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wbjournal.com | April 2, 2018 | Worcester Business Journal 15 Royalston Ashby Pepperell Gardner Fitchburg Lunenburg Shirley Groton Ayer Acton Phillipston Princeton Sudbury Wayland Holden Oakham New Braintree Hardwick North Brookfield East Brookfield Brookfield Charlton Southbridge Dudley Littleton Harvard Ashburnham Templeton Sturbridge Winchendon Berlin Hudson Clinton Athol West Brookfield Barre Paxton Spencer Leicester Auburn 2 395 Worcester West Boylston Boylston Sutton Northbridge Grafton Millbury Medway Hopedale Mendon Blackstone Bellingham Douglas Uxbridge Webster Holliston Hopkinton Oxford Franklin Upton Natick Sherborn Millis Ashland Southborough Framingham Westborough Northborough Shrewsbury Bolton Lancaster Sterling Maynard Rutland Hubbardston Boxborough Devens Marlborough Petersham Millville Townsend 190 84 190 290 290 90 90 90 495 495 495 2 Westminster 12 12 12 9 9 9 9 20 20 20 20 122 12 Holliston N E W H A M P S H I R E C O N N E C T I C U T R H O D E I S L A N D Quabbin Reservoir Wachusett Reservoir 146 122 Stow Leominster Silver Bronze Gold Platinum KEY: Central Mass. BioReady communities The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council rates each city and town on how well they accommodate biotech uses. The best communities – those rated platinum – have public water and sewer available in commercial and industrial areas, zoning that allows for biotech laboratory and manufacturing uses by special permit, and municipal contacts to help with biotech projects. Outside of Boston and its innermost suburbs, MetroWest communities and larger cities often rate the best. In all, 84 of the state's 351 cities and towns are rated at least bronze. business because Holliston doesn't have direct high- way access, said Jeff Ritter, the Holliston town administrator. On the other hand, Holliston created an economic development committee three years ago to explore potential opportunities, and has a capacity for up to 2 million square feet of space in the Hopping Brook Park development off Route 16 near the Milford line. "We're really committed to economic develop- ment. We're open for business," Ritter said. "But there are some challenges." The MetroWest cluster Life sciences are critical to MetroWest in particular, thanks in large part to Framingham, Marlborough and Natick, which each have a dozen or more life science companies and host heavyweights like Boston Scientific, Sunovion and Sonofi Genzyme. The Public Policy Center at UMass Dartmouth studied the MetroWest workforce and found bio- pharmaceutical jobs were the second most-clustered jobs in the region compared to the national average, behind only information technology and analytics, an industry that has actually been shrinking in job numbers since 2010. Life science jobs have grown quickly in MetroWest. Biopharmaceutical jobs grew by 18 per- cent from 2010 to 2016, hitting nearly 4,000 in total, the UMass Dartmouth report found. "Our region has a tremendous life sciences and medical device cluster," said Paul Matthews, the executive director of the 495/MetroWest Partnership. "We've seen a marked change where more and more life science companies are recognizing the potential value of locating in this region because we have a highly skilled workforce and transportation, and a price advantage compared to Boston," Matthews said. Communities have reasons to want to bring in life science jobs. Jobs in the industry are high-paying: the average scientific research and development worker in MetroWest makes $167,000, according to a regional study released in January by the Public Policy Center. Someone in pharmaceutical manufacturing makes an average of $165,000. More growth is ahead. Biologics company LakePharma bought a 69,000-square-foot facility in Hopkinton in February, and medical device maker Insulet broke ground last fall on a $100-million, 350,000-square-foot facility in Acton. W W B J O U R N A L M A P To find out more or to reserve your space, contact your account manager today! 2018 Book of Lists Publication Date: May 28 Advertising Deadline: May 3 Worcester Business Journal WBJ Central Massachusetts' Source for Business News Reserve Your Space in the Ultimate Business Tool! As a member of our business community – you'll want to see and be seen in this annual publication! Worcester Business Journal's Book of Lists is Central Massachusetts most comprehensive market research tool. A compilation of the "Top Lists" that have run in the Worcester Business Journal over the last year, as well as many new, previously unpublished lists. Tightly researched, indexed and organized, this issue provides immediate insight into the wide variety of firms, industries and organizations that make up the Central Massachusetts business economy. H E A L T H C A R E F O C U S