A fascinating look at how Boston became and remains a global center for innovation--told through 50 world-changing inventions.
“Robert Krim is a long-time champion of the Boston area’s history of innovation, finding remarkable examples of ingenuity and creativity going back centuries and continuing today. He shows how a culture of innovation can make a small place a beacon of hope for the world, by developing the fresh ideas and useful discoveries that make a difference in every part of life.”
—Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School professor and author of
Think Outside the Building: How Advanced Leaders Can Change the World One Smart Innovation at a Time
Since the 1600s, Boston has been at the forefront of world-changing innovation from starting the country's first public school to becoming the first state to end slavery and giving birth to the telephone. Boston was the site of the first organ transplant and more recent medical and biotech breakthroughs that have saved the lives of thousands. That's not to mention pioneering advances in everything from rockets to robotics.
In total, Boston-area inventors have contributed more than four hundred stand-out social, scientific, and commercial innovations and uncounted numbers that are less well known.
Boston Made tells the absorbing stories of 50 of these - and why they are no accident.
In fact, fresh waves of innovation have brought the city back from four major economic collapses. Dr. Robert Krim lays out a set of "innovation drivers," including strong entrepreneurship, local funding, and networking. From boom to decline and back to boom, Boston has maintained an ability to reinvent, and build anew.
Dr. Krim with technologist Alan Earls have developed and outlined a new interpretation of how a resilient city has flourished. At a time when the national and global economy is reeling from pandemic shockwaves, the authors have laid out what a dynamic world-class city has done in the face of adversity to find a fresh and successful path forward.
A fascinating look at how Boston became and remains a global center for innovation--told through 50 world-changing inventions.
Since the seventeenth century, Boston has been one of the world's foremost sources of world-changing innovation. Boston built the country's first public school and university, saw the invention of the clipper ship and telephone, and is home to medical and biotech breakthroughs that have saved the lives of thousands. Boston-area inventors have contributed hundreds of significant social, scientific, and commercial innovations.
Boston Made tells the stories of 50 of these ground-breaking inventions. Each story can stand alone--but taken together, they provide an understanding of why Boston's history of innovation is not an accident: the city boasts a perfect storm of "innovation drivers," including strong entrepreneurship, funding, and networking. Across four waves of boom and decline, Boston has maintained an uncanny ability to innovate. These 50 stories, each one engagingly illustrated, present Boston creations that have entertained, helped, and healed people around the world.
