State, UMass Ink Clean Energy Partnership

Wade Roush2/25/08

At a meeting in Boston this morning, Massachusetts energy and environmental affairs secretary Ian Bowles signed a memorandum of understanding with University of Massachusetts president Jack Wilson calling for the creation of a committee to coordinate research, education, and public service activities around clean energy. Bowles said that an “effective inter-organizational approach” like that outlined in the memorandum was needed to meet the clean energy needs of Massachusetts citizens. Wilson noted that the university’s energy expertise—with at least 120 researchers studying areas such as offshore wind energy, microbial fuel cells, and cellolusic biofuels—could help the state compete for leadership in the cleantech industry, and he pointed to the university’s existing track record of commercializing clean energy ideas, including UMass spinoffs Konarka and SunEthanol.

Wade Roush is Xconomy's chief correspondent and editor of Xconomy San Francisco. You can e-mail him at wroush@xconomy.com or follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/wroush.