What drives innovation in Boston? Five key drivers you need to know
March 1, 2021
Boston is proud of many things, its Revolutionary past, its sports teams, its arts and culture, its growing diversity, and its world-class educational assets.
However, relatively few Bostonians know or even suspect the fact that Greater Boston has another point of pride.
It is, in fact, arguably the most innovative city in the United States, and doubtless among the most innovative cities in the world.
For almost 20 years, I have focused my life and my work – engaging with hundreds of others — on understanding 400 years of Boston history through the lens of innovation. I have uncovered two major facts about this important topic.
Fact One
Innovation was the key to rebounds from four, major structural busts that temporarily turned Greater Boston into a backwater. This happened most recently in the mid-20th century when our old textile, shoe, and manufacturing industries all but disappeared.
Remarkably, new electronic and software industries, based on innovations, sprang into existence, largely replacing the old employers and making the region a global leader in high tech.
Fact Two
The presence of five key`drivers,’ in varying degrees, across four centuries helped make Boston successful innovators, whether 18th century Puritan merchant or 21st century, immigrant biomedical entrepreneur.
These factors (the drivers) have been our “secret sauce.” They are in the air we breathe, maybe even more a part of our culture than the Red Sox, a cup of`chowdah,’ or a cannoli from the North End.
The great news is that we still have them – and they belong to us all.
What<a href=file:///C:/Users/hglenn/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/BYCLFFO5/Boston%20Innovates%20Blog.docx#_msocom_1 class=msocomanchor id=_anchor_1 language=JavaScript name=_msoanchor_1 ]<hg1] does this mean for us – or for you in Boston’s business communities? We have a unique calling card and have an opportunity to not only better understand what has made us successful in the past and can help us to succeed today but also a chance to share our example with others.
Especially during this difficult time, with the world economy struggling to regain ground after the crushing blows of COVID, we can showcase our example of fostering collaborations, thinking outside the box, and supporting and boosting our innovators .
In our research we focused on, and documented, the impact and originality of some 400 innovations which changed the nation or the world, culled from an original list of 600. These were developments ranging from the invention of the telephone and the development of AT&T, the invention of the mutual fund by MFS, the microwave oven by Raytheon, modern surgery at Mass General Brigham through the first use of anesthesia, drugs like Avonex at Biogen to help millions deal with MS, the first organ transplant (The Brigham Hospital), to the invention of venture capital, the development of the world biotech center in Kendall Square (think the COVID-19 vaccine), as well as pulling off major social innovations like being the first state to end slavery to legalizing same-sex marriage.
No other city has such a breadth and depth of world – changing innovations as Greater Boston does.
The five drivers (not always present in other regions but abundantly represented here) are:
1) Strong entrepreneurship (you probably are one or know one)
2) Local networking (the Chamber facilitates this!)
3) Local funding (our banks, venture capitalists, families, and our experienced entrepreneurs who are ready to invest in others)
4) Local demand (yes, having early adapters of far-out software like Dan Bricklin’s electronic spreadsheets) vital
5) Global demand (you can’t make it big until you can sell it to the world – and we have a history of doing just that!)
Most large cities have a few game-changing innovations, but very few cities in the world come back century after century to continue to innovate on the scale that Boston has done, and just pulled off again with becoming the world center for biotech (18 of the 20 largest biotech companies have substantial facilities in Massachusetts). No other city has our depth or breadth of successful innovations and business innovators. Our innovation history, documented in my new book, Boston Made: From Revolution to Robotics, Innovations that Changed the World, includes 50 readable innovation stories – drawn from the 400 researched – featuring men, women, and people of color.
Our guest blogs are written and produced by organizations within our membership. They are not intended to reflect the views nor opinions of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.