Kendall Square Association News

State of the Square - KSA Annual Meeting March 8, 2012

Tracy Mercer — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 17:53:44 GMT

Please see the link below to view the handout, Kendall Square: A Year in Review, from our Annual Meeting on March 8, 2012. Thank you.

Final State of the Square 2012.pdf

KSA December Newsletter

Tracy Mercer — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:51:50 GMT

New Business | SocMetrics thrives in "bump & connect" | Gov. Patrick launches Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative

Innovation | Seaport & Kendall Square are hotbeds for development | Kendall Square fertile for next big idea

Entrepreneurs | Cambridge's Fenugreen takes top honors in Global Startup Open competition

Happening in Kendall Square | Artful events for the winter

SocMetrics thrives in Kendall Square "bump & connect" environment

An exclusive interview with co-founder Rebecca Xiong

In today’s world of the web and social media where everyone has a soapbox, it has become increasingly difficult for small business owners to leverage social media to gain exposure. Enter SocMetrics, a Kendall Square firm that identifies and helps small businesses engage influencers in your industry, and then measures direct results from the connections made.

Founded about a year ago, SocMetrics has grown quickly to over 30 customers and has gained attention after winning the MassChallenge, the global startup competition and accelerator program.

SocMetrics is built on the premise that not all who “speak” on the internet carry the same weight. Take for example, a blog written by a mother in Illinois who writes daily on the quality of baby products. With an active following of hundreds of thousands of moms who spend a combined $3.2 trillion, this one blog can significantly influence the sales of retailers in the baby product industry SocMetrics would help create value for these retailers by identifying her as a ‘key influencer’ empowering the retailers to engage her, and by extension her followers, in a targeted way rather than investing in undifferentiated social media psots where the audience is less certain.

SocMetrics does the work, in any industry, to locate these key influencers and then engage them. The software developed my SocMetrics then enables you to directly measure the impact of that engagement through media mentions, page hits, google searches, and a variety of other tools.

Rebecca Xiong, co-founder of SocMetrics, describes how the Kendall Square environment specifically helped her team to successfully build SocMetrics. “Being able to test quicly right in this space is very nice,” referencing her location in the Cambridge Innovation Center. She adds, “I’ve introduced other startups to their customers here as well.”

Xiong goes on to explain how the team-oriented culture in Kendall Square is a start contrast to the individually competitive startup culture she is familiar with in Silicon Valley. She cites the Friday brown bag lunches as a particular asset at the CIC,where entrepreneurs gather to practice their pitch, give critical feedback to their peers, and to share experiences. “All the entrepreneurs here are very frank with their opinions and there is great synergy” she says.

As SocMetrics has grown, they’ve increasingly found public relations agencies eager to use their product and are becoming a larger proportion of SocMetrics’ customers. For the future, they plan to grow features in their software and grow their business by targeting selected agencies and brands.

You can find more about SocMetrics at their site, www.SocMetrics.com, and on twitter @SocMetrics.

Governor Patrick launches Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative to support job growth

Governor joins partners to unveil new roadmap for manufacturing growth in Massachusetts

Governor Deval Patrick today launched the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative and released a new roadmap for manufacturing job growth in Massachusetts during an address to the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) regional meeting in Cambridge, hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“Our Administration is committed to preparing students and workers to compete and win in the 21st century global economy,” said Governor Patrick. “The creation of the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative and the release of this new roadmap will help us grow jobs and opportunities in the manufacturing sector." Through depressing economic statistics, wildly fluctuating stock prices, and never-ending talk of another recession, Boston’s Seaport District and Cambridge’s Kendall Square have continued to charge ahead, generating huge amounts of investment as many other commercial areas struggle.

Building Bridges to Growth: A Roadmap for Advanced Manufacturing in Massachusetts, was developed by the Advanced Manufacturing Initiative steering committee convened by Governor Patrick in May 2010 and will guide the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative in its work. The roadmap takes ideas from the state’s business and academic leaders to promote innovation, workforce development, access to capital and technical assistance to bolster the state's manufacturing sector. (...continued)

Islands of Economic Growth
Seaport and Kendall Square are hotbeds for development, defying a gloomy economy
(original story by Casey Ross, 11/6/11, Boston Globe)

More than $1 billion is pouring into the neighborhoods as technology, biotechnology, alternative energy, and other firms relocate, start up, and grow in these centers of the state’s economy. Office towers are rising, research labs expanding, restaurants sprouting, and companies hiring.

Kendall Square and the Seaport District are on the upside of turbulent economic times drawing sharp distinctions between haves and have nots, as investors and real estate developers place bets in the safest, most desirable ZIP codes to improve chances for positive returns. These areas have achieved what economic development specialists call critical mass, a threshold level of innovative companies and skilled workers that makes other firms and workers want to be there, too. (…continued)

Inside an Innovation Ecosystem
History, proximity, and serendipity make Kendall Square fertile ground for the next big idea
(original story by Jennifer Chu, 11/22/11, MIT News Office)

On Monday, on the edge of the MIT campus, representatives of MIT and Pfizer Inc., along with elected officials, participated in a groundbreaking ceremony around what will become a 180,000-square-foot research hub for Pfizer’s Neuroscience Research Unit and its Cardiovascular, Metabolic, and Endocrine Diseases Research Unit. After the ceremony, which included remarks from Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Cambridge Mayor David Maher and MIT President Susan Hockfield, participants walked down the block for a reception at the atrium of the MIT’s McGovern and Picower institutes.

The festivities celebrated not just this new injection of talent and jobs into Kendall Square, but also the innovation ecosystem that the Cambridge neighborhood has created. All the stages of innovation undefined from an idea germinating in a classroom to a product being pushed into the marketplace undefined can be found in Kendall Square: According to the Kendall Square Association, a nonprofit focused on improving and promoting the local community, the area contains the world’s densest square mile of technology and biotechnology research.

There are places all over the world where great research happens,” says Geoff Mamlet, managing director of the Cambridge Innovation Center, an enterprise that provides office space and resources for startup companies, half of which have MIT connections. “What this area does uniquely and well is commercialization: taking an idea [and] figuring out how to put it together with all the things needed to drive it out into the world.” (…continued)

Cambridge's Fenugreen takes top honors in Global Startup Open competition
(original press release from Startup Open, 11/14/11)

Startup Open, a competition for startups with high-growth potential featured as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) 2011, today announced the two grand prize winners: Kavita Shukla, founder of Fenugreen, and Jason Ethier, founder of Dynamo Micropower. The two Boston-area entrepreneurs were selected from a group of startups dubbed the “GEW 50” announced last month. In selecting the winners, a panel of judges took into account each of the startups’ concept, growth projections and knowledge of their industry.

“Young firms, like those conceptualized by Kavita and Jason, are the linchpins to revitalizing the world economy,” said Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, founder of Global Entrepreneurship Week. “Their ingenuity, innovation and entrepreneurial passions exemplify the spirit of entrepreneurship and will inspire others to strive to create new firms.”

Shukla’s Fenugreen offers patented, all-natural material to address the global challenge of food spoilage. The sustainable product keeps food fresher from “farm to fork” by helping reduce transportation, inventory and energy costs. Shukla will receive an all-expenses paid trip to participate in the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Liverpool in March 2012. The Congress will bring together entrepreneurs, investors, global leaders and startup champions from more than 100 countries. Shukla will have the opportunity to showcase her business plan on a global scale, gain valuable insight from successful and experienced entrepreneurs, and network with world leaders and economists. (…continued)

Happening in Kendall Square

(original article by Jason Weeks, 11/17/2011, Metro)

Enter Cambridge and you cross a threshold into a unique world. Cambridge is a place where you can find both style and substance. Creativity blends with innovation and history. Diversity reigns. Art undefined with a capital A undefined imbues every neighborhood and walk of life.

Day and night, the arts are seen and heard everywhere in Cambridge. Public Artwork mirrors the city’s urban rhythms. Street Performers enliven parks, sidewalks and plazas. While theater-goers wrap around street corners awaiting the next show, jazz, rock, hip-hop and classical music reverberate from cafes, restaurants and nightclubs. Each city square undefined Central, Harvard, Inman, Kendall, Porter and Trolley undefined conjures its own soundtrack, colors and flavors.

This winter, try something new in Cambridge! Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre’s “The Nutcracker” is the most up-close and vivid version of the beloved holiday story you will ever experience. Sparklefest in Harvard Square offers nonstop events throughout the season undefined beginning with Folk Music Month and moving on to latkes, tree lighting and artisanal craft markets.

For family fun, visit East Cambridge on Dec. 17 for Kendall Square Holiday on Ice, featuring professional figure skating performances, hot chocolate, pizza and open skating undefined all free!

Next, can you imagine six human deer dancing? Instead of turtle doves this holiday season, let me suggest a new twist: Winter Solstice Night at the Museum. On Dec. 21 at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, celebrate the start to winter with a performance of the traditional Abbots Bromley Horn Dance by the Christmas Revels' Pinewoods Morris Men, and take in the museum's horns and antlers exhibition.

Eager to flex your musical chops? Check out the many classes and community programs for all ages at Longy School of Music. For powerhouse musical muscle that will warm your heart and soul, you will not want to miss the Multicultural Arts Center’s 25th Annual Joyful Noise Gospel Concert with the Harlem Gospel Choir, honoring Martin Luther King Jr., on Jan. 14 in Harvard’s Sanders Theatre.
If you think you know Cambridge, get ready for a variety of arts encounters that paint a new picture of this one-of-a-kind city. I invite you to join us this holiday season, and take a walk on the Cambridge side of life! (…continued)

H3 Biomedicine Inc. inaugurates new Cambridge headquarters, lab space shar.es/ojY1f | MIT injecting life into Kendall Square boston.com/realestate/new… via @BostonDotCom | Tomorrow @ MIT's Kresge for lunch - Energy Secretary Chu on winning the clean energy race. Expect SRO so arrive early! | Governor Patrick launches advanced manufacturing collaborative in Kendall Square. - BostonHerald.com ht.ly/7IAee | Cambridge ranks second in list of smartest U.S. cities bizjournals.com/boston/news/20… via @BBJNewsroom | Next stop: Kendall Square: Tech hub attracts players large and small to support innovation. MIT News Office ht.ly/7Fv70 | MIT neuroscientists find that two rare autism-related disorders are caused by opposing malfunctions in the brain. ht.ly/7Fv0n | Get your skate on in Kendall Square - Groupon deal for rentals & hot chocolate! Groupon Deals ht.ly/7BI6s | History, proximity and serendipity make Kendall Square fertile ground for the next big idea. MIT News Office ht.ly/7BELM | Pfizer breaks ground in Cambridge shar.es/oqlMJ | MIT begins building Pfizer facility - Business - The Boston Globe ht.ly/7zmt3 | Occupation Cambridge: entrepreneurs say, "We Are the Jobs!" - BostonHerald.com ht.ly/7xYz2 | Metro - Some artful events for the winter metro.us/boston/enterta… via @metroBOS | Cambridge Business Profile: Xylem -- a modern gift shop shar.es/ob22Y | Congrats to Cambridge's Fenugreek, winner of Global Entrepreneurship Week's Startup Open 2011! It's a wrap!! ht.ly/7ufWT | Seaport and Kendall Square are hotbeds for development, defying a gloomy economy - Sunday Boston Globe ht.ly/7lOVN | Sanofi doubles down on Cambridge with new "innovation based" (i.e. 'bump & connect') R&D strategy. MHT Business News ht.ly/7lNVO | Steven Tyler a VC? Aerosmith star teams with the Who's Daltrey and MIT scientists to develop vocal cord repair gel. ht.ly/7lEBy | Fuji in #KSq opening this month? Check out menu for latest in Kendall Square's restaurant scene. Boston Rest. Talk ht.ly/7gHWi

KSA November Newsletter

Tracy Mercer — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:45:22 GMT

Community Profile | Momogoose: Foodtrucks With A Conscience, VMware and the KSq Value Proposition

Innovation | Epizyme, Foundation Medicine, Semprus raise funds and continue growth

Entrepreneurs | Joule Unlimited Named Global Cleantech 100, Angel Investment Up in 2011

Happening in Kendall Square | Move for Mass Down Syndrome Congress, with Bosse City Club & Spa

Momogoose: Food trucks With A Conscience

Food trucks since 1989. Two million customers served. 50,000 meals donated to the UN World Food Program. A growing local employer, Momogoose is the top selling food truck business in the country, according to their in-house research. Nearly 300 meals donated to a Veterans Center in Boston annually. Is this news to you? It shouldn’t be.

