Commonwealth Conversations: Mass Innovations

Patrick-Murray Administration's Economic Summit

Posted by:
Secretary Gregory Bialecki, Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development

On October 27th, Governor Patrick convened nearly 150 business and non-profit leaders, along with state and local officials, for a day-long Economic Summit at the Boston Federal Reserve Bank to discuss how Massachusetts can best accelerate its path towards economic recovery, and collaborate on solutions to the state's challenges.

The summit was organized in collaboration with former Boston Federal Reserve President and Chairwoman of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors Cathy Minehan, Dean of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University Barry Bluestone and Boston Federal Reserve President and Chief Executive Officer Eric Rosengren, and the staff here at the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development. The Governor also assembled a planning committee comprised of leaders from a variety of sectors and regions across the state to develop and lead the summit’s comprehensive agenda.

During the summit, we reviewed a series of public-private initiatives launched under the Patrick Administration to advance the state's economic development, including the Holyoke High Performance Computing Center, Mass Challenge start-up competition, the “It’s All Here” marketing campaign, and BuyMass.org.

We then separated into three working groups to identify further opportunities for collaborative initiatives, with a focus on matters that could make a meaningful difference in the path of our recovery over the next eighteen months. By day's end, a strong consensus was reached that significant progress could be made by collaborative efforts to:

• Compete for Federal Funding (Stimulus and Otherwise), with a focus on areas in which local public and private efforts are well-aligned with current Obama Administration and Congressional priorities.
• Improve Access to Capital & Advice for Small Businesses, with an emphasis on small businesses with significant growth potential.
• Clear the Way for Business Expansion, by reducing or eliminating government or other obstacles that might inhibit businesses from expanding their facilities and hiring new workers.

In each case, summit participants agreed to continue to pursue each of these objectives through to concrete outcomes. I will continue to report on that progress through this blog.

In addition, upon the recommendation of Lt. Governor Tim Murray, we will also be working in collaboration with partners all over the state to hold a series of follow-up regional economic summits to ensure that the Administration’s efforts are inclusive and encourage regional development in all parts of the Commonwealth.

I encourage you to continue to stay engaged in the work and results of the Economic Summit here on our innovation blog.

Thank you
Secretary Greg Bialecki

Making Our Own Opportunities

Posted by:
Secretary Gregory Bialecki, Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development

I took a moment last week to describe the Patrick Administration’s economic development strategy, which has an innovation agenda at its core.

While there is no easy solution to the challenges that face us, we have been making steady progress, as the early signs confirm, on a three-part plan for sustainable job growth.

First, we are building upon our position as one of the world’s great centers for innovation....

Read the rest here at Mass High Tech.

Massachusetts: It's All Here

Posted by:
Secretary Gregory Bialecki, Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development

Here in the Patrick Administration, we believe that if state government aims to be taken seriously as a partner and collaborator in our innovation economy, we must demonstrate that we can be innovators ourselves.  Today we are announcing a new public-private partnership to better brand and market the Commonwealth as a business location. Check out our new website at www.massitsallhere.com. (By the way, the website was built by a great Massachusetts company, 451 Marketing, and is being hosted by another great Massachusetts company, Akamai.)

Why is this new marketing initiative innovative (I mean, beyond the fact that it uses the internet)? Three reasons:
 
1. We are moving the marketing of the Commonwealth as a business location out of state government and into a public-private partnership. As you will see from the website, we have enlisted the help of an extraordinary group of businesses, academic institutions and others into this effort.  This simply has not been done before in Massachusetts.
 
2. Most state marketing efforts are primarily focused on persuading great companies from other states to locate there. We look at it differently. Our primary focus will be right here: convincing local students to start their careers here, convincing local entrepreneurs to start companies here and convincing local small companies that this is the right place to grow their businesses to scale. If we get that right, we will have a very prosperous future here (and, by the way, others will come here to get in on the action).
 
3. We are going to talk unabashedly about the world-class businesses, people and ideas that are here.  We agree with Scott Kirsner that it's time to start bragging about what we do.
 
