The economic impact of the University of Massachusetts

8 Pages·1996·0.48 MB·English

by  University of Massachusetts (System). President's Office. Office of Economic Development

ng
New
Question: When do hun- The University was the
dreds of people share a driving force behind the
Nobel Prize? creation of Mass
Ventures Inc., a develop-
Answer: When the brilliant ment corporation based in
research that went into Hadley that will serve as
earning it spawns a com- the launching pad for
pany that generates $20 ideas and products emerg-
million in sales and ing from the Amherst
employs 120 persons. campus.
Millitech Corp. in South Already, Mass Ventures
Deerfield, a company that has helped Sovereign Hill
develops and manufactures Software develop a busi-
sophisticated millimeter- ness plan that helped to
wave-frequency compo- attract $3 million in ven-
nents and products^ ture capital.
evolved from Nobel Prize-
winning research conduct- Sovereign Hill Software,
ed at the Amherst campus' also based in Hadley,
Physics and Astronomy is the developer of
-
Department. The company INQUERY software
continues to enjoy close that sorts through large
ties with the system's collections of text.
largest campus. INQUERY is used by the
White House, the Library
Millitech is among more of Congress and the
than three dozen new com- Internal Revenue Service.
—
panies generating $100
million in revenue and Sovereign Hill, which grew
—
1,000 new jobs to spin out of research conducted
out of Amherst research. at the Amherst campus'
Computer Science
Department, plans to hire
100 additional employees
over the next few years.
Some of the companies that
have emerged from research
conducted at the University
of Massachusetts:
Growth
1^ Computers and Software
ACSIOM, Amherst
»Amerinex Applied Imaging, Amherst
Amherst Product Group, Amherst
Blackboard Technology Group,
Amherst
DataViews, Northampton
Sovereign Hill Software, Hadley
Specular International, Amherst
In the late 19805, vision- The result? A classic
Biotechnology
ary entrepreneur William Hollywood happy ending.
Warner realized that the Advanced Cell Technology, Maine
Antigen Express, Worcester
labyrinthine chore of cut- Today, Warner's Avid
Scriptgen, Cambridge
ting and splicing miles of Technologies Inc. of
film into a two-hour movie Tewksbury is one of the Electronics and Instruments
could become as quaint a leading manufacturers of Amherst Process Instruments, Hadley
Hollywood anachronism as the digital editing systems Microcal, Northampton
the silent feature if he sweeping the television Millimetrix, Hadley
could develop his idea for and film industry. The Millitech, South Deerfield
a digital editing system. company employs 1,500 Precision Detectors, Amherst
and has sales of $400 mil- IP Quadrant Engineering, Amherst
In 1987, Warner bought lion worldwide. In 1996,
Chemicals and Materials
his first computer and more than 200 Hollywood
P KSE, Sunderland
hired his first engineer. But films and 85 prime-time
Polymer Laboratories, Amherst
he then faced the problem television shows were cut SeaTech, New Bedford
of where to get started. on Avid systems.
Agriculture and Environment
The University's Lowell Without question, the ^ Eco-Science, New Jersey
"
campus stepped into the company nurtured at the Gempler, Wisconsin
picture, providing laborato- University of Massachusetts Yankee Environmental Systems,
ry space at the Center for at Lowell is playing a Turners Falls
Productivity Enhancement, starring role in bringing
Education and Economics
access to the lab's comput- about what Newsweek
Market Street Research, Northampton
er network and graduate magazine has called
National Evaluation Systems, Amherst
students to help with algo- "a quiet revolution ... in Regional Economic Models, Amherst
rithms. the world of Hollywood
filmmaking."
Retaining the
petitive
Helping a Neighbor Cutting-Edge
Rebuild Partnership
While the Lowell campus When Smith & Nephew
has long had a close Endoscopy of Andover,
relationship with Maiden one of the world's leading
Mills, a major textile firm manufacturers of instru-
in Methuen, the campus ments for "minimally
stepped up its support invasive surgery," decided
following the tragic that it needed to form a
Christmas 1995 fire that partnership with a world-
destroyed much of the class hospital in order to
mill. Specifically, the cam- develop new and better
pus made its office space, products, the University
computers and materials- of Massachusetts Medical
testing laboratories avail- Center was there to answer
able to the firm's scientists the call.
while their facility was
being rebuilt. And Lowell In doing so, the medical
scientists and engineers center will earn for the
worked with the firm to state $2 million a year,
design a new manufacturing help Smith & Nephew
process that will be eco- develop the medical tools
nomically competitive and that will dramatically
environmentally sensitive. reduce the trauma, cost
and recovery time associ-
ated with conventional
surgery, and is ensuring
that Smith & Nephew will
keep its business and 630
jobs in Massachusetts.