With three trucks in Cambridge, Momogoose is a different kind of company and one that you should be proud to support. The KSA Team had the opportunity to sit down with Co-founder Tiffany Pham to talk more about Momogoose, which members of her family founded as students of MIT.

First and foremost, Momogoose sells food, good food. Inexpensive food. Tasty food. This is the backbone on which the rest of the company’s philosophy is built. Without it, customers would not come back. Voted the Best Foodtruck in Boston in 2010, Momogoose describes their offerings as “gourmet, healthy Southeast Asian cuisine. Vegan, vegetarian, and non-vegetarian.” The menu includes marinated sliced steak on jasmine rice and steamed veggies, smokey marinated Korean BBQ chicken, and signature peanut sauce on yellow noodles, all for $5. They also offer a Build Your Bowl option for you to mix and match their locally sourced ingredients for your perfect blend.

On top of a delicious menu that’s brought customers knocking for over 20 years, Momogoose has built a sense of social responsibility into its culture. Primary evidence of this is their “Meal for Meal” program. Seeking to take a leadership role in contributing to the local and global community, Momogoose announced their campaign in October 2010 to contribute one meal to the UN’s World Food Program for every meal purchased at one of their trucks, amounting to over 50,000 meals over the past year.

Most successful among WFP’s programs is the School Feeding Initiative. “In the poorest parts of the world, a school meal programme can double primary school enrollment in one year. Among the key beneficiaries are girls, who otherwise may never be given the opportunity to learn.” Each WFP donated meal costs only 25¢ to provide, a low cost Pham suggests could be donated by every restaurateur in Cambridge for every meal sold, from food trucks to high end businesses. Pham challenges, “If we can do it, there’re no excuses. We sell meals for $4.”

Momogoose has expanded significantly over the last year since Pham took over operations, and is looking even further. With 600% sales increase since launching the Meal for Meal program, the company has added two trucks and more employees. Throughout this growth, Pham has continued to focus on community engagement and contribution. She is currently working on plans to contribute meals through a local church, in addition to meals contributed to the New England Center for Homeless Veterans for the past several years.

With the “fastest and friendliest employees in Kendall Square,” Pham asserts that this community engagement is the primary reason for Momogoose’s success, and that she will continue to grow the company so that they can continue to give “in a big way.”

Momogoose can most closely be found near the Kendall/MIT Station, in addition to other locations in Cambridge and Boston.

VMware and the Kendall Square Value Proposition

VMware, with over 11,000 employees worldwide offering virtualization technology, disaster recovery, and cloud computing services to enterprise customers, made a strategic decision in 2004 to open a new R&D lab in Kendall Square. Since that time, many other major Silicon Valley firms have followed VMware’s early lead, recognizing the attractive environment and available talent here in Cambridge.

The decision to have a strong presence on the east coast was made in an effort to tap into local industry talent and the academic and research communities surrounding MIT, Harvard, and Boston University as well as to develop relationships with Columbia and Carnegie Mellon. Additionally, a major presence on the East Coast enables better interaction and communication with VMware’s key partners such as EMC as well as with other VMware R&D teams in Bulgaria, China, India, and around the world.

With just under 200 employees here in Kendall Square, 85% of whom are dedicated to research and development, VMware has originated and continues to ship four major products from Kendall Square, including:

Horizon Mobile, which started as a research project with MIT
vCloud Director
vSphere Storage Appliance (VSA)
Site Recovery Manager (SRM), the first product out of Cambridge and one of VMware’s most successful.

Julia Austin, Site Director for VMware’s Cambridge Research Lab, describes the decision to move to Kendall Square simply: “Strategically, it just made sense.” She says that for the social community, the business environment, and the academic talent, Kendall Square offered opportunities and relationships that didn’t exist in Silicon Valley. Along with the ready availability of venture capital for M&A deals and an endless source high-performing students as feedstock for ideas, Austin describes the development of this site as “critical” for VMware.

Austin has worked hard to build the site into a world-class facility that now represents a model against which other growth plans are set. “As companies are going global, they are recognizing that you don’t need to be in Silicon Valley to be successful.” VMware has the capacity and long-term plans to grow to 300 employees in their current location.

As an opportunistic pioneer here in Kendall Square (they started with just three employees in 2004), VMware has not felt threatened by other technology companies following their lead and setting up offices here in Cambridge. In fact, the addition of competing and similar companies has created an environment and a depth of talent that continues to make Kendall Square a value-add for VMware and like companies. Austin describes, “It’s about market but it’s also about talent. Be close to your talent.”

With over 15% increase in stock value in the last 12 months in otherwise tough economic times, VMware’s vision for the future of the company and for the future of the innovation appears validated. VMware employees in Kendall Square are leading that charge and are excited to continue their innovation in a global arena, operating from what Austin calls the “most dynamic neighborhood ever to be in.”

Epizyme wins $4M milestone payments from GSK deal
Rodney Brown

Cambridge-based Epizyme Inc. will be getting a $4 million milestone payment from its collaboration partner GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) now that it has reached a certain pre-clinical stage in the development of potential enzyme-based cancer treatments.

Epizyme is working with GSK to research potential small molecule therapeutics that target a class of epigenetic enzymes, called histone methyltransferases (HMTs), in treating cancer. Under the terms of the agreement, entered into in January, Epizyme will conduct the research into the epigenetic enzymes, while GlaxoSmithKline will cover any possible development and commercialization of resulting therapeutics. Epizyme won an initial $20 million upfront payment from GSK, in addition to research funding. (more)

Foundation Medicine raises $33.5M in Series A funding
Rodney H. Brown

Cambridge cancer diagnostics company Foundation Medicine Inc. has closed its Series A round well above the initially planned $25 million mark, rounding it at $33.5 million, according to a release. Joining founding investment firm Third Rock Ventures in this round is new backers Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Google Ventures.

When it launched in April 2010, Foundation Medicine had $25 million in hand from Third Rock, also based in Cambridge. Earlier that year, Third Rock had tapped Alexis Borisy, the former CEO of Cambridge-based CombinatoRx, which merged last summer with Canada’s Neuromed Pharmaceuticals Inc., to serve as the company’s first CEO. After leaving CombinatoRx in July 2009, Borisy joined Third Rock Ventures in October 2009 as entrepreneur-in-residence. (more)

Semprus BioSciences Awarded $1 Million U.S. Army Grant to Develop “Anti-Biofilm Trauma Devices” for American Soldiers in Battle

Semprus BioSciences today announced it has received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Army Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) to develop the world's first orthopedic devices designed to reduce biofilm formation, the foundation for most bacterial complications associated with medical device implants. Semprus presented its initial findings in a poster session at the recent Advanced Technology Applications for Combat Casualty Care (ATACCC) military trauma conference in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Semprus BioSciences is a venture-funded biomedical company whose proprietary rationally designed Semprus^TM Technology organizes, manages and harnesses water molecules on a medical device surface. This system creates a highly non-fouling performance that significantly reduces attachment of proteins, cells, bacteria and other biological matter. The company's products are designed to reduce the 56,000 preventable annual U.S. deaths and $11.2 billion cost of infection and thrombus-related complications¹that often arise when medical devices are implanted in the body. (more)

Tough going for start-up clusters outside of Boston
Scott Kirsner

Last month, politicians, business leaders, and university administrators packed rooms at two separate events to talk optimistically about seeds they were planting in two struggling cities: Lowell and Fall River.

The hope in Lowell is that a new incubator, dubbed M2D2, will attract medical device start-ups and spur job creation. In Fall River, a new bio-manufacturing facility slated to open in 2013 will give biotech companies a place to do early production runs of new drugs. The Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center attracted about $4.5 million in state funding, and the 22,000-square-foot bio-manufacturing center drew nearly $50 million. (more)

Joule Unlimited named one of the Global Cleantech 100

Joule is pioneering the production of an ethanol fuel which it calls "liquid fuel from the sun". The result would be an "abundant, sustainable, cost-competitive supply". The process brings together numerous breakthroughs in genome engineering, bio-processing and hardware to convert sunlight and waste CO₂ to create diesel fuel. Its solution, it says, would have "industry-changing potential across multiple markets that derive products from petroleum; replacing a finite, unstable resource with one that can sustain virtually unlimited production". (more)

Happening in Kendall Square

Move for Mass Down’s Syndrome Congress
Bosse City Club & Spa combined with the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress challenge you to get your body in motion, and will host a week log exercise-athon with all proceeds going to the MDSC.

Bosse City Club & Spa, 356 Third St, Cambridge, M 02142. $25 donation for members, $50 donation for non-members. Call 617.252.0020 for more info.

Friday November 11th 11:30am
BodyPump & Attitude! 11:30am
Xbike Race Day 12:20 pm

Monday November 14th

Xbike Boston Beat 7:00am
Bosse Physique Fusion 11:30am
Xbike Jump & Jive & Wail 12:20pm
BodyPump & Attitude! 5:45pm

Tuesday November 15th
Booty Camp Zumba 5:50pm
Take it to the MAX & RELAX Yoga 6:50-8:05pm

Friday November 18th
Bosse Physique Fusion 11:30am
Xbike Slow & Steady Rush 12:30pm

Please send upcoming event info to dan@kendallsq.org so we can include it in the newsletter!

	Friend on Facebook
	Follow on Twitter
	Forward to a Friend

IN THE NEWS

Facebook's Zuckerburg: If I were starting Facebook today, I'd stay in Boston. PCMag.com.
31 Oct

Welcome to Women In Bio's newly launched Greater Boston chapter!
28 Oct

Alexandria Real Estate Equities breaks ground today on the Alexandria Center in #KSq , a 1.73 million SF tech campus.
27 Oct

Zipcar inks deal with Uncle Sam - first car share program in federal government's fleet program. PRNewswire
26 Oct

Highland Capital relocates local office to Kendall Square - Business Updates - Massachusetts business news from The Boston Globe
25 Oct

Broad Institute Celebrates Groundbreaking of New Kendall Square Building
20 Oct

Oracle to buy data analytics company Endeca Tech; another Silicon Valley pick-up in #KSq - BusinessWeek
19 Oct

#KSq MIT spinoff Stages of Beauty gets results with age-specific wrinkle removal cream. Health Headlines
18 Oct

#KSq entrepreneurs - do u know about DeVenCi? Pentagon program to tap startup technology. Reuters
17 Oct

Shares jump on #KSq alum A123 on announcement of Chevrolet Spark EV deal. Mass High Tech Business News
13 Oct

Canadian VC firm Global Developments plans #KSq Cambridge office - Mass High Tech Business News
6 Oct

Cambridge Carnival Int'l in Kendall Square named one of Gr. Boston's Top 100 Events. BizBash
4 Oct

More Details On MIT’s “Artificial Leaf” (And Video) | TechCrunch
1 Oct

follow on Twitter \| friend on Facebook \| forward to a friend
Copyright © 2011 Kendall Square Association, All rights reserved.
unsubscribe from this list \| update subscription preferences

Newsletter, October 2011

Tracy Mercer — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:16:24 GMT

New Business | Grand Openings this summer, A New Restaurant And A New Way To Pay, and A Second Chance

Innovation | Four Kendall Square based startups raise $53 million to support local innovation and entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs | Move over Hollywood, Entrepreneurs Walk of Fame gets its first 7 geeks

Happening in Kendall Square | Corporate Pumpkin Challenge, Oct 27

KSq gains sports bar, restaurants, cafe, gift shop, & finger lickin' ribs
Summer grand openings thrive for local business owners

Kendall Square has new neighbors, and they are already creating buzz over lunch, dinner, and weekends since opening.

Opened two weeks ago is Catalyst Restaurant at 300 Technology Square across from the Novartis Building. Open 11-11 most weekdays, Catalyst offers modern American cuisine centered on locally grown organic produce and wild and farm raised food from sustainable practices. The interior provides a cozy feel with reclaimed barn board, hand-blown glass light fixtures and a two-way fireplace. In addition to Catalyst, Firebrand Saints opened their doors on last Friday at the corner of Broadway/3rd. In addition to a promising menu and cocktails such as the seasonal Market, a bourbon/apple syrup number, Firebrand Saints is drawing attention for their unique design that includes a giant light-based Etch-a-Sketch style wall that recreates interesting Google Streetview images, designed in conjunction with MIT.

