MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning

11.490Nodal Economic Development and the Life Sciences

Fall 2017

Course Information and Syllabus

Class Time: Wednesday 2:00 to 5:00PM

Friday(lab:11:00 AM to 1:00 PM or field trips)

Web Site:

Meeting Place: TBA

Instructor: Amy Glasmeier and Teresa Lynch (Mass Economics)

Teaching Assistant:TBA

Office: 9-523

Phone Numbers:AG: 617-324-6565 / TL: 646-354-0833

Office Hours:TBA

Course Description and Objectives

The practicum will utilize state-of-the-art analysis of industrial clusters and local economic development--emphasizing local, national, and global cluster dynamics, industry linkages, complements and substitutes across economic development activities, and policy development for under- and dis-invested areas within a strong regional economy. The class will explore changing business models and global competitive conditions to address challenges of inclusive economic development. Students will learn how to conduct: industry studies, key informant interviews, and focus groups, to create broad-based understandings of cluster dynamics that reflect both regional, national, and international market trends, as well as firm-level business models that seek to adapt to changing market conditions while pursuing innovation and profitability. Concurrently, students will gain experience as partners and advocates for economically challenged cities and the philanthropic and public organizations (local and state) committed to their revitalization. In the context of the life sciences cluster in Massachusetts, the practicum will examine the interplay between market pressures, regional and sub-regional geographies of life science activity, and the availability of supply factors such as industrial land, residential housing stock, transportation assets, and skilled labor. The practicum will examine the development and operationalization of firm-level strategies within these market and institutional settings.

The final product will have two components. The first is the industry and economic analysis described above focused on selected Gateway Cities, as well as a series of briefings detailing the economic development potential andchallenges facing the life sciences industries. The second is a set of proposals for policy changes and investments in specific Massachusetts’ Gateway Cities to support the extension of the life sciences cluster into current dis- and under-invested areas. Students will investigate the extent that the state’s current policy model advantages or distorts the potential distributive gains from this sector’s development. Recommendations will focus on workforce, linkage gaps, and the role of state policy in simultaneously retaining vibrant life sciences nodes and corridors (e.g., Kendall Square, Route 128) and spreading the benefits of dynamic sectoral growth. The overarching goal is to sustain the competitiveness of a world-class regional cluster like the life sciences in Boston-Cambridge-Route 128 while creating opportunities for economically challenged areas to benefit from the economic assets and spillover effects of policy commitments of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Without new tools and frameworks that simultaneously integrate industry dynamics, economic geography, and social and economic inclusion, the Commonwealth’s policy and economic goals in life sciences may be difficult to achieve.

As an MCP practicum, students are also expected to use their experience working on the client project to develop and deepen their ideas about what constitutes good planning practice. Consequently, there are some assignments designed to promote thinking and reflection based on your work and experiences around the client planning project.

The Client

The primary client is the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), a quasi-public entity founded in 2008 to implement the state’s Life Sciences Act, which committed the state to invest $1 billion in life science innovation and job creation. MSLC is currently pursuing multiple goals simultaneously: sustaining the overall competitiveness of the world-class regional cluster (principally located in Boston-Cambridge-Route 128), retaining vibrant life sciences nodes and corridors (e.g., Kendall Square, Route 128), and creating new opportunities for cities and towns that have historically not benefitted from the state’s strength in life sciences through major capital investments in the state’s higher education system and business enterprises. The Baker administration recently announced a legislative proposal to extend MLSC activities for another five years, with the intention of spending $500 million on public infrastructure, research and development, and workforce training and education to support the continued development and growth of the life sciences cluster.

There are other sets of interested stakeholders, such as Mass Tech Collaborative and other groups that shape policy and influence resource allocation at the state level, especially in the so-called innovation and tech clusters. Thethird set of key actors includes stakeholders of under- and disinvested cities and towns currently outside of the footprint of the Massachusetts life sciences cluster. Representatives from these stakeholder groups, such as MassDevelopment, are advising the course’s development and will be engaged throughout the course.

