SEPTEMBER 2006
MASSACHUSETTS SPOTLIGHT
Research Colony
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| As illustrated above, the recent Bristol- Myers Squibb investment in Devens is just one component of a master plan that's moving forward.
(Click image above to see full-sized map.) |
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footnote sometimes can deliver more information than the main text. Case in point: The January 2006 report on U.S. R&D trends and intensity ratios from the National Science Foundation (NSF):
"Although spending on R&D in the United States far exceeds spending in any other country, several nations report higher R&D/GDP ratios," read the report. "According to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United States ranked sixth among countries with reported R&D/GDP ratios. Israel, devoting 4.9 percent of its GDP to R&D, led all countries, followed by Sweden (4.3 percent), Finland (3.5 percent), Japan (3.1 percent), and Iceland (3.1 percent)."
What does that have to do with the Bay State? The footnote delivers the kicker:
"Massachusetts, a state with an economy larger than Sweden's and twice that of Israel's, has reported an R&D intensity at or above 5 percent for the past three years."
Such agglomerated human and scientific capital is one reason why Bristol- Myers Squibb in June picked Devens for its $600- million biologics plant, and why that former military base has since welcomed two more technology projects from process engineering firm Integrated Process Technologies and embedded electronics firm Odic.
The intellectual capital was also at the center of an economic development strategy that Gov. Mitt Romney launched in February, and which came full circle with the August signing of a new law streamlining permitting in the state.
In this case, the Executive Office of Economic Development had organized a series of meetings with Procter & Gamble in the wake of P&G's acquisition of Massachusetts icon Gillette in 2005.
"Rather than viewing P&G's acquisition of Gillette as a negative, EED aggressively marketed Massachusetts businesses and research universities to P&G, which has an annual research and development budget of $2 billion," read a February 2006 release from the governor's office. "As a result of these meetings, P&G has identified potential new R&D partnership opportunities with several Massachusetts companies and research universities." And thus was born Massachusetts Business Connect.
"Massachusetts Business Connect will help us meet companies that can use our research capabilities in areas like materials science and nanotechnology," added UMass- Lowell Chancellor Dr. William T. Hogan. UMass- Lowell in 2004 received a $5- million NSF grant to establish a high- rate nano- manufacturing center.
Even as the state legislature overrode the governor's veto in passing a graduated hike in the state's minimum wage, the momentum of the permitting reform may yet override all. Previous permitting law required that cities and towns designate all of their commercial properties as eligible for expedited permitting, "which none did," read the governor's release. Under the new permitting law, communities will be able to select certain sites for expedited permitting, and they agree to complete their local permitting process in 180 days. Other related programs now in place from Romney's agenda include:
• a $100 million fund to help municipalities pay for infrastructure costs directly related to job growth;
• $1.5 million to hire a sales force to market Massachusetts to companies looking to grow or expand;
• technical assistance grants totaling $3 million available to help communities update local bylaws and procedures to comply with the reformed permitting process;
• more than $2 million to be used by regional planning agencies
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| Paul G. Afonso |
Asked to appraise the permitting situation as it was and as it will be, Paul G. Afonso, co- practice leader of Brown Rudnick law firm's Boston Government Law & Strategies Group, says Secretary Branch Kimball, the state economic development director and the quarterback behind the project, had a Powerpoint presentation that visually represented what Afonso calls "the labyrinth of confusion" among permitting processes involving state and local government.
"It was clear that it was not one- stop shopping," he says. "If you were a business looking at the Commonwealth, North Carolina, Virginia and Florida and your first experience is you can't even get the right number to call the right person, you move on to North Carolina, Virginia and Florida real quick."
Making things worse in the past was the fact that one local entity along the queue could just as quickly derail a project's approval process.
"That becomes a much tighter deadline now," he says. "That friction has to go. People are not willing to spend the time and effort developing a business plan only to sit down and wait for something to happen."
Now a business development team will be on call, with a representative functioning as a project's consultant or shadow as it's worked through the permitting process, clarifying what the state can offer and when.
Asked if the recent revelations of Big Dig quality problems might cast a shadow on the idea of expedited permitting, Afonso says, "I think they are two different things. There is going through the process, and there is due diligence."
"This new law preserves rigorous permitting standards while creating a much clearer and more consistent process for companies and municipalities," said Mark Bamforth, senior vice president for corporate operations and pharmaceuticals at Cambridge- based Genzyme, and chair of the Massachusetts Biotech Council's Economic Development Subcommittee. "We want to thank Governor Romney for recognizing that permitting reform will help companies build the facilities they need to succeed in Massachusetts."
Bamforth knows whereof he speaks, as Genzyme is one of several biotech companies to have recently completed expansions. Others include Boston Scientific, Charles River Laboratories and, most recently, Bayer AG, which is spending $100 million to add 116,000 sq. ft. (10,776 sq. m.) of manufacturing and warehouse space and 70 jobs at its complex in Walpole.
The nanotech sector is primed to build on intellectual capital too – including some that derives straight from the National Science Foundation itself: In April, the NSF granted $16 million to the Commonwealth to establish a nanotechnology research center, the Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing, at University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where more than 50 faculty members currently conduct research in the area. The project will also receive $5 million in matching funding from the Commonwealth.