Bereza (2012 HYPE Entrepreneur Chair).