♪ >> i'm caroline hyde. this is "the best of bloomberg technology" coming to you from boston. we have been taking a look at the tech scene. all week, we showcase the tech giants and startups based in massachusetts. we have spoken to the investors, innovators, government officials that have laid roots and expanding the reputation of all thin th. not to mention the stooges lending institution like harvard, where you are now.

one company betting big on boston is general electric. this week, the multi-natural background and its number of head courses in the city. the event ceo spoke about the lloration between the company and the city of boston. >> one of the country's oldest companies in ge has moved its headquarters to a lot of the companies of the cities in boston for the purpose of creating the future. whether it is in life sciences, renewable energy, technology, aviation, material science, manufacturing, industrial internet, these are the things we want to bring. these are the things we think we can do together. caroline: it was last year when boston won the bid for ge in the move that cost the city as much as $25 million in property taxes on top of $120 million incentive package from the state. i sat down with ge cfo jeff to

discuss why boston was that top picture -- top pick. jeff: i think boston is very unique. you start with a place where there is more rmb and resource spent per capita in any place in the world. boston is a bed of ideas and a sea of ideas, meinthere is so many startups and a deep technology culture here. it is absolutely the right place for us to make this transformation. no question about it. there is no other place on earth where you have 500,000 of the smartest kids on earth going to school and graduating every year in the metro boston area. boston is really unique in that regard. we are absolutely thrilled to be here and to be a part of this ecosystem. caroline: you are a conglomerate of so many areas, power, aviation, where do you think will make the most positive in -- obvious indent in terms of

your business transformation? jeff: we think it plays rintally across all of our verticals. clearly in health care, there is an enormous market for ai and machine learning. we think about images, oil and gas businesses are going full steam ahead. improving productivity and efficiency of wells. trying to get the break even price of oil. gas is down for our customers to make our products more competitive. i don't think there is a business in the ge portfolio that will not benefit are -- benefit dramatically from this digital transformation. at the end of the day, we are trying to make our products to -- through analytics and data to perform better for customers and pricked -- create that are outcomes for our customers economically. there is in enormous amount of productivity in the machines and systems of machines. caroline: we have seen you make quite a bit of acquisition activity, specifically for 3-d printing.

they have been targeting european companies, but what about the companies in boston and the east coast and building that part of the business? jeff: there is no question that manufacturing is an enormous opportunity for the company and the world. it will be every bit as revolutionary for the digital transformation of the industrial world. we believe that. we bought two big laser printer companies in europe last year. we did not start there. we started with an acquisition of a company called morris technologies in the u.s. about years ago. five that got us going. we have been investing in doing researching around 3-d printing. we did not just start with these acquisitions. these acquisitions give us new modalities of technologies, making parts differently and different kinds of parts. we will continue to invest and leverage off that. it is going to completely remake how people think about designing products, or parts, or finished product and how they build it.

the great thing about it is that it is a constructive. you only need the material to make the product or it you can make it in a fidelity that you can never do with today's machine technology. the greatest machines in the world today won't let you make things as intricately as 3-d printing. it opens up the design space. caroline: you say did not start with those acquisitions, do you finish with them? are there more to come? jeff: we will always reevaluate how we put the puzzle together and whether there is opportunitietoove the ball farther down the field and accelerate. we are wide open. boston fits that way. we have partnerships with mass robotics and a deep relationship with m.i.t. labs. a deepelionship with northeastern labs. theris lot of research going on. both in metals and fibers, there is a real ecosystem here. caroline: you're talking about

investment and money spending, i know you are a man that cannot cfo in front of him without asking. how are you able to square that out or achieve that? jeff: this is about the future. we have to invest in the future. this is where the company going for the next two decades. in the long run, these are the types of investments we have to make. at the same time we will run our own company as efficiently as possible. we can do this. we can walk and chew gum. one does not have to be at the expense of the other. i think running the company more efficiently today gives us the opportunity to invest in these technologies, that will really be the future of the company for the next 10-20 years. caroline: as you make these big investments at a time of political change, how do you think that the political environment fits into this? you talk about the talent pool and what boston brings to you. there is worries about immigration coming from some of

