News
Commonwealth, Charter Agree to Deliver Broadband Coverage to Five Unserved Towns
WESTBOROUGH – The Massachusetts Broadband Institute at MassTech (MBI) and Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) have reached agreement on a contract to deliver broadband internet service to five unserved towns in Massachusetts, eventually providing high-speed connectivity to more than 3,600 homes and businesses.
Read MoreNew Survey Research Report Looks at Home Caregivers & Potential of Digital Health Technologies
BOSTON – Today the Massachusetts eHealth Institute at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MeHI) hosted an event to launch a new research report undertaken by the MassINC Polling Group focused on the attitudes of caregivers in Massachusetts toward digital health technologies, identifying challenges faced by these caregivers and ways that they could benefit practically and emotionally from future technologies. The report, “Caregivers and Digital Health: A Survey of Trends and Attitudes of Massachusetts Family Caregivers,” found that over 60 percent of those surveyed said being a caregiver disrupts their lives “a great deal” or a “fair amount,” with many feeling isolated due to the constant 24/7/365 stress of that lifestyle, and also found that digital health technologies could assist with certain challenges.
Read MoreMBI & Comcast Sign Agreement to Provide Broadband to Montgomery
WESTBOROUGH – The Massachusetts Broadband Institute at MassTech (MBI) signed a grant agreement with Comcast of Massachusetts to design, build, own, and operate a Last Mile broadband network in the Town of Montgomery, the first award made under the MBI’s Private Sector Request for Proposals. Under the terms of the agreement, the MBI will provide an award of up to $805,800 to Comcast to construct the network, which will deliver connectivity to a minimum of 96 percent of residences in Montgomery all at no cost to the town.
Read MoreNational Fabric Innovation Center Opens In Cambridge With A Hat That Streams Audio
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What if a piece of fabric could stream audio? Or share your photos or videos? A new high-tech fabric center has actually developed that technology. Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) is unveiling its innovative fabrics Monday at the grand opening of the organization's national headquarters in Cambridge.
Read MoreBaker-Polito Administration Announces $5 Million Grant for New WPI Laboratory for Smart, Secure Medical Device Innovation
WORCESTER – Today the Baker-Polito Administration announced a $5 million matching grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech) to Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), to support the launch of a new landmark healthcare research and product development initiative called PracticePoint at WPI. The new award from MassTech’s Collaborative Research and Development Matching Grant Program will match contributions from WPI and private sector stakeholders, including GE Healthcare Life Sciences, and fund new integrated research and development labs focused on the commercialization of secure healthcare devices and systems.
Read MoreMassTech Launches Program to Fund Internships at Rising Cyber, Digital Health, IoT, and Robotics Companies
WESTBOROUGH – The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech) has launched the MassTech Intern Partnership for summer 2017, providing financial support for internships at tech companies that are starting and scaling-up in sectors that are growing in Massachusetts, including cyber security, digital health, Internet of Things (IoT), and robotics. Entering its fifth year, the Intern Partnership program aims to provide stipends for 100-plus internships at firms across Massachusetts during summer 2017, offering $3,200 stipends per internship position for up to two interns at eligible Massachusetts tech companies. The program has sponsored 318 internships over the previous four years, helping these growing tech firms to hire qualified Massachusetts college students, providing unique hands-on training opportunities in emerging technology fields.
Read MoreMBI and Baker-Polito Administration Approve Proposal by Charter Communications to Close Last Mile Coverage Gaps in Six Towns
WESTBOROUGH - The Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) has officially qualified the proposal recently submitted by Charter Communications, to provide Last Mile broadband solutions to the towns of Egremont, Hancock, Monterey, New Salem, Princeton, and Shutesbury. Charter proposed wiring the six unserved towns, in response to the MBI’s recent RFP for Last Mile Grants to Provide Broadband Service to Unserved Towns in Western Massachusetts. The MBI has agreed, following negotiations with Charter to determine the firm’s best and final offer, to cover 100 percent of the public cost outlined in Charter’s proposal.
Read MoreNewly Released Index of the Mass. Innovation Economy Finds R&D, Talent Critical Components to Commonwealth’s Success
BOSTON – The 20th anniversary edition of The Index of the Massachusetts Innovation Economy shows that the Commonwealth’s innovation-focused sectors are powered by similar drivers today as they were over two decades ago – strength in talent & workforce, as well as investments in research & development that are competitive with the largest U.S. states. The newly released Index shows that innovation job sectors have held steady with overall job gains in Massachusetts, posting 2.3 percent job growth between Q1-2015 and Q1-2016, and that venture capital investment in Commonwealth companies grew by 25 percent in 2015, faster than in California.
Read MoreMassachusetts & Israeli Organizations Sign Cybersecurity Agreement
TEL AVIV – During a stop on Governor Charlie Baker’s Economic Development Mission to Israel, economic development leaders took part in the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative and Israel’s CyberSpark, a non-profit private organization focused on the promotion of the unique cybersecurity ecosystem in and around Be’er-Sheva, Israel, which includes a combination of academic, industry, and government resources. The MOU was signed during a lunchtime meeting in Tel Aviv which was attended by CyberSpark’s leadership team and executives from many of the leading cybersecurity firms in the country.
Read MoreMBI Approves $1.9 Million in Last Mile Grants to Support Broadband Expansion in Alford, Otis, Warwick
WESTBOROUGH – Today the Baker-Polito Administration announced a total of $1.9 million in grant funds for the Towns of Alford, Otis, and Warwick, to finance the construction of high-speed internet networks in the three unserved Last Mile towns. The grant funding, approved today by the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute at MassTech (MBI), is part of the administration’s continued commitment to ensuring broadband access to over 40 Last Mile towns in Massachusetts unserved by broadband internet access.
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