Clusterluck

集群之幸

Boston’s biotech hub is surviving the challenge from Silicon Valley

波士顿的生物技术中心正从硅谷的挑战中幸存下来

　　Distance is not dead. In biotechnology, as in other tech-based industries, the clustering of similar firms is more important than ever. Some American biotech startups are based in the San Francisco and Silicon Valley area, huddled with its many digital and IT startups. But the Boston metropolitan area – and in particular Cambridge, across the Charles river from central Boston – seems to be holding its own as the world’s pre-eminent biotech hub.

　　距离并未消亡。与其他以技术为基础的行业一样，在生物技术领域，同类公司的集群比以往任何时候都更为重要。一些美国生物技术创业公司把总部设在旧金山和硅谷地区，跟当地的众多数字及IT创业公司扎堆。然而，波士顿大都会区——特别是与波士顿市中心隔查尔斯河相望的剑桥市——俨然已能与之抗衡而成为世界上卓越的生物技术中心。

　　The San Francisco area’s pool of venture capital is beyond compare; and a biotech-industry body there, the California Life Sciences Association, argues that California is the number one state for biomedical employment. But in part that is simply a reflection of the state’s large population, which means its health-care business is necessarily big. The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council claims that its state employs more people in biotech research and development than any other.

　　旧金山地区的风险投资资源是别处无可比拟的。当地的生物技术行业团体“加利福尼亚生命科学协会”(California Life Sciences Association)认为，加利福尼亚是生物医学就业第一州。但这在某种程度上只是该州庞大人口数量的表现，人口众多意味着其医疗保健产业必然庞大。马萨诸塞州生物技术委员会(Massachusetts Biotechnology Council)声称，该州在生物技术研发领域的就业人数超过其他任何一个州。

　　A study published last December by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that although, per head, the Boston area had fallen well behind San Francisco and Silicon Valley in creating software and internet startups, it was more or less keeping pace in life sciences. The density of research institutions in Massachusetts means that it receives $351 per head in funding from the National Institutes of Health, well ahead of the Golden State’s $88. This density of research was a reason cited by General Electric, which has a big medical-technology division, in its announcement in Janurary that it will move its group headquarters to Boston.

　　去年12月，麻省理工学院公布的一项研究发现，波士顿地区虽然在人均创建软件和互联网创业公司的数量上远落后于旧金山与硅谷，但在生命科学领域不相上下。麻省密集的研究机构使它从美国国立卫生研究院(National Institutes of Health)获得人均351美元的资金，远超过“黄金之州”(加利福尼亚)的人均88美元。拥有庞大医疗技术部门的通用电气1月宣布将把集团总部迁往波士顿，它提到该地区研究机构的高密度是一大原因。

　　The history of the Boston area cluster can be traced to the late 1970s and early 1980s, when Biogen and Genzyme, two biotech drugmakers, were founded by scientists from nearby academic institutions. Other scientists, especially from MIT and Harvard, Cambridge’s two internationally renowned universities, followed suit and created innovative startups of their own.

　　波士顿地区产业集群的历史可以追溯到上世纪70年代末和80年代初。当时，周边学术机构的科学家建立了生物技术制药企业百健(Biogen)和健赞(Genzyme)。其他科学家纷纷效法，创建了自己的创新型创业公司，尤其是来自麻省理工和哈佛的科学家，这两所国际知名大学都位于剑桥市。

　　This encouraged global pharmaceutical giants, struggling with poor productivity in their existing research facilities, to set up labs in and around Cambridge. Novartis of Switzerland began work on its outpost in 2002, followed by such names as AstraZeneca of Britain and Baxter of Illinois, which in 2015 spun out its Cambridge labs as Baxalta, a specialist in “orphan” diseases. In Janurary Baxalta agreed a $32 billion takeover by Shire, an Irish drugs giant.

　　这促使那些苦于现有研究设施生产力低下的全球制药巨头在剑桥及其周边建立实验室。瑞士诺华(Novartis)2002年开始在此设点，紧接着是英国的阿斯利康(AstraZeneca)和美国伊利诺伊州的百特(Baxter)。2015年，百特把它的剑桥实验室拆分出来，成立了专攻罕见病的Baxalta公司。今年1月，Baxalta同意被爱尔兰制药巨头Shire公司以320亿美元收购。

　　The cluster lacked a clear focal point until 2010, when MIT, the main landowner around Kendall Square – an area about a mile in all directions from the Kendall/MIT subway station in Cambridge – decided to spruce it up. One report suggests the square currently hosts firms that have absorbed about $14 billion in venture-capital investments. Silicon Valley’s overall pool of capital may be deeper, but much of it flows to areas other than biotech. And the global drug giants with outposts in the Boston area provide an alternative source of finance, and of eventual buyers for startups.

　　这里的产业集群一直缺少一个明确的中心，直到2010年，肯德尔广场(Kendall Square)的主要所有者麻省理工学院决定把这片以肯德尔/麻省理工地铁站为中心、半径约一英里的区域修葺一新。一份报告表明，目前在肯德尔广场设立的公司总共吸收了大约140亿美元的风险投资。硅谷的整体风投资源可能更为深厚，但大部分资金都流向了生物技术以外的领域。在波士顿地区设点的全球制药巨头提供了另一种资金来源，也为创业公司增加了潜在的最终买家。

　　Tom Andrew of Alexandria Real Estate, a property agent specialising in science buildings, notes that the Boston area’s universities, teaching hospitals and other institutions are a sink, as well as a source, of talent. Anyone who accepts a risky job at a startup can be sure that if things don’t work out there are lots of big employers nearby to fall back on.

