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THE CONTEXT
KEY TRENDS AND FINDINGS
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND INNOVATIONS 2002 - 2004
REMAINING CHALLENGES
COMPETITION
THE CONTEXT
Greater Boston is a global center of technological innovation. Historically it is the birthplace of discoveries that have shaped daily life, from the first instant camera and sewing machine, to the first PC software and email, to efforts to make public water drinkable (see: Innovation: Boston 400 Years of Discovery). The region is home to a network of accomplished research centers, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Boston University, and University of Massachusetts, as well as 16 teaching hospitals, which have faculties responsible for a number of patented breakthroughs each year. High-tech corporations and innovative start-ups are numerous, populated by a highly-skilled workforce of trained scientists and engineers.
Massachusetts is on the cutting edge of emerging fields of medical devices and nanotechnology, and Boston is at the forefront of efforts to address the "digital divide" that exists in the access and use of technology. Efforts such as the City-trust funded network of more than 40 Timothy Smith Community Technology Centers throughout Greater Roxbury, the Boston Computer Museum’s Computer Clubhouse (now part of the Museum of Science), and programs such as Technology goes Home — which trains entire families in the use of computer technology and provides free computers — have leveled the technology playing filed in the city considerably. In addition, groups like Harbinger Partners and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) have worked to help smaller nonprofit organizations and community development corporations fully harness the power of new technologies in their daily work. Large corporations, citywide initiatives and community-based programs, such as Year Up and the Organizer’s Collaborative, provide training and access to the newest technologies. Greater Boston is also becoming a center for open source exploration. Yet competition is quickening around the country and the world in the technological fields in which Greater Boston has excelled — and for highly educated workers it has attracted and trained that are proving to be among the most vulnerable to offshoring and outsourcing.
KEY TRENDS AND FINDINGS
Greater Boston remains a center of technological innovation and excellence, despite emerging competition. While regions throughout the US and the world are racing to develop the kind of capacity for technological innovation and the highly qualified workforce that characterizes Greater Boston today, Metro Boston retains the competitive edge in most technological sectors, and is seen as second only to regions of California — from Silicon Valley to San Diego — in most cases. However, as India develops its software capacity and China moves to the front in high-tech manufacturing, businesses and jobs that once seemed "destined" to remain in Boston are increasingly vulnerable to competition from regions in the other six "Leading Technology States" (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, Minnesota, and Colorado), and other regions on the globe.
Local technological innovation is taking place in both traditional and emerging sectors including security, wireless, medical devices, bio-IT, and embedded systems and nanotechnology. Greater Boston is home to local leaders in robotics, such as the Burlington-based iRobot, and radio frequency identification (RFID), which was originally created by an MIT Professor and has been applied to recent innovations such as Fast Lane.
Technology is transforming teaching and learning. Local universities are advancing distance learning, with MIT's free OpenCourseWare widely available on-line and Boston University's first on-line class graduating in 2004. In the Boston Public Schools, the student-computer ratio rose from 63:1 in 1993 to 6:1. As of 2004, 95% of BPS teachers had received 50 hours of technology training. Virtually Anywhere User Library Technology (VAULT), available through the Boston Public Library, enables schools to create their own "library kiosk" of information from the library’s online database and features homework help and book search services for students. (see indicator 9.3)
Wireless services are expanding in Boston, but concerns have emerged about a new, wireless "digital divide." Boston ranked 17th out of 100 cities nationwide on Intel’s 2nd annual Most Unwired Cities survey for the greatest wireless accessibility: as of late 2004, there were 72 locations, 42 of them free, with wireless Internet access in the City of Boston listed on sites such as WiFi Hot Spot, WiFiFreeSpot, and BostonFreeFi. Newbury Open.net promotes free wireless access along Newbury Street in Boston’s Back Bay. Boston is also considering adding wireless technology to four subway stations, enabling the use of personal digital assistants and mobile phones. The emergence of WiMAX technology — capable of covering a range of as much as 30 miles and potentially providing access to thousands of users — is an opportunity to make Greater Boston a broadband Internet hot zone. However, implementation requires that tough decisions be made on how to reallocate Boston’s broadcasting spectrum and address competition with — and the needs of ̵
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