Skip to main content

Hopkinton is Now Bio-Ready “Gold”

By Michelle Murdock, Freelance Writer
dsc03855.jpg

Selectmen announced at their December 4 meeting that Hopkinton has now achieved Bio-Ready “Gold” status with the Mass Biotech Council, the second highest rating, which measures the town’s commitment to supporting biotech companies.

“We’ve actually moved up the bioscience ladder consistently over the last few years,” said Chairman Ben Palleiko, “and now we are looking forward to that being beneficial to us in town as we look to attract new businesses.”

As stated on the MassBio website, “the focus of these ratings is to help biotechnology companies find the most favorable destinations in the state and to enable the state and its cities and towns to effectively tell their story to the biotechnology industry.”

“This is a direct result of the zoning work from last fall done through the Hopkinton 2020 initiative, which is the economic development partnership between the Town of Hopkinton and the Hopkinton Chamber of Commerce,” said Chamber Executive Director Tim Kilduff.

Working in collaboration with Hopkinton’s Zoning Advisory Committee, Hopkinton 2020’s goal was to better understand the needs of biotech companies. As a result, zoning changes were developed and approved at the May Town Meeting to allow life sciences by right in Industrial Zones and B, as opposed to by special permit.

Towns at the “gold” level have sites or buildings pre-permitted for biotechnology laboratory or manufacturing use or the town has existing buildings in which biotech laboratory or manufacturing activities are taking place.

One example is PerkinElmer which is currently in the process of building a new Personalized Health Innovation Center of Excellence at its Hopkinton location, which will focus on accelerating scientific innovation to help researchers who are working to eradicate disease and extend the quality and longevity of life. The center will expand to a total of 350 employees, adding about 100 jobs to the Hopkinton site.

“We are delighted to establish our new Center of Excellence, which will serve as an exciting example of PerkinElmer’s commitment to, and culture of, innovation,” said Kevin Hrusovsky, President, Life Sciences and Technology, PerkinElmer. “It will act as a foundation and catalyst for future advances in personalized health, as it concentrates the knowledge of our life sciences R&D and commercial leaders for greater scientific collaboration.”