Innovation Institute Governing Board > Role of the Governing Board

Role of the Governing Board:
A Forum for New Ideas and Policy Initiatives

The 23-member board plays a critical role in advancing insights on economic development policy, aligning its work with the policy priorities of Governor Patrick and the Legislature.

The dialogue at Governing Board meetings provides an important tool for gaining insight and understanding of the attributes, principles and conditions necessary for growth.

The Governing Board has often served as a forum for new ideas and policy initiatives:

• The Innovation Institute’s pioneering work on development of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Collaborative (LSC) began with policy recommendations that emerged from a Governing Board meeting in May 2005 at the Boston Athenaeum, where Life Sciences industry leaders discussed the need for a consistent, supportive state policy.
• Similarly, the state’s aggressive approach towards winning the $100 million investment in federal research by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution can be attributed in part to a February 2006 Governing Board meeting which brought industry and the leading Massachusetts academic research centers to the table to discuss opportunities for collaboration.
• In addition, the policies embedded within the Governor’s $40 million Broadband Initiative can trace some of its roots to the discussion of the Commonwealth’s broadband policies in relationship to economic development held by the Governing Board in May 2006 at Boston’s John Hancock Conference Center.

The ongoing management of the Innovation Institute is overseen by the 7-member Executive Committee of the Governing Board, which meets monthly.