Seaport Neighborhood - Infill and Discussion

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

whighlander said:
Blade -- Depends on the nature of a start-up

I can't quite put my finger on the ref at this instant (perhaps it was ... ) -- but a a few years ago the two coasts were asked to rate themselves and each other

The gist of it:

by slightly different margins oth though Rt-128 possessed superior technology and technologists

SV overwhelmingly and Rt-128 slightly thought SV had superior marketing, market savy and business talent

Which is consistent with mature companies moving into the Hub for R&D and some local start-ups moving west for marketing and "fluff"


Anyway -- here's something which corroborates the above (not real familiar with the source)
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/sma...ds-world-in-2010-paris-amsterdam-follow/10605

Top 10 innovative cities: Boston leads world in 2010; Paris, Amsterdam follow
By Andrew Nusca | September 10, 2010, 9:08 AM PDT

None other than Boston is the “top city of the global innovation economy” in 2010, according to a new study.

In its latest index, Australian analyst firm 2thinknow says Beantown leads the world in relative performance in the global innovation economy. That means the city’s actions to facilitate the growth of new industries are opening up a better economic opportunity for talent.

The index, which was published on Wednesday and first introduced in 2007, looks at innovation at the individual (creative), business (startups) and city levels.

Rounding out the global top three? Paris and Amsterdam.

Here’s a look at the firm’s Top 30 around the world:

Boston (USA)
Paris (France)
Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Vienna (Austria)
New York (USA)
Frankfurt (Germany)
San Francisco (USA)
Copenhagen (Denmark)
Lyon (France)
Hamburg (Germany)
Click to expand...


Is Boston mixed in with Cambridge Ma to make that top 10 ranking? Cambridge is defintely the Biotech engine of the World which has become the one of the fastest growing industries over the last 5 years.

Besides the Non-profit hospitals located in the Longwood area expanding in research with Madoff money from Shapiro family. And Harvard, BU, BC and other college institutions expanding their campuses for R&D opportunities.

Where is the rest of the innovation coming from out of Boston Ma? Just curious.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

TheRifleman said:
Is Boston mixed in with Cambridge Ma to make that top 10 ranking? Cambridge is defintely the Biotech engine of the World which has become the one of the fastest growing industries over the last 5 years.
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Riff -- these are Metro areas somehow defined

what is not clear is whether San Jose is distinguished from SF -- I'm assuming that since San Jose didn't show up in top 30 that it was integrated into some sort of Greater San Francisco Bay at #7 just be hind Frankfurt Germany

I went back to look at the site a bit more
here are the next 20 top Innovation Cities and some of the metrics and criteria

11 Berlin (Germany)
Toronto (Canada)
Stuttgart (Germany)
London (UK)
Munich (Germany)
Milan (Italy)
Stockholm (Sweden)
Hong Kong (China)
Melbourne (Australia)
Tokyo (Japan)
Rome (Italy)
Kyoto (Japan)
Washington, D.C. (USA)
Shanghai (China)
Düsseldorf (Germany)
Barcelona (Spain)
Seoul (South Korea)
Sydney (Australia)
Prague (Czech Republic)
Philadelphia (USA)
The top 100 cities were culled from 289 cities in total. They were classified in five groupings:

Nexus cities (65): dominate the globally innovation economy across many sectors.
Hub cities (30): global innovation economy across some sectors.
Node cities (162): regional industry influence on innovation. (e.g. Adelaide, for its wine industry)
Influencer cities (20): regional industry influence on innovation, with some negatives.
Upstart cities (5): future potential for innovation. (e.g. Minsk, Tirana, Montevideo)
The cities were scored based on 31 common industry and community segments weighted against global trends.

A three-factor score (out of 10) measured the cultural assets, human infrastructure and networked markets of a city’s innovation economy. The analysts also incorporated their assessment of market confidence in the cities.

The “Nexus City” designation requires an index score of 25 or more.

For example, Boston came out on top because it scored 29 out of 30 across all three factors: 9 for cultural assets, 10 for human infrastructure, and 10 for networked markets. Similarly, Paris had 29 (10, 9, 10), Amsterdam had 28 (9, 9, 10) and Vienna had 28 (10, 10, 8).