There is room in this new effort for everyone who wants to help us tell the Massachusetts story. We hope you will join us.

Governor Declares 09.09.09 Video Game Innovation Day in Massachusetts

The following is the full text of a proclamation by Governor Deval L. Patrick

Whereas Massachusetts, a world leader in technological innovation, is home to one of the largest and most diverse clusters of video game companies and talent in the country, generating over $3 billion in sales in 2008; and

 

Whereas In 1961, MIT students Martin Graetz, Steve Russell and Wayne Wiitanen invented the game Spacewar!, one of the first video games ever created; and

 

Whereas Throughout the Bay State, innovative companies are developing new gaming technologies from diagnostics to social media.  Our universities feature programs and curriculum that support the growth of the videogame industry; and 

Whereas On this day, Harmonix Music Systems, the Cambridge-based inventors of Rock Band and developer of the original Guitar Hero games, is releasing The Beatles: Rock Band™, a game that will not only bring the creativity and joy of The Beatles music to countless people, but will introduce the Fab Four to new generations of fans, 

Now, Therefore, I, Deval L. Patrick, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do hereby proclaim September 9th, 2009 to be,

 Video Game Innovation Day

 And urge all the citizens of the Commonwealth to take cognizance of this event and participate fittingly in its observance.

 

Given at the Executive Chamber in Boston, this ninth day of September, in the year two thousand and nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the two hundred and thirty-third.

                             By His Excellency                  

                                                                                        DevaL L.patrick

                      Governor of the Commonwealth          

William Francis Galvin               

Secretary of the Commonwealth  

    

 

 

God Save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

The Revolution of Inclusion

Posted by:
Secretary Gregory Bialecki, Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development

Scott Kirsner’s excellent blog post entitled “The Cultural Revolution” made a number of good points, but there was one in particular that I wanted to expand upon. Scott correctly observes that some of the many contributors to a new culture of innovation in Massachusetts are companies that (wait for it) have their headquarters in other states! Talk about a cultural revolution!  For as long as I can remember, the prevailing attitude in our state has been that if a company is here, but its headquarters are not, then they are somewhat part of our business community, but not entirely so. I heard from a number of such companies that they feel that they are treated as second-class citizens within our business community and I have seen personally how that happens.

So here’s to hoping that part of our cultural revolution is a recognition that companies that have their headquarters in other states or countries can and do play an enormous positive role in our state, not just as major employers, but as contributors to our culture of innovation. In IT, we are lucky to have Microsoft, Google, IBM, Cisco and others here. In life sciences, we are lucky to have Novartis, Shire and others here.  Back in February, a lot of people asked the Governor and me why we were going to the West Coast to visit the corporate headquarters of Microsoft, Google, Cisco and others. What did we think we were going to accomplish by doing that? Our primary objective was actually pretty simple: to convey in person the message that, as far as we were concerned, all of those companies were valued members of the Massachusetts business community

Reputation of Innovation

Posted by:
Secretary Gregory Bialecki, Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development

How is it that Massachusetts has so many innovative ideas? Most people would give the credit to our great research universities. While they do deserve a lot of credit, there are also innovative ideas emerging all the time from our great independent non-profit research institutions (like the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) and from our great corporate Research & Development centers.

The Governor and I had a chance to attend the grand opening of Saint Gobain’s global R&D global headquarters in Northborough last week.

 Governor Patrick lends a hand at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Saint-Gobain R&D Center.

 

This new facility represents a $15 million expansion of an existing 26-acre site in Northborough. Of the company’s four research centers worldwide, the Northborough site is the largest. The building offers a team of 200 scientists and engineers 60,000 square feet of new laboratory and office space wherein to conduct research into building materials, plastics, ceramics and abrasives, as well as the development of state-of-the-art technology to promote energy efficiency in buildings. The company’s products have a variety of uses, from household use to commercial/industrial applications—including use by NASA and the international space station and, locally, in the construction of the new Northborough R&D center.

Designed by local architectural firm Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbott, and constructed by A.J. Martini, the new building itself is an innovation.  Making unprecedented use of Saint Gobain building products, it is anticipated to receive a prestigious Gold Rating in the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED(R) "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design" energy efficiency rating program—which very few buildings in New England have received. Rakesh Kapoor, director of the new center, estimated the facility is in the top 10 percent of energy efficient buildings in the United States.

To my original point, Saint Gobain is well aware of all the work performed at our universities. Alain Zanoli, VP of R&D for the company, cited Massachusetts universities' (and the well-equipped workforce they help generate) as one of the reasons Saint Gobain decided to open the center in Massachusetts. In fact, several research institutes have partnered with Saint Gobain on this project.

This announcement, which received coverage by the Telegram , MetroWest Daily News , and NECN is just one of countless examples of how Massachusetts’ reputation as a place that is conducive to fostering innovation attracts investments from like-minded institutions and corporations.

Innovation is Our Future

 Posted by: Pat Larkin, Director of MTC's John Adams Innovation Institute

Thanks to our long tradition of innovation and our vibrant innovation ecosystem, Massachusetts has benefited disproportionately from this country’s innovation infrastructure. Our universities, companies, entrepreneurs, and financiers, on their own, without a grand plan, and through their own drive, have made Massachusetts one of the world’s foremost environments for innovation. Their presence here attracts bright people and billions of dollars of investment every year. Their presence fuels an ongoing reinvention of our economy.

The leadership behind the post-war infrastructure devoted to research and innovation in the United States can be traced to one of our own, Vannevar Bush. Through him, Massachusetts played a seminal role in the formative stages of America’s unparalleled innovation ecosystem. He was a native of Everett. He was MIT’s Vice President and Dean of Engineering from 1932 to 1938. He was director of the federal Office of Scientific Research and Development during World War II. His report “Science, The Endless Frontier” published in 1945 envisioned what would be later be born as the National Science Foundation.

Today in Massachusetts, to sustain a prosperous and equitable society founded on individual dignity and initiative, innovation is as important as education, health, security, and sustainability. The performance of our economy and the well-being of many of our communities depend on innovation.

But we can no longer take our innovation economy for granted. What we have been privileged to have in our midst for decades is what other states –and other countries- are seeking to imitate. Everybody wants a piece of the knowledge economy. In other words, everybody wants a piece of what we have, and we have a big chunk of it. We cannot sit still. And that is why we in state government are mobilizing together with industry and academic leaders across the state. We are creating frameworks for collaboration and supporting ongoing dialogues that will ensure that innovation remains big and becomes a bigger part of our economy.

So in my opinion, those who do not appreciate the need for and the value of state-sponsored initiatives to enhance our innovation economy are shortsighted. They undersell the future of our children and our grandchildren. Those who think that government has no business in promoting innovation are either unaware or have chosen not to see the history of American industry and innovation.  

To compete, or not to compete .... continued

Posted by:
Secretary Gregory Bialecki, Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development

I have seen a number of responses to my blog entry on non-competes earlier this week, including one Tweet that summarized it as "Bialecki...argues for the status quo." I don't think that's what I said, but on re-reading my own post, I can see why someone would say that. In an attempt to lay out our thinking on the subject, I did give the appearance of being more comfortable with the status quo. So let me elaborate a little bit more on two points:

First, I think Rep. Will Brownsberger and his colleagues got it right by deciding to limit/regulate non-competes, as opposed to attempting to eliminate them in Massachusetts. I know that this decision will disappoint a number of folks who feel strongly about the issue, but it feels right to me for the reasons I set out earlier this week. Eliminating non-competes would be a dramatic change in our way of doing business and there is just not a broad consensus of opinion that eliminating non-competes is the right move.

Second, even though Rep. Brownsberger's decision was the right one, it does send the discussion down a challenging path, because the limitation/regulation approach means that a lot of lines need to be drawn in places where there is no clear answer. If we want to make a distinction between non-competes for senior management versus junior staff, for example, where do we draw that line? As I mentioned earlier this week, if those rules aren't clear, then the uncertainty created might even be worse than the status quo.