The partnership was nego-
tiated by the Office of
Commercial Ventures and
Intellectual Property, a
system-wide unit formed to
help bring University inven-
tions to the marketplace.
Winning the Seal From Rags to Riches:
of Approval Recycling for Profit
During its corporate infan- The byproducts of a textile
cy, SolmeteX, the mill can be an expensive
Billerica-based developer nuisance. Mountains of bits
of water-treatment tech- and pieces and odds and
nology, found itself ends that have to be carted
perched at the edge of away. Or do they?
-
the "Valley of Death"
a not-so euphemistic term The owners of Satkin Mills
used to describe the cav- of New Bedford were con-
ernous gap new companies vinced that there had to be
face during the period clever ways of recycling
between product develop- their byproducts. They con-
ment and marketplace tacted the Advanced
acceptance. Technology Center at the
^ University of Massachusetts
—
The Environmental Dartmouth, and yester-
Business and Technology day's headaches became
Center of the University's today's money-maker.
Boston campus and the
Turnaround Time Center for Environmentally The Advanced Technology
Appropriate Materials at Center, which has as its sole
the Lowell campus, work- mission helping businesses
Faculty and students from
the Amherst campus' ing in association with come up with new ideas and
the Massachusetts new products, figured out
College of Engineering
Strategic Envirotechnology that discarded thread cones
played a key role in the
Partnership, played pivotal could be turned into mock
turnaround story at
Danaher Corp., a 300- roles in verifying the per- fireplace logs.
formance of SolmeteX
employee tool manufactur-
technology. Satkin Mills also found out
er in Springfield.
that the acetate fiber left
With this critical step over from the manufactur-
The university helped
provide the company with completed, the company ing of suit linings was the
state-of-the-art manufac- is ready to win the "green perfect material for aquari-
turing processes and seal of approval" from um filters, and so was born
state regulators. Students Satkin Mills' now-success-
techniques that enabled
and faculty from the ful spin-off business,
the firm to reduce costs
Boston campus also assist- SeaTech.
and improve quality and
thereby face down pres- ed in market research and
product development and Today, Dartmouth's
sures to move out of state
are shepherding the com- Advanced Technology
to a "lower cost" area.
After the dust settled, pany across the Valley of Center is helping another
300 jobs were saved and Death to the point where local firm, SeaWatch
30 new ones were created. the company is on firm International of New
ground and now antici- Bedford, to find a prof-
pates $23 million in itable use for the hundreds
annual earnings. of tons of clamshells its
clam-shucking plant pro-
duces each year. The cen-
ter's scientists have deter-
mined that crushed
clamshells can be success-
fully used as a landfill liner.
Honing
the
Workforce
The University of Massachusetts is proud Key workforce facts:
of each of its 300,000 graduates and is
pleased that two-thirds are choosing to • Almost all of the system's graduates enter
mal<e their homes in the Bay State. the workforce upon graduation. The numbers:
96 percent from the University of Massachusetts
—
But the University could be excused for Dartmouth, 90 percent from the Boston
—
bragging a bit when two of Its alumni campus, 89 percent from the University of
Jack Welch/ the chief executive officer of Massachusetts— Lowell and 88 percent from
General Electric, and Jack Smith, General the Amherst campus.
—
Motors' CEO were named to TIME
Magazine's list of the 10 most powerful • Because of the earnings-power of their
people in America. No other university was degrees, the University's alumni, conservatively
able to place more than one undergraduate estimated, add $2 billion to the state's econ-
alumnus on the list. omy annually.
