Banker & Tradesman: Life Science and Schools Find Common Ground
Sep 25, 2023
The following is an excerpt of an article originally published in Banker & Tradesman on September 24, 2023:
The message has been sent loud and clear by Boston residents and elected officials to life science developers.
Their lab projects need to create not only temporary jobs in the building trades, but open up permanent pathways into an industry that promises six-figure annual salaries and career advancement.
At life science projects under construction and preparing to break ground in Allston, the Seaport District and Roxbury’s Nubian Square, new career academies and training centers for local students will occupy prominent ground-floor spaces. Researchers from a Massachusetts Institute for Technology spinoff, the Gloucester Center for Marine Genomics and a new nonprofit founded by trade group MassBio will run the new workforce training centers provided at free rent and built out by the real estate development teams.
Boosting awareness of biotech among the next generation will provide a competitive advantage to the Massachusetts life science industry, said Ben Bradford, MassBio’s head of external affairs.
“One of the first questions I get when a company is thinking of expanding to Massachusetts is: `Where can I get the workers?’ It’s a really nice amenity for developers to have a built-in workforce graduating within a space,” Bradford said. “If they can walk downstairs and find employees, that makes a site that much more attractive.”
