The FAA currently is evaluating six U.S. sites as potential test flight centers for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), also known as drones (the Wright-Patterson facility in Ohio is a leading contender). Most of our elected representatives in Washington are gung-ho for the idea, especially in districts with manufacturers who would thrive if the demand for “domestic” drones takes off. Thus far, they’ve been stymied by a handful of civil-liberties and air-safety fuddyduddys who wonder whether filling our skies with robot planes will fatally compromise our right to privacy, to say nothing of the occasional commercial airliner they may bump into.

While we’ve been watching the skies, it looks like the ground may have shifted under our feet.

The plans for mass-producing driverless cars aren’t even on the drawing boards of the major automakers, but a new survey shows that an astounding 60 percent of U.S. motorists are ready to welcome robot cars on American roads.

IT networking giant Cisco this week released the results of its study on the importance of high-tech gadgets to today’s car buyers. Not surprisingly, the Cisco survey found consumers completely enamored with the latest computer-driven automotive capabilities, from cars that park themselves to voice-activated menus for nearby Chinese restaurants.

But the real eyebrow-raiser in the survey was the response to Cisco’s question asking drivers whether they’re ready to trust driverless cars to drive them around.

The results are fascinating. Three nations with emerging automotive markets — and, presumably less experience with driving — gave driverless cars the biggest thumbs up. About 95 percent said yes in Brazil, 86 percent in India and 70 percent in China. They were followed by the U.S. at 60 percent, Russia at 57 percent and Canada at 52 percent.

But in Japan, the nation that has the most experience with robots of any kind, only 28 percent of respondents indicated they would be inclined to slide into the passenger seat of a driverless car. Also, when the risk-taking is expanded from the individual to the family, enthusiasm predictably declines for the driverless car. Fewer respondents in the Cisco survey said they were willing to put their kids in a robot vehicle.

The Cisco survey results may reflect the shape of things to come. Driverless cars probably will be tooling down a highway near you sooner than you think.

The psychological roadblock to the driverless vehicle apparently was shattered by the Google car. The Internet search giant’s robot test vehicle thus far has logged more than 300,000 miles without incident. Google says the technology for a true “fully autonomous driverless car” is still about five years away. Motor Trend, the car magazine, predicts that driverless cars will be in mass production by 2025.

The Cisco survey also revealed that consumers’ trust for automated vehicles extends beyond the steering wheel: the study found that 74 percent of drivers would be fine with their car tracking their driving habits if they could save on insurance and maintenance costs; 65 percent said they would be willing to share their height, weight, driving habits and entertainment preferences with car manufacturers in return for a more “custom” driving experience.

In the same week that Cisco’s survey results were released, the National Transportation Safety Board has proposed to lower the federal blood alcohol level threshold for drunk driving from .08 to .05, a drop of more than a third from the current standard.

Coincidence? We think not. Obviously, there’s some sort of a master plan falling into place here:

STEP 1: Track our movements with drones.

STEP 2: Take our car keys away.

STEP 3: Ply us with alcohol and entice us to recline in the ergonomically designed passenger seat of a driverless car that knows we can be lulled into a mindless sense of euphoria by the smell of Corinthian leather and the sound of Bohemian Rhapsody coming out of 16 speakers.

STEP 4: Deposit us at mass “rehabilitation” centers that have secretly been constructed on former ballistic missile launch sites in the Great Plains.

STEP 5:

(transmission interrupted, contact with human terminated)

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

The post They’re Coming to Take Us Away appeared first on Business Facilities.

Posted by Heidi Schwartz

Woodward, Inc. has announced that it intends to acquire a corporate campus site for its global headquarters and selected business group operations in Fort Collins, CO. The acquisition decision was made after extensive work with the City of Fort Collins to plan the site and to obtain necessary approvals for its intended use.

The Colorado Office of Economic Development and Colorado Economic Development Commission arranged important business assistance associated with planned new jobs and investment and the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corporation provided valuable site selection assistance.

