THERE’S A NATURAL process by which some old factories within blocks of the Charles River in Newton, Watertown, and Waltham could have emerged as a hip new innovation hotbed.
The brick buildings, which already boast some tech-forward tenants, look like the kind of spaces where 3-D-printing artisans might set up shop or new hemp-based B2B e-commerce synergies might reveal themselves. Newton, Watertown, and Waltham, though suburban by the standards of Kendall Square, are denser than Austin or much of Silicon Valley. And there are at least a few watering holes nearby where local entrepreneurs could develop a shared identity — as denizens of, say, a “Charles River Mill District” — after sharing their aspirations over craft ales over the course of years.
Image: CLOUDLOCK Employees at CloudLock, a cloud security company based in the Watch Factory building in Waltham, enjoy dedicated deck space on the river. Suburban towns are branding the area “Charles River Mill District.”
