Baker: Tech industry capital has made big difference

Photo/SHNS Gov. Charlie Baker

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By State House News Service

Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday urged members of the high-tech field to continue using their resources to combat COVID-19.

Baker delivered remarks via video at the Massachusetts High Technology Council's online annual meeting. He said the council's analysis of COVID-19's impacts was "incredibly powerful and important to us as we tried to chart a course to both fight the virus, and at the same time, develop strategies to help us find a way back economically."

"The reopening hopefully will continue to go according to plan, but we all respect the virus around here," Baker said. "We know it's not going away. We know it's going to be part of our lives for a while here until other smart people in Massachusetts figure out treatments and potentially a vaccine, but what I would say to all of you is continue to bring your intellectual capital and your real capital to fight, it's made a really big difference for people here in Massachusetts."

The council presented its Ray Stata Leadership in Innovation Award to Megan Greenfield of McKinsey & Co. and Steve Pagliuca, co-chair of Bain Capital and co-owner of the Boston Celtics, for their work on the council's COVID-19 Recovery and Return to the Workplace framework.

Massachusetts is in the third phase of its gradual reopening from the shutdowns state government imposed to curb spread of COVID-19.

The council's re-elected chairman, MilliporeSigma CEO Udit Batra, told members that their recommendations to policymakers around returning to normal economic activity must be guided by science and evidence, "not by fear and false confidence."

"Through a broad restoration of economic activity, I believe that we will see the state tax revenues return to their prior levels, which will greatly limit the fiscal damage done during the past few months," he said.