The downtown Fort Collins site, adjacent to the Poudre River and its 21-mile recreational trail, is within walking distance of the community’s dynamic “Old Town” historic area—a popular Northern Colorado destination for shopping and entertainment. Colorado State University, a longtime Woodward partner in energy technology development, is a short drive away. A key consideration in the selection of the site was the ability to leverage Woodward’s investment and employment on the new campus to help achieve long term planning goals of the Fort Collins community, particularly for the Old Town area.

Woodward anticipates that the attributes of the site, the community, and the new campus will represent compelling, competitive differentiators for long-term retention and attraction of talented members. Of the 101-acre parcel to be acquired, Woodward is planning to donate to the City of Fort Collins approximately 30 acres, which is adjacent to the river, for restoration by the city as a natural area and for improvements to the city’s extensive trail system.

Through competitive processes, Woodward selected Ghafari Associates of Dearborn, Michigan to provide architectural and engineering services and M. A. Mortensen Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota as the construction manager/general contractor for the Colorado project.

The post Woodward Announces New HQ In Fort Collins, CO appeared first on Business Facilities.

Scripps Research Institute in Palm Beach, FL

By Stefanie Ramsperger and Jack Rogers
From the March/April 2013 issue

The recovery in the biotech sector appears to be solidifying. According to the most recent biotechnology report published by Ernst & Young, the sales in established biotech markets grew more than 10 percent in 2012. This threshold hasn’t been crossed since the outbreak of the worldwide financial crisis. Expenditures for research and development significantly increased by 9 percent.

About $33.4 billion in venture capital was raised in the sector. However, mostly big enterprises profited from this inflow whereas small- and medium-sized companies still have to suffer from a depletion of seed money since the Recession. In contrast to the U.S., financing in Europe has not regained the levels seen prior to the financial crisis. A retreat in the public markets in 2011 resulted in overall financing levels that are back to those seen in 2008, reflecting the continuing struggles of the Eurozone countries over the sovereign debt of some member countries.

While the biotechnology sectors of Eurozone countries are relatively small, the uncertainty has driven investors across the continent to seek lower risk. One bright spot is that, similar to the U.S., Europe has seen venture capital hold relatively steady. Across Europe, there were 56 venture rounds of greater than $5 million (down from 65 in 2010). The most significant venture capital transactions included $39 million raised by Symphogen (Denmark), $99 million raised by Biocartis (Switzerland) and $96 million raised by Circassia (United Kingdom). Biotech accounts for approximately 15 percent of total venture capital investment across Europe, a slightly higher percentage than in the U.S. in 2011.

In Europe the list of commercial leaders—Actelion, Elan Corp., Eurofins Scientific, Ipsen, Meda, Novozymes, Qiagen and Shire—has not changed since 2007. In 2011, the revenues of these commercial leaders increased by 19 percent, while those of the other companies decreased by an identical percentage. The same pattern was repeated across all the major indicators, with the health of a few large companies increasing as the rest of the industry saw its performance worsen.

In this year’s Global Biotech Report, we zero in on several locations in Europe that are well-positioned for future success, including three biotech hubs in Germany and key biotech/ pharma centers in Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg that have strengthened their competitive position in the global market in recent years. As always, we also take a fresh look at the leading biotech and pharmaceutical hubs in the U.S.

Hessen Keeps Getting Bigger In Biotech/Pharma

Biotech is among the most important sectors of the Hessen region and this sector is growing every year. With Frankfurt recognized as the financial capital of Germany, the area is well known for its excellence in the service sector. However, the region also excels in manufacturing industries, and it is Germany’s logistics gateway to the world.

More than 19,500 people are employed in the biotech/pharma sector in Hessen. The area has 225 biotech companies (of which 59 are core biotech concerns), and 14 percent of these employ at least 500 people. In the last decade, Hessian biotech companies have more than doubled their revenues to over 5.2 billion Euros.

