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Developing the future
Michael Anderson is a fervent evangelist for Oklahoma's biotechnology industry, seizing all opportunities to extol its virtues. As president of the Presbyterian Health Foundation, Anderson preaches a message of medical and economic benefit for all Oklahomans through investment in medical research and start-up companies. The foundation's Research Park near downtown Oklahoma City is home to almost two dozen biotech-based companies. Last week, the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce provided Anderson with more evidence to back his message in the form of a Regional Bioscience Strategic Plan. "From our perspective, it says all the things we've been preaching," Anderson said. A months-long, in-depth study of the state's bioscience industry conducted by the Battelle consulting firm concluded that the state should invest hundreds of millions in research and new research-based start-up companies. The Battelle report recommended 14 "actions" Oklahoma should take to grow the state's bioscience industry. Among the recommendations are the creation of a $250 million opportunity fund that would back bioscience research, plus another, smaller, fund that would seed start-up companies. If the state follows the "road map" outlined by the strategic plan, it can expect to create 7,000 new high-paying jobs and nearly 90 new businesses over the next decade, chamber officials said. The actions revolve around four strategies:
Anderson cited the example of the Oklahoma Life Sciences Fund as an example of the benefit that investment in early stage biotech companies can bring to the state. Funded by a consortium that included the Presbyterian Heath Foundation, the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, the Noble Foundation and Chisholm Capital Partners, the $5 million Oklahoma Life Sciences fund invested in four state-based companies. "Those four companies have raised $95 million of outside capital," Anderson said. "That's a leverage of almost 20 to 1. What we really desperately need in Oklahoma at the city and state level is start-up money for research-based companies. If we can do that, we will generate tremendous returns." However, the strategic plan's backers face a challenge in creating the $250 million opportunity fund, which they envision being used to recruit funded researchers in targeted areas, to obtain matching federal grants and to fund the creation of one or more so-called "centers of excellence." When the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology, the state's technology-based economic development agency, asked the Legislature to more than double its $11.6 million budget this year lawmakers saw fit to provide only a $700,000 increase. "There are competing interests for a limited amount of money," said Greg Main, president of i2E, the nonprofit corporation that manages the Oklahoma Technology Commercialization Center for OCAST. "The state has dramatic needs all over the place." Main said the state's recent increases in oil and gas revenue offer a big opportunity. "The trick is to capture this increased revenue and put it into a form in which the state could benefit for years to come after prices go back down," he said. "There are 41 states that have targeted bioscience, and many of them are dedicating hundreds of millions of dollars. Sometimes it's from tobacco settlement funds or from some other source." At OCAST, where much of the responsibility for administering any new funds would likely fall, executive director Michael Carolina said he relished playing a role in accomplishing the strategic plan's recommendations. The potential effect of the strategic plan extends far beyond the bioscience sector of the state's economy, he said. "We have other related technologies that will become involved in it, as well, such as sensor technology, information technologies and advanced materials, nanotechnology," he said. "They could all be a part of this whole effort that is starting with this bioscience cluster. This cluster could become a model for other clusters in the state." For Anderson, the strategic plan adds more evidence to back his theme of creating good for everyone through biotech research. "I think you find a willingness to support medical research and medical-based companies because people are concerned about health," he said. "In a sense, this report confirms the message that we've been on the stump proclaiming." Oklahoma's competition The Regional Bioscience Strategic Plan issued last week by the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce outlines some big economic development bioscience initiatives under way in other states. Here are some examples listed:
Source: Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce
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