Lawmakers urged to help the blockchain sector grow

BOSTON (State House News Service) – For some in tech, Massachusetts can and should build a blockchain industry to rival Silicon Valley by investing resources in the growing industry.

Tech industry advocates testified at a Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development hearing Wednesday morning to show their support for legislation (H 4922) designed to boost education and training programs that specialize in blockchain technology.

“It’s time to think, ‘What is the art of the possible here with blockchain in the Commonwealth?'” said John Rademacher of Tata Consultancy Services. “It’s a technology that can bring workforce and economic development to the Commonwealth, we feel. Imagine looking out over the next 10 years and the Commonwealth has become what the biotech industry became here in Boston.”

The bill, introduced by Reps. Josh Cutler of Pembroke and Kate Lipper-Garabedian of Melrose, would create a Blockchain Labor Force Career Training Trust Fund to fund grants to employers, workforce development entities, vocational technical schools and institutions of higher education to develop and expand blockchain -training opportunities, and to sponsor scholarships and paid internship programs for individuals seeking careers in the industry.

Lawyers testified Wednesday that even though Massachusetts is home to some of the top tech schools in the country — MIT, Harvard, Northeastern, Tufts and Boston University — students seeking blockchain jobs are leaving the state after graduation.

Chris Gilrein, executive director of Northeast TechNet, said that according to a study commissioned by TechNet last year, the technology sector accounts for more than 450,000 jobs in Massachusetts — about 12 percent of total jobs. Gilrein said over the next 10 years, they expect the number of vacancies in the industry to grow by at least 12 percent.

“The innovation economy, it moves fast, and our traditional workforce development apparatus may not be nimble enough to respond,” Gilrein said. “As such, a targeted workforce development strategy that identifies a growth industry and works with industry to tailor new and existing programs to meet that need, such as that envisioned here in H 4922, is an appropriate and welcome response.”