Another unique addition to Kendall Square is Xylem Gift Shop, located at 287 Third Street, which focuses on providing gifts and items with quality design, modern aesthetic, and an ability to make you smile. Providing a wide assortment of gift items, Xylem describes itself as a conduit for modern design, bringing the best of what they find from the around the world to you.

Champions Sports Bar, in the Marriott on Broadway, opened on August 26 with a modern, open floorplan overlooking the redesigned Marriott Plaza. The second Champions in the Boston area includes a dining section, a bar area, a seasonal outdoor patio, along with 20 flat screen TVs. Watch the Rugby World Cup while gnashing on fried calamari, chili, soft pretzels, lobster rolls, Italian sausage, rib eye steak, fish and chips, burgers, and wings.

Area Four, a café and bakery, opened this summer at 500 Technology Square. Providing an all-day haven for everyone from the coffee geek on the hunt for the perfect cup of individual drip coffee to the biotech neighbor looking for a solid sandwich on his lunch break, Area Four offers casual lunch or dinner of simple and affordable yet well-executed and elegant dishes straight from showpiece wood-fired ovens.

Opening at 11:30 on weekdays and for dinner on Saturday at 4pm, the menu offers roasted meat, seafood, vegetables, and pizzas with salads, soups, and charcuterie made from local ingredients. The entire menu emphasizes local, organic and sustainable ingredients, including hard to find local beers and wines.

Last, but certainly not least, Redbones BBQ now supplies Kendall Square with lick-your-fingers clean ribs straight from the bbq. From pulled pork sandwiches, Mac n Cheese, corn bread, chili dog, or a third-, half-, or full-rack of ribs, you won’t go home hungry.

Find out more about each on Facebook and Twitter below:
Facebook: Catalyst, Xylem, Area Four, Redbones, Firebrand Saints
Twitter: Catalyst, Xylem, Area Four, Firebrand Saints

A New Restaurant And A New Way To Pay
Abigails uses mobile app and community LevelUp to drive traffic and offer discounts to loyal customers
(original story by Delicious Dishings, 9/26/11, megan-deliciousdishings.blogspot.com)

Have you heard of LevelUp? It's a new way to pay and get deals at participating restaurants. You simply sign up and download the app on your phone and then use it to pay. LevelUp recently contacted me to see if I'd be interested in trying out the app. They gave me some credit to use, and I was off checking their site to figure out which participating restaurant we should try.

I saw that Abigail's, a new restaurant in Kendall Square, was on the list and thought it would be fun to go there. We live pretty close to Kendall Square, and I always like finding new go-to restaurants nearby. So on Friday night in the pouring rain, Jeff and I drove down to Kendall and drove in circles for a while trying to figure out where to park. We finally found the Kendall Square South Garage, which is just a couple blocks from Abigail's and has an $8 flat rate in the evenings.
...click here to continue reading

Kendall Square startups successfully attracting capital
Four Kendall Square based startups raise $53 million to support local innovation and entrepreneurship
(photo: network.nature.com)

TechStars, a mentor-ship driven seed stage investment fund that enables the formation of web & software companies, announced that is has raised $24 million. This additional capital will significantly boost its support of participating companies from $18,000 to $118,000.

This additional funding has been backed by Foundry Group, IA Ventures, Avalon Ventures, DFJ Mercury, SoftBank Capital, SVB Financial Group, RRE Ventures, Right Side Capital Management, TechStars alumni and several individuals, according to TechStars founder and CEO David Cohen.

Cohen mentions that applications in Boston are “now open and our next program starts just around the corner, in January.” A total of 60 companies are expected to take part in TechStars programs in 2012.

The Cambridge-based genome analysis company Knome, Inc has pulled in $5 million of an expected $20 million equity funding round, according to federal documents.

Co-founded by 2010 Mass High Tech All-Star and Harvard University geneticist George Church, CEO Jorge Conde, and co-chair Sundar Subramaniam, Knome released its human genome sequencing and data processing service called KnomeDiscovery in November 2009. Six months earlier, Knome launched its genomic analysis offering at a price of approximately $1 per gene.

This summer, Knome announced the breakthrough cloud-based genome interpretation engine, kGAP 2.0, that will enable the next generation of whole genome association studies. Knome’s technology also accelerated the discovery of a new Parkinson’s Disease biomarker, as published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Kibits Corp., a start-up that hopes to make it easy to use your mobile phone to form groups on the fly, has raised $1 million from investors including: Google Ventures, CommonAngels, Charles River Ventures, Commonwealth Capital Ventures, Launch Capital, and General Catalyst. Expect more news from the three-person startup, based in Kendall Square’s Dogpatch Labs incubator, as they “come up for air later this year.”

Tokai Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Cambridge has landed $23 million in new funding and a new CEO in local biotech veteran Martin Williams.
Backed by Novartis Venture Fund and Apple Tree Partners, the financing will be used to move development forward on galeterone, Tokai’s lead drug candidate. Galeterone has completed a Phase 1 trial in patients with castration resistant prostate cancer, and the company says it is planning on moving the drug into Phase 2 trials.

A Second Course
The economy may have knocked out their last restaurants, but these chefs aren't just making comebacks - they're coming back swinging.
(original story by Alexandra Hall, The Improper Bostonian, Jul/Aug 2011, photos Adam DeTour)

William Kovel is trying to land a very big fish. That may be a painfully obvious metaphor for the ambitious new restaurant he’s about to open, but at the moment it also happens to be literally true. Ankle-deep in a rush of Narragansett Bay surf, steps from the family home in Rhode Island where he once spent his summers, Kovel’s hooked what he hopes is a striper (“The best for fighting and eating,” he yells over the waves), and it’s yanking his line straight out past a gigantic rock. The usual tug-of-war ensues, until the fish breaks off and swims to freedom. Kovel’s unimpressed. “They usually get a nibble and then come back,” he shrugs, throwing out another cast. “We’ll get him on this one.”

He clearly believes that, and why not? Tenacityundefinedand more specifically, second chancesundefinedhave been good to him so far. After getting laid off from his job as chef de cuisine at Aujourd’hui two years ago (mere weeks before he was about to get married, no less), he’s now suddenly on the cusp of opening Catalyst, a fine dining restaurant in Kendall Square. “Everyone says it’s a great name for a place in the area, but it wasn’t about that,” he confides later. “It was actually about the impetus I had for personal change. Getting laid off was the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
...click here to continue reading

Move over Hollywood, the Entrepreneurial Walk of Fame gets its first 7 stars
(original story by Gregory Huang, Xconomy.com, photo: geek.com)

It was a little over a year ago that [we] broke the news that a movement was underway to bring an Entrepreneur Walk of Fame to Kendall Square in Cambridge, MA, modeled after its Hollywood namesake.

The idea makes a lot of sense: If we celebrate movie stars and athletes, why not the top innovators and business leaders of all time? The goal is to inspire young people to make a big impact on the world. As for a location for the Walk of Fame, why not historic Kendall Square, which arguably sits in the densest cluster of technology and life sciences organizations and companies in the world?
...click here to continue reading

Upcoming Next Month

Community Profile
Tiffany Pham, Owner, Momogoose

Who's Here
VMWare

Happening in Kendall Square

Kendall Square Corporate Pumpkin Challenge
October 27, 4-6pm
Illuminate the square with 1,000 jack-o-lanterns. Prizes, live music, and pumpkins (bring one or buy your own). 300 Athenaeum St (next to Genzyme). Supports Boys & Girls Clubs of Middlesex County.

	Friend on Facebook
	Follow on Twitter
	Forward to a Friend

IN THE NEWS

· Volpe launches Transportation Trajectory series, advancing transportation innovation for public good, September 21

· MIT’s Langer wins ‘Golden Globe’ of science – Boston Business Journal, September 15

· Beauty product manufacturer Living Proof doubles space in Kendall Square. Citybizlist Boston, September 14

· Microsoft announces it will relocate its sales, marketing, and services team to Kendall Square, September 12

· Kendall Square is Boston’s Beer Capital, according to one man in the Boston Globe, September 12

· Paul Ha To Direct MIT’s List Visual Arts Center, September 12

· Cambridge named one of 10 Most Educated Cities by US. News & World Report, August 31

· MIT’s Lincoln Labs garners first place awards in MassCommuter Bike to Work Week Challenge, August 31

KSA Monthly Newsletter

Tracy Mercer — Wed, 11 May 2011 13:53:08 GMT

Kendall Square Association Monthly Newsletter

	Friend on Facebook
	Follow on Twitter
	Forward to a Friend

Upcoming Event - Kendall Klean-Up!

On May 19 come out to participate in the 3d Annual Kendall Klean-Up! Hosted by the Kendall Square Association and the Cambridge Marriott Hotel, this is a great event to help keep Kendall Square Green and Klean! It's also an opportunity to meet and greet your neighbors and to celebrate Spring in our very own Kendall Square where many of us live, work, and play. Individuals and teams are invited. Stay after the klean for music, barbeque, raffles courtesy of the Cambridge Marriott. For more information, link to http://kendallsquarekleanup.eventbrite.com/.

Upcoming Event - MassCommuter Challenge

May is National Bike Month and here in Massachusetts we are celebrating with the MassCommuter Challenge (May 14th-20th) during Bay State Bike Week. Co-sponsored by KSq's own MIT, Alexandria Real Estate, and One Kendall Square, the Challenge is a friendly competition amongst employers and municipalities to maximize the use of your bicycle during the week. Your miles will also acrue to your hometown (indicated by zip code), and place of employment. Prizes for most miles and early registrants! For more information link to http://conta.cc/lQznlf, and be sure to stop by the Kendall Square bike breakfast on Thursday, 5/19 sponsored by Boston Properties!

May 2011

Hello KSA Members and Friends,
The month of April was a busy one - I hope you participated in and enjoyed all of the fantastic events in and around Kendall Square, including the Celebration of Innovation in Kendall Square, MIT's first open house in over 30 years, the Cambridge Science Festival, and last weekend's FAST Art Light Festival along the Charles, and the opening of yet another restaurant in Kendall Square, Meadhall at 4 Cambridge Center. Spring has, indeed, sprung! The KSA and its dedicated members are hard at work to bring you these types of exciting events to help strengthen and enliven the Square, already 'the most innovative square mile' in the world. So, catch up on the activity from our April twitter recap below, and be sure to stay current by following us on Twitter @kendallnow. There is much more to come!
Cordially,
Travis McCready, KSA Executive Director

April Twitter Recap

April 30, 2011
Vertex halts trading pending FDA decision on Hep C drug - Mass High Tech Business News http://ht.ly/4J9HG

April 27, 2011
Meadhall craft beer restaurant opening tomorrow in Kendall Square Boston Globe (blog)

April 26, 2011
Heard on the street - new restaurant, Mead Hall @ 4 Cambridge Center opens Monday 5/2 - another great restaurant for the KSq foodie scene...

April 25, 2011
Under the Dome: Come Explore MIT! Open house April 30, 11am-4pm; bring the kids and chk out MIT's cool labs! http://ht.ly/4GD75

April 22, 2011
FAST Light Celebrate Art, Science and Technology at MIT http://arts.mit.edu/fast/fast-light

Apri 21, 2011
Musical Artwork At Kendall T Station Will Soon Ring Again. WBUR. http://www.wbur.org/2011/04/20/kendall-music-sculpture. Tx to all donors!

Happening now! Celebrate earth day @ MIT stata center - live music, plug in hybrids, and bazaar!

