May 8, 2002

Nanocat chooses Woburn location

Woburn, MA - MIT Professor Jackie Ying has selected Woburn to continue the growth of her firm, Nanocat Technologies. The Raymond A. and Helen E. St. Laurent professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT, Dr. Ying is very familiar with the presence of emerging companies in the Woburn area as she is a member of the scientific advisory board for Woburn-based U.S. Genomics, and Dr. Audrey Zarur, CEO of Woburn's BioProcessors sits on Nanocat's board of directors. Both firms are also tenants of Cummings Properties.

According to company officials, Nanocat is producing prototypes, in the commercial application of nano-structured materials in combustion and emissions reduction, in preparation for larger scale manufacturing and testing.
Dr. Ying had been in the market for space for nearly a year and reportedly suggested to Cummings Properties that it create small incubator spaces for start-up firms such as hers. Partly due to her idea, Woburn-based Cummings Properties created incubator spaces with laboratory benches and exhaust hoods so that small high-tech manufacturing firms could focus dollars on testing and refining production methods and not on expensive infrastructure. The spaces are marketed as The Emerging Technology Center.

John Wiseman, leasing manager for Cummings Properties, noted "The Emerging Technology Center meets the needs of an under-served market and has been very well received. A new firm can move in quickly and focus on its business while we focus on the real estate." Wiseman indicated Cummings Properties is planning a second set of incubator spaces to keep pace with the demand.

Woburn-based Cummings Properties is a locally-owned real estate development firm with more than 30 years of success in building, leasing, managing and owning real estate. With 8 million square feet in 10 communities north of Boston, Cummings Properties is said to be suburban Boston's largest landlord.