Here's the link to the Top 100 list and more on the methodology
http://www.innovation-cities.com/innovation-cities-top-100-index-top-cities/
 
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Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

DZH22 said:
From yesterday

IMG_1244.jpg


IMG_1253.jpg


IMG_1349.jpg
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Great Pics...It really shows the progress that part of town has made over the last ten years or so. Here's looking forward to seeing the Pier 4, and the residences across from Fan Pier construction starting up real soon!
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

whighlander said:
Tmac -- don't despair -- Facebooks wouldn't know real engineering if it posted on the wall

None of the social networking stuff is ground breaking from a technology perspective -- its all just slightly fancier form of stuff that existed in the 1980's when it was called a "Board" rather than a wall and people posted to it in various forms

The rest is just the power of the w3 to disseminate and the power of modern database searching to find things -- even the vaunted Google didn't do anything better than Lycos (origin with Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh) or any number of other search engines in the early days
Click to expand...

Still, it'd be nice to have the marketing. As you posted before, Boston's biggest problem is marketing itself. Silicon Valley benefits by having so many large consumer tech companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, etc. Boston's largest tech companies are focused more on things happening behind the scenes. It doesn't matter that Cambridge's own Akamai Technologies hosts Apple's iTunes & App Store, because nobody pays attention to anything beyond eye shot 95% of the time.

Having an enormously notable company like Facebook calling Boston home would help market the city.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

A quick reminder that the Boston area had two huge powerhouses of high tech manufacturing employing thousands but through the lack of foresight or just a simple blindspot of their two founders/CEO's, they are no longer with us! I'm speaking of Wang and Digital!
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

As currently proposed for approval at the BRA (for 63 Melcher St, Fort Point / Innovation District):

2ajb3.png


This appears to be how the BRA is creating affordable "coworking" and "incubator" space for the benefit of a few private companies throughout the Innovation District.

I think in some instances, they pressure the property owner for a below-market lease, then they lease the entire floor to a non-profit. The non-profit then sublets space to for-profit companies. That's how the below-market leases end up benefiting the private company.

Fort Point is a district in which the BRA spent 5 years on so-called "Master Plans" to ensure public realm (100 Acres), infrastructure (Crossroads Initiative) and community/civic projects would accompany commercial development -- NOT ONE of these objectives has been realized.

So much for a free market capitalist system, where startups compete against each other. I just hope my competitor's aren't benefiting from the BRA's use of its leverage during rezoning conversations to provide a below-market lease.

QUESTION: Can't technology startups and angel investors fend for themselves in a free market system? Is this the environment we really need to be incubating?
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Sicilian said:
As currently proposed for approval at the BRA (for 63 Melcher St, Fort Point / Innovation District):

2ajb3.png


This appears to be how the BRA is creating affordable "coworking" and "incubator" space for the benefit of a few private companies throughout the Innovation District.

I think in some instances, they pressure the property owner for a below-market lease, then they lease the entire floor to a non-profit. The non-profit then sublets space to for-profit companies. That's how the below-market leases end up benefiting the private company.

Fort Point is a district in which the BRA spent 5 years on so-called "Master Plans" to ensure public realm (100 Acres), infrastructure (Crossroads Initiative) and community/civic projects would accompany commercial development -- NOT ONE of these objectives has been realized.

So much for a free market capitalist system, where startups compete against each other. I just hope my competitor's aren't benefiting from the BRA's use of its leverage during rezoning conversations to provide a below-market lease.

QUESTION: Can't technology startups and angel investors fend for themselves in a free market system? Is this the environment we really need to be incubating?
Click to expand...

Sicil -- a true innovation economy (aka the Knowledge Economy) just like George Patton's 3rd Army needs a lot of different skills and skill levels -- not everyone is a Colonel in charge of a lot of field artilleryman, commanding a battalion of tanks -- there are plenty of cooks, drivers of gasoline trucks, wirers of field telephones, and plain foot soldiers

Similarly there a mega companies such as Vertex, other major established companies, big scale start-ups with serious financial backing, and there are also 2 or 3 guys/gals in a room who decide to make a go at it with -- almost No money. The latter are very grateful for a 2nd hand desk, someone's surplus coffee machine and most definitely a cheap place to get set up. A lot of times it might be a sub-sub-lease, a tenant-at-will arrangement in someone's back of the building, or even an informal use of some office or storage space for a few months.