Can we go back to privacy future? (Face)book of the Dead lecture @ MIT. http://events.mit.edu/event.html?id=13573300&rss

MIT and China cement educational goals - top chinese official signs collaboration agreement with Hockfield & MIT. http://ht.ly/4ErKp

Apri 20, 2011
Bluebird Bio Snaps up $30M for Gene Therapies, Adds ARCH Venture to Syndicate. Xconomy http://ht.ly/4Eh5G

Building a microscopic biofuel factory & Kendall Square start up Joule Unlimited. ZDNet Asia http://ht.ly/4Egkc

Alnylam Inks Deal with Precision NanoSystems | Xconomy http://ht.ly/4DM4m

April 19, 2011
MIT Sustainability Summit 2011 this Friday @ Microsoft NERD! Click here for tix... http://ht.ly/4DqNr

4/28 Jazz Club/A Reason to Taste Gala @ Multicultural Arts Center, w/ accompaniment by Berklee Jazz Institute! http://ht.ly/4DdPC
Broad Institute floating bonds to build in Kendall Square, Cambridge. Boston Business Journal http://ht.ly/4Aw4q

April 14, 2011
Music Returns to Kendall Square T Stop | News | The Harvard Crimson http://ht.ly/4Aes1

B&K Securities MIT India Forum: Lessons from a First Generation Entrepreneur. Hear from Mittal, CEO of Bharti Enterp. http://ht.ly/4A39v

UK Foreign Secretary Milliband speaking @ MIT today on Afghanistan foreign policy. Open to public! http://ht.ly/4zoyv

April 13, 2011
Some local biotechs would rather go it alone. The Boston Globe. http://ht.ly/4znbk

Outgoing Genzyme CEO Termeer joins board of Cambridge's Aveo Pharmaceuticals - Mass High Tech Business News http://ht.ly/4yzHM

April 12, 2011
Coming soon to Kendall Square - Third Rock’s biggest bet ever is on cancer drugs - The Boston Globe http://ht.ly/4xTKF

April 11, 2011
TONIGHT! Innovation Series Event Featuring Chris Viehbacher, CEO of Sanofi-aventis. MIT Enterprise Forum. http://ht.ly/4xOyE

Boston’s success, and Kendall Square's future growth, depends on T - The Boston Globe http://ht.ly/4w4OO

April 8, 2011
In-NOW-vation 2011 Technology Showcase and Celebration @ Microsoft NERD today! Register on-line @ http://ht.ly/4v9xP

April 7, 2011
Kendall Square restaurant Catalyst aims to be industry ‘clubhouse’ - The Boston Globe http://ht.ly/4uqjE

April 6, 2011
In bubble-filled plastic technology from MIT spinoff Trexel, Ford sees prospect for vehicle weight reduction. SmartPlanet http://ht.ly/4tObA

April 5, 2011
Smithsonian, MIT launch science game for students - game started yesterday, so kids sign up! http://ht.ly/4tFto

Boston restaurant battle ends with Kendall Square triumph - Boston Sustainable Agriculture | Examiner.com http://ht.ly/4tCWs

MIT continues to revive Cambridge - The Boston Globe http://ht.ly/4t2sF

April 4, 2011
Jumptap pulls down $20M funding - Mass High Tech Business News http://ht.ly/4rXpj

April 2, 2011
Women's Transportation Center names Volpe Center 2011 Employer of the Year. http://ht.ly/4ruL6. For more on WTS go to http://ht.ly/4ruPD.

April 1, 2011
Happening Now! MITFAC Celebr-ATE: A Celebration of Innovations That Are Building A Healthy Food System. http://ht.ly/4rtiq

NERD multitasking in Cambridge is priceless for Microsoft - The Boston Globe http://ht.ly/4rgWo

follow on Twitter \| friend on Facebook \| forward to a friend
Copyright © 2011 Kendall Square Association, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: One Broadway, 14th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02142* admin@kendallsq.org www.kendallsq.org

Executive Director, Travis McCready, comments from 3rd Annual Meeting

Tracy Mercer — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 11:29:11 GMT

3rd Annual Meeting, March 2, 2011, remarks from Travis McCready follow:

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Good morning everyone, and thank you David, Henri and Ell for your inspiring remarks.

I’d like to start by giving a quick thanks to Tim Rowe... Over the past 2 years Tim has managed to lead the KSA’s explosive growth all the while growing his own business, the Cambridge Innovation Center, and solidifying his national reputation as the innovator’s innovator. I think we all owe Tim a great deal for his passion and dynamism, and I look forward to working with you, Tim, another year as the Board President (assuming things go as planned when we get to the vote today).

This has been a very exciting and busy 5 months for me, and for most of you a dynamic full year of KSA activity. As many of you know, the KSA is a working organization with an active board and an open committee structure representing an enthusiastic and engaged membership. It is in these open committees or “working groups” that much of the KSA action happens. On the registration table you will find a handout summarizing the accomplishments of our working this past year, but let me take a moment to highlight a few activities:

• We have soft launched an incredibly cool redesigned website, which we will formally launch at the end of this month;

• The transportation group was an integral part of the Longfellow Bridge and other transportation planning processes

• The development group vetted major development plans for the area

• The Networking & Events Group is planning a great 6 months of events coming up, including book readings at Voltage and, my favorite, the bacon & beer fest...

• And speaking of Voltage, multiple new retailers opened this past year, including Voltage, Bosse City Club & Spa, Evoo, and Think Tank.

Again, we couldn’t have accomplished all this without your support, hard work and generosity, and I think you owe yourselves a special round of applause.

I started this job with the notion that Kendall Square is more than just one square mile, it is an idea. I have spent a good portion of my first 5 months on the job engaging in dozens of meetings with business leaders, entrepreneurs, and civic leaders, reviewing the area’s economics, and delving into its history. I wanted to understand why the idea of innovation is so strong and inextricably linked to this place. What I have learned significantly shapes my view of the future for this area, so if you’ll indulge me, I would like to start with a few observations.

There is barely a corner of today’s economy that has not been shaped in some way by the innovation and entrepreneurship in Kendall Square. Sometimes for fun, when I talk with people unfamiliar with the Kendall Square story (or the Gospel of Kendall, as I affectionately call it), I challenge them to go one a single day without encountering or utilizing a technology or innovation that has its roots in Kendall Square. I let them chew on that...and as they imagine themselves completely off the grid, I tell them about how for more than 2 centuries, Kendall Square has been an economic & innovation juggernaut. Not only have companies invented and commercialized some of the world’s leading technologies here in Kendall Square, but we have also exported, or “graduated” some of the world’s greatest entrepreneurs & companies including Raytheon, Intel, ETrade, Qualcomm and iRobot. The entrepreneurial impact of MIT alone is staggering - there are over 25,000 active companies founded by MIT alumni representing annual world sales well over a trillion dollars.

And that impact continues in the present. With more tech & biotech companies per square mile than any other place in the world, we are a technology uber-cluster...Home to Genzyme, Aura Biosciences, and hundreds of other companies changing humanity’s understanding of science & technology every day.

Why here? Conventional wisdom points to our geographic location, proximity to two of the world’s greatest universities - MIT and Harvard – a dense urban environment which forces people to “bump and connect”... But there’s another reason. Innovation is, by its very nature, rebellious...It’s a process of disruption... It isn’t just something you do, it is a way of life. And Cambridge, Massachusetts has a nearly 400 year history of being at the center of disruption...challenging the status quo...and forging its own unique identity. It is perhaps that rebellious identity which is part of Kendall Square’s mojo. And why every year, thousands of students, professionals, and entrepreneurs from many nations come here to participate in a shared heartbeat of innovation. Officials from all over the world want to know our “secret sauce” for the purpose of building and replicating our innovative hub. I wish them the best of luck - for while you can build great lab space, a community’s tolerance for the messy, unconventional and rebellious innovator’s spirit is something that must evolve over time.

But past success is no sinecure - we cannot rest on our laurels. The timing and wisdom of forming the KSA I think reflects an awareness of increased global competition and an understanding that Kendall Square has reached an inflection point. Kendall Square is ALMOST one of the most exciting places to live, work and play...and I say almost deliberately. I can challenge you to go a day without using Kendall Square tech...I can equally challenge you to try buying a pack of gum or a bottle of aspirin in the Square. And for a globally competitive innovation cluster, when you walk the streets, it certainly doesn’t look globally competitive. And where is all this bumping and connecting happening? For that matter, do you know which way MIT is? And does anyone else find it ironic that in area with all these pharmaceutical companies there isn’t one drugstore?

As executive director of the Kendall Square Association, my responsibility is not only to be this area’s greatest cheerleader, but also, in true Cantabrigian fashion, its most honest critic. We will need more than our unique value proposition and large buildings to continue to propel this area forward. As I look toward the future, there are four initiatives I believe the KSA needs to engage in to truly bring Kendall Square into the spotlight as THE global epicenter of innovation:

The first is to make Kendall Square a friendlier place for new businesses to take root, and exponentially grow. Through all stages of incubation and growth, the KSA will leverage the unique knowledge, contacts and expertise of its membership to serve as a one stop shop that helps provide companies the resources they need to stay successful and keep the environment vibrant. From helping work with the City of Cambridge, bringing together area innovators, CEOs, and entrepreneurs, helping promote a particular event or a company’s recent success, or simply greeting new companies and entrepreneurs to neighborhood, the KSA should grow to be an ardent supporter of and deep resource for upstarts of all sizes.
Second, I believe that first impressions matter, and we have a lot of work to do in making Kendall Square a real destination. Through a combination of placemaking, wayfinding, technology, and public places & events where people REALLY bump and connect, our physical environment should LOOK like it is the most innovative square mile on the planet. There is more than 4 million square feet of real estate development proposed or approved for Kendall Square in the next decade - a tremendous opportunity to reframe the pedestrian environment, add much needed services & amenities, and add additional office, lab, and R&D capacity. Let’s work together on having our built environment reflect the spirit of innovation that it houses.
Third, it is precisely because there is more than 4 million square feet of new development on the books for Kendall Square that we need to be proactive in telling the world that we are open for business, that we have space to expand, and that we welcome newcomers. We need to step up our game in attracting the world’s leading companies and entrepreneurs to locate here; and it is precisely for that reason that the Kendall Square Association board has established a new subcommittee to explore how we can play a more concerted role in driving business to Kendall Square. Details on this committee will emerge over the weeks to come, but suffice to say, we as a community do not have to wait for the phone to ring...we can dial out.
Lastly, one of the realities of Kendall Square is that we export talent, technology and companies all over the world. As a community, we celebrate and honor the success they derived from their time in Kendall Square. But just because we export these companies & entrepreneurs, shouldn’t mean that we never talk to them again. I would like to propose that we invite all these companies, innovators & entrepreneurs back, once a year, to exchange ideas, refresh themselves with the spirit or innovation that launched their company, and reinvest in the location where it all began. You can call it a Kendall Square alumni event - I like to call it “Square Roots.” This annual event will be a cornerstone of the KSA’s agenda - a time for us to show off Kendall Square as the birthplace of the innovation economy and, through the companies and leaders this area has born, improve the state of science & technology innovation worldwide.

This is a broad agenda for an organization with a staff of one. But the KSA is a working membership with working committees and an incredibly engaged working board. Your ongoing support is this organization’s lifeblood. If you are a member, we thank you, and we invite you to get engaged in one of our many committees that accomplish much of the organization’s work. If you are not a member, I take all forms of payment...and don’t try to escape...remember, I am bigger than you.

Lastly, I would like to thank all of the directors for their support during my on-boarding process. A particular thanks to Sarah Gallop of MIT and Chris Barr of Amgen for your help setting up this annual meeting, and Sara Spalding of Microsoft for your help with our brand-new website. And we all owe thanks to Tracy Mercer & Maura Ryan of the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority, the KSA’s shadow staff, for all their behind the scenes help.

Thanks again for the warm welcome, and I look forward to an exciting and productive year ahead!

KSA President, Tim Rowe, comments at 3rd Annual Meeting

Tracy Mercer — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 11:25:23 GMT

Several members asked for copies of Tim's talk at the annual meeting held on March 2, 2011. Tim's comments, which were also published in Xconomy, are here:

The World’s Most Innovative City

Tim Rowe 2/2/11

Most readers will be aware that Vertex announced it is moving from 900,000 square feet of laboratories and offices in Cambridge to over a million square feet in Boston.

Some are asking if this spells serious trouble in Cambridge. This question surprises me. Cambridge is one of the world’s most important sources of next-generation technology and companies, and regularly exports them. A 2009 Kaufmann Foundation study showed that MIT spin-outs alone, if collected together, would rank as the 11th largest economy in the world. Vertex and its Telaprevir hepatitis C drug, which is on the verge of approval by the FDA, follow a time-honored tradition.