The strength of Hessen’s biotech sector are a multitude of R&D programs, its number of industry patents and its domination in the medical sector of biotechnology—known as “red” biotech, accounting for 81 percent of all Hessian biotech revenues (according to the latest Location Study Hessen-Biotech, which was commissioned by Hessen’s location marketing organization, Hessen Trade and Invest GmbH). However, industrial biotechnology (“white” biotechnology) is on the rise. About 56 percent of all biotech companies in Hessen have their own R&D programs.

White biotechnology is located at the interfaces of chemistry, biology and the engineering sciences. “It uses microorganisms and enzymes to create new substances and processes for the purpose of producing innovation for many different user sectors, for example amino acids, vitamins and aromas for the food industries,” explains Dr. Thomas Niemann, Director Technology and Future at Hessen Trade and Invest GmbH.

The biotech/pharma activities in Hessen center around two clusters: one is located in Central Hessen, the other is in the southern part of the State. Hessen is a stronghold in biotech production. Out of a total capacity of more than 830,000 liters of fermentation production in the manufacture of “red” biotech in Germany, more than 250,000 liters are attributed to Hessen. Production takes place in Frankfurt (sanofi-aventis), Marburg (Novartis- Behring), and Hanau (Heraeus).

Höchst Industrial Park in Frankfurt is one of Europe’s largest chemical and pharmaceutical parks and looks back to almost 150 years of chemistry tradition. Just in 2012, tenants invested 310 Million Euros, bringing the total to about 5.5 Billion Euros since 2000. Höchst hosts 90 on-site companies, among them sanofi-aventis, Bayer CropScience, Clariant and Celanese. Researchers, manufacturers, customers and service providers come together at the site and cooperate in terms of raw materials and infrastructure. They also join forces with regard to future-oriented technologies, because the Industrial Park embodies a wealth of research and production know-how. Site operator Infraserv Höchst offers services with regards to secondary processes; for example, they provide the companies with raw materials on-site, do the facility management and run site security. New companies can also rely on their patent lawyers, engineering consultants and other personnel services, which decreases their starting cost.

Hessen has five universities and five Schools of Applied Sciences that cooperate with biotech companies. Hessen is particularly strong in the field of Medical Technology. It comprises a total of 900 medical tech companies, which employ more than 20,000 people. Many of them are located at Höchst Industrial Park. According to Dr. Niemann, “one-third of the German production capacity of biotechnological medicine is centered in Hessen.”

Recently, the importance of “white” (industrial) has increased in the area. The Cluster Initiative Integrated Biotechnology (CIB) in Frankfurt supports networking in this field. The cluster was one of the winners of the “BioIndustry 2021” contest held by the Federal Ministry of Research. The Hessian state government also has set up a state initiative for the Development of Scientific and Economic Excellence (LOEWE) with the aim of providing long-term support for the research landscape. “This especially includes new ideas in Industrial Biotechnology,” says Niemann. “In Hessen, funds of more than 32 million Euros are made available for Industrial Biotechnology.”

Another promising biotech field is “personalized medicine.” CI3 is a network in Hessen to advance individualized immune intervention. It has been selected as one of Germany’s leading edge clusters in 2012 and has thus been awarded 40 million Euros by the German government. “Research in this field is very promising,” confirms Niemann. “The cluster, that is supported by the states of Hessen, Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Wurttemberg and has 120 member-institutions, is on its way to the very top.”

The cluster CI3 works on innovative medicine that is exactly adjusted to the individual patient, who suffers, for example, from tumors or autoimmune diseases. The center of the cluster is based in Mainz. The idea of the cluster is that companies and research facilities will work in partnerships on 78 different projects. The project partners estimate a total volume of approximately 130 million Euros.

“Universities, other research facilities, small and medium-sized companies as well as international players in the field—we have the whole value chain in Hessen,” says Thomas Niemann. Among the project partners are, for example, the technical university Darmstadt, Goethe University Frankfurt, the Paul-Ehrlich-Institution, Georg-Speyer-Haus, Abbott, Biotest, sanofi-aventis and Merck.

