BioReady Community

The City of Marlborough has a Platinum rating as a BioReady Community. The BioReady Community Campaign, developed by MassBio with the support of MassEcon and regional organizations throughout the Commonwealth, rates and promotes the communities that have shown a commitment to biotechnology. As of December 2012, only 7% of Massachusetts community have achieved “Platinum” status.

These ratings are intended 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. BioReady-rated cities and towns have made a commitment to biotechnology.

Massachusetts is an unsurpassed leader in the global biotechnology industry. Because of the state’s rich history in biotechnology, many of its cities and towns, with the support of state government, have increasingly adopted local policies that greatly ease the pathway for renovation or new construction of biotech laboratory and manufacturing facilities.

Examples of the increasingly supportive public policies in Massachusetts municipalities include

  • expedited permitting policies
  • by-right zoning
  • supportive public infrastructure projects
  • pre-permitted biotech sites
  • planned area developments

For the Platinum ranking, a municipality must have already met Gold and Silver criteria, which means it:

  • Allows biotech laboratory and manufacturing uses by right
  • Has identified buildings and/or land sites for biotechnology uses in municipal plans
  • Convenes site plan review meetings, bringing together all pertinent departments, to provide an overview of the local approvals process for significant commercial and industrial projects
  • Has land sites and/or buildings included in BioSites inventory at www.massachusettssitefinder.com.
  • Has sites or buildings pre-permitted for biotechnology laboratory or manufacturing use
  • Has existing buildings in which biotech laboratory or manufacturing activities are taking place

In addition to the above factors, at the Platinum level, municipalities must have #1 and #2, or #3 in the following list:

  1. The municipality’s Board of Health has adopted the National Institutes of Health guidelines on rDNA activity as part of its regulations.
  2. The municipality includes a building or buildings that are already permitted for biotech uses and have 20,000 square feet or more of available space for biotech uses.
  3. The municipality has a shovel-ready pre-permitted land site with completed MEPA review and municipal water and sewer capacity to meet additional demand.

For a current list of 60+ BioReady™ rated communities in Massachusetts or for more information about the BioReady™ ratings, visit: www.massbio.org.