The IGTTC is today at the vanguard of a long business tradition of creating unique marketplaces to unite buyers and sellers, services and institutions, that truly de-fragments a complex new global industry.

The Permanent Trade Show is a powerful concept begun a thousand years ago in Leipzig, Germany, where merchants gathered from around Europe (and still do) to buy and sell and share innovation.

In the 20th century, as travel became easier after World War II, permanent trade fairs grew to focus on specific industries, becoming learning centers where buying and selling could take place alongside the latest advancements and conferences planned to enlighten trade show members.

In 1969, the Altman Group, headed by Fred Altman, the Senior Advisor to the IGTTC, first implemented a global showroom strategy to centralize the buying and selling for various industries.

In 1972, the Altman Group’s showroom strategy was applied to the original Sylvania light bulb factory that is now in the shadow of the new TradeCenter128 Green Building complex. The facility became the centralized meeting point for buyers and sellers in the clothing industry, achieving vast economies of scale for its members and their clients by drastically reducing travel requirements for department store buyers and 160 clothing line sales reps, all of whom were able to meet at a single location for the first time.

In 1979, Sheldon Adelson, another Boston-based marketer and now president of the Sands Hotel & Casino, grasped the power of truly unifying a new and fragmented industry, creating the COMDEX computer trade show in Las Vegas, where it reigned as the leading meeting spot for learning about new products, generating leads for buyers and sellers for two decades, peaking in the Internet Age and dot.com boom.

Adding to the explosive networking power of traditional trade shows and permanent innovation centers, the IGTTC also builds from the Venture Capital Incubator examples that cater to Boston’s elite university alumni start-ups, such as MIT’s Clean Energy Competition and other non-profit ventures, providing space, leadership and business contacts. Start-ups that exist as dreams and business plans are also well catered to at many Boston-area incubators, including the IGTTC-affiliated institution, the CleanTech InnoVenture Center.

The IGTTC expands upon previous incarnations of the trade center model, creating a permanent yet dynamic space for Green Tech trade, and adding value with a dedicated publicity machine to promote the center and its members in the press and an extensive team of in-house and external communications, branding, marketing, distribution, operations, fundraising and energy and industry expert consultants to work with member companies that need professional advice to grow to the next level of business success.

The IGTTC opportunity was designed for companies that seek the sales exposure within the trade center, as well as the expert assistance to bring a company with $1 million in sales to the next level by an order of magnitude.

An early leader in the green building movement, Cummings Properties' latest development, TradeCenter 128 on Route 128 in Woburn is LEED pre-certified gold. Businesses at this 500,000 SF, first-class complex fronting Routes 128 and Interstate 95 benefit from lower utility costs, improved air quality and lighting, and green housekeeping.

TradeCenter 128 completed the first phase of a major 200 kW photovoltaic solar panel installation made up of 518 panels. Partially funded by a grant by the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust, the panel array generates much of the power for common area lighting and HVAC systems at 300 TradeCenter and is among the largest solar installations in Massachusetts.

Thanks to such energy optimization and reliance on green power, TradeCenter 128 is on pace to receive full Gold certification from the United States Green Building Council's ("USGBC") Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program ("LEED"). LEED Gold certification is one of the highest certifications awarded by the USGBC and a real testament to the environmental awareness of all that earn it.

TradeCenter 128 also features operable windows, high-performance glass, high-recycled content materials, premium efficiency HVAC and lighting systems, energy-recovery fresh-air ventilators, on-site recycling programs and green housekeeping. The facility has preferred parking for low-emission vehicles, as part of a free, 900-car parking garage.

Route 128 is a center of innovation and a time-tested economic engine for high-tech firms.

In a 1955 Business Week article about Massachusetts’ Route 128, entitled “New England Highway Upsets Old Way of Life,” Boston’s ring road was called the state’s “Magic Semicircle.”

By 1958, Route 128 already needed to be widened from six to eight lanes, and business growth continued. In 1957, there were 99 companies employing 17,000 workers along Route 128; in 1965, 574; in 1973, 1,212. In the 1980s, the economic growth engine along Route 128 was dubbed the “Massachusetts Miracle.”

At the time, many of Boston’s most well-known science and engineering firms moved there headquarters to Route 128, including Digital Equipment Corporation, Data General, Draper Laboratory, Teradyne, Thermo Electron Corporation, Analog Devices, Computervision, GTE, Polaroid, Sun Microsystems, Wang, BEA Systems and Raytheon.

In the 1990s, semiconductors and “analog” devices made way for internet, biotechnology, and fiberoptics and the world’s leading software producers, including Microsoft and EMC and internet names, such as Monster.com.

In Massachusetts, Governor Deval Patrick’s Green Communities Act leads the nation in “green reform,” which is his administration’s highest profile project. With Boston’s well-funded venture community focusing on investment opportunities in green technology, the IGTTC will lead Route 128 into the future.