Help Boston Innovate This Wednesday #FutureBOS

Apr 5th 2010 View Comments




I’m pleased and honored to be able to tell you that over the next year, I’ll be serving on a new committee organized by Boston City Council President Mike Ross: Citizens’ Committee on Boston’s Future. The committee’s mission is spelled out in a recent press release:

The first-of-its-kind committee will be chaired by Harvard Economist Edward Glaeser, and will meet four times in 2010 to discuss how Boston can attract and retain the skilled labor workforce that will enable our city to compete in the 21st century.

I want to tap your brains, what ideas do you have? We have a wealth of smart, tech-savvy people (like you guys) in Boston and it’s time to start putting our money where our mouth is to make Boston a seriously leading-edge place. How can Boston become a more innovative city?

The Hashtag for the committee will be #FutureBOS, so if you want to tweet your ideas, use that.

The list of committee members reads like a who’s-who of Boston innovators:

  • Klare Allen Environmental Activist and Boston Housing Authority Resident
  • George “Chip” Greenidge Executive Director of National Black College Alliance & The GREATEST MINDS
  • Pat Johnson President, College Democrats of Massachusetts Chairman of Governor Patrick’s Statewide Youth Council
  • Bryan Koop Senior Vice President, Boston Properties
  • Ted Landsmark President and CEO, Boston Architectural College
  • Barbara Lynch Restaurant Owner
  • Jill Medvedow Director, Institute of Contemporary Art
  • Diane Paulus Artistic Director, American Repertory Theater
  • Rocio Saenz President, SEIU Local 615
  • Kairos Shen, Ex Officio Director of Planning, Boston Redevelopment Authority
  • Greg Bialecki, Ex Officio Secretary, MA Housing and Economic Development

The first meeting will be held April 7th, from 4 to 6pm at the Skywalk Observatory at the top of the Prudential Building, so if you have any interest in how the city can leverage web and social media technologies to make Boston a more innovative place, be sure to attend if you can.

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  • http://www.greenhornconnect.com Jason Evanish

    So where's the student representation?

    Councilman Ross has a history of anti-student policies, but if we want to truly be innovative we must engage that population and work to encourage them to stay. Having a regular college student be a part of the committee is the best way to understand what their concerns are.

    Tomorrow's innovators and leaders are at our universities today.

  • danzarrella

    I would love to have some smart students come out. In fact I'm talking to an Emerson social media class tonight and plan on doing my best to persuade them to get involved.

  • http://www.greenhornconnect.com Jason Evanish

    There are approximately 30 schools in the city, but I'm guessing most of us couldn't name much more than a handful (Harvard, MIT, BU, Northeastern…???).

    Perhaps something the committee should think about is how to better reach those students so they don't feel like an afterthought / they're just passing through the city for 4 years?

  • avoodre

    Can anyone attend? Trying to bring a group from Simmons College.

  • danzarrella

    Yes, please do!

  • http://digicraft.com/ daveevans

    This is extremely similar to what Boston World Partnerships has been doing for a few years now. Can you compare your plans to their stated goals(below)? I'm all for getting more people involved with making Boston a better places, but at what point does duplication become a potentially negative force? If you haven't talked with them, I'm happy to make introductions.

    Boston World Partnerships is a non-profit organization, created by Mayor Thomas M. Menino to raise global awareness of Boston as one of the world’s foremost centers of intellectual capital and innovation, offering tremendous competitive advantages to growth-minded businesses. To achieve these goals, BWP is building a global network of people who have ties to Boston’s economy, similar to an alumni organization.

  • http://www.meyouhealth.com/ Alicia B.

    Yes, I think you have to have the student body involved or else it becomes a bunch of talking heads that could be out of touch with the labor force that's graduating every semester and then moving away from the city.

    Boston is already a helluva place to innovate and network with amazing minds. But sometimes finding those people is a chore. I'd love to see something that connects innovators living and working in Boston together who may want to join mutual start-up efforts that are in the web space.

    I myself am having a difficult time finding the right developer partner for a start-up.

    – Alicia
    @leximaven

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