Innovation Institute Investments

New Partnership To Spur Job Growth on Cape

FALMOUTH –  Efforts to translate R&D into job creation on Cape Cod received a strong boost with the investment of a $150,000 award to the Regional Technology Development Center of Cape Cod from MTC’s John Adams Innovation Institute.

RTDC will use this award to develop an “innovation accelerator”—a repeatable process for translating the world-class marine science and technology research  from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Marine Biological Laboratory into job creation and business formation. Analysts project that marine science markets will be worth hundreds of millions of dollars as new ocean observing infrastructures are constructed in the coming decade.

The Regional Technology Development Center of Cape Cod was created in 2006 as a not-for-profit economic development organization with $200,000 in seed funding from Economic Stimulus legislation, along with guidance and support from the Falmouth Economic Development Corporation and MA Senate President Therese Murray.

Under the new partnership, a nationally recognized group of advisory board members will oversee the identification of market needs and the selection of technologies by the RTDC. In addition to WHOI and MBL, Brown University, which manages the intellectual property for MBL, has strongly endorsed the “innovation accelerator” model.

Patrick Larkin, the director of MTC’s John Adams Innovation Institute, praised the Senate President for her leadership efforts to create the collaborative framework to enable the region to leverage job growth from world-leading, marine science research centers in Falmouth.

“Leadership by Senator Murray has enabled these two world renowned marine science research institutions to collaborate through the RTDC and capture the economic benefits of the emerging market opportunities.” Larkin said.

Strategic pipeline for medical devices

LOWELL – MassMEDIC and the University of Massachusetts Lowell have teamed up to create an initiative known as M2D2 to help bridge a persistent and growing gap in funding sources to convert ideas for medical devices into commercial products. It is being underwritten by a $150,000 investment from MTC’s John Adams Innovation Institute.

The initiative will focus on medical device concepts that meet criteria in both market and technical feasibility. The effort expects to reach a stage when it can evaluate 300 concepts a year, produce prototypes for 40, generate proof-of-concept for 20 and then graduate 10 investment-ready products each year.

In its initial launch, M2D2 will focus on six specific medical device concepts, with the expectation that two will complete the process to investor and commercialization hand-off.

“Moving from concept to prototype is often a major barrier in the medical device sector, because investors are generally unwilling to offer venture support to companies that had not developed a device to at least the prototype level,” said Bob Kispert of the Innovation Institute. “The M2D2 initiative will help to establish an infrastructure to support new product and new company formation in the medical device cluster.”

OpenCape: Affordable and Reliable Connectivity

BOURNE – The “OpenCape” initiative, which seeks to achieve the deployment of affordable and reliable broadband connectivity for the region, was recently awarded $150,000 in a regional priority investment from MTC’s John Adams Innovation Institute.

The initiative is now exploring the possibilities of creating a wireless transport backbone that would run along Route 6 from Bourne to Provincetown and along Route 28 from Bourne to Falmouth. The money will be used to design and develop a system, resulting in a proof-of concept and fully-fledged plan to build the proposed digital communications network.

Three local academic and research institutions – Cape Cod Community College, the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution – are working in partnership with the Cape Cod Technology Council to help develop a redundant, high-capacity communications infrastructure in June 2006.

The project seeks to overcome the region’s inadequate infrastructure by using wireless technology, and by aggregating demand for ubiquitous connectivity on a regional basis in order to create the conditions for competitive wholesale pricing.

Expanding emphasis on science and mathematics

BOSTON – In partnership with a NASA-funded program to develop a STEM teacher education program, Wheelock College is launching a College Math and Science Education Initiative, underwritten with a $112,000 award from the Research Center Matching Grant program of MTC’s John Adams Innovation Institute.

The program goals are to have every student attain scientific and mathematical literacy, regardless of whether they are planning to enter the teaching profession. In addition, for those prospective teachers not majoring in science and mathematics, the program seeks to provide them with a higher level of content knowledge.

The Initiative also seeks to create pipeline programs to identify, recruit and retain promising high school students from diverse communities to become Wheelock College prospective teachers.

“Massachusetts has a well-documented deficiency of teachers in the pre-Kindergarten through sixth grades with proper training in STEM subjects,” said Bob Kispert of the Innovation Institute. “This project addresses the critical need to attract, train and qualify science- and mathematical-literate teachers.”

The program will also create a framework for follow-up efforts to leverage further federal investment and improve the competitive position for funding from additional state and foundation sources.