Summers Speaks to Business Group

BOSTON—Some of the biggest movers and shakers of Boston’s business world listened to University President Lawrence H. Summers’ plans for the University yesterday.

As more than 200 members of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce enjoyed a breakfast buffet at the Park Plaza Hotel, Summers presented the ideas that have become a cornerstone of his agenda since his arrival at Harvard—developing the University’s “little real estate development” in Allston and building a center for life sciences akin to Silicon Valley.

“It is literally a once in human history moment with respect to human health,” Summers said. “We have the potential to be ground zero of the life science revolution.”

Throughout his speech, Summers emphasized the importance of building Harvard’s relationship with the surrounding community and creating coalitions between public and private sectors.

“Our success as a University relates ever more closely to the success of our region,” he said.

He cited the relationship between the University and the WGBH television station as an ideal example of community cooperation. WGBH recently negotiated a land deal with Harvard under which the public television station will relocate to Brighton, allowing the University to expand on the station’s plot, a prime piece adjacent to the lion’s share of Harvard’s Allston land.

But Harvard’s work with the community should not be limited to physical construction, Summers said.

Contributing to intellectual development in the community is an equally important goal, he said, which he has been discussing with recently appointed Graduate School of Education Dean Ellen Condliffe Lagemann.

“She and I spoke a great deal about how the role of an education school has to be related to the provision of educational services,” he said.

As the economy evolves, Summers said the University would play an increasingly important role.

The world is moving towards a “knowledge economy,” Summers said, in which “society’s problems become increasingly intellectual.”

Though he outlined several possibilities for land development in Allston— including moving professional schools, pursuing scientific vision, building museums and increasing available and affordable housing—Summers stressed that planning was still a work in progress.

After he finished his speech, Summers took questions from the audience on topics ranging from state government involvement to inter-university collaboration.

When asked about the differences between Harvard and his Washington post, the former secretary of the treasury noted the less competitive atmosphere of Harvard Yard.

“If you’re working in government in Washington,” he said, “you have the feeling that if disaster befell you, 40 percent of your world would be walking with a little extra spring in their step.”

—Staff writer Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at shoichet@fas.harvard.edu.