Cambridge then, he says, was in many ways like Allston is today—eager for investment in an under-developed area. “At the same time, MIT encouraged some of its faculty to reach out and become more entrepreneurial,” Krieger says.

Coupled with the realization of developers that if they built it, biotech would come, the area became a mecca for biotechnology.

“Harvard could be thinking, ‘Gosh MIT did this.’ They’ve outstripped us, maybe we should do more,” Krieger says.

Hyman notes that Harvard is not looking to copy any other school’s success, but says he and others will certainly be studying Stanford’s success in helping to create Silicon Valley.

The development was catalyzed when Stanford sold long term leases to 9,000 acres of university land.

Companies came to be close to the school’s high-caliber minds, and gradually a technology industry grew. After rivaling Massachusetts’ Route 128 corridor throughout the 1970s, the personal computer and internet revolutions eventually propelled Silicon Valley to the head of the pack.

But Harvard doesn’t have 9,000 acres of empty land. It has a little over 100 acres of new land in Allston—crisscrossed with railroad tracks and dotted with a television station, a Star Market and auto shops. And Harvard desperately needs the space to relieve overcrowding of academic functions.

As a result, Hyman says, any use of Harvard owned land for private sector biotechnology is unlikely.

Yet, if Harvard follows through on the science scenario and moves science to Allston, they’d likely propel themselves and Boston forward.

Krieger points out that there is room for biotech to grow up around, rather than on, Harvard land.

“There is sufficient other land, that if you take a long view, could accommodate an enormous amount of development,” Krieger says, adding that the location’s access to the Mass. Turnpike is an added plus.

A Genzyme plant already sits on Harvard’s land. Almost a decade ago, the company was attracted to the plot by the Boston Redevelopment Authority who envisioned a science park opposite the Business School’s Western Ave. frontage.

Genzyme Vice President of Engineering and Facility Development Henry J. Fitzgerald said last spring that Genzyme had built with the idea in mind that they’d soon have company. While the plant sits lonely today, Genzyme could still form the “anchor” for big biotech in Allston.

On the other edge of Harvard land, real estate developer Cabot, Cabot and Forbes is in the process of adapting a half-built building to provide biotech space.

Cabot, Cabot and Forbes President Jay Doherty says his company is very interested in Harvard’s vision for the area. If Harvard located research facilities in Allston, it would likely attract further development, Doherty says. It’s the magnet effect, he says—once a critical mass has been built up, the herd of biotech firms will descend.