Genetown

Genetown: The Urbanization of the Boston Area Biotechnology Industry

Robin Wolfe Scheffler, MIT 
Comment: Lizbeth Cohen, Harvard University

Today, the Boston area hosts the densest cluster of biotechnology firms anywhere in the world. Yet in the 1980s, the rapid concentration of the industry within Boston’s urban neighborhoods was a striking contrast to the suburbanization of high technology research and development a generation before. This remarkable urbanization represented the confluence of the labor and financial challenges faced by biotechnology start-ups with decisions regarding municipal governance and redevelopment in the aftermath of deindustrialization.

At Massachusetts Historical Society starting at 5:15 PM. Concludes with a Q&A followed by a reception with light refreshments.