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Universities drive Boston economy, study shows
BU Chancellor John Silber addressed about 250 business and community leaders at a Boston Chamber of Commerce event on March 11, upon the release of a study detailing the economic impact on the region of greater Boston’s eight research universities. The study estimates that BU, BC, Brandeis, Harvard, MIT, Northeastern, Tufts, and UMass-Boston injected a combined $7.4 billion into the Boston-area economy in 2000. Pictured with Silber (from left) are Tufts President Lawrence Bacow, UMass-Boston Chancellor Jo Ann Gora, Harvard President Lawrence Summers, and MIT President Charles Vest. The study, conducted for the universities by the New York economic research company Appleseed, also found that in 2000 the universities -- which together employ about 50,000 people -- granted 280 technology licenses to private ventures, generating $44.5 million in revenue for the region. As an example of how educational institutions often cooperate to fuel growth, Silber pointed to an ongoing effort led by BU and involving MIT, Harvard, and UMass to bring a national biodefense laboratory to Boston Medical Center. The city could not compete for federal grants to build the facility “if it were not for the fact that these four universities have shared ideas and contributed in a variety of ways to the feasibility of the plan, to make it clear that Boston can offer a realistic chance of fulfilling all the objectives of that program,” Silber said. “The economic consequences of the plan are enormous: over a 20-year period, it would pump about $2 billion into this region.” Photo by Kalman Zabarsky
Note: A full story on the economic report, which is entitled “Engines
of Economic Growth,” will appear in next week’s B.U. Bridge.
13
March 2003
Boston University
Office of University Relations