From necco to bio, info, eco, nano - Magic of the Red Line

Yesterday, Harvard President Faust joined leaders of The University of Massachusetts and Boston city leaders to cut a ribbon and mark the official opening of UMass Boston's Venture Development Center. The state-of-the-art R&D facility and business incubator, already home to four startups, signals the Dorchester extension of the innovation, research, and development that occurs along the Red Line. Also participating were Chancellor J. Keith Motley, University of Massachusetts, Boston, President Jack Wilson, University of Massachusetts, and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

Faust said:

"The Red Line is not just transportation. It connects programs; it connects institutions; and, most important…it connects people...people who are the most efficient translators of ideas, innovation and knowledge; it provides us with a vision of what our community was…what it is…and what it can become. But this unassuming transit line is also a ruby necklace, whose jewels include – to name a few - Tufts, Harvard, Novartis, Amgen, MIT, the Broad Institute, the Whitehead Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, the Federal Reserve Bank, and, of course, the University of Massachusetts Boston and the Venture Development Center whose creation we celebrate today. Let me offer you a quick illustration of what I mean ... a little tour."

See: http://www.president.harvard.edu/speeches/faust/09...