Understanding MIT ~ Crafting Our Creative Place!

My DUSP Campus Planning colleague Bob Simha and I are hosting our Understanding MIT seminar this Fall 2015 every Tuesday afternoon 4-6pm starting September 15th to survey research universities and how they work, with the Institute as our live-case study. Each week, we invite a different senior academic, administrative, or trustee leader of MIT (and at least one rep from our host-city Cambridge) to share with us what they do to help the Institute stay vital in the short, medium, and long term -- and ask what we can do to be pro-active in improving MIT as well.

This is part of my larger action-research agenda on understanding creative places and innovation ecosystems and is sister-class to our our Creative Places seminar and design workshop on Model Cities, both offered in the upcoming Spring 2016.

Startup Ecosystem ~ Five Fostering Ingredients...

Brad Feld spotlights UP Global's new white paper Fostering a Startup and Innovation Ecosystem...

"This white paper underscores the five critical ingredients that support flourishing entrepreneurial ecosystems: talent, density, culture, capital, and regulatory environment."

Understanding MIT ~ Crafting Our Creative Place

My DUSP Campus Planning colleague Bob Simha and I are hosting our Understanding MIT seminar again this Fall 2014 every Tuesday afternoon 4-6pm starting next week September 9th to survey research universities and how they work, with the Institute as our live-case study. Each week, we invite a different senior academic, administrative, or trustee leader of MIT to share with us what they do to help the Institute stay vital in the short, medium, and long term -- and ask what we can do to be pro-active in improving MIT as well. This is part of my larger action-research agenda on understanding creative places and innovation ecosystems and is sister-class to our MIT Cities Initiative design workshop on Changing Cities.

Understanding MIT ~ Crafting Creative Places!

My DUSP Campus Planning colleague Bob Simha and I are hosting our Understanding MIT seminar again this Fall 2013 every Tuesday afternoon 4-6pm starting next week September 10th to survey research universities and how they work, with the Institute as our live-case study. Each week, we invite a different senior academic, administrative, and trustee leader of MIT to share with us what they do to help the Institute stay vital in the short, medium, and long term -- and ask what we can do to be pro-active in improving MIT as well.

This is part of my larger action-research agenda on understanding creative places and innovation ecosystems and is sister-class to our MIT CityScience Design Workshop on Innovation Hubs.

World Innovation Clusters ~ TR Spots Tech Hubs

Tech Review infographic spotlights World Innovation Clusters...

Cluster Crafting ~ TR on Tech Hot Spot Secrets...

TR's Antonio Regalado writes In Innovation Quest, Regions Seek Critical Mass asking "What’s the secret to becoming the next technology hot spot?"

"Kendall has become what economists call a cluster, a concentration of interconnected companies that both compete and collaborate. [...] net job growth comes from startup companies, especially the kind that explode from a few employees to several thousand. In technology, those winners have a way of producing more winners. The process reaches critical mass in the web of intertwined companies, resources, advantages, ideas, talent, opportunity, and serendipity that defines a technology cluster. It’s clear that what’s essential is proximity to human talent and new ideas. [...] The big questions in this month’s MIT Technology Review Business Report are why technology clusters arise and what the ingredients are to create one."

Spillover Cities ~ Economist on Scale Dynamics

The Economist notes that America’s big cities are larger than Europe’s. That has important economic consequences...

"Differences in metropolitan populations may help explain gaps in productivity and incomes. Western Europe’s per-person GDP is 72% of America’s, on a purchasing-power-parity basis. A recent study by the McKinsey Global Institute, the consultancy’s research arm, reckons that some three-quarters of this gap can be chalked up to Europe’s relatively diminutive cities. [...] Cities today have a productivity advantage for different reasons, to do with ideas rather than costs. When one firm in a city comes up with a new technique, product or design, nearby firms may quickly build on it or hire its creator. One firm’s innovation boosts its own productivity but also spills over to other businesses. Companies that prefer seclusion cut themselves off from these "knowledge spillovers."

Baxter ~ Rethink Robotics Unveils Handy Helper...

Rod Brooks's Rethink Robotics reveals Baxter...

"...a revolutionary new category of Robot [...] capable of applying common sense behavior to manufacturing environments. Affordably priced, versatile and safe enough to work shoulder-to-shoulder with people, Baxter robots redefine how small, mid-size and large domestic manufacturers use automation to compete with manufacturers in low-cost regions of the world."