those leading institutions. there is worried about funding going into dietetic, which is the lifeblood of boston. what do you think about the trump administration and that respect? jeff: i do have specific comments around the trump administration. at the global company we serve global customers, we have a global workforce and that as a company we are and that we will run. fortunately we have a wide -- our supply chain and capability looks like the places and customers we serve. that is how we have to run that company. we are a global company and we will remain a global company. anything we do policy wise in thu. that makes the u.s. more attractive for investors, i think it is great for ge and other s.ompanies. more than 50% of what we do and sell is outside the u.s. we have to be able to to play. caroline: coming up, we bring

you a one-on-one with a top investor in massachusetts. none other than the boston celtics owner. his plans on maintaining the states place as a leader in biotech in health care. that is next. and explore how boston emerged as a global leader in biotech. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪

caroline: welcome back to this special edition of "bloomberg technology" coming from harvard university. massachusetts biotech sector has been receiving lots of attention. with the state leading the u.s. for the sector.

one big-time investor that is helping to keep the industry from rolling is none other than boston celtics co-owner and chrman, steve. thanks to a hefty donation from him and his wife, the lab opened its door last november. the life lab is a shared laboratory space for biotech startups founded by harvard faculty,lui students and scholars. i spoke with him about the last significance. steve: the stor that really started this several years ago when i was running for senate. one of my campaign promises was to really protect iowa tech and life-sciences. i wrote an editorial saying we have to not let that lea. technology left when he years ago for silicon valley. we have an infrastructure here, be universities, best hospitals. that idea started five years ago.

for the vision of the deans, they came up with the idea of really building a facility that would allow the startups to stay here and that of leave the cost-effective and try to grow companies. caroline: were you worried about a brain drain? steve: we had seen it already in the tech industry. 25 years ago when i went to business school, many got bought and went to california. we did not want that to happen here. the mayor got involved and two governors, it really promoted the life-sciences. you could see the result of it now. caroline: when you are looking globally or in other areas that you feel you can harness the crown, is the talent pool rich enough, particularly in the united states when there is concern about immigration? steve: the talent full is the -- talent pool is the richest heren e boston area. because of the universities, the groundbreaking research on the technology. we have the lead rightow

i think we have the crown. we don't want to lose it. something like the life lab can promote that. it gives easy access to the company's. there are 15 businesses already. up in november. one business is very exciting with vaccination. all sorts of projects going on. when he had that vitality that can start here and stay here and move to another facility into a life lab. caroline: you are a man that is investing well. isiotech an area that you would normally be wanting to see for future health, but also as a reward? steve: absolutely. there are many biotech and life-sciences funds that we had interests . we have a large fund that we are focusing on. there is an ecosystem financially so these companies can get angel capital, move to venture capital and look to

private equity capit. caroline: what is it like from the public point of view? the s been concern particularly with the new administration, we would see it turned up slightly for biotech's funding. what about longer-term? steve: hopefully the white house will see it is good for america and the economy. they ran on that platform when they were given the details. secondly, we have been supported locally by our governor and mayor here. the mayor and the entire administration of boston helped get this facility up in record time. a lot of times these buildings take 5-7 years, but due to the help of the governor, the mayor the biecology council, harvard business school and the community. it came together rapidly and you could see 15 businesses up and running. it is very exciting. caroline: what about diversity in terms of the pool you see here. female leading businesses and minorities, is that something you can prioritize?