I've been a founder or key player in both the case of fairly well financed start-ups and the other type of "well we've got about $500 left -- how/ where can we acquire X" several times for each case -- both have their advantages from various perspectives.

he SPID needs to provide a home for all the above to be a fully self-sustaining location such as the current nexus of Kendall / Cambridge Center / Lechemere
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

http://bostonglobe.com/business/201...n-expansion/3wlpjIUPFUxhJt1y5dENbI/story.html

Nothing earth shattering. PayPal is looking to expand its MA operations, currently at about 100 workers in an office in the North End. Looking to add "several" hundred new positions and a move, possibly to the "Innovation District", but almost certainly remaining in Boston, rather than moving over the Cambridge or beyond.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

What do Facebook, Dropbox, Air BnB and Task Rabbit all have in common? They're companies that were started in Boston that now employ thousands in Silicon Valley. For many young startups Boston doesn't have the 'cool' factor which is why all MIT and Harvard kids leave for Silicon Valley after school. I've talked to many people that have left Boston for Silicon Valley and they all say the same thing. Silicon Valley has an energy and a vibe that is unmatched in the startup scene. Creating a lame Innovation District is not gonna help that.... We need to work with Harvard and MIT to keep these kids here.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

I always wonder how big a factor weather plays in these sort of trends.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

I think it has more to do with the energy of city/place than weather or anything else. NYC for example has seen a huge influx of young workers over the last 10 years, despite having winter weather and the highest cost of living in the country.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

My guess is that the #1 factor is affordability of both housing and office space available to graduates interested in cranking up a startup enterprise. I received an e-mail yesterday from a recent grad who said that even though his company has an angel investor, they still need to consider affordability when pursuing office space.

I don't think the BRA's recent meddling in private leases to provide free or below-market rent is the answer.

I do think the BRA has either intentionally or unintentionally suppressed development downtown through its inefficient approval process exacting linkage, offsite benefits, public works contributions, etc. Housing and office development is stifled and living and working in Boston remains unaffordable for 20-25 year olds simply due to an artificially maintained imbalance between supply and demand.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Sicilian said:
My guess is that the #1 factor is affordability of both housing and office space available to graduates interested in cranking up a startup enterprise. I received an e-mail yesterday from a recent grad who said that even though his company has an angel investor, they still need to consider affordability when pursuing office space.

I don't think the BRA's recent meddling in private leases to provide free or below-market rent is the answer.

I do think the BRA has either intentionally or unintentionally suppressed development downtown through its inefficient approval process exacting linkage, offsite benefits, public works contributions, etc. Housing and office development is stifled and living and working in Boston remains unaffordable for 20-25 year olds simply due to an artificially maintained imbalance between supply and demand.
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How can you dictate who gets tax breaks and who doesn't in the city? Then implement BID for all the businesses around Downtown because the Filenes development fell through.
Why would a startup company want to open up shop with this type of political crap?
Boston is not friendly to startup companies and that is why most dreamers run out of the state. The only reason Cambridge has been so successful is most of the startup companies funded with sometype of vision from MIT and Harvard or are already well established like Genyzme, Novartis, Broad Inst (MIT Spinoff). The only reason these companies are located in Cambridge is because of the TALENT POOL.
Downtown Boston is just OLD MONEY. Banks, Lawfirms, Hedge Funds, State Workers, Retail. The Biotech innovation is in Cambridge Ma. So what innovation is Boston Looking at these days? They can't even create their own ideas without giving taxbreaks to corporations that were already located in Cambridge Ma then have the balls to call it the Innovation district.
 
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Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

apage8 said:
I think it has more to do with the energy of city/place than weather or anything else. NYC for example has seen a huge influx of young workers over the last 10 years, despite having winter weather and the highest cost of living in the country.
Click to expand...

NYC has a draw no other city in this country has. That's why you see so many young people moving to NYC.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

erikyow said:
http://bostonglobe.com/business/201...n-expansion/3wlpjIUPFUxhJt1y5dENbI/story.html

Nothing earth shattering. PayPal is looking to expand its MA operations, currently at about 100 workers in an office in the North End. Looking to add "several" hundred new positions and a move, possibly to the "Innovation District", but almost certainly remaining in Boston, rather than moving over the Cambridge or beyond.
Click to expand...

redHat doesn't have their engineering/product development team in the Research Triangle?
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

apage8 said:
What do Facebook, Dropbox, Air BnB and Task Rabbit all have in common? They're companies that were started in Boston that now employ thousands in Silicon Valley. For many young startups Boston doesn't have the 'cool' factor which is why all MIT and Harvard kids leave for Silicon Valley after school. I've talked to many people that have left Boston for Silicon Valley and they all say the same thing. Silicon Valley has an energy and a vibe that is unmatched in the startup scene. Creating a lame Innovation District is not gonna help that.... We need to work with Harvard and MIT to keep these kids here.
Click to expand...

