Bases Empty?

Military Closures Could Sting New England's Innovation Economy

New England colleges and universities are engaged in partnerships with the region's military bases on research in areas ranging from solar energy to underwater communications. But the future of those partnerships is in question as the U.S. government reviews military bases around the nation in a process that could result in the closure of up to 25 percent of existing facilities.

Base closures impact local and regional economies in a variety of ways. In New England, closing bases such as Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, Mass., the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass., the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) in Newport, R.I., or the Army's Cold Regions Research & Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, N.H., would deal a blow to the region's vibrant university research and development (R&D) enterprise.

In May, the secretary of defense is scheduled to publish a list of military installations recommended for closure under the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) initiative.

Military bases provide thousands of jobs and inject billions of dollars into local economies. But the BRAC criteria take into account a base's military value, not its economic impact. New Englanders can rightly argue that these bases' R&D endeavors involving talent from area colleges and universities not only enrich the region's high-tech economy, but also make significant technological contributions to defense capabilities.

MIT topped the list of contractors at Hanscom in 2003 with more than $495 million in contracts, while Boston College captured nearly $3 million, according to a recent study by the University of Massachusetts-based Donahue Institute. That year, the Army Soldier Systems Center, known as Natick Labs, awarded more than $999,000 in contracts to the UMass campuses in Amherst, Boston and Lowell, and $186,935 to Boston College.

New England colleges and universities would continue to capture defense contracts even if the bases were eliminated. But the region's innovation economy would be stung nonetheless.

Hanscom's Electronic Systems Center develops technologies in command and control communications, computer intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Natick Labs develops high-tech food, clothing, shelter and other support items for soldiers. Both have made significant contributions to U.S. military capabilities, partly because of their proximity to world-class academic science programs.

UMass Lowell has entered into more than $1 million in contracts with Natick Labs over the past 10 years. One spinoff from the R&D, Konarka Technologies Inc., is now an innovator in converting light to energy. Last year, the company received a $6 million award from the Defense Department to develop new materials for hybrid photovoltaics, or plastic solar cells, in collaboration with Natick Labs and others. Potential military applications include battery charging, remote power and solar power in the field. The load carried by the typical special operations soldier weighs between 70 and 100 pounds, so development of a lightweight, portable energy source will make a significant difference in a soldier's mobility in the field.

UMass Amherst's Department of Food Science has worked with Natick Labs researchers in developing a ready-to-eat bread product that can be carried in cans for soldiers in the field. The food has a long shelf life and can last much longer than regular bread ... and they say it looks and tastes like fresh bread.

For a half century, Boston College's Institute for Scientific Research has collaborated with Hanscom researchers on projects principally related to space research, including study of the ionosphere and its impact on communications systems such as those in airplanes and satellites. Studies have also contributed to new equipment such as the Solar Mass Ejection Imager, a satellite camera that has recorded auroras more than 500 miles above Earth. The orbiting camera was built by a team that included BC researchers, and scientists from Hanscom, the University of California, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom and Boston University.

Collaborative research by the Army's Cold Regions Research & Engineering Laboratory in New Hampshire and the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College has led to developments in the area of ice-control technology. The army lab's funding of research by Dartmouth engineering professor Victor Petrenko led to the 2001 creation of a spinoff called Ice Engineering. The company's main product is an electronic component that prevents ice buildup, de-ices surfaces and controls ice friction. In addition to military uses, the technology has commercial applications on airplanes, roads and bridges and power lines and in footwear, refrigeration and winter sports.

In Rhode Island, more than one-third of computer software and services employment and a quarter of the state's patents are related to the defense industry, according to a study commissioned by the Southeastern New England Defense Industry Alliance. Sixty-one percent of spending on undersea warfare activities goes through southeastern New England. For example, University of Rhode Island engineers and oceanographers work on dozens of projects with the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, focusing on sonar, marine mammal behavioral studies, underwater vehicles and mapping. URI received $4.7 million in fiscal 2004 research funding from the Office of Naval Research, much of it from the NUWC, according to Janett Trubatch, URI's vice provost for graduate studies, research and outreach.

Intellectual ecosystem

Research partnerships between higher education and military bases lead not only to important national security advances, but also to technologies with future commercial applications. More generally, the technologies contribute to New England's "intellectual ecosystem," according to Michael Goodman, director of economic and public policy research at the Donahue Institute. "In New England, the economies of the states are driven by high technology and knowledge-based industries. They depend on innovation and the new ideas that come out of New England's first-class higher education system."

"The bases are a source of an incredible amount of funding to help institutions create the kind of innovation and cutting-edge, world-class research that helps make the country a safer place and also results in unanticipated discoveries that lead to breakthroughs in science and new product development," Goodman says.

While a base of operation can be moved, the synergy that exists between the bases and New England's colleges and universities cannot be replicated elsewhere.

Alan Macdonald, executive director of the Massachusetts Defense Technology Initiative, an organization created to preserve the bases, agrees. "Companies from all over the world say the reason they come to Massachusetts is because proximity matters. It's how technology evolves and how R&D works-to have a cluster that attracts people who are interested in these problems and working on these issues."

Removing this link would reverberate throughout the innovation sector in New England. Macdonald says. "To take that engine out and dislocate it from the area has ramifications for the technology, innovation and energy that really defines the Route 128 economy. It would have a fundamental negative impact on the Massachusetts technology economy if the bases closed."

Beyond the economic issue is the question of defense. "There is also an implication for the quality of the ultimate product if you dislocate the headquarters," Macdonald says. "If you are moving its development to somewhere else in the country, you might not be able to develop the maximum capability of the product."

Last year, Mass Insight Corp., the policy and research group, released a study that indicated that Massachusetts was falling behind in its ability to attract federal research and development dollars. While New England continues to be a major recipient of federal R&D funding, the pace of federal spending in the region has slowed. The race for R&D dollars is intensifying competition from other regions of the country.

Among the many recommendations offered by Mass Insight are two that are key to this discussion: focus on building the research infrastructure and strengthen partnerships among government, business and institutions of higher education. Closing military bases with strong ties to the research community and higher education clearly would undercut these efforts.

James T. Brett is president and CEO of The New England Council, the nation's oldest regional business organization, which is dedicated to promoting economic development and a high quality of life in the six-state region.

Copyright New England Board of Higher Education Spring 2005
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