The University's alumni constitute the • The vast majority of University of
backbone of the state's workforce. And Massachusetts students depart not only with
with more than 50,000 students enrolled degrees but with a large degree of satisfaction.
at the five campuses and more than 8,000 According to a survey of students who gradu-
students taking advantage of the ated from the Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth
University's continuing education pro- and Lowell campuses, 92 percent gave top
grams, it is clear that the state's workforce grades to the University of Massachusetts.
of tomorrow is being molded in today's
classrooms. • The vast majority of the University's
— —
undergraduates 85 percent are
from Massachusetts.
• Every year, Massachusetts high school gradu-
ates fan out to an array of private and public
colleges and universities. The largest single
bloc of Bay State students enrolls at the
University of Massachusetts.
• The University of Massachusetts ranks third
in the state in the number of doctoral degrees
awarded and places in the top 20 nationally.
• The University carries out its education and
training mission on its five geographically
dispersed campuses as well as at 50 other
sites throughout the state.
—
University of Massachusetts Alumni
Leaders in Business and Industry
Joseph Abboud 72 (Boston), Esther Emard '75 James L. McGuire '70
President, J.A. Apparel (Dartmouth), President, (Amherst), '74 (Worcester),
Harvard/Pilgrim Health former Chief of Staff,
Stephen Albano '67 (Amherst), Stanford University Hospital.
President and CEO, Offtech Charles Hoff '66 (Lowell),
Chairman and CEO, Robert Meers '66 (Amherst),
Alton Brann '69 (Boston), Universal/Univis President and CEO, Reebok
Chairman and CEO, Western
Atlas (formerly Litton Robert Karam '67 Charles Nirenberg '46
Industries) (Dartmouth), President, (Amherst), Chairman,
Karam Financial Group; Dairy Mart
William H."Bill" Cosby 72, 77 Chairman, University of
(Amherst), Entertainer and Massachusetts Board of Jack Smith '60 (Amherst),
Chairman, SAH Enterprises Trustees CEO, General Motors
Kathleen Cote 7i (Amherst), Steven Levy '62 (Amherst), Sidney Topol '47 (Amherst),
President and CEO, Chairman Emeritus, retired Chairman and CEO,
Computervision BBN Corp., and Chairman, Scientific Atlanta
Massachusetts
Edson DeCastro '60 (Lowell), Telecommunications Council Robert Weisel '72 (Amherst),
Founder, Data General CEO, Stone and Webster
Arthur Mabbett '69 (Boston), Engineering
Daniel Desmond 71 President, Mabbett &
(Amherst), President and Jack Welch '57 (Amherst),
Associates; Vice Chairman,
CEO, Kollmorgen Chairman and CEO, General
Environmental Business
Corp./Electrico-Optical Electric
Council
Division
Richard Mahoney '55 Roy Zuckerberg '58 (Lowell),
George Dickerman '61 (Amherst), retired CEO, General Partner, Goldman
(Amherst), President, Monsanto Sachs
Spalding Sports Worldwide
Robert Mahoney '70,
George Ditomassi '57
(Amherst)President and
(Amherst), COO, Milton CEO, Citizens Bank of
Bradley
Massachusetts
Did You Know:
The University receives $434 million from
the state, spends $1.6 billion and is respon-
sible for $3.5 billion in economic activity in
assachusetts.
For every $1 appropriated, the University
QJ
imports $1.13 from out of state.
(/)
3
That if the University of Massachusetts
U system were a private company, it would
be among the top five employers in
Massachusetts and would rank in the
top 25 in annual revenue.
(/)4
The university has launched a $434 million
capital program, the largest construction
and repair project in its history.
When it comes to attracting research
grants, the University of Massachusetts is
one of the state's heavyweights, bringing in
$168 million during fiscal year 1995.
Only two other Massachusetts universities
attracted more.
The University's faculty attracts the world':
most prestigious awards and honors, incluci
ing: Nobel prizes, Pulitzer prizes, the
National Book Award and a MacArthur
a; Genius Grant.
Two major fund-raising drives are under
—
way a $125 million capital campaign on
the Amherst campus and a $50 million dri.-i
for Boston.
The economic information cited in this report is based on:
"The Economic Impact of the University of Massachusetts
on the Economy ofthe Commonwealth of Massachusetts,"
by Professor Barry Field of the Department of Resource
Economics, the University of Massachusetts—Amherst.
For more information, please contact:
Office of Economic Development
University of Massachusetts President's Office
18 Tremont St., Suite 800
Boston, MA 02108
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]