Where Futures Converge : Kendall Square and the Making of a Global Innovation Hub

The evolution of the most innovative square mile on the planet: the endless cycles of change and reinvention that created today’s Kendall Square. Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been called “the most innovative square mile on the planet.” It’s a life science hub, hosting Biogen, Moderna, Pfizer, Takeda, and others. It’s a major tech center, with Google, Microsoft, IBM, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple all occupying big chunks of pricey office space. Kendall Square also boasts a dense concentration of startups, with leading venture capital firms conveniently located nearby. And of course, MIT is just down the block. In Where Futures Converge, Robert Buderi offers the first detailed account of the unique ecosystem that is Kendall Square, chronicling the endless cycles of change and reinvention that have driven its evolution. Buderi, who himself has worked in Kendall Square for the past twenty years, tells fascinating stories of great innovators and their innovations that stretch back two centuries. Before biotech and artificial intelligence, there was railroad car innovation, the first long-distance telephone call, the Polaroid camera, MIT’s once secret, now famous Radiation Laboratory, and much more. Buderi takes readers on a walking tour of the square and talks to dozens of innovators, entrepreneurs, urban planners, historians, and others. He considers Kendall Square’s limitations—it’s “gentrification gone rogue,” by one description, with little affordable housing, no pharmacy, and a scarce middle class—and its strengths: the “human collisions” that spur innovation. What’s next for Kendall Square? Buderi speculates about the next big innovative enterprises and outlines lessons for aspiring innovation districts. More important, he asks how Kendall Square can be both an innovation hub and diversity, equity, and inclusion hub. There’s a lot of work still to do. Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been called "the most innovative square mile on the planet." It?s a life science hub, hosting Biogen, Moderna, Pfizer, Takeda, and others. It?s a major tech center, with Google, Microsoft, IBM, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple all occupying big chunks of pricey office space. Kendall Square also boasts a dense concentration of startups, with leading venture capital firms conveniently located nearby. And of course, MIT is just down the block. In Where Futures Converge, Robert Buderi offers the first detailed account of the unique ecosystem that is Kendall Square, chronicling the endless cycles of change and reinvention that have driven its evolution.00Buderi, who himself has worked in Kendall Square for the past twenty years, tells fascinating stories of great innovators and their innovations that stretch back two centuries. Before biotech and artificial intelligence, there was railroad car innovation, the first long-distance telephone call, the Polaroid camera, MIT?s once secret, now famous Radiation Laboratory, and much more. Buderi takes readers on a walking tour of the square and talks to dozens of innovators, entrepreneurs, urban planners, historians, and others. He considers Kendall Square?s limitations?it?s "gentrification gone rogue," by one description, with little affordable housing, no pharmacy, and a scarce middle class?and its strengths: the "human collisions" that spur innovation.00What?s next for Kendall Square? Buderi speculates about the next big innovative enterprises and outlines lessons for aspiring innovation districts. More important, he asks how Kendall Square can be both an innovation hub and diversity, equity, and inclusion hub. There?s a lot of work still to do Introduction 1.0 or preface: The Kendall theory of biogeography -- Introduction 2.0: The best place to have these problems -- The most innovative square mile kilometer on Earth -- Model of innovation -- The first economic vision for Kendall Square is a bust -- Charles Davenport and the Square's transformation -- Kendall becomes Kendall -- Davenport's failed dream opens the door for 'new technology' -- "A canopy of industrial haze" -- Rad Lab-Kendall Square's tipping point -- Spotlight : the F&T-place-making's first place -- Urban marshland to urban renewal -- Kendall, we have a problem -- Tech surge-lotus to A.I. Alley -- The ordinance and biogen -- Beginnings of gene town -- Bubble days-media lab to Akamai -- Spotlight : Lita Nelsen on technology licensing and how "clusters feed themselves" -- Cambridge Innovation Center : Kendall Square's startup heart -- Spotlight: Innovation space zoning : how KS hopes to keep startup community vibrant -- 'Nibber' : big pharma ups the ante -- Spotlight: Bob Langer--personification of Kendall Square's secret sauce -- Home-grown biotechs make their mark -- Road to the Broad -- The corporatization of Kendall Square -- Venture migration and the tech startup squeeze -- Spotlight: Flagship pioneering--Kendall Square's company creator -- 40 missing companies -- 700 Main : the story of Kendall Square--in one building -- Nexus of collaboration -- Challenges and regional advantage -- Voices of the Square -- Eleven decisions that shaped Kendall Square -- Lessons and observations -- Convergence and consilience "This book tells the history of Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA, and how it came to be one of the world's premiere innovation districts"-- Provided by publisher