MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS 2004–2006
Business at the new Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC) took off during 2005, and in 2006, the combined attendance at the BCEC and the Hynes Convention Center was over 660,000, with a spill-over of 650,000 room nights and $528 million in spending. In June, 2006, the 793-room Westin Boston Waterfront opened to serve BCEC, and other hotels are planned to meet the needs of Boston’s growing tourist and convention industry.
Boston Main Streets are succeeding in creating new businesses and vibrant business districts in Boston’s neighborhoods. In 2005/2006, major initiatives included “Dining on Main Streets,” which encouraged the development of new restaurants, and in April, 2005, Boston Main Streets formed a partnership that by mid-2006 had established free WiFi access points to six Main Streets Districts. Since Main Streets began in 1995, 580 new businesses and 3,906 jobs have been created, and 597 businesses have completed city-assisted storefront improvement projects. In addition, the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City found in 2006 that from 1992-2003, of 50 inner cities, Boston had the second highest growth in retail employment.
The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s Renewable Energy Trust funded over $87 million in FY2005 and FY2006 to invest in energy saving technologies, with increasing emphasis placed on encourage in the growth and development of research and manufacturing within the state, both through direct investments and through the Massachusetts Green Energy Fund.
Privately-held, majority women-owned firms are projected to have grown by 49% in the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH MSA from 1997 to 2006. Metro Boston now ranks 7th in the number of firms and 6th in sales among the top 50 metros, according to the Center for Women’s Business research.
Addressing Greater Boston’s need for more collaboration, a challenge contained in the 2004 Indicators Report:
The John LaWare Leadership Forum was convened in 2005 by leaders at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the Boston Foundation and sovereign Bank to bring together a wide-spectrum of civic leaders to in a data-driven set of conversations to address the competitiveness challenges and opportunities facing the Greater Boston region highlighted in the 2004 Boston Indicators Report.
The non-partisan research organization Mass Insight’s Science and Technology Initiative highlighted the need for R&D strategic alliances to boost statewide competitiveness in 2004, calling for partnerships among public and private universities, teaching hospitals, government and industry throughout New England. It subsequently launched a new initiative, Global Massachusetts 2015, to carry out its earlier recommendations with a comprehensive sector-based strategy to increase innovation and development in areas of particular promise and capacity.
Skillworks: Partners for a Productive Workforce is the largest public/private investment in workforce development in Boston’s history. The five-year partnership launched in 2003 is dedicated to meeting employer needs for skilled workers and enhancing worker access to jobs that pay a family-supporting wage, through workforce partnerships, strengthening capacity and public policy advocacy. At the end of its third year, five sector partnerships had been created, 400 low-income, unemployed workers have been placed in jobs, and 1,700 incumbent workers have received career-enhancing training.
The Massachusetts Software Council and the New England Business and Technology Association Inc merged in 2005 to found the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council, providing a forum for high tech organizations to talk and share ideas across sectors.
The Massachusetts Life Sciences Collaborative was launched in December, 2006. With $600,000 in seed funding, the new organization brings together biotech companies, universities, governments and non-profits interested in the long-term health and development of the Massachusetts biotech industry.
UMass-Lowell announced in mid-2006 that it was expanding its Biomanufacturing Center. The 10-year-old center is teaming up with UMass-Dartmouth, the Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Tufts University to step-up the development of new drug compounds. UMass-Lowell and UMass-Amherst are also benefiting from the establishment of nanotech manufacturing centers.
Following a rapid response from Massachusetts newly formed one-stop-shop, the Business Resource Team, Bristol-Myers-Squibb announced in June, 2006, its decision to construct a major biologic compounds manufacturing facility in Devens, which could eventually employ 550. In November 2006, Swiss-based Novartis announced further expansion of its Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. Novartis’ Cambridge research offices will increase by 500,000 square feet, to almost 1.4 million square feet.
Visit the Hub of Innovation’s Economy Section.