Berlin: Biotech Mega-Hub

The Berlin-Brandenburg region concentrates on clinical research. In the capital of Germany, biotechnology is a strong force driving innovation and growth, interfacing with the pharmaceutical, diagnostics and medical technology sectors. Berlin-Brandenburg has a versatile research and clinical landscape. HealthCapital, the cluster management of the region’s healthcare industries, was implemented in 2010. Its goal is to coordinate companies, research and education institutes to foster collaboration and innovation.

Among the focus areas of Berlin-Brandenburg are biomedicine and diagnostics, therapeutics and regenerative medicine and industrial biotechnology. Berlin-Brandenburg is home to more than 200 biotech companies. The sector employs more than 4,000 people. In addition, pharmaceutical and medtech companies in the area have another 10,000 employees each.

Like Munich, Berlin is a top location for start-ups. In 2012, Berlin was ranked the top start-up region in Germany by Foreign Direct Investment magazine. The region offers foreign companies reimbursement grants of up to 50 percent. Berlin is not only home of various start ups, but existing bioscience companies are expanding in the area. In 2012, Takeda made Berlin its distribution headquarters. The Japanese pharmaceutical company is Berlin’s most recent arrival, having relocated its distribution unit from Aachen and Konstanz to Berlin.

Also, sanofi-aventis and B. Braun Melsungen made large investments to expand their existing locations in Berlin. B. Braun Melsungen had their roofing ceremony in January 2013. The 38.2 million Euro expansion project increases the size of the production site by 65 percent. Injectable solutions in plastic containers will be manufactured there. The building will probably be completed by October 2013. Production lines will be installed in 2014. B. Braun Melsungen expects to create 25 new jobs by 2015.

In the past five years, B. Braun Melsungen already had invested 40 Million Euros in Berlin for expansion projects. 670 employees already work for the company in Berlin. In total, the business has three sites in Germany’s capital.

Among other major global corporations that are located in the capital region are Bayer Pharma AG, Berlin-Chemie AG, Pfizer Deutschland and sanofi-aventis. In the past years, sales revenues of more than 5 billion Euros were generated by pharmaceutical products of 24 Berlin-based pharma companies. Together, they employ 10,000 people in the area.

Among a variety of research institutes in Berlin that focus on Life Sciences are four Max Planck institutes, two Fraunhofer institutes, Leibniz institutes and Helmholtz centers, five universities and four universities of the Applied Sciences.

The Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) was founded in November 2012. On this occasion, Professor Walter Rosenthal, chairman of the board and scientific director of the Max Delbück Center for Molecular Medicine Berlin Buch, said: “The founding of the Berlin Institute of Health is a unique opportunity for the German science landscape to restructure the collaboration between a non-university research institution and a university medical center in the field of basic and clinical research.” The BIH will be established in 2015 by the state of Berlin as a public corporation and it will combine the research of the Charité and the MDC, one of 18 research institutions of the Helmholtz Association. The MDC employs more than 1,600 people from 57 countries and works with a budget of more than 70 million Euros per year. The goal is that the cooperative venture with the Charité will harness the strengths and expertise of both partners and significantly advance health research not only in Germany but also on an international level. It will focus on an interdisciplinary approach. For research of the BIH in the coming years, extensive technology platforms are being setup.

“Based on its excellence in interdisciplinary and transnational cooperation, the cluster HealthCapital Berlin- Brandenburg is generating innovations which are to benefit patients as soon as possible,” says director BioTOP Berlin-Brandenburg and cluster manager HealthCapital, Dr. Kai Bindseil. “The application spectrum for biotechnology is constantly increasing. While biotech has concentrated on developing new medicine and diagnostics in recent years, we are now moving on to new markets due to intelligent interconnections with branches like information and communication technology.”