Does that mean the limitation/regulation approach is not worth trying? Absolutely not. We welcome the efforts of Rep. Brownsberger, his colleagues and other stakeholders in the MA innovation economy to explore the possibilities for non-compete rules that work better than the ones we have today, and we will certainly keep an open mind.

To compete, or not to compete?

Posted by:
Secretary Gregory Bialecki, Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development

I have been asked via blog comments and email to talk about the Administration's views on non-compete clauses under Massachusetts law. So here goes...

We are aware of the arguments in favor of changing our current situation, under which non-competition clauses in employment contracts are widely enforceable in a court of law. There is the experience of California, widely admired for its entrepreneurial environment, which refuses to enforce non-competes.  There is the Kennedy School study that appears to reflect an decrease in entrepreneurial activity in Michigan after that state changed its laws to allow enforcement of non-competes. There are the strong opinions of a number of thoughtful observers of our own innovation ecosystem, including from Scott Kirsner and Tim Rowe. As I have said in prior posts, we really are working to support and promote our innovation ecosystem in every way possible and this is certainly a potentially intriguing way to do just that (one that would not require any new state spending, by the way).

On the other hand, we are still wrestling with the following:

1. It would be a significant change in the way business is done in Massachusetts and should not be undertaken lightly.

2. We are hearing a real mix of opinions on the issue from people in our innovation economy.

3. The defenders of the current system are not only the big tech companies, but also some of the smaller ones. Brian Shin at Visible Measures, for one, has explained to me why he is comfortable with the rule as it stands. There is also a mix of opinion among VCs.

4. Critics of the current system usually give me examples of what sound to me like unreasonable or overzealous abuses of the rule, not reasons to throw out the rule entirely.

5. On the other hand, simply trying to modify the current rule (as pending legislation proposes), rather than getting rid of it, may not improve the situation much and may lead to uncertainty and litigation.

6. The middle of a severe economic downturn may not be the best time to make such a change.

7. There are reasons to believe that the market itself could address this issue, if companies that don’t require non-competes make a big deal of this issue and thereby recruit talent more successfully than those that do.

On balance, we don't yet see the case to have been sufficiently proven that a change in our existing laws will be a significant improvement to our innovation ecosystem. But we will continue to keep on top of the debate.

Stay tuned.

Holyoke: Innovation District and Technological Epicenter?

Posted by:
Secretary Gregory Bialecki, Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development

 

It may not be as far off as you think.

An important collaboration not mentioned in my last post is the recent announcement of plans to develop a high-performance computing center (HPCC) in Holyoke. The $100 million facility will be a world-class, energy-efficient computing and research center – the first of its kind in New England. But just as importantly, it represents an unprecedented coming together of the Commonwealth, private and public universities, and members of the private sector to work toward a common goal. 

For several months members of the Patrick Administration have worked with MIT, UMASS, Boston University, EMC, Cisco Systems, and local leaders to create a vision for the center. What started as conversation, evolved into an effort to create a premier site for highly-efficient “green” computing with an associated academic-corporate research agenda that will put the Commonwealth at the forefront of the next generation of computing.

Last month, the partners signed a Letter of Intent, formally defining their vision for the center and beginning to create an action plan for the following 120 days. 

Over the next few months the partners will flesh out details including: an organizational structure and operating model; how to tap into Holyoke’s abundance of affordable, renewable hydro-electric power; creating capital and operating financial plans, including public and private sources of funds; forming a statewide research agenda; educational and workforce training plans; definition of “green” components and the creation of project timetables.

The establishment of High Performance Computing Center, which will support academic and corporate initiatives, has the potential to become a critical component of a regional innovation agenda. It’s particularly exciting to see this 21st century initiative taking shape in one of the country’s first industrial cities.

The partners involved in the HPCC project reconvened this week to assess the progress being made in advancing this project, and the news is good.

Keep following the conversation here, or visit the Boston Globe, MassLive, and the Springfield Republican.