At tech summit, Mass. tech leaders aim to stimulate the innovation economy

One of the themes of the Globe’s 2026 Tech Power Players list is the resurgence of Boston’s AI scene, what with new unicorns such as Blitzy and Lila Sciences emerging over the past year, as well as growing public and private-sector efforts to support AI startups.

At our annual Tech Innovation Summit at the State Room on Tuesday, dozens of the power players came out to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the local tech scene and debate whether AI was helping or hindering Massachusetts.

A private lunch gathering followed the publication of the 2026 list, along with stories detailing growing optimism about the local tech scene, contributions from the region’s many colleges and universities, and the role Massachusetts could play in ensuring the ethical use of AI, along with some detailed stats about the state of the tech economy here.

One of the state’s biggest challenges — not new — is that so many students come to the area and develop ideas for startups, only to build them in California or New York (from Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook to the recent MIT dropouts who started AI coding firm Cursor a few years ago).

“We have the best students in the world, and yet our students leave, and this is a point of concern,” Daniela Rus, a robotics scientist and head of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, said at the lunch. “What is it that we need to put in place to ensure that we actually get the future that these extraordinary students we’re training are going to build?” she asked.

Colin Angle, one of the cofounders (and former CEO) of iRobot, identified another challenge for the region: the shrinking pool of local venture capital firms investing in startups. Angle is in the process of raising money for his new consumer robotics startup called Familiar Machines & Magic by holding a few demonstrations.

“I’m getting on a plane to go to San Francisco, where I have 22 VCs lined up to see the demonstration,” he said. “Here in Massachusetts, I have two, and they’re both driving up from New York City.”

But the gathering also stressed recent efforts to keep students here and attract more startups, such as the Massachusetts AI Coalition.

Ryan Durkin, a vice president at wearable tech company Whoop who leads the coalition, said the group is offering free work space, AI computing power, and early seed funding for local startups.

“I’m very happy [that] over the past three or four months, the conversation has shifted from ‘what’s wrong with Massachusetts’ to ‘I think we know what’s wrong, and now it’s time to fix those things.’”

The state could also do better teaching kids about how to use — and not use — AI, according to former Massachusetts Education Commissioner Jeff Riley, who is now working for nonprofit Day of AI to develop AI curricula for K-12 students and spoke at one of the summit’s public panels.

The three R’s of elementary school, reading, writing, and ‘rthmetic, should get a fourth R, he joked: ‘rtificial intelligence. Noting that AI could be more powerful than a car, Riley suggested “kids almost need an AI license.”

But it was former Secretary of Economic Development Yvonne Hao who gave the most direct clarion call to increase the state’s role in the AI economy. Massachusetts, with its deep intellectual roots and innovation history, should be ensuring that AI is used ethically and for the good of all people, Hao said.

“Let’s not ask what AI can do for us,” Hao said, channeling John F. Kennedy. “What can we do with AI to help the world?”

🎓 How Franklin Cummings Tech president Aisha Francis is transforming the vocational school. Read more from business reporter Janelle Nanos.

🔒 The Legislature’s online privacy bill shows Massachusetts can lead the way. Read more from tech columnist Hiawatha Bray.

🤖 Robotics and medical tech company Novanta in Bedford is raising $300 million through a private placement of equity shares. The company is also acquiring Oregon-based Riverpoint Medical for $1.2 billion.

👀 Online monitoring firm Coralogix in Boston raised $200 million in a deal led by Advent, CPPIB, and Greenfield.

🔢 AI coding startup Flux in Boston raised $5 million in a deal led by Calibrate Ventures and including True Ventures and Glasswing Ventures.

🚧 AI construction software firm Enlaye in Boston raised $5 million in a deal led by Glasswing Ventures and Link Ventures.

⛵ Boating software firm Dockwa in Newport, R.I., raised an undisclosed amount from private equity firm PSG.

🌟 Data storage company Starburst in Boston hired Paras Malhotra as chief information security officer. Malhotra previously was senior director of information security at Datadog.

👋 Influencer marketing company Later in Boston hired Dena Upton as chief people officer. Upton previously worked at Advisor360°, Drift, and LogMeIn.

🔔 With SpaceX expected to go public in a few days, AI giant OpenAI announced that it had filed confidentially for an initial public offering. But OpenAI said “it may be a while” before its stock starts trading. Rival Anthropic submitted its confidential filing last week.

📱 Apple unveiled an upgraded and more capable version of its Siri digital assistant powered by new AI models that use underlying technology from Google.

⚡ Mitsubishi Electric US opened a digital transformation hub in Kendall Square that will employ about 120 people.

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Driverless Trucks Are Here—and They’re Delivering Bags of Doritos (Wall Street Journal)

Robots are about to overtake armed soldiers as the deciders of war (New Scientist)

👋 Thanks for reading. We’ll be will be back next Wednesday.

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Aaron Pressman can be reached at aaron.pressman@globe.com. Follow him @ampressman.