Boston Mayor Michelle Wu met with dozens of area business leaders at Harvard University’s Allston campus Wednesday to get advice on how to make Boston a more competitive leader in tech.
The city’s powerbrokers had a lot to say about AI, and what Boston can do to compete with Silicon Valley. The California tech hub, long Boston’s rival in building and attracting companies, has taken off as a global leader in artificial intelligence.
While Wu spoke on the record at the event, reporters were permitted to attend on the condition the other participants not be quoted.
Some of those in attendance represented the financial services, pharmaceutical, biotech sectors. Attendees included Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks, Jellyfish CEO Andrew Lau, Whoop CEO Ed Baker, Ankit Gupta of YCombinator; and Yvonne Hao of Flagship Pioneering.
The mayor floated the idea of a bicoastal summit with the city of San Francisco, an idea she said she pitched to that city’s mayor, Daniel Lurie.
“I f they are going hard and leaning into everything in AI [and] we are doubling down on healthcare and life sciences and bio, that overlap of where all of that gets applied really could be the focus of what we spend time in on both coasts,” she said. “And I need your help thinking through what that experience could be and how to make that actually productive and beneficial to the companies that we will then try to recruit to have presences on both coasts.”
It was a strategic meeting for a mayor who’s been criticized for being less close to business leaders than her predecessors. She also had a number of allies at the event, from Yi-An Huang, City Manager for Cambridge to Tracy Palandjian, CEO of the Social Finance Ltd.
Several in the room called for a bigger push within city government to use AI. Others politely questioned how well Boston works for the 23-to-28-year-old class of recent college graduates. They called for better nightlife, culture, housing, internships and mentorships to prevent entrepreneurs from fleeing to Silicon Valley.
Wu aid the city is working to improve culture and nightlife by launching pop-up installations, helping more restaurants get liquor licenses and making Boston a summer destination with events like Tall Ships and the FIFA World Cup.
“But finding a way to corral that information and get it out to people,” she said, “I think is a real challenge there.”
Wu asked the attendees for help in finding the city’s next chief of economic opportunity and inclusion, and offered to be part of town halls and conversations at big and emerging companies.
She also took the opportunity to make her often-used pitch about Boston.
“ Quality of life, safety, education,” she boasted of the city’s offerings. “This is a city of champions.”
