On March 31, the Massachusetts High Technology Council launched MassTrack, a dynamic website designed to provide data to technology employers and employees on how state and local political leaders measure up to the technology community's agenda. The site ranks all 351 Massachusetts cities and towns on a range of variables that measure tax policy, workforce strength, and openness to development and growth. MassTrack can be accessed at www.masstrack.org.

"Despite the fact that technology firms are part of a growing global economy, competitiveness starts at home," said Council President Christopher R. Anderson in the press release for the launch. "The goal of the community rankings is to create a competitive foundation for a statewide, technology-based economic strategy."

The community information provided through MassTrack brings into focus the competitive priorities of technology employers and employees in 10 core variables, including the density of technology workforce, new housing created, tax rate differential and environmental permits issued. An interconnected ranking of state senators and representatives will be released this summer after the close of the legislative session.

"We envision MassTrack will be a valuable tool for a variety of constituencies: technology CEOs and employees, policy makers, the media and elected officials," said Anderson. "No other site offers the same breadth and depth of information related to the competitiveness of the state's technology climate."

Anderson noted that Hopkinton (#1) and Bedford (#10), towns from technology-heavy areas of the state, fared well in the rankings. But other communities not known as innovation hotspots, like 6th ranked Lakeville, scored well because of favorable tax policies and developable space for growth.

MassTrack was developed over the past year with the input of technology CEOs, statisticians, corporate site selection specialists, and public policy development experts. The 10 ranking variables are derived from the most current data available from a variety of public and private sources. A full explanation of how the rankings were constructed can be found on the methodology page of www.masstrack.org.

MassTrack provides visitors the opportunity to explore interactive, color-coded maps of the state based on the MassTrack ranking and individual variables. A visitor can focus on a specific variable and quickly determine which communities are favorable or unfavorable for that competitive priority. In addition to the variables used for ranking, MassTrack collects other data points of interest to the public. The MassTrack rankings will be updated regularly throughout the year as new data becomes available. New data for housing, permitting and other categories should be available for new rankings calculations by May 1.

The centerpiece of the new site will soon connect to a legislative ranking section that will be scientifically-weighted and more proactive than other legislative scorecards. The weights of the votes will be tied directly to the results from the Council's annual CEO survey, which sets our public policy agenda each year. And Council staff will work to identify and publicize upcoming MassTrack votes so legislators understand how that issue will impact their overall rating.

The launch of MassTrack received significant media attention, including in the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, the LowellSun, the Boston Business Journal and Mass High Tech. For all media stories on MassTrack, please visit the news page at www.masstrack.org.

Ending more than a year of deliberations and debate, the Legislature approved a comprehensive health care reform plan on April 4, one day after it was released from the Conference Committee. The new law is designed to provide access to the approximately 550,000 uninsured residents of the Commonwealth and increases reimbursements to hospitals by over $500 million over three years. Governor Romney signed the bill April 12 at a Faneuil Hall ceremony. Council President Anderson joined others from the business community in a meeting with Governor Romney on April 5 to discuss the initial assessment of the bill.

While we are extremely concerned that a new revenue stream was created to help fund this initiative, the landmark bill contains many positive and progressive features, including priorities the Council has been pushing for the past year. The bill makesMassachusetts the first state in the nation to require every resident to obtain health insurance.

Despite the positive progress, there are still some vagaries in the way the language is drafted that will require vigilance as the government builds the revamped health care delivery system. How will the new slimmed-down, flexible health plans be constructed in order to create an affordable option for consumers? Will transparency be structured in a way that ensures critical data reaches the stakeholders and consumer behavior is impacted? Will covering virtually every resident in Massachusetts through a "universal health care system" eliminate the state's $800 million annual dependency on the Uncompensated Care Pool (or under new name of Health Net Safety Fund)? Will the hundreds of millions in new Medicaid dollars for hospitals have any impact on the annual double-digit percentage increases in health care premiums?

These are critical questions that will be answered through the regulatory process and future debate in the coming months and years. The Council will continue discussions with state Health and Human Services Secretary Tim Murphy and his staff to help create the best possible final product for Massachusetts.

While the new $295 assessment on employers (with 11-plus workers) that don't provide employee health insurance may hurt some small businesses, it won't have a direct impact on Council members - at least for today. But based on decades of legislative history, we must be on guard against attempts to expand this new revenue stream to more employers - especially if the new universal system does not dramatically reduce reliance on the free care pool. Already there are health care experts predicting this approach is under funded and will require significant new revenue streams in the future.