Once ideas are proven, those pursuing them should and do move into production mode. Sometimes that means taking larger, cheaper space elsewhere. When this happens, it makes room for another generation of new companies in Cambridge. While nobody wants to lose a taxpayer, Cambridge should feel proud of the contributions it makes to the rest of the world.

For nearly 400 years, Cambridge’s powerful blend of intellectual and entrepreneurial oomph has given the city an enviable self-renewing quality. Let’s look at the record. It starts with the book. Cambridge printed the first book in North America 370 years ago. About that time, it also became home to its first university, Harvard. The first computer (the Mark II) and the Internet (then called the Arpanet) came out of Cambridge. Thomas Watson placed the first two-way telephone call from his lab in Kendall Square, the wires stretching across the river to Alexander Graham Bell’s home on Beacon Hill. Some other Cambridge creations include the microwave oven, the sewing machine, instant photography, ship-to-ship radar, synthesis of penicillin and quinine, fractionation of blood, and deployment of vaccines. Many of Cambridge’s inventions today are so complex, the inventors win Nobel Prizes while most of us don’t even understand them.

(If you want the full background on these inventions and others, you are in luck. The Cambridge Historical Society is readying a comprehensive website on the history of invention in Cambridge. Send a note to innovation@cambridgehistory.org if you’d like to be notified when it’s up.)

Cambridge has launched some pretty interesting ideas in other departments as well. The Continental Army, which became the U.S. Army, was founded in Cambridge. General George Washington took command here and led the fight for American independence . A century later, the first volunteer company to fight in the U.S. civil war formed here. This war took the nation a giant leap toward racial equality. Just over a century after that, the first legal applications in America for same-sex marriage licenses were issued at Cambridge City Hall, a watershed in the gay rights movement.

In the Vertex case, the press has focused on the competition between Cambridge and Boston. That’s a good thing. Competition sharpens our wits and pushes us to be more competitive. According to economic development theorists, intense local competition is required to make a region become a global powerhouse. We should encourage it. If Boston has made itself more attractive to businesses, then Cambridge should too. This said, to the extent that points are being tallied for regional economic wins, let’s give the greatest credit to those who bring companies into the region, as Cambridge did with Novartis. I will cheer for Boston when it announces that it has brought a million-square-foot technology tenant into the region.

We all know the real threat to our region is places like Shanghai and Dallas. At the recent first-ever joint session of the Cambridge and Boston City Councils, the good folks at Monitor Group and Harvard presented data showing that Massachusetts is losing market share in the fields we are most competitive in. What’s up with that? Let’s get our act together, guys!

We invite innovators and entrepreneurs to come to Cambridge, MA, to collaborate with us to create the innovations that will shape the next century. We are the world’s most innovative city, and we want you to be part of that.

Xconomist Tim Rowe is Founder and CEO of Cambridge Innovation Center.

MIT Explores Plans for Enlivening Kendall Square, MIT News, May 28, 2010

Tracy Mercer — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 10:03:17 GMT

MIT explores plans for enlivening Kendall

Square

Discussions begin within MIT and Cambridge communities.

May 2B, 2010

MIT has initiated preliminary conversations within the Institute community, as well as with Cambridge officials and representatives of Kendall Square and the surrounding neighborhoods, to discuss early concepts for invigorating the Kendall Square area.

While no specific project has yet been proposed, MIT is considering ideas for its properties near the MBTA station that would create a more vibrant environment consistent with Kendall Square's position as an innovation cluster. The project is being led by the MIT Investment Management Company (MITIMCo), a division of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that manages the investment of the Institute's endowment and all investment real estate.

Kendall Square is currently home to several academic and research buildings affiliated with MIT, as well as over 150 biotechnology and information technology firms, including Microsoft and Google, the Cambridge Innovation Center, and a growing number of clean-energy and technology startup companies. While the concentration of corporate, research and academic activities in Kendall Square began to take shape over the last 10 to 15 years, efforts to complement the success of those endeavors with a more dynamic social community have been less successful to date.

"Kendall Square is home to a kind of creative intensity that you don't encounter many other places on Earth: It has an entrepreneurial culture and an incredibly inspiring focus on society's important problems," MIT President Susan Hockfield said in an address to the Kendall Square Association in February. "If we want Kendall Square to grow and thrive over the long term, we need to make sure that the most creative entrepreneurs and most talented inventors and scientists find Kendall Square so magnetic, so appealing that they can't think seriously about 'other options."

MIT has been a leading participant in efforts by the Kendall Square Association (KSA), which represents more than 100 local organizations, to explore ways to maximize the potential of the Square. MIT and the KSA have the shared goal of creating retail, amenities, cultural opportunities, and public spaces that foster collaboration and dynamic synergies - all in the heart of a world-class business and academic hub that is fueling the future of innovation.

"Past initiatives to improve the streetscape and add amenities to Kendall Square have been disparate and fairly limited in scope," said Steve Marsh, managing director for real estate for MITIMCo. "These piecemeal efforts haven't had the scale and concentration of retail activity necessary to meet the needs of the entrepreneurs, established companies, academicians, students, neighbors and business leaders who have

come to value and rely on Kendall Square's creative energy."

MITIMCo is currently considering a variety of approaches for a transit-oriented, mixed-use redevelopment of parcels it owns in Kendall Square, with a focus on supporting existing businesses and maximizing benefits for the MIT community and nearby neighborhoods. Over the next several months, it will develop a more formal proposal for potential uses, including ground-floor retail, venues for the public to gather, corporate, academic, and research space and housing.

As part of this process, MITIMCo will continue communicating within the Institute community and with tenants in Kendall Square, neighbors, as well as business leaders and city officials, to provide a timeline of activities and next steps.

"Our objective is to fuel innovation in Cambridge by creating increased vitality in Kendall Square through the animation of the streetscape. We want to introduce expanded retail and entertainment uses and provide continued opportunities for forward-thinking companies to grow and flourish. We also hope these efforts will help attract new life-sciences, technology, energy and other entrepreneurial ventures to Kendall Square, and that a revitalized Kendall Square will create jobs and increase the tax base. Naturally, as we explore possibilities for redevelopment we will need to ensure that MITs academic needs are met going forward," Marsh said.

"Toward those goals," he continued, "we will be eager to receive input from both the Cambridge and MIT communities about what people would be most excited to see in a revitalized Kendall Square, and particularly, creative ideas for the retail and public gathering spaces."

March 2010 Newsletter

Tracy Mercer — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 10:35:08 GMT

What a difference a year makes! The second Annual Meeting of the Kendall Square Association -- convened February 24 in the Microsoft Cambridge headquarters -- brought out several hundred KSA members, civic leaders from across Cambridge and beyond.

The event kicked off by firing up the crowd with a great video about Kendall Square, prepared by KSA member Bettina Hein at Pixability, Inc., with the support of Dave Gowel and the team at Clearly Creative. Check it out.

MIT President Susan Hockfield also attended the meeting, and offered a keynote speech in which she expressed her excitement about the KSA's progress, as well as her thoughtful reflections on the yet-to-be-fully-realized potential of this Square (or rather, as she pointed out to the amusement of all, this "non-Euclidean polygon, maybe even a fractal.")

The Boston Consulting Group has done an amazing analysis (pro bono!) of Kendall Square's relative place in the world: the highlights of their work can be found in the presentations here. Also included in this file are brief presentations by the KSA working groups, charting the significant progress made in the past twelve months on a variety of fronts. Including our new look and logo, soon to be applied to the web site and beyond.

Finally, be sure to check out the last slide in the presentation...many people and organizations have generously given time and resources to ensuring that KSA gets off to a strong start. It is simply impossible to thank them all by name.

Close on the heels of the Annual Meeting, the first KSA CEO Council Meeting convened for two hours on March 3 at the MIT President's House. Serving as KSA's "overseers" or "trustees" (in the sense of oversight, not the legal definition of such) the CEO Council engaged in a lively discussion of the KSA's work to date, offering really helpful insights and suggestions for moving the findings of the Boston Consulting Group into actionable plans. They were excited about the possibilities, and charged the KSA to deliver on those possibilities. Of which you will hear a lot more over the next couple months...

Attendees included Roger Berkowitz (CEO, Legal Sea Foods), Susan Hockfield (President, MIT), Eric Lander (President and Director, The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard), Doug Linde (President, Boston Properties), and Henri Termeer (CEO, Genzyme). Ranch Kimball, from Boston Consulting Group, performed admirably in keeping this high-powered group on track.

________

Finally, the real work is just beginning. And for that we need every KSA member to take an active part. Specific needs, including populating the content on the new web site, will be communicated soon from several of the working groups. But you don't have to wait until asked: Go to the web site and reach out to any of the Board or working group members with your ideas and offers of help!

January 2010 Newsletter

Tracy Mercer — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 10:20:10 GMT

An exciting past year, and a promising New Year for KSA. Here is all the latest info as we dig out together from the excesses of holidays and winter weather:

Note from the President

Going into 2010 we are pleased to have accomplished much of the behind-the-scenes organizational work of forming the Kendall Square Association, and we look forward to focusing now on priority issues of importance to the Kendall Square community.

The first such topic, which we expect to highlight at the KSA Annual Meeting on February 24 (see below), will focus on transportation issues, including improving the options in Kendall Square and maintaining existing key facilities (e.g., the MBTA Red Line, the Longfellow Bridge, etc.).

I'm also delighted to announce that the Boston Consulting Group has begun a pro-bono study for the Kendall Square Association addressing the big-picture question of what it will take to ensure that Kendall Square will continue to thrive and grow in 2010 and through the rest of this century.

Best wishes,
Tim Rowe, KSA President

KSA Annual Meeting: Save the Date!!!

The second Kendall Square Association Annual Meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 24, 2010. The time and place will be announced as soon as possible on the web site and in a mailing to the members.

A New Year, a New Look

Building on the extensive Kendall Square branding work by Steve Herskovitz of Hammond Hill, expert logo designer Dave Gilman of Cognito worked tirelessly with the KSA Marketing and Promotion Working Group to create a logo to go with our newly minted tagline. The interior blue dots in the logo below are in the shape of Kendall Square. The dots themselves represent the people and ideas of Kendall Square and the infinite possibilities of our collective future. The M&P Working Group will now focus on developing KSA’s new website.

What’s in a Name?

The KSA Retail, Residential, Restaurant, Hospitality and Entertainment Working Group is now known as the Retail Working Group, reflecting its focus on supporting current retail establishments in Kendall Square and promoting new development. In addition to other efforts, the group is working on a new business resources website that will be packed with information about Kendall Square for potentially interested retailers.

Help KSA's Spotlight shine

We invite all KSA members to submit event suggestions for the KSA Spotlight Series. The KSA Spotlight Series is a semi- regular event (or quarterly event) intended to highlight the history, culture, industry, science and technology of Kendall Square. For more information please contact: Lena Sharp at: hsharp@labspace.com

In the KS 'hood
(local events/meetings of interest to KSA members)

Cheap Skates

The Kendall Square skating rink (next to the Genzyme building) is now open. Check out hours and information here: http://www.kendallsquare.org/ice.html

Royalty in Kendall Square

On the occasion of the visit to Boston of Prince Michael of Kent, the British Consulate General is hosting “Inspiration in Action 2010” from 2:00 to 4:00pm on the afternoon of January 14, 2010, at the Consulate General’s new digs at One Broadway in Kendall Square.

This is the first of an annual series of events designed “to bridge the gap between the innovative business community and our next generation.” www.ukinusa.fco.gov.uk/boston Twitter: @ukinboston

If you are interested in attending, or for more information, please contact Joseph Pickerill (joseph.pickerill@fco.gov.uk; 617-245-4513).

KSA Member announcements/offers

In the spirit of a new year, fitness and sports take center stage!

Jumpstart your New Year @ the Cambridge Athletic Club!
To help get your New Year’s resolutions started right, the newly renovated 25,000 square foot Cambridge Athletic Club (CAC) is offering a January/New Years special for all KSA members. KSA members may purchase a one-month membership for $19, which includes a complimentary personal training session. Offer expires 1/31/10. Simply drop in to see all CAC has to offer and to get signed up.

For more information about the club, and their offerings and programs, check out www.cambridgefitness.com. CAC has FREE PARKING, and is located at 215 First Street in the beautiful Athenaeum Building!

