Standard Grant: Genetown: Tracing the History of the Biotechnology Industry in the Greater Boston Area, 1973-2000

该项目分析了从20世纪70年代到2000年大波士顿地区生物技术产业的演变。在此期间，波士顿拥有大量的生物技术公司，并拥有美国领先的学术生物医学研究中心，但这一密集的生物技术集群的发展仍然没有得到充分的研究。该项目将首先详细介绍波士顿生物技术产业的历史，将其概念化为一个由行为者和组织组成的相互关联的区域生态系统，而过去的研究主要集中在个别公司的影响上，特别是在旧金山弗朗西斯科。第二，该项目将重点关注生物技术中的工作和劳动力问题，考虑到生物技术公司的行为及其地点选择在多大程度上受到资本投资和学术文化和价值观趋同的影响。最后，本项目将以该案例为基础，对以生命科学领域的创新为中心的生物经济的发展进行概念化，以理解科学、大学和公共政策如何促进经济增长，以及谁从中受益。在方法上，本项目将基于科学家、企业家、学术专家、公民和政府官员的口述历史，以及对报纸和历史档案材料的分析。该项目将出版一本面向普通读者的书，以及城市历史、创新研究和科学技术研究方面的专门文章。首席研究员还将设计一个关于生物技术历史的本科课程，为未来的研究人员保留一系列口述历史访谈，并为记录波士顿周围生物技术的博物馆展览做出贡献。该项目通过研究区域基础上的生物技术发展，而不是通过个别企业家或公司的经验，更全面地了解“生物经济”-一种新的以创新为基础的经济增长-如何在实践中发展和发挥作用。生物技术的兴起不仅是创业精神和科学创新相结合的产物，也是工作生物学家身份转变和面临去工业化的地区的区域再开发举措的结果。反过来，这需要扩大对影响行业增长的人的类型的理解。解决和分析这些观点使该项目有助于更广泛的讨论，关于生命科学，大学研究和投资者如何产生创新和经济发展，并提出了关注，目前的生物经济专家讨论未能解释抗议和异议，这些抗议和异议在大波士顿地区等地的生物经济发展蒙上阴影。因此，该项目为政治家、政策制定者和其他利益相关者提供了对城市地区创新中心的更严格和细致的调查，并提供了实用信息，以了解促进高科技行业的成本和收益。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project analyses the evolution of the biotechnology industry in the Greater Boston Area from the 1970s-2000. During this period Boston had the densest concentration of biotech firms and housed leading academic biomedical research centers in the United States, but the development of this dense biotechnology cluster remains understudied. This project would first develop a detailed history of the biotechnology industry in Boston, conceptualizing it as an interconnected regional ecology of actors and organizations, whereas past research focused largely on the influence of individual firms, typically in San Francisco. Second, the project would focus on issues of work and labor in biotechnology, considering the extent to which the behavior of biotechnology firms and choice of their locations are influenced by the convergence of capital investment and academic culture and values. Finally, the project would use this case to conceptualize the development of bioeconomies centered on innovation in the life sciences to understand how science, universities, and public policy enable economic growth, and who benefits from it. Methodologically, the project is based in oral histories from scientists, entrepreneurs, academic experts, citizens, and government officials, and in analyses of materials in newspapers and historical archives. The project will produce a book aimed at a general readership, and specialized articles in urban history, innovation studies, and science and technology studies. The Principal Investigator will also design an undergraduate class on the history of biotechnology, maintain a collection of oral history interviews for future researchers, and contribute to museum exhibits documenting biotechnology around Boston. Through studying the development of the biotechnology on a regional basis rather than through the experience of individual entrepreneurs or companies, the project provides a more complete picture of how the "bioeconomy,” a new species of innovation-based economic growth, developed and functioned in practice. The rise of biotechnology was not only a product of the convergence of entrepreneurship and scientific innovation, but also a consequence of shifts in the identity of working biologists and regional redevelopment initiatives by areas facing deindustrialization. In turn this entails expanding understanding of the types of people who had an impact on the industry’s growth. Addressing and analyzing these perspectives allows the project to contribute to broader discussions regarding how the life sciences, university research, and investors produce innovation and economic development, and raises concerns that current expert discussions of the bioeconomy fail to account for the protest and dissent that shadowed the development of the bioeconomy in places such as the Greater Boston Area. The project thus provides a more critical and nuanced investigation of innovation hubs in urban areas and practical information for politicians, policy-makers, and other stakeholders to understand the costs and benefits of promoting high-tech sectors.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.