S. Az seen as future center of bioscience activity
BYLINE: Larry Copenhaver lcopenha@tucsoncitizen.com
Southern Arizona wants to be a bioscience center so it can attract more research dollars and high-tech, high-paying jobs connected to bioscience.
On Tuesday, a group promoting the concept issued a report, the Southern Arizona Bioscience Roadmap, that provides detailed steps to develop a southern Arizona-based bioindustry.
According to the report, stakeholders will have to take action on the objectives outlined to accomplish the vision.
"Civic leaders help drive the bioscience economy, mobilizing leadership committed to collaboration, results and economic growth," the report said.
The University of Arizona is a key driver of bioscience research in Arizona, said Ron Shoopman, head of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council,which worked with local leaders in science, business and health care to develop the regional plan.
UA accounts for 59 percent of all university life sciences research in Arizona and 62 percent of National Institutes of Health funding in the state, the report said. And UA is home to Arizona's only medical school, pharmacy school and agricultural school.
Plus, southern Arizona has well-established bioscience companies such as Ventana Medical Systems and MRI Medical Manufacturing and Research Inc., Shoopman added.
The report, developed with support from the Flinn Foundation and assistance by Battelle - a science and technology organization - complements a statewide effort to advance bioscience in Arizona.
According to the regional report, the average bioscience worker was paid $40,004 annually, 22 percent more than the average worker in the private sector in 2004. Average wages in the nonhospital bioscience sector were $47,476, nearly $15,000 more than the private sector average.
The report based the wages on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The bioscience sector includes agricultural feedstock and chemicals, drugs and pharmaceuticals, hospitals and medical devices and equipment as well as research, testing and medical laboratories.
Some of the steps stakeholders must take:
Organize local leadership to implement the Southern Arizona Bioscience Roadmap within industry, the public sector and higher education.
Establish technology commercialization support.
Build an executive-in-residence program for increasing the supply of entrepreneurial managers.
Form a statewide and/or regional BioSeed Fund.
Offer sufficient incubator and accelerator facilities including a bioscience research park.
Continue to build and invest in the Critical Path Institute, a nonprofit group that promotes bioscience technology, as an additional anchor.
Amend the Arizona Constitution to permit universities to take equity from licensing. That would require a public vote.
Secure additional state, federal and private resources to fully utilize facilities and build research strengths.