The (little) engine that could

More than a few were surprised when in March 2003, UMass Boston appeared in the publication “Engines of Economic Growth: The Impact of Boston’s Eight Research Universities on the Metropolitan Boston Area.” But UMass Boston’s peers clearly knew what others might not – that UMass Boston was on the rise as a research institution, and plays an important role in the region.

Fittingly, last year, in the midst double-digit growth in its research, UMass Boston joined Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the top rankings of the most productive of the nation's research universities. UMass Boston was ranked fifth among small universities, according to a survey, based on the number of book and journal articles published by each institution's faculty, along with journal citations, awards, honors and grants.

Engines of Economic Growth, an unprecedented collaboration, was commissioned by Boston College, Boston University, Brandeis University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Tufts University and the University of Massachusetts Boston to help them better understand their role in the regional economy. At the time the Boston metropolitan area began to feel the effects of the national recession. The universities noted that they provide the region what no other region could match, and committed to playing an essential role in the region’s economic future and its quality of life.

As the region once again feels the effects of the national economic downturn, it is time to remember that these universities are today providing a foundation for renewed economic growth. As a matter of fact, in the area that most analysts believe is the best opportunity for the region’s urban core, life science research and development, the universities – including UMass Boston - are leading the way.

The research universities are already playing a central role in the region’s economy, contributing more than $7 billion to the regional economy, according to Engines of Economic Growth. They are among the region’s leading employers, and one of its most reliable sources of job growth. Each year they turn out graduates, providing to the region’s leading industries a steady stream of highly talented, well-educated workers. Their research programs are creating the new knowledge that will help ensure the Boston area’s continued leadership in emerging areas. They are a seedbed for creation and growth of the dynamic young companies that over the next decade will drive the growth of the region’s economy. The concentration of major research centers in the Boston area is a magnet for investment by major U.S. and foreign corporations in new research facilities.

But Boston and its research universities are facing growing competition. Places like Bangalore in India, Biopolis in Singapore, and Otaniemi in Finland have been following its recipe for success in organizing talent, innovation and capital.

This is why these universities joined their peers in industry and government to shape the state’s $1 billion life science initiative to secure a leadership role in the twenty-first century.

UMass Boston’s role in the expected regional economic impact may be small – it was 8% of the $7 billion in 2003 - but it’s nevertheless important. First, to address the need for small, reasonably priced lab and office space connected to a university, it is opening in early 2009, an 18,000 SF state-of-the-art Venture Development Center on its campus. Tight space and high rents are driving some biotech firms to the suburbs. Many of the younger penny-counting scientists who start firms already live in the city and want to remain a short subway ride from investors, partners, suppliers as well as the airport.

Second, UMass Boston itself will be a magnet as a result of its collaboration with the Dana Farber Cancer Center to launch a $10 million personalized cancer therapy center, part of the state's life science investment. This program, now in the planning stages, will categorize tumors and generate matching therapies. Entrepreneurial development teams can locate in the Venture Development Center until expansion space opens up in the new integrated science center soon to get underway as part of UMass Boston’s master plan.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, UMass Boston provides a pipeline of diverse talent for the life sciences industry, mirroring the market. Many in industry understand that diverse talent can make for novel and innovative science and add to the robustness of solutions. UMass Boston is the only public university in New England recognized by the National Institutes of Health as a minority-serving institution.

UMass Boston is playing an important role in bringing the innovation economy to a corner of the urban area that has yet to experience much of those benefits. As in The Little Engine that Could, a long train must be pulled over a high mountain. Various larger engines are asked to pull the train; for various reasons they refuse. The request is sent to a small engine, which agrees to try. The engine succeeds in pulling the train over the mountain while repeating its motto: "I-think-I-can".