steve: my wife was heavily involved. she is a tech investor. my daughter in law is a cofounder of a biotech company. they got together and worked with the university to make it very family-friendly. we have rooms for women to bring kids, breast-feeding, all of the things that can make it a very friendly and easy environment for everyone to work. caroline: that was capital managing director and cochairman steve pagliuca. facebook famously started by mark zuckerberg in a harvard dorm room is considered by harvard's tech community, he is the one that got away. headquartered in california, facebook quietly returned cambridge in 2013 to open an engineering office. today, the company is taking advantage of the towns top talent. kendall square in cambridge is the heart of boston's tech community. west coast software giants have

taken note, establishing a presence here. >> facebook is always looking to hire the best talent. we came here becau atin is a combination of talented engineers and great universities. caroline: he helped facebook opened their boston office nine years after mark zuckerber idea. e fice has grown to 18,500 square feet. it employs about 100 engineers that tackle some of the company's toughest challenges. >> most of what we work on them -- on in boston is infrastructure. two thirds is working on a technology that is the underpinning forheroject and other people you see on a regular basis. caroline: he breaks it down into four pillars. these are the systems needed to develop the applications that reach its 1.8 billion users. the cambridge team also supports some of the network's most visible projects like facebook's live interact if comments -- interactive comments stream >> when you post a comment on a

video on facebook, anyone who is looking on that video will see it in real-time. caroline: and facebook's live video map and marketplace that users buy things locally. it would help to market $425 million, the world's largest is even more ambitious plans. >> we can give more people a voice. caroline: along with facebook's engineering teams in seattle, london and new york, the cambridge team will play its part, particularly in connectivity. >> we nto get connectivity to the next billion people by building up foundational technology that can work a greater ecosystem outside of facebook to make wi-fi technology cheaper. projects are trying to change the cost curve so we can deliver fast networks to part of the world today, that do not have network availability at all. caroline: facebook networking on a local and global scale. ♪

caroline: we will have more from boston after the break. coming up, we bring you a discussion on how local biotech companies are responding to range of trump administration policy changes from health care to h-1b visas. d we will introduce you to mass robotics, aiming to bring robotics to life. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪

caroline: this is "the best of bloomberg technology." we are coming to you from boston. more now on massachusetts biotech sector, which benefits from the local venture capitalists and federal research centers like the national institute of health. the trump administration has proposed cuts that may not work

-- that could hamper future growth. the affordable health care act and the tightening of h-1b visa restrictions. we take a look at how some local companies are responding to -- with bloomberg's biotech reporter and a partner at crv, which is invested in more than 400 startups, including local success stories such as, pillpack. >> i think some of the central companies are vertex, some of the largest companies in biotech are based here. so many tiny companies spring up around them and around the universities. i think that some of the trends we should be looking at our moves towards rare diseases. we talk so much about pricing in this industry and there has been so much pressure on pricing. some folks who have been resistant to that trend are those that focus on rare diseases. insurers and payers are a lot less willing to fight back against very high prices.

for example, vertex treats cystic fibrosis and they charge hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. biogen just came out with a new treatment. and the cost is $750,000 for the first treatment. these are areas that local companies are pushing to a across the country. caroline: when you are helping such crucial areas, there is also plenty of money that needs to go into funding. how much of the ecosystem have you been looking at, how much does it continue to grow? >> the ecosystem is booming. boston is the absolute epicenter of wild technology. -- of biotech technology. every major company has pharma centers. there is one reason. it is the education. 200,000 students come here. we convince people to move from around the world to a place with

great weather. and they stay, and they join pharma companies. that makes an incredibly fertile ground for funding of these companies. caroline: maybe not funding from the government at the moment. talk to us about some of the concerns that have come in. the short-term budget seems to have kept the coffers going. there is worry about affordable care act changing and the trump administration's viewpoint on health care. doni: a lot of local companies had concerns about trump in the version orders, which have been stayed by the courts. attracting people means attracting people from all over the world. if there are problems because of religion or which country you are coming from, that will be an issue for some of the innovation around this area. that certainly is what a lot of the companies have said. when it comes to pricing, some of the concern around the changes to obamacare in this act that just passed the house, still needs to go to the senate,

in that case we could get lifetime limits back. these are limits on w ch insurers will pay for a patient's care. wheno're talking about a drug that cldost $350,000 a year or more, that adds up very quickly. that is a major concern for companies that are moving into these rare diseases. if those lifetime limits are back, they will be facing major struggles when people hit their caps. caroline: when you have a long-term perspective on not overnight success stories, how much can you factor in the day-to-day swings of the pendulum with politics? jon: they are important. no city feels health care funding like boston. the top are in boston. this could be a good thing. when the funding dries up, if it does, it means these people who are entrepreneurs and who do want to start companies will think about private funding. we are there to fill the gap.

