Massachusetts Ranks High For Start-Up Friendliness
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Local experts aren’t surprised, noting that Worcester has established itself as an asset to Cambridge’s robust biotech community, complimenting it instead of competing against it. In addition, Worcester’s lower cost per square foot for lab space and a rich local talent pool from area colleges and shuttered ventures like Charles River Laboratories offers area start-ups the resources necessary to launch.
Worcester's Talent Pool
“I’ve thrown away the old conversation – we are part of the whole,” says Kevin O’Sullivan, president and CEO of Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives (MBI). “What used to the 128 belt is now the 495 belt, and Worcester is blessed with talent.”
O’Sullivan notes that the city and colleges have been committed to helping start-ups get the footing they need to launch in Worcester. As an organization, MBI plays a pivotal role in growing the city’s reputation for being friendly to start-ups by providing life science incubator labs to support the growth and expansion of biotechnology and medical device companies.
Worcester-based start-ups agree, including Walter Lunsmann, chief operating officer of VivoPath, a contract research organization working with biotech and pharmaceutical companies. After opening its doors just over three years ago in one of MBI’s incubator spaces, VivoPath now occupies 11,000 sq. ft. in the former Charles River Laboratories on Union Street.
“The majority of our clients are Boston and Cambridge based, and Worcester has been a great location, balancing lower cost lab space, proximity to Massachusetts life sciences companies, and good employees,” says Lunsmann. “We currently have eight full time employees with additional temporary employees as needed.”
Successful Startup
Other local firms like Blue Sky BioServices launched in Worcester and have successfully exited the start-up phase, part of a small percentage of companies that make it this far. The company celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, and founder and CEO Paul Wengender credits access to services and talent as the dominant factors in Massachusetts’ start-up superiority.
“In Massachusetts, we have access to legal experts, financing, and customers, but access to talent is a huge point of differentiation for this region,” says Wengender. “Being in Worcester, a third of our employees live around the 495 and 95 belts. We’re great beneficiaries of urban sprawl and have access to same talent that was previously concentrated in Boston.”
Wengender also cites the professional network Massachusetts has created as another pivotal reason for Blue Sky’s success. Whether for recruitment purposes or building one’s own career, the network of like-minded individuals and companies makes Massachusetts one of the best spots in the world for start-up companies, he notes.
Overall, MBI’s O’Sullivan says the state and city work hard to create a start-up friendly culture for companies like VivoPath. However, it is the country’s direction as a whole that concerns him, especially as proposed cost-cutting to National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding threatens scientific research nationwide.
“Washington needs to get its priorities straights,” says O’Sullivan. “$2 trillion spent on world wars that won’t produce anything and now we’re talking about cutting NIH funding. State and local government gets it, local colleges and universities have been committed and Worcester has been absolutely incredible.”
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