A new report released by MIT’s Industrial Performance Center shows if Massachusetts can help facilitate more collaboration among manufacturers, it would help strengthen the innovation economy within the state.
Manufacturing is vital to any economy, yet its importance to the U.S. has been steadily declining for decades. Despite that fact, the United States remains the world’s second largest manufacturer.
According to Elisabeth Reynolds, Executive Director of MIT’s Industrial Performance Center, and Professor of Urban Studies and Planning, there is an integral link between several of Massachusetts’ most important industry clusters including aerospace/defense, semiconductors and computers, biopharmaceuticals and medical devices. Reynolds says, " in all of the cases we have advanced manufacturing capabilities underneath those clusters, as foundational inputs into our innovation capabilities.”
The report recommends greater interconnectedness in the state's manufacturing innovation ecosystem such as those relationships among suppliers, start-ups, and research universities and institutions.
Reynolds was interviewed by WGBH Morning Edition host about the report, which is titled, “Strengthening the Innovation Ecosystem for Advanced Manufacturing in Massachusetts." The reported was presented Monday to the Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Manufacturing Collaborative meeting in Taunton.
Research for the study was conducted in 2013, and it shows vertically integrated companies of the 1980s have become less integrated over time, and instead rely on outsourcing production with smaller suppliers.
To listen to the entire interview click on the audio link above. To read the entire report click on the highlighted link included within the title.
