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PROJECT UPDATE
Flagship
R&D Alliance Projects Move Forward
One of the Science &
Technology Initiative priorities was to establish
state R&D match funding to leverage federal
funds and support university-industry collaborations.
We accomplished the goal with creation of the Massachusetts
Technology Collaborative's John Adams Innovation
Institute in 2004. When Adams Innovation Institute
funds became available, our Science and Technology
Initiative (SciTech) partners urged us to establish
work groups to explore new large scale R&D alliances.
In
March, Mass Insight released four SciTech Work Group
reports. These reports explored the potential for
flagship R&D strategic alliance projects in
drug development, Ocean Research, Nanotechnology
and Homeland Security. Each of these four project
areas met the state technology leadership criteria
established by the Technology Road Map:
- Unique resources to solve national and state
challenges with federal funding
- Potential to position the state for continued
national research leadership
- Opportunity to support key regional industry
clusters and produce job
Large-scale R&D Projects
Since March, Mass Insight has been facilitating and
organizing the campaign to raise additional funds
for three of these large scale R&D collaborative
projects.
- Drug Development Services Center:
Focus - Imaging and Biomarkers
The goal of this collaboration of pharma, biotech,
equipment makers and academic centers is a transformational
$50 million+ center focused on pre-competitive
collaboration that provides a bridge between industry
and academic research. Validation of imaging biomarkers
is a national priority for NIH and the FDA's critical
path initiative.
Led by Joe von Rickenbach, CEO of PAREXEL, Bill
Terry of Brigham and Women's and Ralph Weissleder
of MGH, the Work Group has received initial support
of $100,000 from Merck and the UMass President's
fund. The group is now raising $300,000 of additional
funding to support the development of a business
plan in partnership with LEK Consulting.
Milestone: Plan completion: Winter 2006
- Ocean Research Center: Focus - North
Atlantic Ocean Observation Project
This Work Group brings together the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institute, UMass, MIT and industry.
The goal is to establish a $200 million+ center
in southeastern Massachusetts to compete for the
northeast NSF ORION ocean observation project
and make Massachusetts a national center for undersea
defense and homeland security R&D, fisheries,
weather and ocean management research.
Bill Walsh, CEO of Sippican, and John Armstrong,
head of IBM research (ret.) are leading the effort.
The group has received initial support from South
Coast Partnership and UMass President’s fund for
a strategic plan developed by Mass Insight and
Battelle.
Milestone: Plan completion: March 2006
- Nanotechnology Collaborations
The goal of this Work Group is to conduct exploratory
work with major Massachusetts universities involved
with nanotech research. The effort is boosted
by the two new UMass nanotech centers and a Lux
rating Massachusetts number one in nanotech. Mass
Insight has conducted an initial inventory of
university centers and MTC is conducting an industry
survey. A conference held in July and led by Greg
Shelton, Raytheon's vice president of engineering,
brought together key players to establish priorities.
The key discussion topics identified Nanotech
as a scale, not a product, and specific Massachusetts
industry opportunities: advanced materials and
bio-nano. MTC is taking the lead.
Milestone: Industry survey completion:
Winter 2006
- Homeland Security
This Work Group, in conjunction with the Northeast
Regional Competitiveness Council, focused on a
model emergency preparedness communication project.
Without obvious project champions, this project
did not move forward. In addition, the Department
of Homeland Security is reorganizing. However,
the Commonwealth has the depth and breadth in
key technologies (sensing, wireless communications,
IT and systems integration among others) critical
for R&D in this area. Homeland security remains
an important national and state challenge and
an opportunity in search of a champion in Massachusetts.
Mass
Insight is launching a major new economic development
initiative to focus on Talent
We are announcing Global
Mass 2015: Winning the Competition for Talent.
This new multi-year economic development initiative,
led by Mass Insight and our lead partners from the
Science & Technology Initiative, the Massachusetts
High Technology Council and Associated Industries
of Massachusetts (AIM), will frame the state’s economic
development agenda around winning the global competition
for talent.
Building on the findings of our groundbreaking 2004
Technology Road Map
study, Global Massachusetts 2015 will bring together
new leadership, focus on national and international
trends shaping major and emerging industry sectors,
and establish a vision for success in 2015. Global
Massachusetts 2015 will layout the policies required
to achieve that success.
We look forward to working with you to make the Flagship
R&D Centers and the Global Massachusetts 2015 initiative
successful.
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