The Bay State of Innovation

When I say "Massachusetts" what do you think of? Various Kennedys, Cape Cod lobsters, Classical music at Tanglewood in the Berkshire Mountains, whaling, Pilgrims and their baked beans? That song by the BeeGees?

Perhaps not manufacturing, but it has always been there - refining of whale oil, etc. Thanks to Harvard and MIT in Cambridge, right across the Charles River from Boston with bright minds studying at Northeastern, Boston University, Boston College, etc., eastern Massachusetts became an innovation powerhouse. In the late 70s, the Boston metro area was the original Silicon Valley. Author Tracy Kidder captured the nerdy ambiance of product development in his Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Soul of a New Machine. Even as engineers packed up their basement apartments and moved to California to become millionaires, much of the industry stayed faithful to Boston.

Analog Devices is headquartered in a Boston suburb. Like most chip companies it designs in the US and fabricates overseas. Although that is changing with the CHIPS Act. IPG Photonics Corp is nearby. Bose, of sound system fame, is headquartered here and continues to assemble and ship. Raytheon Technologies is headquartered here.

Examples of innovative small companies include:

• eInk, inventors of digital paper is in Cambridge.?
• 3D Fortify, a digital manufacturing company in Boston.
• Blue Shift Materials in Spenser makes efficient thermal protection systems based on a?polyimide aerogel film technology.
• Carpe Diem Technologies in Franklin makes modular machine systems for the development and production of nano-enabled printed electronics, microfluidics, meta materials, and optical devices.?
• Nano Dimension of Waltham makes additively manufactured electronics and printed electronics.
• Epicore Biosystems in Cambridge develops innovative microfluidic systems.
• Nano OPS?has built the world’s first fully automated nanoscale printing system for sensors and electronics.?
• In Bedford, Vivonics produces advanced prosthetics and combat casualty care products.
• Then there's the venerable The L.S. Starrett Co headquartered in Athol, MA. The broad Starrett product line includes precision measuring tools (micrometers, calipers, rules, etc.), levels, electronic gages, dial indicators, gage blocks and granite surface plates, and custom-engineered products.?
• The western part of the state used to be home to GE Plastics until it was sold to Sabic in CT. It is still holding chemical manufacturing talent. Saint Gobain manufactures here. Western MA's proximity to the semiconductor industry in NYS keeps startups ... well .... starting up.
• Part of Manufacturing USA is the AFFOA (Advanced Functional Fabrics of America) institute. AFFOA works to enable a manufacturing-based revolution by transforming traditional fibers, yarns, and fabrics into highly sophisticated, integrated, and networked devices and systems.
• Invivyd is developing antibodies to transcend the limits of naturally occurring immunity and provide higher levels of protection from viral diseases, beginning with COVID-19.
• Lyndra Therapeutics is pioneering long-acting oral therapies, a potential major advance in oral drug delivery.? Lyndra Therapeutics Doses First Clinical Trial Participant in Pivotal Study of Oral Weekly Risperidone (LYN-005) for Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective Disorder Located in a state-of-the-art facility in greater Boston,
• Vaxess is transforming efficacy and access for vaccines and therapeutics. What began as a quest for a better epinephrine autoinjector has become a much bigger mission—to unleash unlimited possibilities for patients, families, and medications through temperature-resilient pharmaceutical solutions.

Send me more for the list! Let me know if you need help writing grants.

#techstevedore #lsiwins