
Bob is Xconomy's founder, CEO, and editor in chief. He is one of the country's foremost journalists covering business and technology. As a noted author and magazine editor,he is a sought-after commentator on innovation and global competitiveness. Before taking his most recent position as a research fellow in MIT's Center for International Studies, Bob served as Editor in Chief of MIT's Technology Review, then a 10-times-a-year publication with a circulation of 315,000. Bob led the magazine to numerous editorial and design awards and oversaw its expansion into three foreign editions, electronic newsletters, and highly successful conferences. As BusinessWeek's technology editor, he shared in the 1992 National Magazine Award for The Quality Imperative.
Bob is the author of three books about technology and innovation. Guanxi (2006) focuses on Microsoft's Beijing research lab as a metaphor for global competitiveness. Engines of Tomorrow (2000) describes the evolution of corporate research. The Invention That Changed the World (1996) covered a secret lab at MIT during WWII. Bob served on the Council on Competitiveness-sponsored National Innovation Initiative and is an advisor to the Draper Prize Nominating Committee. He has been a regular guest of CNBC's Strategy Session and has spoken about innovation at many venues, including the Business Council, Amazon, eBay, Google, IBM, and Microsoft.As you might have noticed around Boston, a lot of people like to whine about how California and especially Silicon Valley are, well, just better at startups. Entrepreneurs flock to California,... Read more »
[Clarified Oct. 1---see below] Directors of Facet Biotech (NASDAQ:FACT) have unanimously recommended that its shareholders reject Biogen Idec’s $14.50 per share takeover bid, an all cash deal worth some... Read more »
Len Schlesinger wryly refers to himself as president of the finest business school between Route 128 and I-495. And indeed, Wellesley, MA-based Babson College is, for many folks around Boston (and... Read more »
Irish healthcare products giant Covidien (NYSE:COV) has reached an agreement to purchase Aspect Medical Systems (NASDAQ:ASPM), a Norwood, MA-based company specializing in braining monitoring technology, for approximately... Read more »
As the world digs out from under the effects of one of the greatest economic crises in history, there are few people who can survey the financial landscape and provide experience,... Read more »
[Updated, Sept. 22, 11:15 am. See end of story] You might have seen Alex Rives around town in the past year, particularly if you’ve spent time hanging out at coffee shops... Read more »
It’s no secret to those in the innovation community that venture-backed companies are central to America’s economic prosperity. But in its ongoing effort to help reinforce that message—perhaps particularly in light... Read more »
Lebanon, NH-based Mascoma announced today that it has entered into a two-year biofuels processing and supply deal with Chevron Technology Ventures. Under the agreement, the terms of which were not disclosed,... Read more »
The pace of everything in Massachusetts seems to slow in August, and startup financings were not an exception this year. But despite the tail off from July’s big deal-making surge, investments... Read more »
[Updated October 5, 2009---see below] Today was a good day for Boston area entrepreneurs, as Polaris Venture Partners announced the opening of a new startup incubation and geek hangout space, Dog... Read more »
Boston entrepreneurs, start your yipping. Polaris Venture Partners is announcing today that it is opening a counterpart to its fast-growing San Francisco-based Dog Patch Labs startup incubator near Kendall Square here... Read more »
Coming out of the long weekend, with summer vacations over, I can feel the pace of entrepreneurial action quicken. With a lot of people out of town or chillin’ the past... Read more »
Kai-Fu Lee, the charismatic former Microsoft VP and founding director of the company’s research lab in Beijing who reported last week that he was quitting as head of Google’s China arm,... Read more »
This is a special, bi-coastal edition of the X Factor (it doesn’t usually run in Seattle). For my column on Tuesday, I surveyed seven Boston-area startup CEOs and asked them to... Read more »
First, let me get this out up front—I’m ripping off the idea for this column from my colleague Greg Huang, editor of Xconomy Seattle. Thanks Greg!
Second, I spend a... Read more »
Hopkington, MA-based information storage and management company EMC announced today that it has acquired FastScale Technology, a Santa Clara, CA, provider of software platforms and applications for enterprises. EMC said in... Read more »
Maybe it was the new mobile friendly version of Xconomy (at m.xconomy.com) that we launched a few weeks ago. Or maybe it was just the fact that I’ve been on the... Read more »
Robert said: I have to say, if I were a VC I would not be up in Waltham, which I find kind... Read more »
Yesterday morning, Wade wrote a story about the recent settlement agreement in a class-action lawsuit involving Connecticut-based Webloyalty, which runs various discount programs offered to consumers as they wrap up... Read more »
Fingers crossed—it looks like we finally have our site back up and running. Most stories reposted, most lost comments restored.
It has been a long, not-so-fun day here at Xconomy. Our... Read more »
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