　　专注于科学楼宇的房地产经纪公司“亚历山大房地产”(Alexandria Real Estate )的汤姆·安得鲁(Tom Andrew)表示，波士顿地区的大学、教学医院及其他机构既是人才之源，又是人才之库。在创业企业中承担有风险工作的所有人都可以放心，如果工作不顺利，附近会有许多大雇主可以转投。

　　The cluster’s promising young firms include four – Editas Medicine, CRISPR Therapeutics, Intellia and Bluebird Bio – that are working on “gene editing”, currently one of the hottest areas of biotech. WuXi NextCODE, another local startup, specialises in analysing genomes. Alnylam concentrates on drugs that interfere with RNA, the messenger molecule through which genes express themselves. Not satisfied with just editing, deciphering or blocking nature’s blueprints, Synlogic is seeking to create medicines through entirely artificial sequences of genes.

　　集群中有前途的新兴企业包括Editas医药公司(Editas Medicine)、CRISPR疗法公司(CRISPR Therapeutics)、Intellia和蓝鸟生物(Bluebird Bio)。这四家公司正致力于研究“基因剪辑”，这是当今生物技术中最热门的领域之一。另一家本地创业公司明码生物科技(WuXi NextCODE)专门从事基因组分析。奥尼兰姆公司(Alnylam)专注研究干扰RNA的药物，RNA是基因自我表达的信使分子。Synlogic公司不满足于只是剪辑、解码或者阻断基因组这一自然的蓝图，还试图通过合成完全人工的基因序列来开发药物。

　　Synlogic’s boss, Jose-Carlos Gutiérrez-Ramos, formerly of Pfizer, has worked around the world and praises the “density of intellectuals” in Boston and the opportunities that come from being able to make easy connections. With little travel time between appointments, it is easier to arrange meetings. Dan Budwick of Pure Communications, a public-relations firm which represents some of the area’s startups, says that “You can jump on a bike and see 30 companies in a mile. You can’t do that in San Francisco or Manhattan.”

　　Synlogic的老板、原辉瑞公司的何塞-卡洛斯·古铁雷斯-拉莫斯(Jose-Carlos Gutiérrez-Ramos)曾在世界各地工作过，他称赞波士顿“知识分子密集”，能够很容易地建立人脉关系并从中找到机会。由于约会之间花费在交通上的时间很短，安排会议比较容易。代表该地区一些创业企业的公关公司 “单纯沟通”(Pure Communications)的丹·布德威克(Dan Budwick)说：“你可以跳上一辆自行车，在一英里内见到30家公司。这在旧金山或曼哈顿就不行。”

　　Boston’s tech cluster has a different vibe from Silicon Valley’s in other ways too. Edward Farmer of WuXi NextCODE says Boston’s biotech crowd are a more formal bunch, who wear proper shirts – and tuck them in. They know which fork is for the salad because salad is not the only thing they eat. Beer is the recreational drug of choice, rather than cannabis.

　　在其他方面，波士顿的高科技集群也与硅谷的氛围不同。明码生物科技的爱德华·法默(Edward Farmer)表示，波士顿的生物科技从业者举止更规矩，他们穿合适的衬衫，还把下摆塞进裤子里。他们知道哪一个叉子是吃沙拉的，因为他们不只吃沙拉。首选的休闲毒品是啤酒而不是大麻。

　　The cranes sprouting across the skyline suggest more growth ahead. But demand is still running ahead of supply. In the Boston area rents for laboratory space rose by 7% last year to around $47 a square foot ($505 a square metre), compared with $37 in San Francisco. Already, some companies are having to seek space in districts like Alewife or Watertown, on the far side of Harvard’s campus.

　　穿越天际线不断涌现的起重机表明，未来将有更多发展。但目前依然是供不应求。在波士顿地区，实验室的租金去年上涨了7%，达到每平方英尺47美元(每平方米505美元)，相比之下，旧金山的租金为37美元。已有一些公司在哈佛校园另一边的埃尔维夫(Alewife)和沃特敦(Watertown)等区域寻找办公地点。

　　Though it is on a roll, the Boston biotech cluster must keep a nervous eye on its West Coast rival, especially if, in future, biotech ventures come to rely on software, wearable sensors and big-data analysis, areas in which Silicon Valley is strong. At least that is a problem it can try to address. The weather is not. The biggest annual jamboree for investors in biotech, organised by J.P. Morgan, a bank, opened in Janurary in its customary location of San Francisco. The temperature was a balmy 13º Celsius, to Boston’s shivering -1 º.

　　尽管顺风顺水，波士顿的生物技术产业集群还是必须紧张地关注它在西海岸的竞争对手，尤其是假如生物技术企业今后要开始依赖软件、可穿戴传感器和大数据分析等硅谷强项的话。至少，这个问题是它可以试图解决的。但天气就不是了。生物科技投资者最大的年度盛会已于1月按惯例在旧金山举行，活动由摩根大通银行(J.P. Morgan)组织。当地气温13摄氏度，温暖宜人，而波士顿为零下1度，冷得让人直打寒颤。

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