Indy Chamber - Boston Leadership Exchange Study Trip
Jumping on the theme of Dream Bigger, a 150-person delegation of civic leaders from across Central Indiana (elected, appointed, business, academic, business, nonprofit) spent three days in Boston at the end of September studying their thriving university- and industry-led innovation ecosystem and the impact of Boston’s Big Dig/infrastructure transformation. Attending this year’s Indy Chamber Boston LEX (short for Leadership Exchange) were six Rethink Coalition Board members and several Advisors. Key sponsors of LEX were IU, Purdue, and Lilly.
The City of Boston—transformed after the Big Dig project.
Some 45 years ago, Boston and Indy were economic peers with equivalent per capita incomes… now Boston is 37% higher. Boston’s VC ecosystem is currently valued at $320B, compared to Indiana’s $5B, and 15 years ago, only one of the top 20 biopharma companies had a presence in Boston. Today, 18 of the top 20 are represented, including Indiana market leaders like Lilly. Lilly has a gigantic new facility in Boston’s new Seaport District.
Separately, we visited two wildly successful outcomes due to Boston burying their downtown interstates via the Big Dig mega-project: The Seaport District, and Rose Kennedy Greenway. By burying and capping their urban highway to create the 1.5 mile Rose Kennedy Greenway, Boston reconnected neighborhoods across a 17-acre linear park and opened up 33 adjacent acres to establish the Seaport Innovation District. Along the way, they also learned valuable lessons that can benefit cities like Indy.
You’re likely asking yourself, why does this matter? Well, talent picks places and the Indy region has a leaky talent pipeline and it continues to threaten continued economic growth & prosperity. Nearly 100K jobs remain unfilled in Indiana, we’re a top 10 state for attracting college students, but bottom 10 for retention, and post-secondary enrollment rates around 53% with a 68%-degree completion rate… This means only about a third of these students are earning a post-secondary credential, while 72% of future jobs will require one. We must make sure that Indianapolis is a place where people want to live, work, learn, play, AND STAY.
Civic leaders from across Central Indiana study Boston's thriving university- and industry-led innovation ecosystem and the impact of the Big Dig infrastructure transformation.
The way we work is completely different than just five years ago. Inspired people pick cultivated places to live… especially when remote work is more accessible. People pick places to live and work, and they often are the same. There’s a reason Fishers (Event Center), Westfield (Grand Park Entertainment District), Plainfield (Hobbs Station) Greenwood (Sports Park), Designated Outdoor Refreshment Areas, are important in the 21st Century. Efforts like those of the Rethink Coalition present the type of built environment and people development improving connectivity and quality of life that really matter for our future.
Recessing the elevated interstates has transformed Boston, and so it could Indianapolis. We saw, felt, and understood that on the LEX trip. Walking the 17-acre linear park emphasized the potential impact of the 83-acres of land Indy could recapture by recessing the inner Loop.