Mass General Brigham joins LINC project

LOWELL — UMass Lowell and Mass General Brigham announced a collaboration to advance human performance research through the auspices of the groundbreaking Lowell Innovation Network Corridor project.

“We’re excited to welcome Mass General Brigham to Lowell,” UMass Chancellor Julie Chen said in a statement released July 9. “We’re well on our way to creating a critical mass of public, private and nonprofit collaborators to continue growing our research, providing our students outstanding learning opportunities and creating positive economic impact in Lowell.”

Although details on the collaboration were focused on research opportunities — versus a physical footprint — MGB joins Draper Labs in building out the LINC model. LINC leverages the prestige and innovation of the university and the resources and history of the city of Lowell with the job creation capabilities of industry to envision a vibrant urban village/main street model and economic engine for the city.

In March, Chen unveiled the $800 million development plan at an event that was attended by state and federal leadership including Gov. Maura Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, UMass President Marty Meehan, Lowell City Manager Tom Golden, state Sen. Ed Kennedy. and state Reps. Vanna Howard, Rodney Elliott and Rady Mom, among others.

The standing-room only press conference was also attended by Middlesex Community College President Phil Sisson, former Congresswoman Niki Tsongas and Lowell city councilors.

Draper Labs, the company that operated the computer guidance system that helped land Apollo 11 on the moon, will be LINC’s anchor tenant. It will temporarily move a microelectronics division of about 50 people into university-owned space in Wannalancit Mills. The focus in LINC will be on microelectronics, climate tech, robotics, cybersecurity and human performance.

“[LINC] is something that we feel is going to catalyze economic development in the city,” Chen said during an interview in March.

The UML and MGB collaboration taps the expertise of researchers at each institution to adapt and apply knowledge developed for top athletes to create a library of realistic training scenarios designed to enhance specific aspects of cognition as identified by the U.S. armed services.

“Working directly with Mass General Brigham gives our students the opportunity to work with a world-class organization and engage in unrivaled learning experiences in kinesiology, exercise physiology, neuroscience and across the life sciences,” Chen’s statement said.

Last March, Healey praised Chen’s vision, saying her administration would draw on LINC as a “marquee” example of innovation in the commonwealth. Besides the obvious economic benefits, Healey said the public/private partnership that incudes 550 housing units in the plan, would encourage young people to stay in or consider moving to Lowell. Housing availability and affordability in the commonwealth have been recurrent themes of the governor.

“I don’t want to see kids in their 20s, or grad students or young entrepreneurs go elsewhere simply because they can’t afford to live here or employees can’t afford to live here,” Healey said at the press conference announcing Draper’s tenancy. “This project takes care of that. That’s the key to this success.”

Lowell possesses the academic base that science-based enterprises require. UML is rated as a Research 1 university, which puts it in the top 4-5% in the country. It also earned a No. 1 ranking for a public university in this niche by the Wall Street Journal.

In addition to housing, LINC is anticipated to create 1,300 construction jobs and 2,000 permanent jobs, 1.2 million square feet of labs, office space, housing, restaurants, retail and entertainment venues while generating $4 million to $6 million in annual tax revenue for the city of Lowell.

The first phase is expected to break ground in 2025.

The university said in a statement that leadership is “leading active conversations with additional potential members to scale up existing university-industry partnerships across multiple sectors including robotics, biotechnology and biomedical devices, space technology, sensors, climate tech, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, electronics and human performance.”

It’s a collaborative approach that Trahan said will bring more leaders to the LINC table.

“With the addition of Mass General Brigham, the Lowell Innovation Network Corridor continues to attract exceptional organizations leading cutting-edge work in health, sciences, microelectronics and manufacturing,” Trahan said in a statement. “The future is bright for UMass Lowell students, Mill City families, and our local economy, which will benefit from the $3.7 billion in economic activity and 2,000 permanent jobs created through LINC.”