“Connecticut has the ingredients that make for a good environment for entrepreneurs — a smart work force, great higher-ed institutions,” said State Senator John Fonfara, a Hartford Democrat and the legislation’s architect. “We just have never taken the ingredients, put them together and put them in the oven.”

The state’s economy has been plagued by tepid job growth, and took a further hit this year as General Electric left its headquarters in suburban Fairfield for the booming tech hub of Boston. Hartford is hobbled by budgetary woes severe enough that S&P Global Ratings recently lowered the credit rating on the city’s general obligation bonds to BBB from A-plus, citing “uncertainty regarding the city’s ability to enact deficit mitigation measures, coupled with the significant budget gaps the city projects for the next five years.”

The grant program is an effort to jump-start job growth by trying to replicate the conditions that are drawing young professionals in droves to places like Boston, Austin and Pittsburgh, Mr. Fonfara said. The state’s unemployment rate in September was 5.4 percent, and has been slightly above the national rate for several years. Initial planning grants were awarded to 12 of 17 applicants last month, primarily cities. Strategic plans identifying main investment areas and potential co-investors are due April 1.

Hartford received one of those grants in collaboration with the town of East Hartford, thanks to the efforts of a group of entrepreneurs, local officials and representatives from major institutions like Trinity College, the University of Hartford and Hartford Healthcare. Michelle Cote, who oversaw the effort, said the group worked together to identify about a half-dozen areas where innovation might flourish.