NORTH ADAMS Mass. — The smallest city in the state played host two weeks ago to representatives from 40 other small rural communities around the country.

 

The Rural Innovation Network Summit brought together industry experts, policy leaders, and rural economy innovators to network on rural economic development and innovation. The Berkshire Innovation Center and 1Berkshire, the county's economic development organization, partnered in bringing the sixth annual summit to North Adams. 

 

"It's been this amazing opportunity to see folks from all across the country, as well as folks from right here in the Berkshires come together in such a, not narrow, but curated way so that we're able to focus on a topic that so often none of us think about in the context of the Berkshires," said Benjamin Lamb, vice president of economic development at 1Berkshire.

 

"We were talking to someone from Taos, New Mexico, yesterday or two days ago, and we're already talking about, how could we have an exchange of both thoughts, but also even potentially talent, between Taos, New Mexico, and the Berkshires in a way that pulls our greatest assets in alignment and impacts both of us in a positive way."

 

Lamb and Benjamin Sosne, executive director at the BIC, kicked off the "Accelerating What's Possible: The Next Chapter for Rural Economies in the Age of AI," held the day before the summit, to talk about the challenges and opportunities for the Berkshires.

 

Matt Dunne, founder and chief executive officer of the Center on Rural Innovation, a nonprofit that partners with rural leaders to support entrepreneurship and technology-centered employment, opened the sessions by noting artificial intelligence arrived "a bit like a tsunami" earlier this year. 

 

"We do not know, to be clear, how [artificial intelligence] is going to affect rural jobs and rural economies, but the good news is there's any good news in that nobody does," he said. "We're all at a starting point together to be able to figure that out and to make sure that we are in a position of leading how that dynamic can happen and how it can come together."

 

Innovation director is "quite bullish" on AI because it can mean smaller teams can bring ideas to market with less capital and without every type of expert.

 

"Because of work that it was done by people in this room, the barrier of broadband that has left workplaces out of those kinds of moments when technology has been a huge advantage is not an issue," Dunne said, seeing this as a "rural electrification" moment. 

 

"We are actually at a place where there is not an unequal infrastructure opportunity, which is a pretty powerful moment."

 

A fan of creating fertile ground for growth, Lamb said he's seen the same spark in other members of the network who are thinking three generations down the pipeline. 

 

Keeping those generations in the Berkshires has become a priority for development, both said, with Sosne, a Lenox native, remembering how it was somewhat expected for youth to head to college and not come back. 

 

That's what he did, at first, but he did come back and got involved in some economic projects, not exactly what he'd gone to law school for. But the random conversations he'd had with others about attracting and maintaining local talent resulted in the $15 million BIC in Pittsfield with labs, meeting rooms and facilities for startups. 

 

It sounded a little bit like, if you build it, they will come, Sosne said, but they have. 

 

Lamb pointed out there's 24 million people living within 200 miles of the bucolic Berkshires, double what Boston has. 

 

"We actually have an incredible density of people around us, and therefore we have this really great opportunity to become a key hub of activity while maintaining our authenticity," he said. 

 

"How do we send those tendrils out in a more intentional way? How do we tell our story in a way that is attractive to others that maybe have overlooked what this place has to offer? Maybe they have not recognized where we sit on this convergence of thoroughfares of creativity and innovation and outdoor recreation and authentic food culture and all these things that we have just sitting in our hands here and so that is really something where we're looking at. ... How do we tell those stories in a similar way that we've sold this place as a destination to go to museums or cultural venues?"

 

The county's drop in population, finding qualified employees, trailing spouses, and the lack of quality housing are issues currently bedeviling the economy. The Berkshires shares other factors with its rural network colleagues, such as being seen as a place to visit for recreation rather than investment. 

 

Sosne hears a lot of conversations about the area's attractiveness for retirees. "You don't need to wait until you retire, you can come here sooner," he said. 

 

Lamb said his Ph.D. dissertation was on how college students find a place of belonging, what makes them stick. 

 

"So many people focus on brain drain. Very few people actually focus on what's that brain retention piece that is working in some places that maybe we can replicate," he said, and rather than the traditional jobs, dollars, building, redevelopment, there's a shift toward creating opportunities for community and engagement. 

 

The 1Berkshire team joined the rural network five years ago, breaking out of the Berkshire bubble to expand beyond the county's borders and the Northeast corridor. 

 

"We didn't know who was there, and now we know who they are, and we have great relationships and partnerships and authentic dialogs that we haven't been able to have historically, because other people didn't seem to recognize what we were doing," Lamb said.

 

The sessions at Hotel Downstreet were followed the next day by the conference at Massacusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. Both days covered topics such as fostering innovation, collaborations, how rural communities can invest in technologies, the impact of AI on rural communities, and financing rural tech startups. 

 

"You all have supported your startups. You all have supported your communities in upskilling them, ensuring that they have the tools and tricks to have sustainable income and sustainable jobs in your areas. You all have co-working spaces and innovation spaces that you may or may not have have had five years ago," said Br?yana Ray, director of the Rural Innovation Network, a CORI program. 

 

"I know the world as it is now brings a lot of uncertainty, and it's OK, that you question that uncertainty, and like I said, this is the space and place to be to do that."

 

The daylong summit at Mass MoCA was capped with an address by Dunne, who said the museum embodied the intersection of history, industry, innovation and creativity. 

 

"North Adams exemplifies a community that is building an economy for the future, steeped deeply in their historic past, but looking forward," he said afterward. "They have been a stalwart member, participating in not only all of our programs, but also in collaborating and sharing ideas with other leaders in other rural parts of the country."