This is a policy problem-based practicum. We aim to develop and deploy a new economic development approach that identifies practical solutions to problems that stand in the way of economically-distressed communities being able to identify and promote their best opportunities to engage aspects of the life sciences cluster. At its core, this class is about reversing the inequality of opportunity and outcomes that is visible across the state using one of its most visible and successful economic clusters. The will of political and business leaders to spread the wealth generated by arguably, the state’s most important economic cluster is certainly genuine, but there is currently no clear mechanism for systematically extending feasible opportunities to under- and disinvested areas. Gateway cities face serious gaps in professional resources and expertise to move beyond reactive practice. Once strong industrial towns of the 19th century have found transitioning to the 20th and 21st-century form of economic development challenging. This class aims to address this challenge by developing tools, techniques, and policy approaches to fill this gap.

The objective of this course is to provide students with the following knowledge, experience, and skills:

  1. An introduction to theories of local economic development.
  1. An understanding of the major components of and contributions to local economic development through the lens of industries, firms, technology, innovation, policy, and geography.
  1. Knowledge of existing (and creation of new) strategies to distribute the benefits of economic growth to targeted geographic areas and populations.
  1. Familiarity with data sources and analytical techniques used to undertake a strategic assessment of a sector and its geographic expression.
  1. Experience in combining an understanding of economic development policy with the results of a strategic assessment of a sector’s presence in a locality and its interaction with larger spatial aggregates.
  1. Familiarity with the policies and programs that state and local governments and public-private partnerships use to encourage employment creation and industry development.
  1. Practical experience in managing planning processes including: (1) integrating varied data to understand and analyze a local or regional economy, develop an agenda and communicate the case for the agenda to stakeholders; (2) serving as an intermediary between different stakeholders and interests; and (3) preparing a professional plan that summarizes the process, analysis, plan elements and implementation of strategy development.
  1. An understanding of the organizational capabilities needed and options for implementation of economic development strategies.
  1. An understanding of practical issues and challenges involved in preparing and gaining institutional support for plans and development of personal ideas and approaches for addressing them.

This course builds on others offered at MIT including economic development theory, urban and regional economics, urban labor markets, economic impact analysis and modeling, and economic development finance.

Course Requirements

In addition to the completion of all reading assignments and participation in class discussion, students are required to participate fully in the research, analysis and formulation of the life sciences cluster dynamics and hidden asset identification opportunities, as well as the development and presentation of research and policy briefs to the client team.

There will be a one day long field trip. In addition, students are expected to organize their own engagement and travel to their assigned Gateway city. We will hold labs on Friday to talk over lessons learned, problems encountered and reflections on the distinct nature of state policy-led economic development strategy and practice. Reflection discussions will also emphasize the challenges facing professionals working in cities that have limited resources to undertake planning.

Reading Materials and Assignments

Reading assignments are specified for each class in the course syllabus. All reading assignments are posted on the course Dropbox. Additional readings and web resources are provided on the Dropbox site to assist students in exploring topics of interest and to provide resources that can be utilized on the class project. The stellar site is reserved for communication and assignments. A commentary on how to read the material can be acquired from the professor.

Writing Assignments

There are several written assignments, explained in the syllabus, that relate to the class project and provide a means to complete analytical tasks and draw conclusions to facilitate the final formulation of strategic recommendations to the client team. At least two types of written materials are relevant: task-oriented data (quantitative and qualitative) products; written reflection documents based on student professional experience and intellectual development.

Logistics

The class will meet once per week, for three hours, for a combination of lectures, discussions, outside speakers, and reviews. A weekly Friday laboratory period of two hours will bring students together to share knowledge, engage in collective learning in skills development and reflect on experiences associated with the class. Fridays will also be utilized to focus on emergent issues of theory and practice as well as for field work (visits, interviews), including a class trip to each of the three client cities on September 22nd.

To greatly reduce the time from class start-up to opportunity identification, students will be given twocleaned and compiled data sets for class use. The first is a set of employment and establishment counts for the life sciences cluster, sub-clusters, and individual industries for each of the Gateway cities being studied, as well as each zip code and county in Massachusetts, the entire state of Massachusetts, and the U.S. The second data set will provide information on employment by stage of innovation (ideation, prototyping, commercialization, scaling, routine activities) for each zip code and county in Massachusetts.In addition, data on comparative regions/states will be made available to students who need them for their analyses or projects. In addition, a data set will become available to allow students to track the investment climate across the state in the life sciences. Unique factors such as initial public offerings, rounds of venture funding and other actions will allow us to consider the flows of capital in local contexts.

