At UMass Dartmouth, we focus on achieving transformative growth on the SouthCoast and southeastern Massachusetts through pursuit of excellence in the university’s traditional missions of teaching, research and service to the commonwealth. But we don’t do it alone.
Our students, staff and faculty deploy their intellectual resources through close collaborations with community organizations, businesses and local school systems. We also benefit from decades of farsighted investments to develop satellite teaching and research facilities at off-campus locations throughout the region, which serve the university’s needs and help transform the regional economy.
This unique relationship between university and region is paying off. The newest example of our dedication to – and success at achieving – transformative growth is the Biomanufacturing Center in Fall River.
On completion in fall of 2013, the $28 million Biomanufacturing Center will be the only site of its kind in the world – and in a 300-acre, pad-ready site just thirty minutes’ drive from Route 128.
What is our vision for the center? We see a nexus for a new life sciences cluster where companies will test their bio-manufacturing processes at scale, train their current and future workforces and provide a unique research facility for bio-manufacturing research at production scale.
Our core facility will provide state-of-the-art facilities, including four large-scale suites for production and purification, a quality control lab, education classrooms and laboratory spaces, a small research incubator laboratory – and access to world-class faculty and well-trained graduate and undergraduate talent.
Through the center, we will continue to attract and expand biomanufacturing in the commonwealth, and extend the growth of the life sciences super-cluster beyond pure research to downstream commercial activities most suitable for locations outside the Boston/Cambridge hub.
Public/Private Partnerships
The Biomanufacturing Center is only the most recent example of our commitment to working with public and private partners to drive innovative growth in southeastern Massachusetts.
Our School of Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) in New Bedford does research and develops technologies that define the proper balance between the economy and the environment.
SMAST has revitalized the New England fisheries industry, contributed to making New Bedford the number one fishing port in the United States, and pushed the boundaries of marine scientific knowledge worldwide. That’s why UMass Dartmouth is investing in the future with a $48 million expansion of SMAST that adds critical research and instructional space to accommodate current needs and future growth.
The Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Center (ATMC) business incubator in Fall River links university faculty, students and laboratories with fledgling technology firms to grow the innovation job base.
Since 2005, more than 30 new companies have successfully “graduated” from the ATMC, creating approximately 350 new technology jobs in the region, and positioning our area for exponential growth in high-tech, value-added manufacturing in the long-term.
The College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) Star Store campus is a vibrant arts center in New Bedford that has sparked revitalization in the heart of the city. Since Star Store’s opening 2001, more than $100 million has been invested by the private sector in downtown New Bedford.
The linchpin of a thriving urban arts movement, CVPA is home to hundreds of artists working in a variety of disciplines, and has been a critical component of downtown New Bedford’s emergence as a cultural and academic hub.
As the “anchor institution” in our area, we host the SouthCoast Development Partnership, a regional, business-led collaborative that brings together university, business and civic leaders to shape a sustainable regional economic development strategy for today and tomorrow.
These examples illustrate the role UMass Dartmouth plays as the engine for innovation and transformation across southeastern Massachusetts – to say nothing of the $350 million our presence adds to the local economy every year.
We are a vibrant public university actively engaged in personalized teaching and innovative research, proud of our role as an intellectual catalyst for regional and global economic, social, and cultural development, and eager to find new partners who share our goal of transforming southeastern Massachusetts.
Paul Vigeant is assistant chancellor for economic development, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
