Building a Biotech Economy

[Mark Rumsey]

How important are biotech-related jobs and research to the Charlotte area's economic future?
Can this region compete successfully against more established biotech hubs in places such as California and the Northeast? If so, how?

[Joshua Newton]

I would say that they are crucial to Charlotte's economy because they allow us to better diversify and to build on our current infrastructure for future growth. What gives us a leg up is the leverage of our existing resources in health care, engineering, manufacturing, IT and business infrastructure (lawyers, accountants, admin, real estate, international airport, transportation hub, etc.). We are making the next steps to turn our existing labor force into a biotech work force; we have the university catalyst programs for entrepreneurial incubation; and we have the commerce backing to make the push to grow the industry. What we seem to lack though are three things: visibility, capital & a cohesive networking of the currently existing industry. The number one question/complaint I hear from people in the work force of the industry is lack of knowledge on how to access the existing resources. Whether it is a student who doesn't even know what local firms need microbiology expertise, or an entrepreneur that doesn't know where to go to access information on funding or recruiting a workforce, the question always seems to center on a blinded view of the industry. We only know the snipits that are presented to us here and there. The curtain hasn't been released to reveal all that we have here and this seems to greatly hamper us. Organizations such as CRI, NC Biotech, Bioconnect, the Charlotte Regional Partnership and the Charlotte Area Science Network all are doing there best to spread the word and create resources to centralize this information on our industry and our resources. We still seem to struggle though to have that information reach into the community, etc. It is not just about recruiting major companies that will make biotech a strong industry, it is about the synergy of a community around the industry and I believe we still have a long way to go in order to build that synergistic community.

[Mark Rumsey]

Joshua - Nice to meet you last night--thanks for coming to our Public Conversation. Good points above. Let us know as you see new trends developing in the industry.

[Crystal Hall]

Great discussion tonight. It sounds like many of the jobs are non-professional outside of management and sales. If the biotech jobs provided more work for higher level professionals (outside of Ph.D's), the biotech industry would be extremely important to Charlotte. It would be exciting to have a cultural shift from banking to science. The intellectuals that would be drawn to the region would be a wonderful asset and would make this area a lot more interesting and fun.

Can we compete? Charlotte has a lot to offer in terms of the weather, cost of living and quality of life. What we need to compete, however, is access to information that specifies what the jobs are and what training is required so that the workforce can prepare. Better public transportation (like light rail that goes all the way up to Kannapolis!) would be a great plus too!

[Mark Rumsey]

Thanks Crystal. We didn't get too deeply into the 'workforce training' piece last night, but I know that's a key element. Thanks for attending.