caroline: how much are we seeing the vc community expanding? many feel silicon vall ia bigger brother. are you seeing them come over, or is there a building up on money? jon: in traditional technology, silicon valley is the big brother. it might be the grandfather in many ways. in biotech, this is the center. you see venture capitalists from the y ea swarming here from around the country because we have the three ingredients. we have the universities that bring the students, you have big pharma with a cluster of entrepreneurs, and you have radically decreasing pricing costs of building a company in this space. that means if you are a young researcher at one of these companies and you have an idea, it does not require a million dollars to see if it works.

caroline: do you see international money coming in? doni: there is definitely international money. one of the best examples of the clustering is this editing technology. all three of the gene crisper companies have their rmb centers cambridge. that is because you have that clustering effect going on. caroline: lastly, when you are looking at the investments you continue to make, where are you looking in terms of exits? are we seeing money getting refueled back in that system? are we seeing ipos? jon: the ipo markets have been muted at best. we're seeing an opening of an window. in biotech, they have been wide open. that is one of the rso you have traditional technology venture capitalists moving into biotech. it used to be silos where you had health care on one side and technology on another. now with the powers of machine learning and artificial

intelligence, you are starting to see the converging of those two spaces. caroline: you are in a number of companies. you are in 400 startups at as you have exited half of them. which companies in your portfolio should we look at? jon: i think pillpack is one you have focused a lot on. they are making fundamental changes to the way prescription drugs are delivered. we have a company in the health care space out in the bay area. it is changing people to access doctors reports and booking. using the power of big data, i think the resounding theme is the convergence of traditional technology with health care. it is incredibly exciting. caroline: that was bloomberg biotech reporter doni. coming up, we speak with harvard universi psident and discuss how boston is synonymous with higher education. and what the university is doing to engage its students. a reminder that all episodes of "bloomberg technology" are live streaming on twitter.

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caroline: welcome back to "the best of bloomberg technology." i am caroline hyde. we are coming to you from harvard university's innovation lab in boston, one of the locations we have visited during our special week of coverage digging into the boston tech scene. as we mentioned earlier, harvard is where mark zuckerberg came up with the idea for facebook. other tech leaders have graced the walls of this prestigious institution, including bill gates and sheryl sandberg. we sat down with harvard president and discussed how this institution fosters innovation among its students. >> i think we have such a

vibrant innovation community in so many dimensions here. its exciting to see it growing. it is exciting to see the output. i think having mark zuckerberg come back will be a great moment for everyone to celebrate him and remind ourselves of the many ways in which we have been innovators and will continue to be innovators. caroline: one of the things you have innovated is i lab. you have accelerators that can help foster growing businesses. how long is that in play, and how does it help build new companies coming out of harvard? >> ilab started in 2011 with providing support and building companies with ideas and putting them into the commercial world. with that kind of help, we could enable students and faculty to really follow their ideas and their dreams, and make their own tangible realities in the world.

