The Massachusetts Advantage Innovation
Massachusetts has a long history of innovation stretching back to the origins of the Industrial Revolution. The mill towns throughout the state have been replaced by research centers where the entrepreneurs from the state’s colleges and universities churn out the next generation technologies. Home to MIT, WPI, and Harvard, it is no wonder that Massachusetts ranks first per capita in spin-out companies from research institutions. Leading companies, such as Konarka, a developer of third-generation solar-panel technologies, have evolved out of these research institutions and now lead the Massachusetts innovation economy.
Other companies at the heart of innovation in Massachusetts include:
- iRobot - Developing a line of home healthcare robots to help increase independence and quality of life for seniors.
- Zipcar - Changing the fuel-efficient car sharing industry with online and iphone applications.
- Thermo Fisher Scientific - Evolving environmental quality, health, and safety technologies.
- E Ink - Advancing electronic display technologies to deliver information without traditional confines.
- Terason - Compacting ultrasound machines to improve patient care in hospitals, rural settings, as well as the developing world.
- …and others.
The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s most recent Index of the Massachusetts Innovation Economy lists some of the benefits of being in Massachusetts including:
- Massachusetts is tied for first place (with California) in patents per capita.
- Massachusetts invests more than 5 percent of its Gross State Product (GSP) in R&D, the best performance of any single region in the world.
- Massachusetts small businesses rank first per capita in winning federal Small Business Innovation Research Contracts.
- Massachusetts remains one of the global hotbeds of innovative activity, attracting research investments from industry and government.
Learn more about Massachusetts industry innovations from the Boston History and Innovation Collaborative (bostonhistorycollaborative.org), a non-profit alliance working to sustain a 400-year tradition of innovation in:
Or read the latest news on Massachusetts innovation from the Boston Globe and Scott Kirsner’s Innovation Economy.
For more information please contact MassEcon directly
