Bioscience on Here and Now
You've heard the terms "bioscience" or "biotechnology" but do you know what they really mean? Why are local governments, philanthropists and others investing tens of millions of dollars in "bioscience" research? Why is such research so important to our quality of life and local economy? Can Arizona catch up to other places that are established leaders in the field? Find out as KJZZ's Here and Now explores the issue of bioscience. Learn what it is, what kinds of research is being conducted, and why it's important to Arizona.
Additional background information for this discussion, see the Here and Now "Fast Facts".
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Comments (5)
Bioscience and Biotechnology can be a huge boon for any economy (Case and point Ireland), but it requires the proper balance of public and private partnering, investment and management team expertise.
To build upon the research and development from institutes and centers of excellence such as Arizona Universities, TGen, Mayo and others, Arizona needs to realize that in order for such discoveries to be turned into useful products, there needs to be a healthy technology-to-commercialization infrastructure put in place. This infrastructure includes raw technology, licensing vehicles, funding for public and private entities to further develop this raw technology and the management teams to get it to the market place.
To develop a bioscience/ biotechnology economy both the funding and structures to facilitate this process needs to occur.
Aren't we a little too late to the bioscience game? How can we possibly catch up to California, Boston and other more established forward thinking places?
Especially if the legislature and governor knew in order to get matching funding it needed to step up with $150 million but only came up with $35 million. Keep dreaming Arizona...
This just sounds like subsidies for wealthy corporations and rich people to me. If this money were given to poor or working class people it would not be called a "collaboration." It would be called waste and welfare.
Ironically, rather than providing benefits to everyone, the new biotech and ASU facillities have acted as a gentrifying force downtown, driving out poor and working class people and replacing them with well-to-do professionals. Plus, without health care access, what good does biotech do me?
Where I live and work in Surprise, Arizona, significant thought is getting put into a new biomedical campus, where Surprise leadership may be investing in a biotech incubator where companies can come into the market and thrive. The Greater Phoenix market is a fantastic place for new industries such as biotechnology - and newer communities like Surprise (as well as Chandler, Scottsdale, and others) are increasingly rising to the occaision to serve this industry.
According to Jim Greenwood, the CEO of BIO, which is the national organization representing biotechnology, Arizona may be a latecomer to the game, but it is moving faster than its national competitors. The pro-business, entrepreneurial and collaborative spirit in Arizona makes it a place where this emerging industry can thrive.
I came to Phoenix to be part of the infrastructure necessary for the biotech industry as mentioned by Dr. Kennedy above. I was a longtime laboratory researcher in Seattle and now am at O'Connor School of Law at ASU.
Two points:
Seattle *had* a healthy biotech industry that grew up around the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. There was much talk by the state legislature about spending money to promote biotechnology, but no plan on how to spend it. Now the industry is struggling there and it has been hemorraging jobs. A collaborative effort is necessary to do this, and Arizona is on the right track with that.
Though biotech promises high paying jobs for educated professionals, the promise does not quite match the reality. The jobs generally do not pay well when compared to other technology jobs (especially software.) Especially considering the level of specialized education required. Biotech companies are fairly unstable and layoffs are frequent. Finally, when someone is trained as a laboratory researcher, he or she is not qualified to do much else and cannot move to another field without additional education and training.
Brian and others might be surprised about what is available coming out of the biotech/biopharma industries.
Just this past Wednesday, I had a meeting in Phoenix with the Associate Director of a US-based international contract research organization. The ADir was in town to work out the details of a lease for a large lab which will open up in a few months.
This lab will employ PhD, MS, BS and support staff. Yes, there may not be positions open for folks without his/her HS degree. Good incentive to get one, though!
Basirah
RSA@sedona.net