A big part is that is where the capital and connections are. Venture capitalists and investors tend to be involved in their investments, so they want them nearby. Boston, I think, has gotten much better in this regard. You're even seeing SV-based VC firms open satellite offices in the Boston/Cambridge area.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

apage8 said:
What do Facebook, Dropbox, Air BnB and Task Rabbit all have in common? They're companies that were started in Boston that now employ thousands in Silicon Valley. For many young startups Boston doesn't have the 'cool' factor which is why all MIT and Harvard kids leave for Silicon Valley after school. I've talked to many people that have left Boston for Silicon Valley and they all say the same thing. Silicon Valley has an energy and a vibe that is unmatched in the startup scene. Creating a lame Innovation District is not gonna help that.... We need to work with Harvard and MIT to keep these kids here.
Click to expand...

Apage -- you have a parochial perspective for a junior member

Despite the high reputation of MA schools -- the vast majority of the students who attend the MIT, HU, and a few others are not kids from the city, the state or even the immediate region. MIT and HU and a few of the others have their choice of the best and brightest on the entire planet.

In fact for a smallish state in population the Greater Boston region has a disproportionate share of R&D dollars from the US and a disproportionate share of start-up $ from the private sector

What this place lacks is an economic climate supportive of small companies trying to grow -- mostly due to offensive levels of bureaucracy and red-tape.

specifically:

1) it takes a long time to get licenses and permits for nearly anything
2) housing costs for the lower / mid- level technical and business talent are high
3) taxes are very high
4) energy costs are high
5) raw material costs are high mostly due to transportation costs
6) union work rules


Note that most of the above is not true for the global giants who can use their market power and political influence to avoid many of the problems

The result:

a) we get the high profile global overseas migrants looking for US technical talent e.g. Novartis, Schlumberger, Shire, Nokia, Dassault Systèmes, Sanofi
b) we get Big US companies looking to tap Boston e.g. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Amgen
c) we get big US companies who acquire our start-ups, or mid-sized high growth companies e.g. IBM, Cisco
d) we get external high growth who acquire and others
d) we get lots of start-ups who often choose to grow elsewhere or sell-out to the big companies
e) its just difficult to grow a major tech company around here to be large enough size to be relatively immune from takeover e.g. EMC perhaps Akamai
f) it is even more difficult to do e) with a company heavily dependent on manufacturing -- can't think of one at the moment
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

whighlander said:
Apage -- you have a parochial perspective for a junior member

Despite the high reputation of MA schools -- the vast majority of the students who attend the MIT, HU, and a few others are not kids from the city, the state or even the immediate region. MIT and HU and a few of the others have their choice of the best and brightest on the entire planet.

In fact for a smallish state in population the Greater Boston region has a disproportionate share of R&D dollars from the US and a disproportionate share of start-up $ from the private sector

What this place lacks is an economic climate supportive of small companies trying to grow -- mostly due to offensive levels of bureaucracy and red-tape.

specifically:

1) it takes a long time to get licenses and permits for nearly anything
2) housing costs for the lower / mid- level technical and business talent are high
3) taxes are very high
4) energy costs are high
5) raw material costs are high mostly due to transportation costs
6) union work rules


Note that most of the above is not true for the global giants who can use their market power and political influence to avoid many of the problems

The result:

a) we get the high profile global overseas migrants looking for US technical talent e.g. Novartis, Schlumberger, Shire, Nokia, Dassault Systèmes, Sanofi
b) we get Big US companies looking to tap Boston e.g. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Amgen
c) we get big US companies who acquire our start-ups, or mid-sized high growth companies e.g. IBM, Cisco
d) we get external high growth who acquire and others
d) we get lots of start-ups who often choose to grow elsewhere or sell-out to the big companies
e) its just difficult to grow a major tech company around here to be large enough size to be relatively immune from takeover e.g. EMC perhaps Akamai
f) it is even more difficult to do e) with a company heavily dependent on manufacturing -- can't think of one at the moment
Click to expand...

What would be your stragety and plan of action?
 
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