How States Can Foster and Expand Biotech Industry Development

This is the first of three articles on workforce development and quality jobs that focuses on the full spectrum of academic and on-site training needs of the bioscience industry in the US. Read part two. Read part three.

Until a decade ago, the United States was the undisputed leader in bioscience industry development. However, a variety of factors such as low cost labor, speed of information dissemination, and available risk capital, has rapidly increased global competition for the industry. Europe and Asia, for example, are actively promoting opportunities for bioscience companies.

In the United States, local and national government leaders continue to understand this new dynamic of increased competition for developing the biosciences and are actively working to develop and promote to grow the industry within their states.

In this global economy, nearly every competitor has access to big breakthroughs in technology and to the equipment and capital to produce standardized products, but those regions that possess the human capital, with its insights, competencies, and experience will have the competitive advantage.

Attracting and retaining a continuing flow of educated (Ph.D., MS, BS, AA) and technically proficient workers is essential to a state aspiring to enhance bioscience industry presence.  The creation of two-year associate degree programs, changes in curricula in colleges and universities to better reflect workforce needs, outreach to industry for specialized on-site training have all strengthened the communication for industry development in all areas of company development.

There are several examples of what states are doing in the form of initiatives and legislation to support workforce development in this technology sector:

• Oregon’s legislature provides funding to Portland Community College’s Biotechnology Technician Program that focuses on the techniques of laboratory technicians for QA and QC positions.
• New Jersey provides a large corporate tax credit for two years to companies that hire qualified community college graduates.
• Arkansas offers tax credits to employers for expenses incurred in training a biotechnology workforce.
• The Kansas Economic Growth Act that includes $500 million currently being invested over a period of 15 years in the Emerging Industry Investment Fund, which utilizes the growth of the state tax base associated with the state’s bioscience industry, research institutions and community colleges to provide the major funding source of the Bioscience Initiative Roadmap. The roadmap supports efforts in university research and manufacturing techniques in community colleges.
• The Illinois Biotechnology/Bioscience Training Investment Program (BioTIP) assists in encouraging graduate students to work part-time in biotech/bioscience positions. BioTIP provides grants to companies to help cover training costs for students who find part-time employment as lab technicians/engineers in the biotech arena and provide essential training to students to enhance their practical skills.
• The Massachusetts Biotechnology Center’s BioTeach Initiative is designed to provide biotech lab equipment, lab supplies, and recurring teacher training to Massachusetts’s public high schools.
• Georgia and North Carolina are emerging as growing states in our industry. The Georgia Research Alliance focuses on investments strategies, and North Carolina’s community colleges through their BTECH effort funded by tobacco settlement funds are focused on biomanufacturing and vaccines production and graduate 2,000-plus students each year.
• And the State of Washington is increasingly strong with public private funding for bioscience internships sponsored by companies like Amgen, and Dendreon.

Cities and counties are also reaching out to partnerships to encourage company creation, expansion, and attraction with workforce as a central theme of company success. Here are a couple of examples:

• In Georgia, The Innovation Crescent, a 13-county region spanning Atlanta to Athens, receives a grant from the Governor’s Office of Workforce Development Work Ready Regions program to sustain its workforce development strategies for the life sciences industry. The funding assists with continued efforts to enhance life sciences career pathways from high school to technical colleges to universities; eliminate the skills gap using Work Ready Certificates and Work Ready job profiling.
• Baltimore’s Bioscience Initiative looks at workforce development structures within larger multi-purpose initiatives. The overall focus of the initiative is three-fold: Grow the Demandadd value to employers and integrate Bio Education.

The first objective, Grow the Demand, includes venture financing, marketing the region to potential new employers, and building the collaborations to increase synergy among members of the bioscience sector.

The Add Value to Employers objective involves community based workforce development efforts designed to identify and prepare low skill workers and to guide them into employment situations in the bioscience sector.