The first Boston Indicators report, The Wisdom of Our Choices: Indicators of Change, Progress and Sustainability, was released in the fall of 2000 at the height of the dot.com high-tech boom that had propelled Boston to world-class status. The report chronicled the city’s recent rise but warned of the two-tiered effect of the knowledge economy, which favored those with a good education while leaving the educationally disadvantaged further behind—a “tale of two cities.”

Innovation and Creativity: A Bridge to the Future, released in early 2003 into a deepening high-tech bust and post 9/11 recession, identified Boston’s assets as a “three-legged stool:” institutional and physical infrastructure; the culture and practice of innovation; and a highly-skilled and creative workforce, the weakening leg of the stool. From 1995 to 2000, among 12 US metropolitan areas, Metro Boston had gained only 2.2% single collegeeducated residents—some 4,736 compared with San Francisco’s 49,468— with Atlanta at 28%, Denver at 26%, Phoenix at 25% and Seattle at 20%. New York, Chicago, LA and DC all outranked Metro Boston in the percentage gain. The report identified high housing costs and other factors as obstacles to talent retention. Meanwhile, Boston and the Commonwealth were failing to educate homegrown talent, the cohort most likely to make Metro Boston their permanent home, to rising 21st century standards.

Thinking Locally, Acting Globally: A Regional Wake Up Call, was released in mid-2005 following the sale or merger of many of Boston’s largest, oldest and most iconic companies. The report highlighted intensifying regional and global competition for high-tech jobs and talent that threatened to erode the region’s prospects, particularly in combination with long unmet local challenges, including the lack of “the collaborative gene.” That report contained, for the first time, “An Emerging Civic Agenda” in four key areas: An Inclusive, Dynamic, Effective Civic Culture; 21st Century Human Capital; 21st Century Jobs and Economic Strategies; and 21st Century Infrastructure, based on a confluence of local research and stakeholder priorities.

A Time Like No Other: Charting the Course of the Next Revolution, released in mid-2007, noted a set of intensifying global forces buffeting Boston: global population growth; technological innovation; economic globalization; and global climate change. It listed seven “Crisis/Opportunity” pairs, reframing Boston’s challenges as its greatest potential for growth and leadership: Skilled Labor Shortage/Talent Imperative; Uneven Job Growth/ Business Expansion; Income Inequality/Expanding Opportunity; Racial/ Ethnic Isolation/Global Connectivity; Health Care Behemoth/Cost-Effective Health; Higher Cost of Living/Smarter Growth; Energy Dependence/Green Innovation. It also provided a progress report on the Emerging Civic Agenda.