At Operations Calling 2026, Secretary Paley joined Tulip's Natan Linder and Massachusetts AI and hardware leaders from WHOOP, Tutor Intelligence, and the Massachusetts AI Coalition to discuss what it will take for the state to lead in AI-enabled manufacturing and to bring more manufacturing back to the U.S.
BOSTON, Mass., October 7, 2026: Massachusetts Secretary of Economic Development Eric Paley opened the second day of Operations Calling 2026 today with a fireside conversation with Natan Linder, co-founder and CEO of Tulip, the leader in Frontline Operations. The session, "The Partnership Playbook: Local Government and AI-Enabled Manufacturing," took place at Tulip's headquarters in Somerville, in front of nearly 700 manufacturing and operations leaders.
Secretary Paley and Linder discussed why advanced manufacturing is where Massachusetts competes, how state funding can keep up with factories that increasingly run on software, and what it will take to train a workforce for AI. They were then joined on stage by Ryan Durkin, Vice President of AI and Community Engagement at WHOOP, representing the Massachusetts AI Coalition; Sean Munnis, Vice President of Manufacturing at WHOOP; and Emily Spector, Co-Founder and Head of Business Operations at Tutor Intelligence, for a panel on building AI-enabled hardware in Massachusetts and what reshoring requires in practice.
Massachusetts' edge: technology that meets the physical world
Massachusetts' advantage comes from the overlap of world-class research and leading industries in robotics, life sciences, defense, advanced manufacturing, and industrial software. That combination puts the state in a strong position to lead in applied AI, particularly in complex, real-world environments like factories, labs, and supply chains.
As AI moves into more specialized applications, technical expertise and industry knowledge will matter even more. Secretary Paley pointed to Massachusetts' strengths in both as a competitive advantage.
“We can win on applied AI here in Massachusetts because we’re already leading in the industries it will transform,” said Secretary Paley. “We’re a leader in robotics, biotech, defense innovation, and advanced manufacturing. We need to harness the talent and expertise we have here and make sure our workforce and industries have the protections and support they need to succeed as technology evolves.”
Linder said the rise of physical AI gives Massachusetts a clearer way to tell a story the region has long undersold.
"I've been saying this for many years to anyone who would listen, before it was important and cool. And now, with physical AI as the backdrop, we have a really good framing: Boston is the advanced manufacturing capital of the world," said Natan Linder, co-founder and CEO of Tulip.
The state's role, and what reshoring requires
Secretary Paley described a pattern he sees across Massachusetts: companies conducting R&D inside Route 128 and manufacturing outside I-495, allowing engineering talent to move easily between the lab and the factory.
Linder pointed to an area where state support could evolve alongside the industry: by investing in digital and software tools, which is something Secretary Paley said the state is evaluating.
“The factories of the future are going to be powered by software,” said Secretary Paley. “We’re seeing that across Massachusetts as manufacturers invest in new technology, and it’s increasingly important to how we think about supporting the sector.”
Secretary Paley oversees the Healey-Driscoll administration's economic development agenda, including the rollout of the Mass Leads Act, the roughly $4 billion economic development law signed in November 2024. It includes $100 million for the Massachusetts AI Hub at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative and $99 million in flexible grants for advanced manufacturing.
The conversation also emphasized the practical efforts manufacturing companies in Massachusetts can make to encourage AI adoption & training. Whoop and Tutor Intelligence are founding members of the Massachusetts AI Coalition, a company-led group working to speed up practical AI adoption across the state.
“We’re starting to pair the solutions to questions that founders aren’t even asking. We can discover the unasked…without them even coming to us,” said Ryan Durkin, VP AI at WHOOP, and a founding voice of the Mass AI Coalition.
Coalition members host in-person workshops led by people putting AI into production, hands-on build sessions, and events built around sharing real AI use cases, retraining and keeping talent, and drawing new companies to Massachusetts, with more than 100 events planned for 2026.
About the speakers
Eric Paley is Massachusetts Secretary of Economic Development. Before joining the Healey-Driscoll administration in 2025, he spent more than two decades as an entrepreneur and investor, as co-founder and managing partner of Founder Collective and as co-founder and CEO of Brontes Technologies, which was acquired by 3M in 2006.
Natan Linder is co-founder and CEO of Tulip and co-founder of Formlabs.
Ryan Durkin is Vice President of AI and Community Engagement at WHOOP and leads the Massachusetts AI Coalition.
Sean Munnis is Vice President of Manufacturing at WHOOP, the Boston-based maker of wearable health and performance technology.
Emily Spector is Co-Founder and Head of Business Operations at Tutor Intelligence, a Watertown, Mass.-based company.
About the Massachusetts AI Coalition
The Massachusetts AI Coalition is a company-led group of technology, manufacturing, healthcare, consumer, and industrial companies and investors headquartered in or active across the Commonwealth. Formed with WHOOP as founding chair, it works to speed up real-world AI adoption, help member companies attract, retrain, and keep talent, and bring new companies and builders to Massachusetts.
About Operations Calling 2026
Operations Calling 2026, the fourth annual edition of Tulip's flagship event, takes place October 6 to 7 at Tulip HQ and The Row Hotel in Somerville. The conversation continues at Operations Calling Europe, November 3 to 4 in Lyon, France. For more information, visit operationscalling.com.
All Operations Calling 2026 announcements are in the flagship release.
About Tulip
Tulip is the Frontline Operations Platform. Manufacturers in regulated and complex industries use Tulip to build apps, agents, and automations in no-code, with AI, or in code, and to run them on one governed, composable platform with end-to-end traceability and the full context of the operation. A spinoff from MIT, Tulip is headquartered in Somerville, MA, with offices in Germany, Hungary, Singapore, Israel, and Japan.
Media contact: press@tulip.co