Bioscience Roadmap Update on April 14

ECoNA will debut a video about our local bioscience sector at the annual Bioscience Roadmap hosted by the Flinn Foundation. This virtual meeting will be held from 12 to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 14. To register for this free event, please click here.

In addition to updates from around the state, the event will feature keynote remarks from Thomas Osha, the board chair of the Global Institute on Innovation Districts. Osha is a global authority on leveraging research and technology into economic development.

The roadmap is a long-term strategic plan originally commissioned by the Flinn Foundation in 2002 and updated in 2014 with the goal of making Arizona globally competitive and a national leader in the bioscience sector by 2025.

The roadmap has five overarching goals: creating a hub of bioscience entrepreneurs and companies across the state; increase the ability of research institutions to transform their results into products or treatments; make Arizona a “bio-talent” powerhouse; promote the state’s convergence of research, health care and commercialization to economic partners in neighboring states, Canada and Mexico; and sustain and enhance Arizona’s reputation for collaboration.

The investment in the bioscience sector has resulted in impressive results, according to research by TEConomy Partners and the U.S. Department of Labor. Some highlights include the following:

• From 2016 through 2018, Arizona biosciences jobs grew 8.3%, compared to the statewide growth average of 6.2%.
• In 2018, average wages for bioscience workers were about $18,000 more than the private-sector average, or about 35% higher.
• Arizona companies and institutions received $263 million in National Institutes of Health grants in 2019, a record high for the state. Meanwhile, venture capital for bioscience firms was $198 million in 2019 – also a record.
• Bio research and development at Arizona’s universities grew at 25% from 2016 to 2018, more than twice the national rate.

I hope to (virtually) see you on the BioScience Roadmap update as we unveil our video on the progress being made in this exciting sector in northern Arizona.