Central Mass. Is Well Positioned In Life Sciences Future
O'Sullivan
The recent release of the Boston Foundation's report on Massachusetts' $1-billion, 10-year life sciences initiative revealed that this investment, a priority of the Patrick administration and the Legislature when they created it five years ago, has benefited the entire state.
And while much of the growth in life sciences has taken place in the Boston-Cambridge area, Worcester and Central Massachusetts have also been big winners — and that could carry well into the future.
Whether it be the new Sherman Center at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, WPI's Gateway Park, Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives, companies like Blue Sky Biotech, Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in Grafton, or targeted bioscience job training at Worcester Technical High School, all of us have helped fulfill the life sciences vision of this initiative by spawning research and development, which has, in turn, fueled private-sector companies and jobs.
The recent sale of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Park to UMass Medical School has also greatly enhanced the park and Worcester's position within the highly competitive life sciences laboratory marketplace.
The commonwealth's economic product today is innovation and brain power, and the Worcester area, with its consortium of higher education institutions and their combined diverse and talented 30,000 students, make this area a solid western anchor of a growing "biomedical corridor" between Worcester and the Boston-Cambridge area.
As a result, the Worcester's region's economic foundation is strongly positioned within the life sciences, healthcare and education markets. Using MBI as one example, we have enjoyed steady progress in helping create more than 50 small life sciences companies and grow 600 jobs in the last decade.
We all succeed because we enjoy a wonderful collaborative spirit here in Worcester County among business, academic, science and government sectors. We compete in a global market and, by working with state and local governments, as well as the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, we will continue to be the leader among competing states.
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Kevin O'Sullivan is president and CEO of Worcester-based Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives, a private, independent economic development organization dedicated to job creation and innovative
healthcare throughout the state.
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