Articles

Initiative aims to promote metro biotech industry

By BILL HENDRICK

Published on: 06/24/08 

A group of communities and organizations Tuesday announced the launch of Georgia's first regional branding campaign for the state's life sciences corridor, which stretches from metro Atlanta to Athens.

The initiative is aimed at providing workforce training for the state's growing biotechnology industry.

The new brand, to be called Georgia's Innovation Crescent, will attempt to cluster the region's life sciences resources and "more effectively promote the region's assets, marketing them to new businesses," said Ed Graham, project manager for the Innovation Crescent Regional Partnership.

One goal is to recognize the region that stretches from Cobb County to Gwinnett County as a "unique hub of life science talent."

The campaign incorporates the efforts of 18 communities and organizations that together formed the Innovation Crescent Regional Partnership.

It consists of regional leaders from local chambers of commerce and economic development organizations across the metro area plus Georgia Bio, the Atlanta Regional Commission and the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

"The ICRP's mission is to improve and expand the economic development marketing efforts for the life science industry within the Innovation Crescent," said Charles Craig, president of Georgia Bio, a trade group that promotes biotech growth.

"We wanted a distinct brand that would bridge the gap between local and statewide marketing efforts, supporting what we know to be the next step in strengthening our competitive edge."

The Innovation Crescent Work Ready Region will focus on establishing a stronger link between education and workforce development for life sciences companies, he said.

He added that the initiative is part of an effort to accelerate development of Georgia's bioscience workforce, with help from a $500,000 grant awarded by Gov. Sonny Perdue, Craig said.

The workforce development effort focuses on a 13-county region — the Innovation Crescent. It spreads from Cobb County east to Oglethorpe County and includes Atlanta and Fulton, DeKalb, Clayton, Gwinnett, Barrow, Jackson, Walton, Morgan, Oconee, Athens-Clarke and Madison counties.

"The major goals are to create an articulated life sciences career pathway from high school to technical colleges to universities, create training for the existing life sciences industry workforce, eliminate the skills gap... and increase high school graduation rates," he said.

"GaBio and its partners are working to help improve K-12 student achievement in science and ensure Georgia has the skilled workforce to support existing life sciences industry growth and help attract new companies to Georgia," Craig said. "These programs undertaken in the 13-county Innovation Crescent can serve as a model for counties throughout Georgia."

In addition to the Governor's Office of Workforce Development and GaBio, partners include Georgia Bioscience Technology Institute, a joint program of the Athens and Gwinnett Technical Colleges; the Biotechnology Institute of Arlington, Va.; the Georgia Research Alliance; the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education; the Georgia Department of Economic Development; the Atlanta Regional Commission; and the University of Georgia's Fanning Institute.

GaBio represents 330 pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies, universities, research institutes, government groups and other business organizations, Craig said. Georgia's biotech industry accounts for more than 15,000 jobs, a payroll close to $1 billion and boasts $7 billion in product sales.

PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL

June 20

Group lands $2.4 million for life sciences job training

The Delaware Valley Innovation Network has launched a new work-force development fund to expand the talent pool for life sciences companies in southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey and northern Delaware.

The network's innovation investment fund will provide more than $2.4 million in federal grants over the next three years to support training and "capacity building" programs aimed at increasing the supply of qualified workers for health-care, pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical-device businesses.

"The goal of the fund is to train 5,000 new workers over the next three years and provide these workers with those skills that are most needed by the life sciences companies in the DVIN region," said Kelly Lee, Delaware Valley Innovation Network executive committee chair and the executive vice president of Innovation Philadelphia.

The 14 counties in the DVIN region are Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Montgomery and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania; Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester, Mercer and Salem in New Jersey; and New Castle in Delaware.

Battelle and BIO Release State Profiles on Bioscience Employment and Growth Trends

18 June 2008

San Diego, CA—The Nation’s bioscience industry continues to grow as states and regions vie to attract high-wage jobs, according to a study released today by Battelle and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO).
 
The study, “Technology, Talent and Capital:  State Bioscience Initiatives 2008,” presents data on national, state, and metropolitan bioscience employment and growth trends during 2001 to 2006.

The study also examines a series of additional key performance metrics and describes state policies and programs designed to accelerate the growth of the biosciences.  The report has been produced from the most current and comparable annual data available.

