|
State Legislative Best Practices in Support of Bioscience Industry Development
|  Printer Friendly |
Prologue
The purpose of this document is to identify the key needs associated with building a bioscience industry cluster and to catalog some of the most innovative state legislative and administrative efforts to create, nurture, and retain bioscience industry capacity. The purpose of these efforts is to generate high-skill, high-wage jobs, improve the growth and retention of high-tech businesses, develop skilled workforces, and ultimately to improve state economies.
The bioscience industry in the U.S. continues to be a strategic growth industry. Ten years ago the competition for this industry was primarily within U.S. borders. However, a variety of factors - low cost labor, speed of information dissemination, and available risk capital - has increased global competition for the industry. Europe and Asia are actively promoting opportunities for bioscience companies.
State governments have acknowledged the increased competition for developing biosciences industry clusters and are actively working to develop and promote the growth of various sectors within the biosciences. According to the study "Growing the Nation's Bioscience Sector: State Bioscience Initiatives 2006," released by Battelle and BIO in April 2006, the bioscience industry is a growing and vibrant sector of the U.S. economy, with more than 40,000 businesses employing 1.2 million people in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. This report is available on line at www.bio.org/local/battelle2006/
During the 2005-2006 legislative sessions, an unprecedented number of states passed legislation to support the growth of the bioscience industry. From the creation of venture capital fund pools for emerging companies, to increased training initiatives and tax incentives for investing in bioscience companies, state governments are actively engaging in efforts to create high-skill, high wage jobs and generate economic value.
Additionally, smaller states that have not traditionally invested in building bioscience industry capacity are beginning to do so now as innovations in agricultural and industrial biotechnology have led to new applications in energy production and industrial manufacturing.
This document provides examples of state efforts to invest in early stage research and research facilities, to encourage capital investment; to develop trained workforces, and to help create, grow, and retain bioscience companies. It has been developed to explain the rationale behind current legislative efforts as well as serve as a practical reference guide to the specific legislation put in place in the states.
DISCLAIMER: The examples cited in this document are only a small fraction of policies state governments have put in place to grow the bioscience industry. It is not intended to be exclusive of other policies to develop technology-based industries.
| 