For more information please contact:
Jeff Butterworth, Membership Director
jeff@cambridgefitness.com
phone: 617-491-8989

LaCrosse for a Good Cause
The Boston Blazers (Boston's professional lacrosse team) will be highlighting the fight against Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) during their "Heroes Awareness Night" on February 6, 2010. The Blazers are partnering with Prize4Life (P4L) to help raise money to further P4L’s mission to accelerate the discovery of treatments and cures for ALS.

If you are interested in an exciting sport and in supporting our P4L neighbor, you can purchase tickets ($30 each) through a special website: http://bit.ly/512shV. (Note: you have to enter the code: P4L in order to be part of the group and get to hang out with members of the team after the game).

Equilibrium:
Grand Opening Party on Thursday January 7th from 4-8pm
Enjoy cocktails while touring our new space. Sample pizza by Za- the new pizza & salad hot spot slated to open in The Watermark Building this February. Enter raffles for a chance to win spa treatments, training sessions and free membership months. View artwork by Shoshana Ernst & Nira Chorev courtesy of ArtPolitis. Experience acupuncture with mini-sessions by Joint Venture.

The celebration begins at 4pm on Thursday, January 7th at Equilibrium Cambridge, 350 Third Street, 2nd floor.

To R.S.V.P. or for more information, please contact Haley at 617-252-0020 or haleyc@theeq.com.

If you have future newsletter content, please email fsteele@broadinstitute.org

October 2009 Newsletter

Tracy Mercer — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 10:17:44 GMT

Editor's note: Our intrepid KSA President provides the bulk of the newsletter this month.

I want to extend a big thank you to the hundreds of you who attended the recent Fall Kick-off gathering we had at the canoe and kayak docks. It was a lovely evening, with great food, drink and company. The gathering was a tremendous way to kick off the Fall work of the Kendall Square Association.

Editor’s note: The kayaks are indeed in place and have been tested and approved by celebrities including Tom Cruise.

This Fall we anticipate significant progress within the Kendall Square Association in five main areas: reviewing our long term infrastructure, transportation and technology needs, building the social connections amongst all of us who live and work here, building a basis for collaboration amongst the restaurants and retailers here and identifying needs in that area, defining and communicating our message to the surrounding communities and the world, and establishing a meaningful engagement with social service organizations in the area. In addition, we expect to begin the process of bringing on an Executive Director to help turbo-charge all of these activities. There is so much going on!

This coming week we have another special event that deserves your attention -- The KSA Spotlight Series. As we think about where we would like to go, it is helpful to know where we came from.

On October 7th the Kendall Square Association has invited innovation and history researcher Bob Krim to do a retrospective on Kendall Square, going back 400 years. It will be held at the auditorium of the Borad Institute of MIT and Harvard - just off their main lobby – at 6PM. I have seen Bob speak, and he is really very good. I hope to see you all there. Note that this event is open to the public. Interested folks are encouraged to attend, and also to pass this on to interested co-workers and neighbors. This is the first of what will be a series of "Spotlights" on Kendall Square, and ideas for future topics are welcome.

Best wishes for a great October,

Tim Rowe

September 2009 Newsletter

Tracy Mercer — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:49:56 GMT

Dear KSA Colleague,

Welcome back from your summer distractions. We have a few items this month you should find interesting.

From the President:

I hope everyone had a terrific summer, and is looking forward to a productive fall.

I’m pleased to share that Kendall Square was selected last month as the venue for a “town hall” style meeting with regional business leaders and our new US Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke. Secretary Locke spoke at Genzyme’s headquarters to an audience of about 200. He outlined his goals for the Commerce Dept., including plans for a major overhaul of the patent system. Secretary Locke was joined on stage by Lt. Governor Tim Murray and Congressman Mike Capuano. Amongst the questions from the audience, prominent local venture capitalist Paul Maeder of Highland Capital asked whether the proposed regulation of private investing aimed at hedge funds might inadvertently dampen early stage investment in innovation. A lively debate ensued. Earlier in the day Secretary Locke held a luncheon at Cambridge Innovation Center with the officers of the KSA and other area leaders, and he made time to meet with a number of local technology and life sciences companies, including Great Point Energy, ThingMagic, Hubspot, InVivo Therapeutics, and Zeer.

One of our priorities for the KSA this fall will be to launch a new website that helps visitors and prospective new neighbors learn about what Kendall Square has to offer the world. As part of that, the Marketing & Promotion Working Group is close to finalizing its recommendations to the Board on a set of messaging about Kendall Square. This work is being driven in particular by the excellent work of Hammond Hill, our pro bono branding consulting firm. They have studied dozens of other regions and how they communicate about themselves, and have completed a round of interviews with business, city, and state leaders. If you are interested in this work, you should become active with the Marketing & Promotion Working Group.

One fun and little known fact that was given attention as part of this effort highlights Kendall Square’s enduring heritage as home to innovation: the very first telephone call was made from Thomas Watson’s lab in Kendall Square (700 Main Streetundefinednow owned by MIT) to a home in Boston. New York Times coverage of the event is here. And you can just make out the plaque on Google (choose streetview) here.

Once again, welcome back. I hope to see you all at the KSA Fall Kick-off Event, described below.

Tim Rowe
President, Kendall Sq. Association

News for KSA members

In true KSA style, we start with parties:

KSA Fall Kickoff Event!

Calling all seafarers and landlubbers: The KSA Fall Kickoff Event will be held on September 24, 2009, from 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM at the newly opened Broad Canal Landing (behind the parking garage located by Genzyme). This party will preface the opening of the new plaza and green space next to the canal.

The event will feature great food, beverages, transportation by land (Segway demos) and by sea (kayak rentals), and great entertainment (speakers and music). You could also win prizes at raffles and just have a great time together to celebrate the beginning of what should be an amazing fall for the KSA.

We are looking for both event volunteers as well as donations of raffle prizes. If you would like to do either (or both!), contact Dave Downing at Twining Properties ASAP! (email: david.downing@twiningproperties.com).

More details to follow in the upcoming weeks, both by email and on the KSA website.

Other events in the area (not organized by the KSA):

2nd Annual Tech Square Block Party

Calling all scientists, scientific professionals, and science enthusiasts in the Cambridge, Massachusetts area!

New Scientist presents the second annual Tech Square Block Party on Wednesday, September 16, from 4:30 - 7:30pm in the courtyard between 300, 400 & 500 Technology Square.

Attendance is free, but you should register online now at http://tinyurl.com/techparty. There you will also find more information about this “free, funky and fun” outdoor event!

Cambridge Carnival!

Sunday, September 13 from noon until 7pm, the 17th annual Cambridge Caribbean Carnival Festival descends on Kendall Square. The usual food, dancing and music, costumed parade participants, and crowds will be present. The parade route stretches from Mass. Ave. to Main Street and into Kendall Square; more information can be found at www.cambridgecarnival.org.

This is a colorful yearly event that can sometimes be rowdy. It draws large crowds from around the region and beyond. This year the date has been moved from August to September to attempt to draw a larger local student crowd. Parental supervision advised. Retailers may wish to coordinate their plans with the City of Cambridge’s special events committee. For more information call the event manager Nicola Williams at 617-492-2518.

Member to Member Announcements

Bon appétit!

Our friends at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts right here in Kendall Square have brought to our attention a great event that takes place each Friday in the Athenaeum Building main lobby. Between the hours of 12:00 noon until 5:00 PM, a farmers’ market is held with fresh local produce and baked goods. Each week the best produce from around the New England area is made available in cooperation with Costa Produce. Also the most decadent baked goods are available, including cookies, brownies, cupcakes, artisanal breads and pies. They sometimes even have a few big surprises. Those of you inspired by the resurgence of Julia Child's popularity should definitely check it out.

Coming this Fall:

A new branding look for KSA, including a tagline and logo, transportation proposals, KS wireless, and a host of other improvements for our neighborhood and Association.

As always, if you have items for the October newsletter, please send them directly to fsteele@broadinstitute.org, or post them on the members section of the KSA website.

Abridged July KSA newsletter

Alan Fein — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:42:04 GMT

(Editor's Note: The following is a selection of information from this month's KSA newsletter. If you want to access the entire newsletter, including great offers from KSA members to other KSA members, join us!)

Summer in the Square

July has finally warmed up, driving many folks into the sun and vacations. Therefore, just a few items this month.

From the KSA President

The sun has been with us for a few days now, and could it possibly be more welcome? For me, summer arrived in Kendall Square on July 9th, with the ribbon cutting ceremony for our new boardwalk and canoe and kayak rental center on the Broad Canal. For those who are not familiar with it, Kendall Square has a working canal, overlooked by the Genzyme Headquarters, Mirant, the Watermark residential building, 1 Broadway, and 1 and 101 Main Streets. The new boardwalk brings people right into the canal, running just over the water, and the new boating facility there provides a wonderful summer lunchtime outing opportunity for many of us. I encourage everyone to check it out. It will open to the public by the end of July.

Caption: Ribbon cutting for the new Kendall Square canal boardwalk, and a few familiar KSA faces.

Party down

At One Kendall

The One Kendall summer concerts have been really amazing so far: great food from the One Kendall restaurants, old and new friends, and, of course, hoppin’ music. Mark your calendars for the rock’n’roll of “Audio Underground," August 19, from 5:30 to 8:30pm.

At Kendall Square

The Berklee College of Music’s Thursday noon concert series just get stronger as the summer weeks fly by. Coming up the next few weeks (all at 300 Athenaeum St.):

La Timbistica
Thursday, July 23, 2009, 12:00 p.m.
La Timbistica (the Berklee Latin Jazz All-Stars), a sextet and 11-piece powerhouse salsa band, was named this year's Best College Jazz Band by Down Beat magazine and was featured at the Monterey and Duke Ellington jazz festivals.

Alex Wintz
Thursday, July 30, 2009, 12:00 p.m.
Alex Wintz's obsession with the guitar began at the age of four when he heard Guns and Roses on the radio. Now a high-caliber jazz musician and composer in his junior year at Berklee, Wintz has earned several awards, including a Down Beat Student Music Award in 2006 for Outstanding Jazz Soloist in High School.

Emily Elbert
Thursday, August 6, 2009, 12:00 p.m.
Texas-bred guitarist and vocalist Emily Elbert fuses her lifelong passion for jazz, folk, soul, blues, pop, and music from around the world with an ability to write innovative songs and arrangements. She has toured with G Love & Special Sauce and Kaki King. WUMB radio, in Boston, named her Best New Artist of 2008.

Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Public Information Session - July 14th, 12:00 - 1:30PM

Timothy Rowe — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:36:54 GMT

On July 14th, 12:00-1:30PM, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center will hold a public information session at Cambridge Innovation Center to discuss programs it has to support life sciences companies.

This forum will allow participants to learn more about the ten-year, $1 billion Massachusetts Life Sciences Initiative, and the programs that are available through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, the quasi-public agency tasked with implementing the Initiative.

Get your questions answered about how the Initiative can be helpful to you and your company and how to apply for funding.

Lunch will be provided. We hope you can come.

Those interested in attending must RSVP here:
http://mlscforumatcic.eventbrite.com/

Speakers will include: Dr. Susan Windham-Bannister, President & CEO, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and Frank Reynolds, CEO of InVivo Therapeutics, a recent MLSC grant recipient

Again, you must RSVP if you wish to attend, as there are a limited number of seats available.

Thanks to those stimulating our growth

Abby Bratt — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:46:56 GMT

We would like to take a moment to recognize the following businesses for their offering of pro bono services in order for us to better represent the great opportunities the Kendall Square area has to offer.

Hammond Hill – Branding

Clearly Creative – Website Design
Cognito– Logo Design

Ratepoint – Email Marketing and Survey Tools

With such important marketing efforts in place, we are excited about the momentum we have built up and look forward to more opportunities as we grow and expand our offerings as an association.

If you have a service or skill to offer that you think the Kendall Square Association can benefit from, please do not hesitate to contact Dave Gowel at marketing@clearlycreative.net.

Trees in Kendall Square

Timothy Rowe — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:08:12 GMT

Kevin Sheehan at Boston Properties, a participant in the Infrastructure sub-committee of the Long Term Vision committee, has kindly taken on the task of stewarding the process of coordinating with the City regarding trees in Kendall Square. The city has a program to plant, and replace, trees throughout the city.