Total U.S. employment in the biosciences reached 1.3 million in 2006, up from 1.2 million in 2004, led by strong growth in the research, testing, and medical lab subsector, which experienced a 17.8 percent increase in employment and a 32.7 percent increase in establishments between 2001 and 2006.  Indirect and induced employment from the bioscience industry totals an additional 6.2 million jobs spread throughout the remainder of the economy.  Together, these direct, indirect, and induced jobs account for a total employment impact of 7.5 million jobs.

“The bioscience sector is truly coming of age with new discoveries finding their way into new applications and products leading to new medical treatments, new sources of energy, and new industrial products made out of bio-based materials,” said Jim Greenwood, President and CEO of BIO.  “This has led to the growth of clusters of bioscience firms focused on specialized niches throughout the 50 states and Puerto Rico.”

The study and individual profiles of the 50 states and Puerto Rico are available on the BIO website at http://www.bio.org/local/battelle2008http://www.bio.org/local/battelle2008.

Among the findings:

• The bioscience sector is a source of high-wage jobs.  The average bioscience job paid $71,000 in 2006, $29,000 more than the average private sector job.
• Each bioscience job generates an additional 5.8 jobs in the national economy.
• Thirty-five states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have an employment specialization (20 percent or more concentrated than the nation) in at least one of the four bioscience subsectors (drugs and pharmaceuticals, medical devices and equipment, research, testing and medical laboratories, and agricultural feedstock and chemicals).
• Twelve states – California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas – have both a large (more than 5 percent of total U.S. employment) and specialized bioscience base in at least one of the bioscience subsectors.
• Of the nation’s 361 Metropolitan Statistical Areas, 202 have an employment specialization in at least one of the four bioscience subsectors, up from 193 in 2004.

In addition to employment, the report examines other indicators of the robustness of a state’s bioscience industry including the level of bioscience R&D funding, venture capital investment, and patents.

Highlights of additional key indicators include:

• Academic bioscience R&D expenditures total $29 billion in FY 2006.
• U.S. higher education institutions awarded more than 143,000 bioscience-related degrees in the 2006 academic year.
• Venture capital investments in bioscience companies reached $11.6 billion in 2007.
• More than 82,000 bioscience-related patents were issued to U.S. inventors between 2002 and 2007.

“Recognizing that the biosciences are a key driver of economic progress, states and regions across the country are building business climates that support the specific needs of bioscience companies at all stages of development,” said Walter H. Plosila, Senior Advisor to the Battelle Technology Partnership Practice.  “These efforts focus on technology, talent, and capital, the key ingredients needed to grow a bioscience-based economy.”

States are:

• Addressing talent needs by offering new bioscience-related programs and degrees at all education levels from K-12 through graduate and post-graduate, programs that combine business with biosciences, and developing bioscience career pathways.  About half the states have conducted an inventory or workforce needs in the biosciences sector.
• Becoming more active in supporting the application of the biosciences to agriculture, energy, and industrial products.  About half the states have committed funds for bioscience energy research and facilities.
• Changing state tax and regulatory programs to address the needs of bioscience companies.  Thirty-six states offer R&D tax credits, 31 exempt R&D equipment , including equipment purchased for biomanufacturing from sales taxes, and 39 states allow carry forward of Net Operating Losses.
• Establishing bioscience legislative caucuses and committees.  Twelve states have legislative caucuses and California, Illinois, and Minnesota have dedicated bioscience committees.
• Advancing bold initiatives in the biosciences, including investments in stem cell research.  Nine states have pledged to spend more than $4 billion on stem cell research over the next 10 years.
• Addressing the shortage of early-stage risk capital.  Thirty-three states reported programs that provide pre-seed and seed stage investments in bioscience companies.

Department of Workforce Development (DWD) Secretary Roberta Gassman today announced an Emerging Industry Skills Partnership grant of $85,000 to the Workforce Development Board of South Central Wisconsin to prepare 60 workers for rewarding careers in biotechnology and help meet the increasing demand for highly skilled workers in the region's growing biotechnology research cluster.

