GE's Move to Boston May Mean Opportunity for Students

Harvard faculty members praised General Electric’s decision to move its headquarters to Boston as an opportunity for increased collaboration between the corporation and students, especially given local expertise in data and technology.

“For Harvard students, it is a mutually beneficial arrangement between General Electric and the Boston ecosystem,” said Jodi Goldstein, who has worked at GE and is currently the Managing Director of Harvard’s Innovation Lab.

The surrounding universities, she added, create a rich intellectual environment from which the corporation can draw talented students.

Gu-Yeon Wei, a professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Harvard, echoed Goldstein's thinking that GE will benefit from Boston’s large number of universities.

“I think having a large number of these universities in this area would be a big asset to GE because then they have a potential pool of hires they can draw on,” Wei said.

Goldstein also said GE’s move is yet another confirmation that Boston is a well-positioned city in the technology sector.

“We have a strong focus on technology, innovation, and robotics. Life sciences is obviously incredibly strong,” she said.

The company’s move to the region may also mean a potential new source for student engagement at Harvard, according to Goldstein.

“We have so many large corporations interested in engaging with students in the i-lab,” Goldstein said. “I envision working with General Electric in different ways.”

Willy C. Shih, a professor at the Business School, said the corporation’s move also marks a return to its historic roots. In particular, Shih cited the company’s partnership with MIT chemist Willis Whitney, who ran General Electric’s industrial research laboratory in the early 1900s.

Shih also said he believed GE’s move was potentially made to address a new “industrial Internet” era in which there is an increasing emphasis on innovative technology. He added that Boston is already a leader in areas such as robotics.

“They want to open themselves up to fresh ideas," Shih said. "To immerse themselves in the ecosystem here and to learn from that.”

—Staff writer Mahnoor B. Ali can be reached at mahnoor.ali@thecrimson.com.