STUDY SHOWS BIOSCIENCE THRIVING IN NEW YORK
06/11/2004
Business Journal - Central New York
Vol. 18, No. 24; Pg. 6
State funding for the biosciences has grown dramatically in the past three years in New York, according to a new study by the Battelle Memorial Institute, the State Science and Technology Institute (SSTI), and Fleishman-Hillard International Communications for the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO).
According to the study, "Laboratories of Innovation: State Bioscience Initiatives 2004," New York ranks second in the United States in three areas: total university research and development (R&D) expenditures ($2.76 billion), life sciences R&D expenditures ($1.89 billion), and biological scientists in the work force (more than 33,000). The study also reported that New York is third in the country in total National Institutes of Health support to institutions ($1.71 billion) as well as higher education degrees in biological sciences (nearly 6,400).
The five major sub-sectors of the bioscience industry are agricultural feedstock and chemicals; drugs and pharmaceuticals; medical devices and equipment; research and testing; and academic health centers, research hospitals, and research institutes.
The BIO-Batelle study is a comprehensive analysis to quantify the scope and impact of bioscience employment in all 50 states. It also examines programs in each state to promote the development of bioscience companies.
New York has demonstrated considerable commitment to key factors that appear to influence a state's ability to increase bioscience employment. These include the degree of involvement by research institutions, available capital, access to facilities and equipment, a stable and supportive tax and regulatory environment, and a long-term perspective. Among the state's major initiatives are:
Centers of Excellence program. The state's flagship program for R&D facilities is financed through the Empire State Development Corp. Each of the four centers will be funded between $35 million and $50 million over five years, to be leveraged between 2:1 and 3:1 by contributions from in-state companies. The Center focused on life sciences is the Center of Excellence in Bloinformatics in Buffalo—a partnership between the State University of New York (SUNY) Buffalo, the New York Health Department's Roswell Park Cancer Institute, and the Hauptman Woodward Medical Research Institute.
New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR). The life sciences are among seven technology fields recognized as strategic by NYSTAR. Since the last BIO report in 2001, NYSTAR has disbursed $95 million in one-time capital appropriations for facilities' programs, including STAR Centers funded at approximately S15 in I Ilion each and ARCs (Advanced Research Centers) at the laboratory scale of $1 million to $5 million each. Gov. George Pataki and legislative leaders agreed on a five-year, multi-hundred million-dollar capital-funding project that allowed NYSTAR to add new capital-funding programs, enabled the Empire State Development Corp. to finance the Governor's Centers of Excellence program, and created a pool from which legislators could direct support to regional initiatives in the life sciences known as Gen*NY*sis.
Gen*NY*sis (Generating Employment from New York State Science). This program has provided a significant number of grants to a broad range of capital projects, typically as part of a larger financing package being assembled by the sponsoring research or medical institution from federal, state, or philanthropic sources. Gen*NY*sis funds have been committed to build a Biotechnology Center at SUNY Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse.