Ultimately, persistence won the day for Team Massachusetts. In late November – three months after Massachusetts lawmakers ended their formal session without passing most of the major initiatives before them – legislators returned to the Capital, reached an agreement, and Governor Maura Healey signed into law House Bill No. 5100, An Act Relative to Strengthening Massachusetts’ Economic Leadership.
Mass Leads, as the bill is known, is a nearly $4 billion investment in the Commonwealth - an investment that Governor Healey appropriately described as “essential” to keeping our economy “strong and adaptable in a rapidly changing world.” I’m proud to have supported this bill, grateful for the commitment and dedication of the Healey-Driscoll Administration and our local delegation – Senator Mark and Representatives Barrett, Farley-Bouvier, and Pignatelli – and eager to lock arms with our partners to make sure the impact of this investment reaches Berkshire County.
Anchored by world-class universities, vibrant startup ecosystems, and robust public-private partnerships, Massachusetts has long solidified its position as a global leader in the innovation economy, specifically key sectors such as life sciences, climate tech, robotics, applied AI, and advanced manufacturing. In the life sciences, we have one of the most active and productive ecosystems in the world: 18 of the Top-20 biopharma companies have offices here, we are #1 in talent with the highest percentage of residents who hold undergraduate degrees, and 25% of K-12 students in Massachusetts learn with equipment funded by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. In Climate Tech, we are #1 for climate tech startups per capita, #2 in climate tech investment over the last five years, #3 in climate tech patent filings, and #2 in clean energy jobs per capita. Led by our prolific research institutions and companies such as Boston Dynamics and iRobot, we accounted for 12% of all robotics patents filed in the US in 2023. As for AI-related patents, we ranked #2 nationally in the same year.
Despite this dominance, other states – New York, North Carolina, New Jersey, Texas – are making big investments to compete and catch up. As I’ve heard Secretary of Economic Development Yvonne Hao say numerous times, “this is no time to rest on our laurels.” Just because we’ve been a leader, there is no guarantee that we will continue to lead.
The Mass Leads Act is about maintaining our lead AND lengthening that lead. At the center of the bill is a new 10-year $1 billion dollar investment in our globally-renowned life sciences sector. Led by the Massachusetts Life Science Center, the funding positions the state to support life science companies, hospitals, and research institutions as they tackle the toughest challenges in health care innovation. It also drives more collaboration across the state and more equitable health outcomes for our residents.
The bill also seeks to bring the same success Massachusetts has had in the life science sector to the climate tech sector. It includes $400 million in capital authorization and $300 million in tax incentives all aimed at ensuring Massachusetts is the global hub for climate-based innovation and technology. While not at the same scale, the bill also provides for critical capital authorizations to support other key emerging sectors – artificial intelligence, robotics, and advanced manufacturing. Again, investments in these areas are carefully crafted to help Massachusetts maintain and lengthen our lead relative to other states that are now competing to grow these same sectors.
We know that the Boston-Cambridge area is the epicenter of the Massachusetts innovation economy. We also know, however, that the ripple from that epicenter is reaching places like Lowell, Worcester, Devens, Holyoke, Springfield, Pittsfield, Lee, North Adams, and others. This administration is wholeheartedly committed to making sure the economic opportunity reaches all corners of the Commonwealth and kudos to our local delegation for their relentless work in making sure that vision becomes reality.
At the BIC, we just completed a regional roadmap identifying the role that Western Massachusetts can play in what Governor Healey has called the “climate tech corridor” that she envisions stretching “from the Berkshires to Barnstable”. Our findings are similarly applicable to the other key sectors prioritized in the Mass Leads Act. Now that the bill is signed, it's time to put our best plans forward as a community to make sure that the investment has a truly transformative impact on Berkshire County. If we go inbound with strong proposals and collective vision, I’m confident we will find eager partners in the statehouse.
