Berkshire Benchmarks Releases State of the County Update

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Benchmarks data team recently released a State of the County Update for 2023. 
 
This brief report builds on the Berkshire Benchmarks State of the County Report published in May 2022 and highlights notable changes in regional indicators over the past year. The berkshirebenchmarks.org website has also been updated to reflect the most current available data. 
 
The purpose of the Benchmarks initiative and report is to highlight the region's successes and challenges.
 
The 2022 Berkshire Benchmarks State of the County report provided a comprehensive overview of our region's performance across eight sectors: Economy, Education, Environment, Government, Health, Housing, Social Environment, and Transportation.  
 
In the future, the Berkshire Benchmarks team will continue to monitor these and other indicators to aid with the regional understanding of changes in these sectors and whether the work happening throughout the region is having the intended impact. 
 
Berkshire Benchmarks is a collaborative initiative managed through Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC). Our sources are publicly available data, including the U.S. Census Bureau, the American Community Survey, various Massachusetts data sets, and periodic surveys of Berkshire County residents. 
 
Berkshire Benchmarks aims to work with the community to understand priorities and help inform the region on how we are doing and if we are improving. Berkshire Benchmarks enhances the region's access to quality data and analysis. 

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Berkshire Innovation Center Expansion Aims to Bring Jobs, Innovation to Pittsfield

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Innovation Center broke ground on its roughly 12,000-square-foot expansion on Thursday, surrounded by state and local officials, business leaders, and industry partners who helped bring the project to fruition.
 
The approximately $8 million expansion will bring advanced manufacturing capabilities, new jobs, and additional opportunities for technology companies to the William Stanley Business Park, speakers at Thursday's ceremony said. 
 
The importance of collaboration among state and local officials and the private sector in fostering innovation, creating jobs and driving economic growth was a central theme throughout the event.
 
It was no coincidence that the groundbreaking brought together representatives from government and the private sector, including Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, state Sen. Paul Mark, state Reps. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, Leigh Davis and John Barrett III, alongside business leaders and industry partners from the Berkshire Innovation Center, Electro Magnetic Applications and Myrias Optics.
 
"Massachusetts is now the mecca of research in the world. Nothing comes close to what we do," Neal said, highlighting several of the state's research and innovation centers, including Berkshire Medical Center, Kendall Square and UMass Medical.
 
"These are the breakthrough moments that are happening, and we have a chance to witness them," he said. 
 
The BIC and the tech hub that has been created around advanced optics is going to build on creating new opportunities in an organic way by using the region's success and leveraging it for more, Driscoll said. 
 
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