‘Tis the season to reflect on the past year and take a look at some of Xconomy Boston’s top stories.
As usual, these aren’t necessarily the highest-traffic stories (though in some cases they are). They are stories that exemplify what we are trying to deliver to our readers every day—narratives about the people, companies, and ideas that are shaping the future of technology, life sciences, and cleantech in our region, and across the country.
It was very hard to pick just 20 stories, like I usually do. I guess that’s a good thing. So I fudged it and actually picked slightly more—a dozen tech stories, and a dozen life sciences and cleantech stories.
In any case, our editor’s picks for 2011 span the fields of software, mobile, Internet, security, health IT, biotech, life sciences, energy, and hardware/materials.
They range in topic from people stories (Adriana Jenkins, Steve Jobs) to company strategies (Acme Packet, Vertex) to trends and analysis (big data, biotech risks); from universities (Harvard accelerator) to startups (MedicalRecords, Harvest Power) to big companies (IBM, Pfizer, Biogen Idec); from Q&As (Rob Day, Jim Baum) to company profiles (EnVivo, MC10) to news features (testing the nation’s first car collision-avoidance system); and from big community projects (Entrepreneur Walk of Fame) to cheeky area clusters (top 10 “boring” tech companies).
Here they are in their full glory, our top 20-ish stories of the year, sorted by sector:
Top 12 Tech Stories
MedicalRecords.com Looks to Cash In on Health Software “Gold Rush”
The Social Network for Cars: Test of the Nation’s First Wireless Collision Avoidance System
Semyon Dukach, the MIT Blackjack King, Takes SMTP Public in Latest Effort to Fight the Power
Netezza Chief Talks About Formative PTC Days, IBM Deal History, and the Future of Big Data
You Snooze, You Lose: 10 Boring Boston-Area Tech Companies That Are Actually Interesting
Top 12 Life Sciences and Cleantech Stories
Agios and Celgene: Anatomy of an Ultra-Valuable Biotech Marriage
Bob Langer’s Advice for Turning Foundation and Government Money into Startup Success
George Scangos, the Boy from Working Class Boston, on His Road Back to Lead Biogen Idec
EnVivo, Backed by Fidelity Biosciences, Tests New Weapon Against Alzheimer’s
The Missing Ingredient in Today’s Biotech: Guts
Genentech Scoops Up Tumor-Starving Drug Program from Forma Therapeutics in Rare Deal
Pfizer’s Idea to Fix the Drug Development Crisis, Which Probably Won’t Work (But Just Might)
Vertex Nails Pivotal Study for Cystic Fibrosis, Racing Toward Market With Second Drug
Adriana Jenkins, Boston Biotech PR Maven, Dies from Breast Cancer at 41