Biogen HQ Groundbreaking Ceremony

Thank you, Kirk [Taylor].

Thank you, Governor Healey, for being such a dedicated advocate for research, education and innovation!

And thank you Chris [Viehbacher], for your illuminating vision. When a company as influential as Biogen breaks ground on a new global headquarters, it’s an unmistakable vote of confidence: confidence in Massachusetts, Cambridge and Kendall Square…and confidence in the future. 

That’s a very important signal to the world right now – and I’m delighted to be here to help amplify it!

As we all know, Biogen is building its future on an incredible foundation. Actually, the timeline displayed in the reception area lays that out very clearly: That foundation was built over decades through the daring, creativity and hard work of countless Biogen innovators and pioneers. Hats off to everyone who was part of it!

But I’d like to pull the camera back a little further, because Biogen also played a key role in a much larger story: the origin story that ultimately turned this little piece of Cambridge into the “most innovative square mile on the planet.” (In a time when we expect instant access to just about everything, it helps to reflect on just how long it takes to do the things that really matter.)

For instance, I’d argue that none of us would be here today if it weren’t for MIT’s ninth president. (Stay with me! I promise this will make sense! And for the record, I’m president Number 18!)

The Institute’s ninth president was Karl Taylor Compton. He led MIT for 18 years, from 1930 to 1948 – incredibly, through the Great Depression and World War Two. 

When he came here from Princeton, MIT was basically a first-rate technical school for training engineers…period. And it was surrounded by aging factories and fading industry.

But Karl Compton was a brilliant physicist – just when experimental advances were starting to reveal the immense power of the electron. He understood that new science is the richest source of new solutions. And that led him to do three hugely consequential things:

• He insisted on a tremendous new commitment to fundamental research – the decisive step that put MIT on its path to become a great global university.
• At the same time, to turn new science into new solutions, he developed new structures to connect MIT with industry, right here.
• And – through his wartime leadership of MIT’s legendary “Rad Lab” – he paved the way for the federal-university partnership that drove US scientific leadership for almost 80 years.

In other words, Karl Compton set in motion the confluence of forces that by the early 1980s allowed MIT to become just the kind of institution that Phil Sharp and Wally Gilbert wanted to have right next door.

In turn, Biogen’s pioneering decision to first set up shop here helped unleash the first waves of interest in making the most of Kendall Square.

Since then, MIT, Biogen and Kendall Square have grown – and flourished – symbiotically.

As MIT came into its own as a leader across the life sciences, Biogen became an industry powerhouse, translating breakthrough research into real progress for patients. And its presence in Cambridge inspired students, researchers, inventors and entrepreneurs at MIT and beyond. 

In the background – through both visionary development efforts and spontaneous magnetism – Kendall Square completed its incredible metamorphosis from crumbling industrial district into one of the most remarkable ecosystems for innovation anywhere in the world.

I sometimes say that Kendall Square’s motto might as well be “talent in proximity.” By following that essential recipe, Biogen’s latest decision to intensify its presence here promises great things for the whole region.

In response to the disruptive forces of his own time, Karl Taylor Compton led profound changes that have paid off over decades – for MIT, for the region and for the nation as a whole.

Today – when decisions from DC are jeopardizing the federal-university partnership at the heart of his vision – it’s on us to find new ways to make sure this amazing ecosystem can maintain its record of trailblazing science and transformative treatments and cures.

In that effort, we’re thrilled that Biogen chose Kendall Common’s first building for its new home. (And, not incidentally, we’re deeply grateful to our joint venture partner, BioMed Realty, who helped to make this initiative possible.)

I look forward to continuing our shared endeavor of advancing the future of health, science and innovation.  

Thank you.