Boston recognized as innovation leader in advanced manufacturing

Hi all!

Happy summer, everyone! I hope you all enjoy this fantastic summer weather on the East Coast (okay, it's a mixed bag for our friends in Europe ).

We are quite late with our newsletter this month, but work, EM 24, and Copa America caused some publishing distractions.

All right, let's get back to work. It's great to see Boston being recognized as one of the key innovation leaders in advanced manufacturing.

Boston shines as a prominent player in the digital revolution. In JLL’s recently released 2024 Innovation Geographies report, Boston has emerged as the third-largest innovation geography worldwide.

The State of Manufacturing

The Manufacturing PMI Index contracted for the second consecutive month in May and registered 48.7%, down 0.5 compared to April’s reading of 49.2%.

The Prices Index is down 3.9 percentage points compared to the reading of April.

The Backlog of Orders also moved to the contraction territory.

Analysts say that the EU-China relations are at risk of severely deteriorating if the current trade “tit-for-tat” develops into a hardline approach from the two blocs.

European leaders have targeted what they perceive as unfair competition in the global electric vehicle (EV) market due to Chinese subsidies. In response, Chinese officials have condemned the new measures, calling them protectionist and potentially violating the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

Understanding the horrible year for US offshore wind: For the first time in more than a decade, the United States had a decrease in utility-scale electricity generation from renewable sources, according to the Energy Information Administration.

The decrease was small—0.8 percent—but it’s still significant considering substantial growth is considered “normal.”

Massachusetts startups raised $698 million in VC funding in May. A decrease from April's $900.5 million. Biotech and healthtech represented the majority of the funding in May.

Check out all the Mass. company's mergers and acquisitions in May.

Clean Energy Ventures (CEV), a leading global venture capital firm funding early-stage climate innovations, announced a second flagship fund with total capital commitments of $305 million.

Found Energy Co., a clean energy startup based in Charlestown that makes energy from aluminum waste, raised $14.6 million in equity and other securities.

Sublime Systems’ low-carbon cement goes commercial: Boston’s largest “net-zero” building, the new Amazon Inc. tower that's going up in the Seaport District.

In our May survey, we asked which areas your company would prioritize for investment in the next 12 months.

The majority of our respondents said that strengthening management processes (20.8%) and investing in advanced AI algorithms (19.8%) will be their key investment areas for the next year.

Tokyo government to launch a dating app as part of the efforts to boost the plunging national birth rate. Last year, Japan recorded more than twice as many deaths than births. StateSponsoredTinder

This interactive map lets you see how close you’d be to supermarkets, libraries, transit, and more in spots across various cities.

Amazon’s Prime Air delivery drones get a major FAA clearance. PackagesFromBeyondTheLineOfSight

Cheers,

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