Governor Doyle made the Emerging Industry Skills Partnership part of his Grow Wisconsin - The Next Steps strategy for economic and workforce development. The grant that Secretary Gassman announced on his behalf will leverage an additional $200,000 in federal and private funds to ensure that Wisconsin remains a leader in the emerging biotechnology industry.

"Dane County has become the biotech hotspot of the Midwest, and the workforce training initiative we are launching today with our partners will help us remain at the forefront of pioneering research," Secretary Gassman said. "With this effort, we take a big step forward in developing a highly skilled biotech workforce, allowing us to compete at the high end and enabling this important, emerging industry to pursue research so vital to the world."

The grant is one of 10 being awarded under the Governor Doyle's Emerging Industry Skills Partnership initiative, a total of $850,000 to provide new and incumbent workers with the necessary skills and meet workforce demands in biotechnology, renewable energy and advanced manufacturing.

Secretary Gassman announced the grant during a visit to Third Wave Technologies, a molecular diagnostics firm developing products to detect human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can lead to cervical cancer. Joining her at the University Research Park location were representatives of other biotech firms and the leading partners in the training initiative, the Workforce Development Board of South Central Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Biotechnology and Medical Device Association (WBMDA).

As outlined by Secretary Gassman, the grant will:

Provide job skills training to 30 new workers and additional skills training to 30 incumbent workers; Develop a clear understanding of region's emerging biotech firms and their workforce needs, and establish a career pathway framework to meet those needs; Build a biotech industry partnership focused on workforce development and include core members of the biotechnology and medical device association; Work with the association to develop, within their corporate leaders, the essential workforce development skills necessary to help fledgling research companies grow and thrive. Accepting the grant from Secretary Gassman were Pat Schramm, Executive Director of the Workforce Development Board of South Central Wisconsin and Jim Leonhart, Executive Director of the WBMDA.

"This grant will enable the biotechnology industry to develop both the workforce strategies and workers that will be needed for future expansion," Schramm said. She said the grant would leverage not only federal money, but funding from other sources, such as Thrive, the Madison Region Economic Development Enterprise.

"Wisconsin's bioscience industry has been built on the strength of well-educated scientists and business people," Leonhart said. "The WBMA is pleased to be a partner with the state in its ongoing efforts to ensure that one of our bioscience industry's fundamental advantages will continue to be our well trained and educated people."

Other partners in the biotech training project include Madison Area Technical College, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Capital Region Economic Development Entity (REDE) and the Department of Commerce.

Dane County has more than 6,100 biotech workers, nearly a third of all biotech workers in the state. Biotech jobs are projected to increase by 15 percent in south central Wisconsin through 2014. On average, biotech workers earn an estimated $62,800 a year in Dane County and $56,700 a year in the south central region. Slightly more than half the jobs require a bachelor's degree. Nearly a third of the positions, primarily lab technician jobs, require a two-year associate's degree.

Here are two good article links around the topic of workforce transformation, one recent, the other slightly older (2003)

Engineering for a Changing World:

A Roadmap to the future of Engineering Practice, Research, and Education

2008, The Millennium Project

The University of Michigan (http://milproj.dc.umich.edu )

James J. Duderstadt

President Emeritus and University Professor of Science and Engineering

The University of Michigan

http://milproj.ummu.umich.edu/publications/EngFlex_report/download/EngFlex%20Report.pdf

ENSURING WORKFORCE SKILLS OF THE FUTURE

THE BIRTH TO WORK PIPELINE (2003)

By: Rick Stephens

President - Shared Services Group,

The Boeing Company, Bellevue, Washington

and

Elane V. Scott, Consultant to The Boeing Company

http://www.cpec.ca.gov/completereports/externaldocuments/birth_to_work_pipelinev50.pdf

The challenge of future workforce education is

more than ensuring the delivery of content driven

programs at the right time. There must be

students with the desire to participate. Available

data indicates there are enough students in the

pipeline and sufficient workers available to meet

the demands of the growing employment base.

Statistics such as academic performance and

career track selections, however, indicate that

they are not strongly interested in the fields

where there is a great demand and economic

opportunity. In fact, in some cases there is even a

decline in interest, in spite of greater promise for

income, especially among women and

minorities.

This raises the question of what else is impacting

their perspectives, attitudes and beliefs such that

they do not attend programs aimed at their long-term

prosperity and meeting industry needs?