Kevin will be meeting with David Lefcourt, the City Arborist, on Tuesday, May 19, at 1:30PM. If you would like to participate in this, please contact Kevin. His email is ksheehan AT bostonproperties.com.

First Ever Kendall Square Association Newsletter - May 2009

Timothy Rowe — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:30:05 GMT

All,

Below is the first edition of our new monthly Newsletter for the members of the Kendall Square Association. You will find in it a greeting from our President, updates on planned activities and events in and around Kendall Square, announcements from members, and some acknowledgments of the contributions of many who have brought our new organization to this point.

Yours,
Fintan Steele
The Broad Institute

(Volunteer KSA Newsletter Editor)

-------------------------------

Kendall Square Association Newsletter V1. n1.

A Note from the KSA President

Hello Kendall Square! It is just over two months since our February 24th inaugural KSA organizational meeting, yet it feels a lot longer – in a good sense!

In this short time it seems that thousands of flowers are blooming – literally in Kendall Square and figuratively in the Association. If you want to participate more in KSA, simply update your member record on the KSA website (www.kendallsq.org) and tick off the ‘Groups’ that you want to be part of. This will ensure you get invites to the activities you are interested in.

I would like to highlight just a few of the many efforts that are under way in order to give you a flavor of what is going on:

Jim Kappel at the Marriott, has organized the Kendall Square Klean Up THIS COMING MAY 15th at 3:00PM! Read down for details. Please RSVP at www.kendallsq.org/events. The group will gather in the Marriott Plaza. He is hoping for 100 people. Please share this within your organization
Skip Hartwell at Akamai has convened a WIFI subgroup including people from Google, Microsoft, MIT, Akamai, and CIC. We are looking at ways to bring free public WIFI throughout Kendall Square. If you would like your organization to participate in this, please contact Skip Hartwell at Akamai (hartwell@Akamai.com).
Michele McCauley at Fitcorp is looking to create a Kendall Square Softball League. Interested? Contact Michele at mmccauley@Fitcorp.com.

Kudos to Fintan Steele at the Broad Institute for taking on the task of compiling this newsletter. This will become an important tool for bringing us together and creating community in Kendall Square. Please send him any information you want included in future newsletters (fsteele@broadinstitute.org). Our goal is to release this monthly for now.

Finally, I want to close by thanking the many individuals and organizations that helped us get the KSA off the ground. While it is a risky endeavor, I have made an attempt at thanking many of those people by name later in this newsletter.

Warmest regards,
Tim Rowe
Cambridge Innovation Center
(President, Kendall Square Association)

Board of Directors Update:

The Board of Directors continues to meet monthly, excited -– and perhaps a bit overwhelmed –- at the incredible opportunities KSA presents.

Just a few highlights of the April 15, 2009, meeting include:

The legal firm of Morse, Barnes-Brown and Pendleton has offered to attend Board meetings to participate as recorder and to provide pro bono services. The Board happily and gratefully approved their offer. Thanks Jon Gworek!
Committees

As anyone who has worked with a non-profit association knows already, the real work gets done at the committee and sub-committee level. Brief updates from the KSA Committees included:

Long term Vision group (Skip Hartwell and Sam DeLiddo)
Created four subgroups and goals for each: Development, Infrastructure, Transportation, Technology.

Marketing and Promotion (Sarah Gallop)
Created three tracks: website development, branding, and a membership survey (and announced that an external firm -- Hammond Hill in Acton, MA --has agreed to provide marketing expertise pro bono). Hammond Hill will develop a marketing plan for Kendall Square.

Retail, Residential, Hospitality & Entertainment (Eric Quadrino)
The Sloan School "Market Lab" agreed to do a retail study on the Kendall Square area, on behalf of the KSA, and will present its results on May 8. The goal is to determine retail gaps (e.g. lack of a pharmacy) and opportunities in Kendall Square.

Networking & Social Activities (Sara Spalding)
Two types of networking events are in planning: the first includes two informal, casual KSA events this spring/summer, the second involves role-based events (e.g., for administrative assistants). Keep checking the KSA web site for details.

You will hear a lot more about all of these efforts over the next several months.

Several policy items were also discussed, from small to large. The large items were postponed to the next Board meeting on May 15, and next month’s newsletter will include more information.

Events in and near the KS ‘hood

Keep it “Klean”

Kendall Square Klean-up!
May 15, 2009
3:00pm - 5:00pm
Plaza outside the Cambridge Center Marriott Hotel

Stop by the Plaza outside the Cambridge Center Marriott Hotel, pick up your plastic bag and help us GREEN UP the Main Street/Kendall Square area. This is a great opportunity to meet other KSA members and even do a bit of team building in your own organization.

Group Photos will be available, so wear your logo t-shirts.

Complimentary food and beverages will be available on the Plaza beginning at 5 pm (but, in keeping with the mission of the event, please make sure you clean up after yourself!).

You can sign up at www.kendallsq.org/events. For more information, contact KSA Board Member Jim Kappel, General Manager at the Cambridge Center Marriott at jim.kappel@marriott.com.

Take a Bite out of Cambridge

The 7th Annual Taste of Cambridge
June 18th, 2009
5:30pm-8pm
The Charles Hotel
www.tasteofcambridge.com

The “Taste of Cambridge” is the ONLY annual sampling event featuring the diverse, delicious, and world-renowned restaurants of Cambridge, including several from the Kendall Square area.

The Taste of Cambridge expects to host over 2000 attendees at the annual event to sample Cambridge’s finest restaurants. Ticket purchasers range in age from 18 to 55. Many of these attendees are students and employees of our local universities and businesses; others are residents of Cambridge, Boston and the surrounding suburbs who are devoted patrons of our restaurants. And then there are those new groups of people buying tickets each year who come looking for what’s new and exciting.

Profits from the 2009 Taste of Cambridge will benefit Youth on Fire and Passim’s Culture for Kids / Music Matters.

Finally, although we totally understand that you may not want to ever leave Kendall Square/Cambridge, if you purchase your tickets before May 31, 2009, you will be entered to win round-trip Virgin America tickets to Los Angeles.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.tasteofcambridge.com

Taste of Cambridge is organized and run by the Cambridge License Advisory Board.

KSA Member Forum Roundup

The Kendall Square Association Website (www.kendallsq.org) includes a Members’ Forum where any member can post information they would like to share with the group as a whole. Our plan is to summarize those postings here in the monthly newsletter. This is your opportunity to reach your fellow KSA members. What follows are postings on that forum.

From the Ambit Press: “Space Constraints?”

Due to a relocation of our printing production operations, the Ambit Press team would like to make the members of the Kendall Square Association aware of a tremendous sublease opportunity at 5 Cambridge Center in Cambridge. We are pleased to offer 6,600 square feet of class A office space and look forward to working with all interested parties. As many of you are aware, 5 Cambridge Center is one of Kendall Square’s premier office buildings and features numerous onsite amenities including the Red Line T station and Legal Seafood.

Please e-mail or call with any questions or to schedule a brief tour of our space. We appreciate your consideration of our sublease and look forward to meeting up shortly.

Ambit Press will be maintaining a design and project management show room space in Kendall Square.

Peter Reed, preed@ambitpress.com or 617-876-3688.

From Mexicali Burrito: “Cinco de Mayo and Beyond”

MexiCali Burrito Co. is glad to announce a 10% discount on all regular and breakfast catering orders for K.S.A. members for the month of May. You can find our catering menu at www.mexicaliburrito.com.

We look forward to working with you,

Eric and David

From Cambridge Athletic Club: “Prepping for the beach”

It is our pleasure to invite all KSA member organizations to a free one-week membership at the Cambridge Athletic Club! We will also be providing a special membership rate, exclusively for KSA member organizations! Please check out our website, http://www.cambridgefitness.com

For info please contact: Lisa Vitale, Corporate Sales Manager, Cambridge Athletic Club, (617) 491-8989, lisa@cambridgefitness.com

Thanks and Recognition!

(By Tim Rowe) The Kendall Square Association is a new organization. Yet Kendall Square is not new, and there are many individuals and groups that have actively worked on behalf of Kendall Square and its environs for years. It seems appropriate for the first edition of the new Kendall Square Newsletter to acknowledge and thank these people and groups for their contributions.

Although its mission is Cambridge-wide, the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce (CCC) has ably supported Kendall Square since the 1920s. It has grown and thrived over the years, particularly under Kelly Thompson-Clark’s leadership as Executive Director. Kelly is also the Chair of the statewide association of Chambers of Commerce, and the CCC is seen as a model Chamber. Also central to the work of the Chamber is Terry Smith, who runs the CCC’s government affairs activities. It is unusual for a chamber of commerce to have someone of Terry’s caliber. Observers of public forums in Cambridge have become accustomed to Terry’s professional and articulate representation of business interests across Cambridge, including those in Kendall Square. While the KSA and CCC are separate organizations, if you look behind the scenes you will find that many of those active in the KSA are also active in the Chamber, and I’m pleased to say that the two are collaborating closely.

Many of you may also be aware of the group known as the Kendall Community Group, which has been active in Kendall Square for many years. The KCG has a charitable function, bringing together several of the larger businesses in Kendall Square to support three important local social-service organizations: The Margaret Fuller House, Tutoring Plus, and the Cambridge Arts Center. Again, many of the same people are active in both organizations. If you are interested in charitable activities in Kendall Square, you may wish to contact Robert Hurlbut (cambridgecf@igc.org) at the KCG.

In addition, I want to recognize the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority. The CRA is an independent governmental body, based in Kendall Square, that was created several decades ago to undertake urban renewal projects. One such project involved the massive job of transforming the once derelict industrial areas to the north of MIT into a booming mixed-use development. I have seen many governmental bodies over the years tasked with creating a booming metropolis in one or another place, and few can claim to have actually done it. The CRA has been ably managed by Joe Tulimieri for most of its history, and Joe and his many relationships have been instrumental in helping form the KSA. In addition, Joe is participating and has been kind enough to lend the support of his staff to assist the KSA, notably Tracy Mercer, who has been acting as the de-facto administrator of the KSA, and Maura Ryan who handles the KSA’s finances.

There are a large number of individuals who have been very active in growing and nurturing the KSA over the past months. Steve Vinter from Google and Sara Spalding at Microsoft are notable in that they are the local heads of their respective companies’ offices here in Cambridge, managing large organizations, and yet they have found the time to dig in personally to a substantial degree. Steve, along with Kevin Sheehan at Boston Properties, drafted the Bylaws for the KSA, and has taken on the role as the new organization’s Secretary, and Sara has taken the helm of the Networking & Social Activities working group, which I believe is the largest working group in the organization, and is looking to put together events, mixers, and online mechanisms for all of us to get to know one another better.

One of the prime movers behind the idea for the KSA is Jim Kappel, General Manager of the Cambridge Marriott. Jim has a well-developed sense of community, and has been active source of encouragement for all of us to get together and act to form a local association. He is behind the forthcoming Kendall Square Kleanup, as well.

Leading local figures in the real estate development community, notably Bryan Koop and Mike Cantalupa from Boston Properties, Tom Andrews and Joe Maguire from Alexandria, Bill Gartner and Sam DeLiddo from Biomed, and Brian Dacey from Twining, have all made significant contributions, particularly on the Long Term Vision Committee.

Brian Dacey, in particular, leveraging his experience as the former Chairman of Morgan-Memorial Goodwill, took on the onerous task of putting together the slate of candidates for the Board and Officers, and is currently chairing the Membership sub-group of the board, working on such tough issues as coming up with a reasonable dues structure.

The aforementioned Sam DeLiddo has co-led the Long Term Vision working group, along with Skip Hartwell from Akamai. Also contributing in this group and on the Board is Mike Owu from MIT’s Investment Management Company, which manages much of MIT’s real estate portfolio in Kendall Square. Mike can be credited with first proposing that a key goal for the KSA be developing a “20-year plan” for the area.

Others from MIT have been very active as well. Sarah Gallop, who also serves as Clerk of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce, has been good enough to take on the leadership of the Marketing & Promotion working group, which has the goal of telling the world in no uncertain terms just how awesome Kendall Square is. There are a myriad of opportunities to do this, from launching the first website dedicated to representing the Kendall Square area, to small but important details, such as ensuring for visitors to the area that there are maps at the exits of the MBTA station that show the significant local destinations and how to get there.