To enforce cooperation at the interface of biotech and IT, Berlin brings together IT and biotech science and industry to develop interdisciplinary projects for innovative IT-supported healthcare. One example is the project “IT-Future of Medicine (ITFoM). The Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics is leading in the project. 60 institutions and companies have joined forces to develop computer models by which personalized “virtual patients” will be derived from the molecular, physiological, anatomic and environmental data of every individual patient. The goal is to develop optimal concepts with minimal side effects.

Public support remains an important factor for financing new products because only few companies have access to venture capital funding. A study by Fleischhauer, Hoyer & Partner has shown that venture capital has increased compared to the crises. With 70 million Euros most of the money was invested in biotech. Investments in medtech were also high with 66 million Euros. The study shows that the Berlin-Brandenburg area ranks third (Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia rank first and second) in regional distribution of all investment. According to the latest BioTOP Report, public funds worth up to 42 million Euros are provided by the federal states for fixed-asset investments and new product developments. The leverage effect generated a further 45 million in private investment. The federal government and the European Union provide additional double-figure million Euro funding.

For start-ups, the High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), leading investor in innovative start-ups, has created a new fund worth more than 300 million Euros. Among the investors are Altana, BASF and Robert Bosch.

From Invention To Innovation In Bavaria

“Success through synergies” is the motto of the Bavarian cluster initiatives. To assist entrepreneurs in the starting up and expanding of biotech, Bavaria has set up three agencies under the cluster Biotechnology Bavaria: BioM is responsible for greater Munich, BioMed Würzburg is located in the north of Bavaria and BioPark Regensburg GmbH is responsible for biotech in the core of the state. Bavaria is home to over 320 biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

The cluster in the greater Munich area is home to around 200 companies. 19,000 employees work in the Munich Biotech region. With two universities, two universities of Applied Sciences, the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Neurobiology and Psychiatry and the Helmholtz Research Center for Environmental Health, the region offers an excellent environment for innovation. These institutes include, for example, the Center for Nanosciences, which is one of the world’s leaders in the development and application of nanobiologies. The Life Sciences Campus in Martinsried forms the core of Munich’s Biotech region. The agency “Invest in Bavaria” states: “The campus is home to nearly half of the region’s Biotechs.”

IZB – Biotech Incubator Martinsried Bavaria

The focus of this area is on “red biotechnology,” particularly on diagnostics and therapeutics. The region is dominated by small and medium-sized companies, but eight corporations are listed on the stock exchange, among them MorphoSys.

Freising, located just a few minutes north of Munich, is home of the Weihenstephan campus. It is one of Europe’s major centers of green biotechnologies and has its own incubation center.

In 2012, BioM announced that the Bavarian Ministry of Economics granted four groups of young academics in the field of biosystems research. The subsidies by the state mount up to 1.5 million Euros for each team of young academics. The duration for the grant is five years. This lays the cornerstone for a new research network in the field of molecular biosystems (BioSysNet) that is being established within the framework of a new strategy called “Aufbruch Bayern.” The four young academics that lead the research groups have previously worked in Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and in the U.S. The goal of BioSysNet is to further strengthen Bavaria’s competitive situation in molecular biosystems.

BioSysNet is part of a Bavarian research center for molecular biosystems and thus profits from the subsidies by the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts and is being supported by “Aufbruch Bayern.” The total subsidies amount to 18.1 million Euros.

Bavaria’s north attracts entrepreneurs in the field of biotechnology and medical technology with its Innovation and Start-up Center for Biotechnology and Biomedicine. The Würzburg region is the largest entrepreneurship center in the district of Lower Franconia. The project “Life Sciences in Würzburg” has been established to provide consultancy services and to promote start-ups.

A third hub for biotechnology in Bavaria is in the middle of the state, in Regensburg. Back in 1998 the BioPark Regensburg GmbH was founded. The industrial park was supported by the State of Bavaria and built directly on the university campus at a total cost of 42 million Euros. The park has been expanded in 2001, 2006 and 2011 and now offers 18,000 square meters of laboratory, office and storage space for companies and institutes. Currently, 36 leaseholders and 550 employees have chosen the BioPark. The Regensburg region is home of 47 companies with more than 3,145 employees, 900 of them working in the core area of biotechnology. This makes the Regensburg area the second top biotech region in Bavaria.

