No run-around from Sec. Bialecki
Yesterday, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Gregory Bialecki spoke at the Taubman Center for State and Local Government at Harvard University in Cambridge about Massachusetts’ Innovation Economy.
Admittedly, I expected to hear a good deal of hemming and hawing about a lack of funding in the state government, but what I got was an earful about what the local government is doing to encourage innovation in the region by way of man-power and communication. Bialecki was well-informed and frank about what the state is facing, as well as the time line he expects to see real change become apparent (some ten years for much of it, even though that’s not what voters may want to hear).
He was honest about the lack of available budget for these initiatives, but communication seems to be improving as a result of the state’s efforts.
The whole thing was about as refreshing and transparent as it could have been, given the condition of the state’s budget.
Back in December of 2009, Bialecki issued a blog post (Yes, a blog post.) listing ten things the state must do to be competitive as an innovation hot spot.
Last night, he sat alone in a room full of about 40 attendees and went straight down that list, discussing things the state has done, is doing, and is looking to do in regards to each and every one of those points. To be sure, the effect of this direct approach wasn’t lost on me.
The two points he stressed the most were the first two on the list: Highlighting the Central Role of Innovation in Our Economy and Promoting Cluster-Based Collaboration.
Bialecki spoke at length about the fact that the innovation agenda is at the core of the state’s economic strategy. Innovation in Massachusetts is not just about the sectors we typically think of when we hear the word.
“We want to talk about innovation in the broadest sense,” he said. “Not just technological innovation … but also the kinds of innovation that are disruptive and game-changing. For example, why do we have such a great, broad and deep financial services sector here? … We literally invented the mutual fund here in Massachusetts in the early 1900s and therefore, really created a kind of investment opportunity that wasn’t known before.”
Bialecki said that the state government is changing the way they talk about economics to make it clear to people why innovation is so important here — even if those they’re addressing might not have a college education.
“In terms of talking about the central role of innovation in our economy, we’re not only making the objective argument … [that] innovation has been the driver of economic prosperity in Massachusetts and will be. We are also making the small, key political argument that an economic development strategy that has innovation and technology and entrepreneurship at its core is, in fact, a strategy that is going to benefit a lot of folks, and is going to bring economic prosperity around the state and to people of all levels of education,” he said.
Bialecki went on to detail the state’s efforts to reach out to academic and industry clusters in the state to make sure the powers that be understand what Massachusetts really needs in order to soar to new heights in innovation.
“The second most important point of what we’re trying to do is that we’re really focused on our efforts to collaborate with private industry and the academic sector. That is almost our metric of success,” he said. “Our ultimate goal, really, is to be the most effective government partner that we can possibly be for academia and business. We are really focused on the outcomes they would like to see.”
One of the biggest and most fruitful efforts to understand what innovators need to make a better economy has been the state’s encouragement of movers and shakers in each sector to get together and discuss needs among themselves. They then are encouraged to bring their ideas to the state to be heard. These efforts to unify each sector in the tech community have even gone so far as to “staff a full-time person whose role is to convene those collaborations,” according to Bialecki.
One arena (or cluster, if you will) that has been galvanized by Governor Patrick’s efforts to bring innovators together to talk about needs is the life sciences sector, thanks to the Life Sciences Collaborative. It was formed before Patrick came into office, but the Life Sciences Collaborative has provided, “in less than 18 months,” what Bialecki says is “a very sophisticated plan and life sciences initiative. … It really was a road map for how the state could invest in partnership with the private companies in Massachusetts.”
Okay, so we know there’s no money to be had right now, but at least the state is being transparent — even so far as to go point-by-point down the list — about what they’ve been up to and how they’re trying to make sure decisions are useful to the people they’re relying on to pull the state out of the recession.
Governor Patrick and his staff are putting their faith in the innovators that have defined the region, and they’re listening to the advice of those innovators.
Tags: Edu