Lazika ~ New Georgian Coastal City Development

Very interesting to hear first from MIT Sloan Fellow Otar Bubashvili and to now read and see more about Lazika, the new Georgian coastal city development just north of Poti and south of Anaklia... Here's the larger map of Georgia with the Lazika location (unmarked) being in the coastal middle... More generally, I'm quite interested in such new cities, including contemporary examples such as Iskandar in Malaysia, Rawabi in Palestine, Greater Aqaba in Jordan, Masdar in Abu Dhabi, City of Silk proposal in Kuwait, and the very bold Al Noor proposal between Yemen and Djibouti.  P.S. Ellen Barry writes in the NYTimes On Black Sea Swamp, Big Plans for Instant City, quoting the Georgian President...

"We need a big breakthrough if we are not to have poverty anymore.” The breakthrough, he said, would be a brand-new city and maritime port on the coast [...] an idea now common in China, which has erected dozens of cities to house its flood of rural migrants, but highly unusual for Europe. [This integrates] the idea of a “charter city,” with distinct regulatory and judicial systems that could attract foreign investors to build factories. “This idea came to us -- why can’t we do that in Georgia?” he said. “We looked out and we saw there is free space on the Black Sea coast."

Global Startups ~ MIT GSW in Istanbul, Turkey!

If you're interested in new venture development, entrepreneurial ecosystems, and cluster crafting, be sure to attend the MIT GSW -- the Global Startup Workshop -- this year in Eurasian bridge-nation, Turkey. Since I helped start this conference at MIT in 1998 -- and every year since -- the MIT GSW brings together hundreds of entrepreneurs and supporters from dozens of countries for intensive discussions, panels, keynotes, etc. This Spring 2012, together with the MIT Enterprise Forum Turkey and Ozyegin and Sabancı universities, the GSW spotlights new technological, global market, and strategic directions. And all this in Istanbul one of the top global supercities! Go!

Fertile Turf ~ South Boston's Innovation District...

Very nice Globe piece by Michael Farrell spotlighting how many key High-tech firms find fertile turf in South Boston...

"Two years after Mayor Thomas M. Menino branded a swath of the South Boston Waterfront as the Innovation District -- a bid to lure big Web companies and start-ups alike -- a healthy crop of technology companies is moving in. Office rents are low, at least for Boston, and the neighborhood is catching on; any company looking for space in the city is looking there, real estate brokers say. As Menino mentioned in his State of the City address last week, 100 companies and 3,000 jobs have come in, bringing a laptop-toting crowd to an area long known for its gritty working seaport and artist studios. [...] The Innovation District umbrella covers a disparate collection of smaller neighborhoods and development clusters, including Fort Point, which is a dense section of industrial buildings developed in the 1830s, parts of the Financial and Leather districts, Channel Center, Fan Pier, and Liberty Wharf. Within that urban landscape -- home to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Marine Industrial Park, and the Bank of America Pavilion, as well as numerous vast parking lots -- there are plans to add more than one million square feet of new construction."

Fantastic boomzone! Also check out my posts on Fraunhofer CSE moving in, my helping kickoff the Greentown Labs incubation space, and my visit to Ginkgo BioWorks, and our MIT classes on Living Labs and Urban Ventures.

NFC Cluster ~ RF ID & Payments Boston Hub...

Very interesting to see what friend and colleague Damien Balsan has been up to with his NFC Cluster initiative...

"...a cluster of Boston-area groups and individuals that support the development, adoption and commercial success of Near Field Communication (NFC). The NFC Cluster Boston hosts educational programs, workshops, competitions, and exhibits. Our goal is to stimulate Innovation through the rapid development of NFC Technology in most smartphones and other electronic devices. We welcome the participation of anyone looking to apply NFC to their industry, business, application or research."

Micro-Units ~ Small Places in Boston Inno District

Casey Ross writes in the Globe that Boston Mayor Menino pushes micro-units to lure young to Waterfront...

"...tiny apartments that are a staple of New York City may soon be more available in Boston. Mayor Thomas M. Menino is pushing developers to build units as small as 375 square feet -- barely enough to squeeze in a bed, bathroom, and galley kitchen. The administration is promoting the idea in the Innovation District on the South Boston Waterfront, where construction is expected to begin in coming months on scores of micro-apartments. Beyond convenience, the chief attraction will be price [...] small units are meant to cater to a distinctly urban lifestyle, with the apartments used for little more than sleeping. Residents could entertain in lounges and work areas incorporated into the buildings, or at the many restaurants and bars expected to open along nearby streets. For transportation, residents can rent Zipcars, use public transit, or ride bicycles. [...] The apartments’ layouts and sizes would vary, but the unifying trait would be extreme efficiency with space. Many would employ fold-out couches or Murphy beds and kitchen countertops that double as tables or desks. Draft plans for 400- to 550-square-foot units designed by the architecture firm ADD Inc. show compact bathrooms and kitchens around an open room that could double as a living room and bedroom, or be divided with a sliding door. ADD is working on several projects on the waterfront that will include dozens of similar-size units."