it has turned out to be a success beyond our dreams. people have flocked to it and we now have more than 75 companies that have come out of the ilab . we have the president's challenge, which i foster. students compete for funding to move their idea to the next phase. that is always exciting. caroline: you yourself are a historian by trade. how do you feel with the multidisciplinary focus of harvard helps to foster companies? >> i think things have been different and it enables you to think that they can be different again. if you just accept the status quo and do not understand what has led to the different paths

that got you to the status quo, i think you are inhibited to your ability to figure out what had -- paths might take our society and new directions in the future. my backgrndf history, i think broad gauged education stimulates ideas and challenge people to get out of there somfortable that owns -- zone and to say, if i shift this perspective, what can i do differently? many teams come together and drawn individuals from different schools. someone from the kennedy center, and from the desk someone from the business school, they could think to get there about policy questions, regulation questions, organization questions. maybe the product is a scientific one. so someone from our science school will be part of that team. i believe that this wide range -- wide-ranging approach enables

people to think more ambitiously. caroline: we are talking about diversity here. diversity of discipline. what about diverse city of ethnic origin, and women, particularly in engineering? this is something that tech giants are struggling with, how to get enough women into their doors. is this something that you think is coming through the ranks? drew: we have seen a great growth in interest in stem education at harvard over the last decade or so. we have established our school of engineering as a school in 2007. since that time we have had a trickling in the number of students who want to concentrate in that area. a adra plane in the number of women who love gone into engineering, women will make a path and we will keep striving for that.

i think that diversity relates to what you spoke about earlier. we have tried to say that engineering is a liberal arts field. whatever you think you might be interested in, engineering could have a place in that. if you are going to be a citizen of the 21st century, you need to understand technology. we have tried toasa very broad and open gauge. -- open gate. we challenge people by saying, "if you are not going to be einstein, you do not belong here, and we will make it really impossible for you to succeed." we have a completely opposite attitude which is "calm, try this out because we think it is so important." that has helped us in diversifying students who are interested in the field. this extends beyond gender, it includes at the city. -- includes ethnicity as well. caroline: what about what you have learned over the course of building up diversity and siness leaders that are still

struggling and looking ways to make sure they have diversity? drew: rather than my words of wisdom, i think we can learn a lot from each other. thk partnership as we seek to understand how to nurture those kinds of attitudes and kinds of career choices and pathways that make these attractive to students. i think it is partly how we educate people and how we help them to understand what a car -- what a career in science or technology could mean. and also how career is shaped and how companies recruit. i hope that we can have a lot of back-and-forth and collaboration about the shared commitments to diversify the workforce. caroline: how much is the administration intercepting with what is going on? how do you feel about the talent

pool coming away? drew: we have been working very hard to explain what we do to people in washington. i have spent a lot of time working with iivuals in congress, trying to make the case for how research operates, and how universities are dependent on a long-standing partnership with the federal government and federal support. we have also been concerned about immigration issues and the free flow of talent. our greatest advantage is the attraction that we can pull people to the united states. we have benefited from them. so many of these young companies are founded by people from overseas. we find that the individuals that want to come into our graduate programs are extraordinary, and the opportuny being able to stay here after they are educated is a great advante

the country. these are questions i think we need to explain, and advocate for in ways that make the importance very clear. caroline: do you think it aren't -- already has been dented, the reputation? drew: we are waiting to see how many international students choose to accept their offers of admission, and then maybe we will assess. we want to make sure that they see we are dedicated to giving them a fine experience. caroline: this is one of the most remarkable and well-known universities. what you think about the roles of education and leadership of that? drew: as a historian i have to say that boston has been the athens of america for centuries. it has been the beacon of learning and scholarship, now it has taken that to a new form

where learning, innovation and science has become so vibrant and a part of everything in our lives. boston has a traditional role, but also a new kind of leadership role as we see the kinds of discovery that harvard and m.i.t., and our other partners like the university of massachuses n contbu to making a new kind of city on the hill out of boston in a new era. caroline: here, the harvard innovation lab or ilab is open to students across the country. -- thecollege. every semester, teams app t participate in the 12th week innovation program that combines mentorship workshops and , introductions to funding to help move the startups further and faster. select post-graduation teams move on to harvard's launch

