Berkshire Innovation Center Expansion Aims to Bring Jobs, Innovation to Pittsfield
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| State Sen. Paul Mark speaks about the importance of the project at Thursday's ceremony. |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Innovation Center broke ground on its roughly 12,000-square-foot expansion on Thursday, surrounded by state and local officials, business leaders, and industry partners who helped bring the project to fruition.
The approximately $8 million expansion will bring advanced manufacturing capabilities, new jobs, and additional opportunities for technology companies to the William Stanley Business Park, speakers at Thursday's ceremony said.
The importance of collaboration among state and local officials and the private sector in fostering innovation, creating jobs and driving economic growth was a central theme throughout the event.
It was no coincidence that the groundbreaking brought together representatives from government and the private sector, including Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, state Sen. Paul Mark, state Reps. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, Leigh Davis and John Barrett III, alongside business leaders and industry partners from the Berkshire Innovation Center, Electro Magnetic Applications and Myrias Optics.
"Massachusetts is now the mecca of research in the world. Nothing comes close to what we do," Neal said, highlighting several of the state's research and innovation centers, including Berkshire Medical Center, Kendall Square and UMass Medical.
"These are the breakthrough moments that are happening, and we have a chance to witness them," he said.
The BIC and the tech hub that has been created around advanced optics is going to build on creating new opportunities in an organic way by using the region's success and leveraging it for more, Driscoll said.
"We know these investments here in this facility are going to continue to make sure you've got the equipment, the convening space and the opportunity to have ideas turn into companies, turn into jobs, turn into making sure we've got the people here to do that," she said.
The expansion will include a clean room, specialized laboratory space, and equipment for developing and testing advanced optical technologies.
Tim Widman, principal and architect at EDM Studio, said the addition will feature an approximately 8,000-square-foot first-floor footprint, with a two-story section facing East Street and a double-height space to accommodate the clean room and its equipment.
Driscoll highlighted the project's two anchor companies, Myrias Optics and Electro Magnetic Applications, emphasizing that the new clean room will allow Myrias to relocate manufacturing operations from Austria to the Berkshires.
"Right, from Austria to Western Mass.," she reiterated, underscoring the significance of bringing those manufacturing operations to the region.
The new laboratory will also provide companies with access to specialized equipment to test and improve optical technologies, she said.
"The last piece that I think is really, really critical is the workforce. So many of the companies that we're talking to are growing, expanding — they need talent. That's why they're here," Driscoll said.
"And so we want to make sure we've got a seamless way to go from the skilled trades that you need to be able to implement your business growth model, and that's why we're connecting that to free community college and finding ways to have on-ramps so you can continue to grow."
Over the next three years, Driscoll projected that this project will create at least 60 jobs, two anchor companies, six optic-related startups, and then train and upskill 90 people.
The original vision of the BIC when it was founded in 2018, was that collective wisdom always wins, founder and board member Stephen Boyd told iBerkshires.com.
By bringing together industry partners with academic and research institutions and the government, the foundation of innovation is created, he said.
"The fact that we're growing so much that we need to put an expansion on is proof that the model works and that we'll continue to be able to thrive," he said.
Neal also highlighted the challenges of international competition, noting that technological breakthroughs developed in the United States are often replicated overseas and sold at lower prices.
He emphasized the importance of public investment in supporting businesses willing to take financial risks, as well as connecting technological innovation with workforce development, housing and transportation improvements.
Neal stressed that creating economic opportunities in the Berkshires is essential to retaining local talent, including graduates of local institutions such as Berkshire Community College and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.
"I know as much as we love the sheer beauty of the Berkshires, there's got to be some economic growth and opportunity as well," he said.
"One of the challenges we always have is if the economy becomes related to tourism, there are peaks and valleys, and we want to make sure that a smoothing process takes place. So, what you've done here ... is remarkable."
When the Berkshire Innovation Center was founded it didn’t set out with a list of companies to recruit; rather, it started by helping one company grow, laying the groundwork for a growing cluster of companies, businesses, technologies and opportunities, Executive Director Ben Sosne said.
"That's how clusters develop. Companies attract other companies. Talent attracts talent. Capabilities attract new opportunities. And the more you bring those things together, the more they begin to reinforce one another, and that's the idea behind our big tech hub," he said.
It is an investment in infrastructure, equipment, technical capabilities, and partnerships designed to attract entrepreneurs and provide growing businesses with the resources and relationships they need to succeed, Sosne said.
"The more that we build, the more opportunity we create for the next company and the one after that," he said.
Tags: berkshire innovation center, BIC, driscoll, Neal,