NEAPO ~ Modular Construction Solutions @ MIT

Fantastic to have visitors from innovative Finnish company NEAPO here today at Media Lab. NEAPO's a pioneer of modular construction solutions, including the Tubetower uplifting innovation, retrofitable top-floors Penthouses, modular new apartments, and even this factory-built three storey apartment floated to its final destination! Check out their embedded build-video. One central element to their approach is lightweight steel honeycomb paneling they call FIXCEL. Perhaps the most interesting historical thing about the NEAPO story is that the company emerged from the Finnish shipbuilding supercluster as a spinout from Shippax, the interior and accommodations company.

Techub Israel ~ BBC on Startup Nation Factors

BBC's Katia Moskvitch on Israel High-Tech Hub...

"Israel is a world leader in terms of research and development spending as a percentage of the economy; it's top in both the number of start-ups and engineers as a proportion of the population; and it's first in per capita venture capital investment. Not bad for a country of some eight million people -- fewer than, say, Moscow or New York. [...] there is a whole blend of factors responsible for turning Israel into a start-up miracle. [...] But there is more to this start-up scene than certain aspects of Israeli culture -- the lack of hierarchy, a constant drive for individualism, regular risk taking. The government played a key role in the rapid rise of this start-up nation."

Russky Island ~ New Vladivostok Developments!

I've long been fascinated by Vladivostok, the premier port city of Russia's Far East in the Primorsky Krai province. Together with nearby Nakhodka, this terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway is the key Eurasian translogistics node linking Russia and east Asian neighbors, the Koreas, Japan, northeast China, and beyond. Beautifully situated at the southern tip of the Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, Vladivostok is extraordinarily well-positioned to become something akin to an easterly Saint Petersburg and northerly Hong Kong. Indeed, the latest developments include building an epic bridge southward to the just-offshore Russky Island and preparing the site for the APEC 2012 Summit and subsequent use as campus by FENU, the strategically expanding Far Eastern Federal University... Russky Island was a closed military zone in Soviet times, but with these latest developments -- plus prospective investments and wise leadership -- it is poised to help greater-Vladivostok become an educational and tourist zone and prospectively a new technological innovation epicenter -- much like the Boston-metro Hub is and as Skolkovo near Moscow aspires to be. For background, see here RT's 2007 report Russia Close-Up: Primorsky's forgotten island... And definitely check out this really epic-bridge building video!

The Hub ~ Epicenter of Innovation and Universe

I'm sitting in this Hoffman talk listening to people going on about how things happen in "the Valley" -- meaning Silicon Valley, SF Bay Area, California, USA. Just "The Valley". What do we call things coming out of the Boston-metro area? This used to be Route 128 and the Massachusetts Miracle, and then for a horrific nanosecond, the dot.Commonwealth, but no compelling moniker seems to have stuck. But why do we actually need to reinvent this?

We have been and simply are "The Hub" -- the epicenter of invention, venturing, innovation, and the Universe!-)

Kendall-Central ~ Cambridge's Zoning Venture...

Cambridge is running a planning study to envision the future of Central Square, Kendall Square, and the Transition Area connecting the two squares. Given the lack-leadership and short-sighted nature of MIT and other dominant landowners in the area, I most surely hope the City doesn't cave in to narrowminded interests and unwise planning. FYI...

"The next Kendall Square Advisory Committee meeting is Thursday, July 21 2011, 8-10am Cambridge Innovation Center (Havana Conference Room, 5th floor), One Broadway, Kendall Square. Bring ID."

University Park @ MIT ~ Tech Innovation Zones...

I was just recollecting for a visitor from Chile about the history of business park development, both here at MIT -- including Technology Square -- and at Stanford -- their Research Park. One of the most recent in Cambridge is the University Park @ MIT complex Master Planned and orchestrated by Forest City developers on longterm leasehold from the Institute. This and other such parks are key example innovation zones helping seed and accelerate progress.

Greentown Labs ~ Boston Boomzone Incubator!

Excellent to see the kickoff-opening tonight of Greentown Labs, the cleantech incubator and startup hostel in the Fort Point Channel / Boston Innovation District! Sorin Grama of Promethean Power and a key Greentown protagonist represents here in these pix...