U.S. Rep. Richard Neal says government investments in Western Massachusetts are creating long-term opportunities for economic development.
BOSTON — State economic development officials pitched the business potential of Western Massachusetts to a crowd of technology leaders in Boston on Monday, saying that a massive expansion of broadband and a new high-performance computing center in Holyoke could be catalysts for creating new jobs in the region.
The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, an independent state agency, hosted a conference to showcase the new 1,100-mile fiber optic cable for high-speed Internet, scheduled for completion in 14 months in Western Massachusetts; a $168 million high-performance computing center being built in Holyoke and $110 million state data center in Springfield.
U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, a Springfield Democrat, said the point of the conference was to sell Western Massachusetts, which has lower costs, including labor, housing and office rental, than the eastern part of the state.
U.S. Rep. Richard E. NealNeal asked attendees to consider the billions of tax dollars spent in Boston, including the $15 billion new central artery, and the extraordinary effects those public investments are having on the economy in the Boston area.
Neal said it is "terribly important" to extend those same long-term job opportunities to Western Massachusetts, which usually lags the rest of the state in an economic recovery. Neal said, for example, the private sector would not build high-speed Internet in rural areas of Western Massachusetts because it would produce little profit.
"Government filled the void," said Neal, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. "That's precisely what government is supposed to do."
Gregory Bialecki, state secretary of housing and economic development, said the administration is working to include Western Massachusetts in the innovation economy, but officials doesn't want the region to be "a cookie cutter" of the eastern part of the state.
If the economy in Western Massachusetts improves, it helps the whole state, Bialecki said.
Bialecki moderated a panel with Patrick Larkin, director of the John Adams Innovation Institute, the economic development arm of the collaborative; Judith Dumont, director of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute; a division of the collaborative; Vanu Bose, president of Vanu in Cambridge, a wireless infrastructure company; Arthur R. Price, chief executive of Axia NetMedia Corp. in Calgary, which will operate the fiber-optic network in Western Massachusetts and W. Lowell Putnam of Longmeadow, president of F P Software Inc.
Judith Dumont, director of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute.The event was held at the South Boston offices of MassChallenge, an incubator for startup businesses.
Dumont said it will be a busy summer of construction on the planned broadband network, which is being financed by $45 million in federal stimulus dollars and $26 million in state matching dollars.
Dumont said construction is scheduled to be complete by June 30 of next year and will include 22 "mini-data centers" to operate the fiber.
Putnam said Springfield and other cities in Western Massachusetts already have high-speed Internet but the new network will give businesses the opportunity to locate anywhere in the region.
Putnam said the network that will offer the high performance and access sought by software companies in games and video, for example. It will be a reason for businesses to remain and grow in Western Massachusetts, he said.
Putnam also stressed that the region has some top quality workers and colleges.
The high-speed network will connect to about 1,400 public safety entities, community colleges, libraries, medical facilities, and town halls. The network will serve 333,500 households and 44,000 businesses in about 120 communities, including 101 in Western Massachusetts.
Larkin said there is no better example of regional economic growth than the high-performance computing center in Holyoke.
He said the two-story, 90,000-square-foot, academic research center will open on time and on budget in downtown Holyoke in December. Larkin's institute is managing the state's $25 million investment in the center, a collaboration of five universities including the University of Massachusetts and Harvard.
Allan W. Blair , president of the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts, said it was unusual for a state agency to hold an event in Boston exclusively for talking about the assets of Western Massachusetts.
"They really surprised a lot of people in the room with the level of sophistication we possess that supports business growth," said Blair, who attended.