In South Deerfield, florrent, an energy storage research and development company focused on supercapacitors, continues to grow after investor demand pushed its second seed funding round past its target, closing at $9.5 million.
In Holyoke, Clean Crop Technologies uses electricity to generate cold plasma that removes microbes and other contaminants from seeds.
Both companies show that innovation is alive and well in the region, says Western Mass Economic Development Council President and CEO Aaron Vega, and their expansion is benefiting the entire region through new job opportunities.
Vega said the region has often been overlooked by the Boston area, and while there’s hope the economy can build on work already underway by area colleges and universities, municipalities, chambers, workforce organizations and other partners, he’s working to define a strategy and role for the EDC going forward.
“It’s incumbent for us to highlight what’s happening here in western Massachusetts so we’re not left behind,” Vega said.
Eight months into the role, Vega said he wants to draw on strong existing relationships to serve as the region’s “convener of conveners,” to, as he puts it, be the connective tissue across those organizations, and to be an advocate for the region.
“We’re really trying to take what’s been done in the past but focus on the future,” Vega said.
Vega spoke to the Daily Hampshire Gazette after recently publishing a paper titled “Western Mass is Building the Next Economy. Now We Need to Connect It.”
At the heart of his thesis: western Massachusetts already has many of the pieces of a sophisticated innovation economy, spanning quantum computing, advanced manufacturing, food science, climate technology, AI, workforce development and commercialization. The challenge, he said, is connecting those pieces — turning research into companies, companies into customers, and innovation into jobs, investment and growth.
Vega said the Connecticut River Valley has too long been viewed as a hidden gem. He sees a real desire for comprehensive marketing, attracting new businesses, and laying the groundwork for a larger regional marketing plan that hasn’t been sufficiently outward-facing.
For Hampshire and Franklin counties specifically, Vega pointed to strong manufacturing, agriculture, tourism leadership, a creative economy and business development, supported by UMass Amherst and Smith, Amherst and Mount Holyoke colleges. He also cited a strong food economy, including partnerships with Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) and the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, along with businesses working to expand the food sector through workforce and technology investment.
Vega said he sees similar challenges across the region — including access to healthcare and transportation — and believes that while Hampden County and the Springfield population center are distinct, the three counties can work more closely together.
One of his main goals is making the region a place where people can both start and continue a career. That means ensuring sufficient housing and addressing population growth forecasts that could limit the future workforce.
“The long-term goal in this position is about population stabilization and population growth,” Vega said.
Keeping more UMass graduates in the region, he said, could serve as one measurable outcome — an opportunity for the whole region to take part in.
Vega’s paper lays out a regional innovation framework meant to turn the region’s research, technology, manufacturing, food, climate, healthcare and workforce strengths into more companies, investment, careers and business growth, by making the system easier to navigate across Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties.
He pointed to UMass researchers receiving approximately $235 million in sponsored research funding during the last academic year, and the university earning 22 U.S. patents in fiscal year 2026, alongside nationally recognized food science and agricultural sciences programs.
He also highlighted Western New England University’s Center for Quantum Hardware Development and the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center, which add testing, commercialization, workforce and advanced-computing capacity to the regional ecosystem.
Other companies and institutions — including Myrias Optics, Cofab Design and Peerless Precision, along with major employers such as MassMutual, Baystate Health and Tech Foundry — show how research, entrepreneurship, manufacturing, customers and workforce can come together as parts of the same regional economy, Vega said.
The measure of success, Vega writes, isn’t the number of meetings held, but outcomes: companies, investment, careers, higher wages, business growth and more opportunities for people to build their futures in western Massachusetts.
Over the next six months, Vega said he plans to share information, amplify the message and advocate at the state level, with small businesses playing a role as lobbyists and advocates. He said he’d like to see bigger corporations in eastern Massachusetts look to western Massachusetts for contractors, ensuring companies here are top of mind or at least have a seat at the table.
“Too long we’ve been overlooked,” Vega said.
The EDC must also confront challenges posed by the federal government, he said.
“I think we can do a lot for everyone,” Vega said. “The EDC is here to weather the storm with partners throughout the region.”
