A $100 Million Bet That Vacationland Can Be a Tech Hub, Too

Universities don’t just spring forth, though. Somewhat over two years ago, Mr. Roux and a small team of advisers set out on a hunt from Massachusetts to California to Georgia to New York, looking for a research university that might prove a good fit.

In December, they reached an agreement with Northeastern, a private university whose main campus is in Boston. It will add Portland to a network that includes campuses in Seattle; Silicon Valley; Charlotte, N.C.,; Toronto; and London.

The Roux Institute will open in May — in temporary quarters — offering a smattering of nonaccredited courses to whet the appetite of local employers and their workers. The first cohort of some 100 degree-seeking students will start in the fall. The student body is expected to grow to some 2,600 within 10 years.

“In other places, there was already an ecosystem for tech and for digital and for life sciences,” Joseph E. Aoun, Northeastern’s president, said about its expansion efforts. In Portland, “our opportunity is to launch this ecosystem and shape it,” he said. “That’s why it’s going to be transformational.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/27/business/economy/portland-maine-economy.html?emc=rss&partner=rss