Research and analytical work on each plan component will be undertaken by student teams who will present their findings and recommendations for class review and discussion. Teams are also encouraged to share information on their work, findings and ideas throughout the process and to explore commonalities and interconnections across the focus areas. A team project manager will be selected for each Gateway City to both coordinate work across the teams and oversee communication and coordination with the client. A final report incorporating the analysis, key findings and recommended strategies and plans will be written by integrating the work of the different teams. The final plan will be presented to the client and other stakeholders at a meeting to be scheduled at the end of the semester.

A day long field trip will take place on at the end of September. We plan to hold a number of meetings with the client and other stakeholders to review phases and to gain feedback on plan proposals along with a final presentation of the plan will occur during the semester on dates to be determined with the client.

The workshop final report will be completed by February 1, 2018.

Grading

Grading will be based on each student’s demonstration of their knowledge of the course material and capacity to apply this knowledge to economic development assessments, research briefs, client interactions, and the final product, as well as their creative contributions in terms of strategies, project framing, development of new data sets or metrics, analyses, etc. The intermediate work products (analytics, briefs) will contribute 25% to the class grade; and the finalproject for 50%. The other 25% of each student’s grade will be based on class participation and contributions to the in-class discussions of course content and the client project.

Institute practice requires that we state directly that we know everyone will act responsibly and honestly in completing all coursework. We know no one will engage in untoward activities (cheating, plagiarism, deliberate interference with the integrity of the work of others, fabrication or falsification of data, and other forms of academic dishonesty) as we know you have already been notified in other classes of this concern and the resulting consequences (such actions are considered serious offenses with disciplinary penalties that may include a failing grade for the class, and possibly suspension from the Institute). Practicum course work is all about collaboration and students are expected to work together and help one another to complete analysis and to discuss issues for the case studies. We will ensure that everyone has the same opportunity to do their best work and to contribute to the class in a manner to which they will be proud and intellectually rewarded. Term project deliverables reflect group effort based on collaborative work among team members; students are encouraged to share ideas and to incorporate the work of other team members into their part of the project. Extending a helping hand and being willing to explain when confusion is evident is part of professional development. We are only as good as the people we work with, encourage, and support. We know each of you understand the importance of making a significant contribution to the final project and that the final product will reflect positively on everyone. This type of class is one of the most important you will take in your MIT career and we are committed to making it one of the most, if not the most meaningful.

Use of electronics—phones, laptops, tablets—is not allowed during class time or when off-site and in the presence of clients or other stakeholders. This will help ensure that we are all “present” during these critical times and respectful of colleagues’and clients’ time and commitment to this project.

Overview of Course Schedule

Initial Session

At the initial class session on September 6,we will discuss course objectives, content, readings, assignments, and client project. We will discuss the meaning of economic development, the nature of state and regional economic development planning and practice and the concept of inclusive economic development strategy underlying the class. Orienting readings are assigned for this session and will be discussed on Friday during lab. Review the state programs for economic development, the backgrounds of the target cities, and the economic development of the state over the last 50 years. Students will begin to get a handle on how states undertake economic developmentand how this intersects with local development planning.

Travis McCready, President and CEO of the Mass Life Sciences Center (MLSC) and head of the client group for 11.490, will join the class to discuss the work of MLSC and his hopes for the practicum projects.

Part I: State Policies, Life ScienceClusters/Value Chains, Gateway Cities,Economic Development Theories

In this section, we will devote four weeks to reviewing and discussing several levels of understanding: state policies and their interaction with local economic development planning; the interactions between industries and their operations and community economic development; economic disparities and spatial inequality thru the lens of Massachusetts Gateway cities; theories of local and regional economic development and the implications of these theories for local economic development strategies. Each week relies on extensive reading on the part of course participants interspersed with guests working in the various fields implied in the topics. During the first four weeks, we will make one or more trips to the gateway cities, meeting local leaders and key economic and policy and planning actors.

For each of the fourweeks, students are expected to come to class prepared to discuss the following questions for each domain: (1) What are the major concepts, issues or ideas in each domain?; (2)How do they relate to one another and relate to differing economic development outcomes?; (3) How do the embedded theories help us understand the process and options for economic development?;What are the potential limitations of each theory for this project?; (4) What are their implications for economic development strategy and policy?