Council In the News Index

Local, State Technology Groups Have Joined Forces (The Salem News)

By Ethan Forman
Staff writer The Salem News Wed Jan 05, 2011

BEVERLY — The North Shore Technology Council has partnered with the Massachusetts High Technology Council, in a move meant to give both groups new opportunities for growth.

The immediate upshot is that members of the North Shore Tech Council, the area's nonprofit technology trade association, gain membership status with the Massachusetts High Tech Council and vice versa. Both groups also gain access to each other's programs.

The partnership "creates new opportunities for each organization without either losing its identity," John Colucci, the North Shore Tech Council's president, said in a statement.

Colucci said membership in the North Shore group has been growing by 30 percent a year. What has been missing from the volunteer-led local organization was the ability to lobby for its members on Beacon Hill and with local officials.

"What we weren't able to offer our members was the public policy part," Colucci said. The Mass High Tech Council advocates on tax, talent and cost competitiveness policy issues in the state.

The North Shore Tech Council began in 2001 as a monthly breakfast meeting with a technology-focused speaker. It offers business programs and events and incubates businesses with its Cummings Center-based North Shore InnoVentures and its Biotech and Cleantech InnoVenture centers. It is focused on entrepreneurs and growing businesses.

"There are a lot of innovative technology companies on the North Shore," Colucci said. The Mass High Tech Council is trying to reach these tech startups.

The nearly 35-year-old Mass High Tech Council has more than 100 members, most of them companies, while the North Shore group has 44 corporate members and 472 members in all, including individuals. The Mass High Tech Council is composed of CEOs from the Bay State's top tech employers.

There is not a lot of overlap in corporate membership. Peabody-based Analogic Corp. and Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates of Gloucester are two companies that have membership in both groups.

With the ability to be a member of both organizations, North Shore Tech Council members may be getting a benefit.

The cost for technology companies to join the local tech council is $300, with nontech but related companies and organizations paying $500. Individual technology members pay $75, while affiliate members pay $125.

The cost to join the Mass High Tech Council varies. It's free for startup companies that are less than 3 years old, and then there is a sliding scale depending on how much a company makes. For instance, dues are $500 a year for companies that make less than $5 million and $1,000 a year for companies that make between $5 million and $10 million.

North Shore Tech Council members will also have access to Mass High Tech Council's cost-saving programs that can reduce workers' compensation insurance rates and help companies become more energy-efficient.

Both groups said members will be able to expand their reach.