Needham Gets Google's eCITY Award for Massachusetts

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You knew Needham was savvy. Did you know it was this savvy?

Google announced that Needham has been named the 2014 eCity of Massachusetts. The eCity Awards recognize the strongest online business community in each state - the digital capitals of America.

These cities’ businesses are embracing the web to find new customers, connect with existing clients and fuel their local economies.

The announcement was made with Representative Joe Kennedy III at Bakers’ Best Catering in Needham, which does much of its business for companies that are part of Needham’s growing tech sector.

“Our ‘e-City Awards’ recognize the new ‘digital capitals’ of America,” said Brian Cusack, Google Director of Sales, Cambridge. “We’re proud to recognize this growing entrepreneurial-spirit—and the role that it plays in both creating jobs and sustaining local economies. With 97-percent of Internet-users looking for products and services online, it’s clear that success is about being connected.”

“Communities like Needham are the backbone of Massachusetts’ innovation economy, defining our Commonwealth as a global leader in everything from healthcare to big data to clean energy,” said Congressman Kennedy. “Beyond the numerous high-tech companies deciding to make Needham their home, thriving local businesses like Bakers’ Best Catering are a testament to the impact this growth can have on non-tech sectors as well. I commend local business leaders, elected officials and the Newton-Needham Chamber of Commerce for the vision they have brought to this community and applaud Google for their unparalleled commitment to entrepreneurship and ingenuity at every level.”

“Needham is small community with big ambitions and we’re proud to be recognized by Google for this honor,” said Greg Reibman, president of the Newton-Needham Chamber of Commerce. “Credit goes to our municipal leaders, who had the wisdom to re-envision our old industrial areas and make them attractive to the technology, life science and other innovative businesses that are moving and thriving here.”

Google worked with an independent research firm IPSOS to analyze the online strength of local small businesses in cities in all fifty states and Needham is among the ranks of America’s leading cities in the digital economy. Massachusetts businesses already know that Americans are turning to the Internet to look for local goods and services and businesses need to be where their customers are, and in 2014, that’s online. Yet, more than half of all U.S. small businesses do not have a website.

Over the next 3 years, businesses that make use of the web are expected to grow 40 percent faster and are twice as likely to create jobs. With small businesses creating two-thirds of all new jobs, the potential impact of getting these businesses online is enormous. Google hopes that these “digital capitals” will become an inspiration to other areas—throughout the nation—of what can be accomplished by spearheading business development on the Web.

Press release posted on the town of Needham’s website