Working with Sarah at MIT is Kelley Brown, MIT’s Senior Project Manager, who is working with the KSA and the City to identify areas where the infrastructure needs maintenance, such as burned out streetlights.

A strong contributor has emerged in David Gowel, CEO of Clearly Creative. A former Captain and Ranger in the US Army, Dave has brought his strengths to bear to coordinate efforts to improve the branding and web presence for the organization.

On the Board, and having worked as Planning Director at MIT for decades is Bob Simha. Presently, Bob represents the 303 Third Street residential development, and has the distinction of being the only person who is both on the board of the KSA today, and who was on the founding Board of the Kendall Square Business Association, a predecessor organization formed in 1974. Bob has a wealth of area history and knowledge that rivals that of Joe Tulimieri.

The life sciences community is extensively represented on the KSA Board by Ann Stanesa from Genzyme, Dr. Fintan Steele from the Broad Institute, Martin Mullins from the Whitehead Institute, Tim Hunt from BiogenIdec, and Jeff Lockwood from Novartis. You couldn’t ask for a more esteemed group. Again, thank you very much to Fintan for volunteering to take the lead with the monthly KSA newsletter.

Eric Quadrino, co-owner of Mexicali Burrito, perhaps unsuspectingly, kindly took on the rather large job of coordinating the Retail, Restaurants, Residential, Hotels & Entertainment working group. He is working with others to gather studies that have been done in the past in this area, with the goal of making the area more attractive to these types of organizations. Having a balanced mix of office, lab, retail, restaurants, residences, hotels, and entertainment organizations is part of the key to creating a vibrant, healthy neighborhood.

The City of Cambridge has not stood idly by while this organization came into being. As you will recall, Mayor E. Denise Simmons and City Manager Robert W. Healy both set aside time to kindly come and speak to our assembled members at our inaugural general meeting, and they were joined by Councilors Craig Kelley, Sam Seidel and Tim Toomey. All of the City Councilors have been very supportive. In addition, Estella Johnson and Pardis Saffari from the Community Development Department have engaged actively, particularly in the area of Marketing & Promotion.

Many others -- too many to name, really -- have jumped in across the board to help, encourage, and support what proves to be an exciting community endeavor. I would like to extend a big thank you to everyone who is supporting this effort.

Please tell us your dates of availability for your first KSA working group meeting / submit nominations for the board and officers

Timothy Rowe — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:20:36 GMT

Dear Kendall Square Association members and prospective members:

As a reminder, our first Annual Meeting will be held at Genzyme Center on February 24th from 7:30 to 9:00 A.M. Membership is open to all organizations with a presence in Kendall Square, and all eligible members are welcome and encouraged to attend. Please forward this to your Kendall Square neighbors whom you think may not be aware of the KSA.

We would like to ask for your input on two topics as we gear up for the February 24th general meeting:

1) Nominations for the Board and Officers of the Kendall Square Association
2) Obtaining your dates of availability for the working group meetings

Nominations:

As mentioned in a previous note, we are currently accepting nominations for
Board and Officer roles. Please submit nominations to Brian Dacey at
Twining Properties (brian.dacey@twiningproperties.com).   Brian is the
former Chairman of the Board of Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries, and is
coordinating this process for the Steering Committee.

Your availability for working groups:

We would like to encourage you to participate on one of the four topic-area working groups within the new Kendall Square Association. Please respond to the appropriate poll below indicating the date(s) you could attend a first
meeting. Click the green circle for a date if it is good for you. A yellow
click indicates you can make the date, but it is not ideal. Red means you
can't make it.

Again, if you have not already done so, please go to www.kendallsq.org <http://www.kendallsq.org> and register. Going forward, this is how the KSA will keep track of you, the groups you want to participate on, RSVPs for events, etc. Registered members will receive communications and announcements of upcoming meetings, etc. Nineteen organizations have registered so far, including MIT, Google, Microsoft, Akamai, and many others. Follow the "Registered Members" link to see how other organizations have chosen to list themselves. Only the first person from each organization need put in a description and logo of the organization, so if you find your place of business in the directory already, you can skip that field. Individual photos are welcome, but not required.

Please follow the poll link below for the working group(s) you are
interested in joining. If you want to participate in more than
one group, consider having multiple people in your organization sign up. We are envisioning that each organization's membership can include multiple individual representatives. It is best for us if the first person to sign up for a given organization signs up the others for that organization. Once you have signed up for yourself, click "View Profile" next to where you log in, and then click "Add Member" within your profile.

Please follow the meeting-date poll link below the group(s) you plan to
participate in:

* Long-term Vision and Urban Planning Group poll:

    http://www.doodle.com/f7td3tm8n6z84q44

* Kendall Square Marketing and Promotion Group poll:

    http://www.doodle.com/evdr9zcca8hymsfv

* Retail, Restaurants, Hotels, Residential and Entertainment Group poll:

    http://www.doodle.com/rzvp7nszw4y4umg4

* Networking and Social Activities Group poll:

    http://www.doodle.com/w8kn7vyiu9k7eg2p

Your comments and suggestions are welcome! Please email your thoughts to
admin@kendallsq.org.

Respectfully,

The Steering Committee of the Kendall Square Association:

Brian Dacey, Senior Vice President and Regional Partner, Twining Properties

Sam DeLiddo, Property Manager, BioMed Realty Trust

Sarah Gallop, Co-Director, Government and Community Relations, MIT

Skip Hartwell, Vice President of Corporate Services, Akamai

Jim Kappel, General Manager, Cambridge Center Marriott

Joe Maguire, Assistant Vice President, Development and Asset Services, Alexandria Real Estate Equities

Eric Quadrino, Owner, MexiCali Burrito Co.

Tim Rowe, CEO, Cambridge Innovation Center

Kevin Sheehan, Project Manager, Boston Properties

Bob Simha, Executive Manager, 303 Third Street

Sara Spalding, Senior Director, Microsoft

Joseph Tulimieri, Executive Director, Cambridge Redevelopment Authority

Stephen Vinter, Site Director, Google

Update on the Kendall Square Association: first working group meetings, nominations, by-laws, etc.

Timothy Rowe — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:05:07 GMT

Dear Kendall Square neighbors and friends,

As you will recall, on October 16th, 49 individuals representing 37
organizations with a presence in Kendall Square met at Google’s regional
headquarters here to discuss the formation of the Kendall Square
Association. The Cambridge Chronicle carried a somewhat humorous report on this meeting.

There was a great deal of enthusiasm for the idea, and nearly everyone
present signed up for one of a number of working groups, and over 100 ideas
were generated for improving, protecting, and promoting Kendall Square. In
addition, everyone was invited to participate on the Steering Committee,
which was given the task of sorting out how best to formalize the
organization. Thirteen of us, the undersigned, volunteered.

The Steering Committee has been hard at work, and now has a number of
updates to share with you.

This note covers two things: the kick off of the working groups, and our
proposed entity formation and organization process.

Also, PLEASE SAVE THE DATE for the first Annual Meeting of the new Kendall
Square Association, which will be held on February 24, 7:30AM – 9:00AM. We will elect a Board and Officers at that meeting. An invitation will follow.

*** WORKING GROUPS ***

At our inaugural meeting in October, many of you signed up to be part of
working groups. If you signed up for a working group, you will shortly
receive an email asking you to kick off that working group’s first meeting
in January. Attached to this email is a list of who is on which working
group. Simply reply to this email if you want to be added to a group. A
member of the Steering Committee will reach out to each group to get things
going.

Attendees at the October meeting proposed 19 working groups. We have boiled these down to just five initially to ensure critical mass. If these groups
prove too large or broad, we hope that they will sub-divide naturally once
sub-topics become clearer.

These are the working groups:

1.     Steering Committee (to be replaced by the Board of Directors) –
administration and governance

2.     Long-term Vision and Urban Planning Group, including transportation,
infrastructure and environmental matters – let’s shape our future!

3.     Kendall Square Marketing and Promotion Group – let’s tell the world
our great story!

4.     Retail, Restaurants, Hotels, Residential and Entertainment Group –
let’s make KS a fun, happening place to live, work, eat and play!

5.     Networking and Social Activities Group – let’s get to know each other
better!

Note that with regard to charitable and social service endeavors, we are
hoping to collaborate with the established Kendall Community Group, and we
are open to additional thoughts and suggestions.

Also, the list of ideas for Kendall Square that everyone put forward is in
the attached document. Hopefully these ideas will provide a starting point
for each group’s work. We propose that each working group self-select a
group chair at the time they meet.

*** Proposed Entity Formation and Organization Process ***

The group that assembled in October asked the Steering Committee to lay out a process for establishing the KSA as an organization. The Steering
Committee proposes the following process to formally create the Kendall
Square Association at the initial annual meeting of the Association on
February 24, 2009:

1.    Organizational Structure: The Association will be organized as a
non-profit corporation eligible for tax-exempt status as a “business league”
under section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code. The organizational
structure will be based on the Harvard Square Business Association (HSBA),
the Back Bay Association (BBA) and other similar successful organizations.

2.    Founding Members: Any partnership, association, or corporation in
business or employed in the area of Kendall Square may become a founding
member of the Association by attendance at the initial annual meeting.
Founding members are encouraged to contribute $225.00, or $90.00 for a
non-profit entity, to the Association in order to defray startup costs. This
contribution will be credited against future membership dues. These sums
were chosen as they align with the lowest tier of dues of the HSBA.

3.    Nominating Board of Directors and Officers: The Steering Committee,
acting as the Nominating Committee designated in the draft Association
By-Laws, is currently soliciting nominations for the Board of Directors and
Officers, to be elected at the initial annual meeting. The Steering
Committee’s goal is to have a diverse and inclusive list of nominees that
accurately reflects the various organizations that are part of Kendall
Square. Please send nominations by January 12th to the Steering Committee
by sending e-mail to: steering@kendallsq.org. Nominations will also be
taken from the floor at the general meeting.

4.    Association Charter and By-Laws: The Steering Committee has created a draft set of By-Laws, based on the HSBA and BBA By-Laws. The draft By-Laws can be found here:

   http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dcmm9wjd_7fc7g8vgr

Morse, Barnes-Brown & Pendleton, which has a presence here in Kendall
Square, has kindly also offered to provide a legal review of the By-Laws and
a draft of the Charter, and this will happen concurrently. Changes will be
incorporated based on the comments received.

5.    Initial Annual Meeting: The Steering Committee will publish the Board
of Director and Officer nominees, and the revised draft Charter and By-laws,
at least two weeks in advance of the initial annual meeting. In addition to
other Association matters on the agenda, the following organizational
matters will be acted on at the meeting:

a.     Adoption of this Proposed Entity Formation and Organization Process,
and, subject to that:
b.     Roll call of founding members, and collection of optional
contributions
c.     Adoption of the Charter and By-laws.
d.     Presentation of the slate of Directors and Officers.
e.     Election of Board of Directors and Officers.

After the initial annual meeting of the Association, the Steering Committee
will cease to exist and the newly-elected Board of Directors will be
responsible for the general management and supervision of the business
affairs of the Association, pursuant to the By-Laws.

*** Other matters ***

Tracy Mercer with the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority (with support of
others) is evaluating a web site portal software offering from a company
(YourMembership.com) that provides turnkey websites for membership
organizations. If you have other suggestions, let us know. Hopefully we
will soon have a functioning website with membership signups, event calendar
and so forth.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome! Please email your thoughts to
admin@kendallsq.org.

Respectfully,

The Steering Committee of the Kendall Square Association:

Brian Dacey, Senior Vice President and Regional Partner, Twining Properties

Sam DeLiddo, Property Manager, BioMed Realty Trust

Sarah Gallop, Co-Director, Government and Community Relations, MIT

Skip Hartwell, Vice President of Corporate Services, Akamai

James Kappel, General Manager, Cambridge Center Marriott

Joe Maguire, Executive Director of Asset Services, Alexandria Real Estate
Equities

Eric Quadrino, Owner, MexiCali Burrito Co.

Tim Rowe, CEO, Cambridge Innovation Center

Kevin Sheehan, Project Manager, Boston Properties

Bob Simha, Executive Manager, University Residential Community at 303 Third Street

Sara Spalding, Senior Director, Microsoft

Joseph Tulimieri, Executive Director, Cambridge Redevelopment Authority

Stephen Vinter, Site Director, Google