The latest episode of the ‘In Conversation’ podcast’s global health innovation hub series explores why the likes of Google and MIT are part of the Kendall Square Association.
Kendall Square’s health, life sciences and technology district in Cambridge, Massachusetts has been called the “most innovative square mile on the planet”1 due to factors including a managed community network, “cultural vibrancy” and a common “win or learn” mindset among members, according to the network leader.
Beth O’Neill Maloney, Executive Director of the Kendall Square Association that manages the collaborative member network based in the area, told the Harley Street Health District podcast that it has “earned the title of the most innovative square mile on the planet” due to attracting a wide range of life science, health and technology companies.
Sixteen of the world’s largest life sciences companies, including AstraZeneca, Bayer, Novartis, Biotech and Pfizer and a range of technology giants, including Google and Microsoft have bases in the area.
Speaking to Professor Jenny Shand, as part of the District podcast’s special series putting international health innovation districts under the spotlight, O’Neill Maloney said the Association had been founded 18 years ago to boost the potential of health research innovation in an area that has a long history of industrial innovation from radar to rail equipment manufacturing.
She said the development was fuelled by the proximity to world-class academic institutions like MIT and major hospitals like Mass General Brigham across the river in Boston.
She said the Association members have a single focus of solving the world’s biggest ‘human health’ problems and are keen to work together in this aim in a collaborative, academic tradition rather than competitively across a broad network of diverse types of organisations.
“It’s essential for clinical trials to take place that we maintain strong relationships with our neighbouring hospitals. Kendall Square is primarily dedicated to research and development in the life sciences, with a clear focus on human health that begins at the academic level at MIT.
“This focus continues through our research institute – there are three or four in the area – where translational research bridges the gap from academia to clinical trials.
Having a dedicated association to convene different sectors (tech, pharma, real estate, nonprofits) is vital for a thriving ecosystem, she said, adding that “innovation is a team sport”.
Meanwhile a willingness to learn and keep innovating from failure and access support to move on from the network is key to success, said Ms O’Neill Maloney, adding agility and a readiness to evolve underpins success in the area.
“My advice to folks doing what we do is to really find those champions in your community, and stay focused on that vision,” she said.
She also underlined that location and bumping into people regularly in the densely populated business district is fundamental to its success.
“Kendall Square with no restaurants or no cultural institutions, no public art would really be a very dry and less interesting place.
“I do think that it’s this sort of happy accidents. I refer to it as the bump factor… every time I leave my office, I run into at least one person I know have a chat on the street and it helps us move things forward.”
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1 Robert Buderi, Where Futures Converge: Kendall Square and the Making of a Global Innovation Hub , MIT Press, 2022, pp.1-7.