labs, that is a co-working .rogram of funded ventures the harvard ilab helps students grow their startup, launched in 11 it is he oh week incubation -- it is a 12 week incubation program that combines workshops and the networking community to move ventures further, vast or, -- further, faster. one of them is shield ai. >> my combat experience and afghanistan led me to find shield ai. it was basically a recognition, which a lot of people have, technology could prove useful on the battlefield it was autonomous. rone: he founded shield ai in 2015, headquartered in san diego, california. he is earning his mba from harvard. >> this is different from the other drones you see in commercial markets. you see a lot of drones advertise themselves as a

autonomous drones. they are following gps wavelengths. our drone does not require gps mapping. using simultaneous mapping, which are a lot of the same technologies you see, it is to navigate its environment and find the threats for these opators. caroline: the company has raised 10 and a half million dollars in funding. >> harvards network is incredibly powerful. it allows you access to people with capital. caroline: they have contracts with the department of homeland security. shield aix exists in a fast-growing market with competitors. the global market for grow -- drone technology estimated about $2 billion in 2016. that's as much as 127 billion by 2020. shield ai plans to deploy later this year, b t mission is far from complete. >> there is certainly other

applications, search and rescue, law enforcement are the first that come to mind. there are other applications that are interesting, but we are focused on our mission to protect servicemembers and civilians. caroline: in other news this week, biotech executives met with vice president mike pence mday. the goal was to defend government-sponsored research after the president's proposal made deep cuts. a cut a 1.2 billion budget and 5.8 billion next year. the meeting which was attended by ivanka trump examined the relationship between industry that aims to maintain america's place in biomedical discovery. coming up, we will hear from the boston mayor on his mission to exnd boston's reputation on the hub of all tech and innovation. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪

caroline: welcome back to a special edition of "the best of bloomberg technology." all this week we have speaking with ceos, investors and innovators across the city. we sat down with the boston mayor to discuss boston's role as a tech innovati h and how it compares to silicon valley. >> the day we officially announced ge's mo tboston, they gave us a check for $50 million. $25 million for education, and $25 million for job training and health care stuff. we are seeing the benefits of having ge here already. the deal that people are a

little critical of, the $25 million, that is to get the construction of the building going. we are going to get over 67 billion dollars in real estate taxes from that deal. caroline: what does it mean in terms of continuing the growth ofhe tech and biotech sectors? >> it is so important, boston has always done well in that space. you think about our city, people think about our city is a great medical city. they think about it as a tech city. there was a time in the 80's where boston and massachusetts was the tech capital of the world, then we lost that to silicon valley and san francisco. what you see happening now is almost a rejuvenation of that and people coming back to our city. we are excited about what is happening. what general election does is it and -- ds a whole new level of curiosity about boston.

we have about 150,000 students a year that go to school in our city. many of them will stay for the summer. we grow every year. we have 25 college universities within the boston area. 75 in the greater boston neighborhood. there is a lot of innovation here with a lot of colleges. geanelp us with that. caroline: it is interesting when a comes to academia and working with the private sector. you say you lost it to silicon valley. can you win it back? >> i think we will win it back. we are doing that now. massausts went through a difficult time in the 1980's with high taxes and political decisions that set us back. i think what is happening here is you have a political climate where everyone is working to move the economy forward. we can also be innovative. that word innovation is on the top of everyone's tongue lately, whether it is in sports, ge, other businesses. we are trying to be innovate

in the city of boston and attract these companies. the last years in boston we have added 60,000 new jobs in boston alone. that is good growth. we did that before ge came. but with them here and has grown even further. caroline: you talked about a climate that has helped put jobs. you thinkhaadministration is helping with the political climate? >> no. i think washington -- when i say no, i am hoping they will get to the job of governing. would really like to see them be successful. i would like to see this white house be successful. i think they need to focus on governing and stop focusing on some of the other issues. i am afraid of what it will do to our ecomynd the impact. it has not had any yet on our economy, but at the about the different people. i am concerned about the of formal care act and the actions congress took last week. it is not a good bill.

