Section I – Legislative Initiatives in the Biosciences
Alaska FY07 budget funds for biotechnology research facilities
Alaska’s FY07 budget included new funding in the amount of $55 million for an Integrated Science Facility at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. Alaska to date has funded an Ecosystem and Biomedical Health facility at UAA ($4.75 million) and a Biological and computational Sciences facility at University of Alaska, Fairbanks ($21.5 million.)
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Connecticut legislature increases funding for Connecticut Innovations
Connecticut Innovations, an entity created with state funding to provide capital investment and strategic planning to companies in high-tech fields including biotechnology and information technology will receive an additional $3 million in state bond funding to expand its operations. Created in 1989, Connecticut Innovations was self sustaining by 1995. Connecticut Innovations has attracted more than 100 startup companies to Connecticut, bringing in $500 million in gross profits and creating 5,000 jobs.
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Massachusetts’ $1 billion life sciences bill to help train workers
Massachusetts’ $1 billion life sciences bill includes a $30 million provision to train students for careers in the life sciences and a $25 million grant program for bioscience workforce training aimed at educating workers about federal and state regulations. Massachusetts’ governor estimates that this legislative initiative will generate 250,000 new jobs over the next decade.
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Pennsylvania Governor pushes bioscience tax breaks
As part of a $2.3 billion economic stimulus package, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell has advocated for a set of tax breaks to help bioscience companies. The plan would allow bioscience companies to write off a greater portion of net operating losses on subsequent years’ taxes. The 2008 Pennsylvania budget also includes $1.85 billion to fund bioscience related research.
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Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Biotech tax breaks
Florida offers BD $1.5 million to help ease move to Miami
Miami-Dade County commissioners will ask the state for $150,000 in job growth incentives for Becton Dickinson and Co., the Franklin Lakes, N.J.- based biotechnology firm. The company has already secured $1.36 million in incentives to open a Miami facility but the additional $150,000 will help secure 75 jobs and match spending of $21.1 million in capital improvements under the Brownfield Redevelopment program. Becton Dickinson purchased the 253,000 sq. ft. old Ivax Corporation manufacturing site in Miami in August through a special warrantee deed, greatly reducing state and local property transaction fees.
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Section II – Innovative Programs to Advance the Industry
North Carolina summer science and math program
North Carolina funds Summer Ventures in Science and Mathematics, a free program for academically talented high school juniors and seniors who come together in residential settings at six North Carolina college campuses for four weeks of intensive study. Nine out of the 14 high school students who went to the southern regional finals of the 2006 Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology were from two NC schools.
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Alabama opens $65 million wing to Institute for Biotechnology
Alabama has opened the Associates Wing of the Hudson Alpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville. The $65 million state-funded wing will house 12 biotechnology companies and is located in Cummings Research Park, the second-largest research park in the country. A second wing is planned to house biotechnology research.
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North Carolina opens world’s largest center for educating biotech employees
North Carolina’s Bio-manufacturing and Pharmaceutical Training Consortium, funded with $60 million from the nonprofit Golden Leaf Foundation along with half of the state's tobacco settlement money from cigarette manufacturers, opened a state-of the-art training center at North Carolina State University in September 2007. This training center is believed to give NC a competitive advantage in the biotechnology industry. The 82,500-square-foot Golden Leaf Bio-manufacturing Training & Education Center (BTEC) is a globally unique facility with commercial-scale equipment to provide the specialized education and training needed to work in the biopharmaceutical industry and will provide training for college students as well as industry employees. The center will also support new biomanufacturing technology research. It will serve 2,000 students annually when fully operational. North Carolina expects a 10 percent increase in bioscience industry growth this year.
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Hagerstown Community College dedicates new biotechnology labs
Hagerstown Community College opened a 4,000 sq. ft. facility with 11 wet labs for lease by biotechnology and life science firms. The $1.3 million project was funded by the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED), the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) and the Washington County Board of County Commissioners. The new facility is part of the Technology Innovation Center (TIC) at Hagerstown. With an annual operating budget of $160,000, the TIC has created 171 jobs in 34 companies since it started.
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BIO Nebraska launches Nebraska Bioscience Week
BIO Nebraska and Future Force Nebraska launched Nebraska Biosciences Week in February of this year as part of a year-long campaign by the organizations to stimulate interest and excitement in science among middle-school students. Nebraska Bioscience Week was conceived when BIO Nebraska and Future Force Nebraska jointly received a $25,000 legislative challenge grant from the national Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) to promote interest, attention and funding for science education in K-12 schools.
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Biomedical field created 22,000 jobs and $7.2 billion in West Virginia
A West Virginia University study shows that the biomedical field was responsible for creating 22,000 jobs and $7.2 billion of business in West Virginia in 2006. Ongoing research at Marshall University and WVU in the field generated an additional $200 million in 2007. The study also states the average salary of a worker employed in bioscience is more than $55,000, well above the state average salary of $37,000.
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