Kendall Square

Boston Globe reporter Tim Logan spotlights MIT’s efforts to increase connections with the neighborhoods surrounding Kendall Square. MIT is “running shuttles from nearby neighborhoods to help people get to community events at its newly built plaza off Main Street, and it’s working on ways to get Cambridge kids better engaged with the MIT Museum when it reopens in its new location,” notes Logan. “It is imperative that what we’re doing here and Kendall represents the desires and aspirations of the neighbors,” says Sarah Gallop, co-director of MIT’s Office of Government and Community Relations. 

Boston Globe reporter Brittany Bowker spotlights the work of Amy Brand, director and publisher of the MIT Press, which is celebrating its 60^th anniversary this month. “I feel like I have one of the best jobs in the world because I’m living in this realm of exciting ideas and discoveries,” Brand says. “I’m getting to walk and work with such brilliant and amazing people at the press, but also in general. Authors who are passionate about what they do and passionate about the potential for knowledge.”

Former MIT research fellow Robert (Bob) Buderi speaks with Radio Boston host Tiziana Dearing about his new book, “Where The Futures Converge: Kendall Square and the Making of a Global Innovation Hub,” which explores the history of Kendall Square and its innovation ecosystem. “One of the big chapters is about an effort at MIT by former President Susan Hockfield and two professors Sangeeta Bhatia and Nancy Hopkins to increase the opportunity for women faculty… to get into the stream that creates companies,” explains Buderi.

Fortune reporter Nicole Gull McElroy spotlights how the MIT Innovation Initiative and the Sloan School of Management are opening Innovation HQ, a 50,000 square foot space that will house a cross-disciplinary innovation and entrepreneurship lab. “Innovation HQ will offer students, alumni, faculty and staff a place to work, collaborate and create with six departments, lab space, an innovator’s lounge and a new space for music and arts innovation called Voxel Lab,” writes McElroy.

Boston Globe reporter Nina MacLaughlin spotlights the MIT Press Bookstore, which has reopened in a new space in the MIT Kendall Gateway. “The new space has more square footage than its previous home, and besides offering the books and journals published by the titular press, the bookstore also carries a selection of academic and general interest titles,” writes MacLaughlin, “including a space dedicated to STEAM books for kids, with special attention on the new MIT Kids Press and MITeen Press titles.”

Boston Globe reporter Anissa Gardizy writes that Apple has announced it will be leasing office space in Kendall Square. “Big tech companies have long wanted to be close to MIT,” writes Gardizy. “This area of Cambridge is home to offices for Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft, and MIT’s new building is across the street from another under-construction building mostly occupied by Google.”

Boston Business Journal reporter Catherine Carlock spotlights how MIT has submitted plans for the second phase of the Volpe redevelopment in Kendall Square. “The second phase could house a combined 1,400 residential units; 1.7 million square feet of lab, research and office space; a 20,000-square-foot community center; 3.5 acres of open space and other retail, entertainment and cultural facilities,” writes Carlock.

Boston Globe reporter Tim Logan writes about how MIT has submitted design plans for the next phase of its proposal to transform the Volpe Transportation Center into a dynamic mixed-use development, including “eight office and residential towers on the 14-acre site north of Broadway.”

Boston Globe columnist Shirley Leung spotlights how the development of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine demonstrates the success of the Massachusetts life sciences sector. “For more than half a century, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been the epicenter of that curiosity, with a focus on molecular biology — initially to find a cure for cancer,” writes Leung. “There have been Nobel laureates collaborating on cancer, genetics, and immunology, along with future laureates making discoveries in how RNA, a molecule that is as fundamental as DNA to cell function, can be used in medicine.”

Katie Rae, CEO and managing partner of The Engine, speaks with Forbes reporter David Jeans about the second round of funding raised by The Engine and how the venture is looking to help support tough tech ideas. “These are things with often longer [investment] timeframes,” Rae says. “They’ve almost always been backed by government-led research, and now they are ready to translate into companies.”

TechCrunch reporter Danny Crichton writes that The Engine has announced a second round of funding aimed at supporting tough tech startups. Crichton notes that, “with this latest news from The Engine, it seems clear that Boston’s tough tech ecosystem will continue to have a pipeline of interesting and compelling companies.”

The Engine has announced that it plans to expand into a new location at 750 Main Street to better accommodate the early-stage tough-tech startups that the MIT subsidiary serves. “Renovations to create offices, labs, and fabrication space are scheduled to start at the end of the year; they are expected to open by early 2022,” reports John Chesto for The Boston Globe.

In an article for the Financial Times, Thomas Hale and Andy Bounds spotlights MIT’s role in making Kendall Square an innovation hub. Hale and Bounds write that a 2014 Brookings report noted that MIT “has always emphasised partnerships between the university and industry.”

Boston Globe reporter Tim Logan writes about MIT’s groundbreaking ceremony for 314 Main Street, which will serve as a “new front door” for the Institute. Steve Marsh, managing director of real estate, explains that in Kendall Square, MIT aims “to create an environment where people solve problems. That will help us all.”

Boston Business Journal reporter Catherine Carlock writes that Boeing will come to Kendall Square to develop a new autonomous flight research center. Boeing is the first major tenant announced as part of MIT’s Kendall Square Initiative. Provost Martin Schmidt explains that Boeing’s presence in Kendall Square, “will create an unprecedented opportunity for new synergies in this industry.”