it is a repeal. in cities like boston and small suburban cities around america, it will hurt hospitals and that will hurt the economy. i wish they would focus on what they talk about with moving the country forward and not focus on repealing health care and the and defunding housing programs. we need to do more than that, better than that. caroline: boston has been taking a thrive and it is the number one city in terms of spending. are you worried about that and how it could affect biotech? >> i was until the senate and the congress passed a short-term budget. i think it goes through september. it seems like everything is status quo. i think it is important that we stay strong on that. you look at our hospitals and research facilities here in boston and a massachusetts, not just boston. we are in this together. massachusetts and cambridge and other cities. a lot of discoveries and things

are happening here in our cities. it helps us keep young people and talent here in the cities. it helps our dock is an -- our doctors and hospitals advance. i am a cancer survivor. i was treated at the cancer institute, at peter van brigham, weavimportant assets in our city. as a cancer survivor, knowing that what i had as cancer 40 years ago, today it is curated higher. -- that's your rate is higher. the short rate is higher. caroline: you are the son of an immigrant, there is a lot of concern about thtrel ban and immigration policies and what it means to technology talents. d fe tt there is a concern of talent coming into the academic institutions? mayor walsh: it was a concern before. it was a concern because there were not enough visas given out for people to stay long-term. now it is really a concern.

in this room that we are having this interview, right after the president came down with his executive order on the muslim ban and the one before, the immigrant ban, all the hospitals in massachusetts were in this room. i had the tech companies in the room, three different meetings. every single one of them had the same concern about the fear of the people not being able to come to america to get in education or tha a business, or to work for the company. i think congress has been six or seven years, may be longer than that, they should focus on immigration. i think that our system is clearly not working. we have 11 million undocumented people in the united dates of america. what do we do to make those 11 million people get on a pathway to citenip, or figure out what to do? that we have to figure out our work visa program. the j one visa is not good enough for one year. we will not keep their brain power here and we will send them back home? that does not make any sense to

me. i don't think it makes sense to a lot of people. i hope the congress and the senate can get together and come up with some comprehensive legislation. caroline: that was marty walsh, mayor of boston. coming up, the robotics industry has emerged as a major player in the boston tech scene. we will talk about how the startup is getting off the ground. and, if you like bloomberg news, check us out on the radio. you can listen on the bloomberg radio app, bloomberg.com and on sirius xm in the u.s. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪

caroline: massachusetts is home to over 120 robotics company that employ nearly five thousand people and generate $1.6 billion in revenue. while it is still relatively small, the industry is growing and so are its resources.

mass robotics, a nonprofit earlier this year in boston seaport district. it dedicated to fostering young boston startups and to keeping the talents intact. this autonomous drone belongs to american robotics. one of a handful of startups based here at mass robotics. >> the name mass robotics has double meaning. mass because it started in massachusetts, but is a mass of robotics. rone: the nonprofit started in 2015 and open the facility in february with a lap to help robotics startups get off the ground. as the cofounder explains, a startup escalator. >> it is the new concept. incubators have been around for some time. this one has been very effective in software business. when it comes to hardware, there

is no organization to help robotics companies take it into a finished product. caroline: products include american robotics drones and 3-d printers. according to the director, that number will grow. tom: right now we have six companies and we have to more companies coming in. we can grow to 30 companies in this space. hopefully, as we grow in the building we can house over 100 companies. caroline: founded by leaders in the robotics industry such as i robotics, startups benefit from mentorships and help with funding. >> we do not fund ourselves, but we worked a lot of local startups and we kn wch ones are investing in startups. caroline: $2 billion went to robotics comni last year.

that is 50% more than 2015. nearly $1 billion of that went to companies in california. $143 million to massachusetts. the number of boston companies is growing, that is attracting sponsors andarers from massachusetts and outside the state. >> larger players like ge are looking for investment opportunity or auition opportunity, also technology. where robotics is going, where the innovato a focusing now? new products, all sorts of things. caroline: for mass robotics in the boston robotics community, the technology is reaching new heights. ♪ caroline: that does it for this edition of "the best of bloomberg technology." we will bring you all the latest in tech throughout the week. all episodes of "bloomberg technology"

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