U.S. Army officials met today with U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D.-Mass., Gov. Charlie Baker, and Mayor Marty Walsh to hear their pitch for why Boston should be home to the Army's Futures Command Headquarters.
Boston is one of five cities being considered for the command center, where the Army will study future threats the nation might face and develop the technology to meet them.
"Boston is the innovation hub and the technology hub of the world," said Kit Parker, a professor of bioengineering and applied physics at Harvard University, and a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves. He says the city is uniquely strong in industries like robotics and biomedical engineering — things the Army needs.
"As we move forward, that huge strength that we have in those areas is going to have to be exploited by the military as we face additional challenges on the battlefield," he said.
Parker says if the Army chose Boston, it could tap into all of the city's existing technology and expertise, and the move could strengthen important ties between academia, the tech industry, and the military.
"It's important for these schools to understand that they've got skin in the game in terms of national security," he said. "And it's important for the Army to reach out to these universities to kind of initiate this contact."
The technology industry could respond to the military's needs, and the military would be aware of the most cutting edge science, Parker said.
