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State Tries Harder to Help Companies Put it All Together (Worcester Telegram & Gazette)
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By Lisa Eckelbecker TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
State officials will launch a new effort this week to connect companies and researchers so they can expand their businesses and hire more workers.
“Massachusetts Business Connect,” an initiative of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Economic Development, will use research and meetings to match customers with companies and investors with those in need of funding, said Economic Development Secretary Ranch C. Kimball.
“I think it’s fair to say we have an incredibly broad, diverse and deep technology innovation economy, but we haven’t always done as good a job at connecting it up to funding sources and customers,” Mr. Kimball said.
The initiative grows out of an effort last year to introduce officials from Procter & Gamble Co. of Cincinnati to businesses and researchers in Massachusetts upon the company’s takeover of Gillette Co. of Boston.
After meetings, Procter & Gamble officials signed 10 non-disclosure agreements with Massachusetts entities, and 10 potential deals remain under negotiation, according to Mr. Kimball.
The meetings did not produce contracts for everyone. Boston University highlighted the research of its dermatology department in sessions focused on beauty care but came away with no agreements. Still, that did not surprise Michael J. Pratt, director of corporate business development in the university’s office of technology development, because successful agreements between companies and researchers typically emerge after many meetings and long-term efforts.
“You have to be in the game and be present at those meetings to get the exposure,” said Mr. Pratt, who supports the Business Connect initiative. “But I do know exactly who at that company to call if there’s something that comes across my desk that’s relevant.”
Under a model to be described Tuesday, state economic officials will seek the specific growth and technical needs of companies, identify other companies or research centers that could assist and then organize concentrated meetings to bring executives and others together, Mr. Kimball said.
In contrast to previous economic development efforts, which may have focused on specific projects, the new model has a broader sweep and could be useful for any industry, according to Mr. Kimball.
“We’re enabling companies that are here in Massachusetts labs to grow faster through better connections that will add more jobs,” Mr. Kimball said.
Massachusetts has not historically done a good job of connecting people, but competition in fields such as biotechnology demands a more proactive approach, said Kevin O’Sullivan, president and chief executive of Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives, a life sciences economic development organization in Worcester.
“I think we realize there’s a much more competitive environment out there, that other states are vying for our business,” Mr. O’Sullivan said. “That’s the wake-up call. This is the response.”
Mr. Kimball said his office will launch the initiative with existing staff members and funding right away. The initiative will also likely be “the single biggest focus of my time going forward,” he said.
The defense industry, for one, is strong in Massachusetts, but its smaller companies have never been well connected to other businesses, said Cort C. Boulanger, vice president of the Massachusetts High Technology Council.
Yet during the most recent round of federal decisions on which military installations to close across the country, Massachusetts advocates were able to successfully argue that shutting the Soldier Systems Center in Natick or Hanscom Air Force Ba
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