State leaders, in particular Governor Romney and Senate President Robert Travaglini, deserve credit for a creative and bold vision to reforming the state's health care system. But there is still significant work to be done before that vision becomes a reality.

The High Tech Council will support the bill, despite the risks associated with its implementation and questionable financial underpinnings. We believe that if properly implemented, the required market-based reforms and transparency requirements can do much to begin the long overdue process of containing health care costs in Massachusetts.

On March 29, Council President Anderson, through his role as a member of the state Board of Education, brought together an All-Star panel to discuss the challenges to the state's public education system. Speaking before the monthly meeting of the BOE on the need to improve math and science education instruction were Analog Devices Chairman and Founding Council Chairman Ray Stata, University of Massachusetts President Jack Wilson, Boston Superintendent of Schools Thomas Payzant and Westford Superintendent of Schools Stephen Foster.

Anderson worked with Massachusetts Commissioner of Education David Driscoll to bring the crucial issue of teacher professional development - and its impact on math and science instruction - to the BOE's attention. Stata provided the employer's and engineer's perspective that the pipeline of technology workers is drying up. He contrasted the engineering graduation rates of the United States with those in China and India, countries far outpacing the US in developing the workforce of the future. Stata also said that 50% of college students who start as engineering majors fail to graduate with an engineering degree, due in large part because they were unprepared to handle the mathematics workload and became turned off to the subject matter as a result.

Wilson echoed Stata's sentiments of the US and Massachusettslosing its lead in a competitive world economy. He pledged the support of the UMASS system in training the future teachers and students and said he was planning to hire a point person on math and science education to coordinate UMASS programs and resources. Foster and Payzant each provided their experiences in math and science instruction from the perspective of very different school districts - but both reinforced the sense of urgency to improve the level of math and science instruction in our public school system.

The members of the BOE were very positive about the need to improve math and science education and teacher professional development and Chairman James Peyser committed the board's support to a Council-led effort to review and revamp the state's myriad of professional development programs in order to support future and veteran teachers in developing the skilled workforce of the future. The Council is working with legislative leaders, the business community, school administrators and the teachers' unions to create a system for teacher professional development that delivers support and career options for teachers while invigorating the pipeline of skilled math and science workers to help propel the state economy.

The Council's 2006 Chairman's Dinner, hosted by MKS Instruments Executive Chairman John Bertucci, will be held on Wednesday, May 31 at the State Room in Boston. The keynote speaker is Richard A. Clarke, Chairman of GoodHarbor Consulting and former White House Advisor for counterterrorism and cybersecurity.

Clarke, a counterterrorism advisor for three presidential administrations, has been very active on matters of international security. As the counterterrorism expert for ABC News, he offers his expert opinion on the War on Terrorism, the growing threat ofIran's military capabilities and homeland security efforts. Clarke has also weighed in on security issues close to home, by advocating for a new, more secure LNG facility in Boston Harbor.

In addition the Chairman's Dinner will feature two compelling conversation sessions on issues of importance to the state and national economy. One session will be led by Dr. Arden Bement, Director of the National Science Foundation. Dr. Bement's session, entitled "Getting from Commitment to Engagement in Math and Science Education" will highlight state and national initiatives to help our students compete in an ultra-competitive global economy.

The second session, "Federal Health IT Strategy and its Impact on Massachusetts," will be hosted by Dr. John Halamka, Chief Information Officer for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. Halamka has been tapped byPresident George W. Bush to standardize the nation's health care data systems before the end of the year. In a technology-based economy with eight percent of the workforce in healthcare, the work of Dr. Halamka on a national level will impact the state's economy for years to come.

In an April 7 column in Mass High Tech, Council President Anderson highlighted why prescription drug importation is a poor health care and economic policy. The column states that importation "breaks a Cardinal rule of medicine - to do no harm." Anderson wrote that the Medicare drug benefit and the free or discount drug programs run by biopharmaceutical companies are safer and more cost-effective means for elderly, disabled and lower-income residents to access prescription drugs. In addition, the government price controls created by drug importation would harm the Massachusetts economy and choke off the drug discovery pipeline.

Anderson noted that importation has been a popular political issue in recent years and has been embraced by Massachusetts elected candidates - even though the state they represent contains the world's premier biopharma cluster. This year, however, only one Gubernatorial candidate, Attorney General Tom Reilly, has endorsed importation - hopefully a sign that it is losing steam as a political issue.

April 2006