Northeast Mass. tech industry trends and workforce needs the focus of report
Report identifies opportunities to bolster the region’s tech workforce
The North Shore Technology Council (NSTC) today released a new report focused on tech industry trends and the workforce needs of tech employers in Northeast Massachusetts. The report was released at an event at EBSCO Hall in Ipswich before an audience of regional academic, industry, non-profit and government leaders. The study, commissioned by the NSTC, conducted by the Donahue Institute at the University of Massachusetts, and funded by the Innovation Institute at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech) and the Essex County Community Foundation, includes recommendations for strengthening the regional technology workforce.
The report focuses on opportunities to leverage regional industry and better engage underutilized and underrepresented workers in Northeast Massachusetts, an area that includes Essex County and stretches westward to include Greater Lowell. The region is a leader in a number of advanced industries, including semiconductor manufacturing equipment, medical devices, computer hardware and software, and aircraft engines. However, the study finds that regional employers are facing challenges in recruiting qualified workers to fill jobs in these industries. The report’s findings focus onopportunities to increase labor force participation, raise skill levels, and develop career paths in tech for the region’s population.
Recommendations for action include:
• Greater collaboration between academic institutions and industry, including better aligned curricula, and support for increased internship and apprenticeship opportunities for high school students.
• Strengthened efforts to integrate immigrant workers into the technology workforce.
• Focusing resources on the workforce needs of emerging sectors seen as priority areas for the Massachusetts economy, including life sciences and healthcare, advanced manufacturing and robotics, and climate tech (e.g., Salem Offshore Wind).
• Leveraging the recently announced Lowell Innovation Network Corridor initiatives and development situated in the East Campus area of UMass Lowell. Cambridgebased Draper Labs plans to expand to the corridor, potentially bringing in hundreds of staff focused on applied research and engineering related to microelectronics. This is an important strategic opportunity for the region.
• Retaining and attracting workers to the region by focusing on quality of life and cost of living as compared to the innovation hubs in Boston and Cambridge.
Speakers at the event included Pat Larkin, Director of the Innovation Institute at MassTech, and Dr. Mark Melnik and Branner Stewart of the Donahue Institute, lead researchers on the study. After the study’s findings were unveiled, Kathleen Machet, Director of Strategic Initiatives and Government Relations for the Essex County Community Foundation, introduced a panel of experts from academia, industry and government to discuss the report’s recommendations. The panel was moderated by Endicott College Dean of Science and Technology Gene Wong (also the President of the North Shore Technology Council), and included State Representative Kristin Kassner (DHamilton), EBSCO Senior Vice President Scott Cummings, Applied Materials Vice President for Engineering Jim Wilkinson, and Assistant Vice President of North Shore Community College Jennifer James Price.“The advanced and wide-ranging capabilities of Northeast Massachusetts became progressively more clear as we conducted our research,” said Dr. Melnick, Director of the Economic & Public Policy Research group at the UMass Amherst Donahue Institute. “From robotics to semiconductors and molecular biology to defense technologies, the region has a thriving presence in the innovation economy and is poised for new breakthroughs. We found that it will be incumbent upon businesses, workforce providers,
and educational institutions at all levels to collaboratively push forward with initiatives to make skills training accessible and enhance awareness of the career opportunities available in this collection of industries.”
“The Donahue Institute report provides all of us important insights as to the trajectory of technology-based jobs in our region, and the challenges of filling these positions,” said Wong. “It will spur conversations between various groups as to how we can design and market career pathways that will encourage people to enter these fields who can bring both the necessary educational background and work experience.”
"Northeast Massachusetts, with a well-established ecosystem in the life sciences and advanced manufacturing, has the building blocks to lead,” said Representative Kassner. “The opportunity to strengthen these important sectors in the region is vast, but only through coordination and leadership among business, government and our education institutions - together. Thank you to The Mass Technology Collaborative (MTC), the Essex County Community Foundation (ECCF), the North Shore Technology Council (NSTC) and the UMass Donahue Institute – the Northeast Massachusetts Innovation Economy and Workforce Report is a big step forward".
May 22, 2024