The specialties of the university of Applied Sciences in Regensburg are fluorescent bioanalytics, molecular diagnostics, biofunctional surfaces, sensors and applied biomedicine.

In January, BioPark Regensburg GmbH announced that a new center for biomedical engineering will be established in the area. The “Regensburg Center of Biomedical Engineering” (RCBE) will move into interdisciplinary lab facilities in Regensburg’s BioPark. The aim of the new center is to bundle biomedical, medical, IT and engineering competencies and make use of the interfaces.

It comes as no surprise that Regensburg bundles its competencies in interdisciplinary research. For four years the University of Applied Sciences in Regensburg has offered classes in “Medical Information Technology.” Since 2011, “Biomedical Engineering” is a course of studies. Graduates are qualified to work at the interface of medicine and IT, or engineering, respectively. The RCBE will now support and bundle research competencies in these fields. Its focus will be on biomechanics, e-health and equipment technology for medical engineering.

Collectively, companies in Bavaria have performed well in the past years. Employment figures rose slightly by two percent. Bavaria’s 166 small and medium-sized core biotech companies employed a record-setting 4,000-plus  people in the state. Since 2006, employment in these companies has grown by 30 percent. 126 of the 166 small and medium-sized companies are located in the greater Munich area. Core biotech companies account for 10,300 in Bavaria, a plus of 300 employees at Roche, Penzberg, which is remarkable. Adding pharma to this count brings employment in the sector to well over 20,000 people.

There were four newly established companies and among the most recent openings of international subsidiaries are three US-biotech companies and one Japanese pharmaceutical company. LabPMM, San Diego California, opened its German diagnostics Laboratory and Myriad Genetics, Salt Lake City, Utah, set up its central European laboratory in a new building in Martinsried.

Bavaria was countrywide the only state in the past year to attract foreign companies for greenfield development. Bavaria was able to chalk up about 70 million Euros of external biotech funding for Germany in 2011. Numbers for 2012 are not available yet, but it can be estimated that external funding will be higher after a rather meager year. At the same time, revenues of Bavarian biotech companies went up to a new record of more than 510 million Euros.

In 2010, the Munich Biotech Region along with Bavaria’s Medical Valley Nuremberg were winners of the Leading Edge Cluster competition by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Until March 2015, the main research and development strategy for several projects in the Munich area will push personalized medicine. Like the cluster CI3 in Hessen which got the same award only two years later in 2012, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research contributes 40 million Euros for the cluster. The Munich Biotech region received another 60 million Euros by the Bavarian ministry and industry partners.

Next to this, a number of Bavarian biotech companies receive grants by the European Union for their research and development projects. One example is the EUROCALIN Consortium, which includes ten companies, for example Pieris AG in Freising. Over the last 15 years, Roche has invested more than 2 billion Euros for their location in Penzberg to develop and produce therapeutic proteins. In the last two years alone, they invested more than 350 million Euros in new plants for production of therapeutics and diagnostics in Penzberg.

Belgium: Beehive Of Biotech

In Belgium, Flanders has specialized in plant biotechnology, whereas Wallonia has focused on health biotechnologies and medical technologies. Most biotech companies in Belgium are located in the northern part of the country, Flanders. Approximately 17 percent of the companies are in the Capital region, and Wallonia is home to around 34 percent of the companies.

More than 15 percent of the European biopharmaceutical exports come from Belgium. The country is said to be the largest exporter in pharmaceutical goods. A quarter of the world’s vaccines are produced in Belgium. As the world’s second largest vaccine producer, the company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK Biologicals) in Rixensart, southeast of Brussels, contributes to a great deal to this. Approximately 30,000 people work in the biotech sector.

Biotech in the three parts of Belgium is organized in special associations. Flander’s association is called “FlandersBio,” the association in the Capital Region is called “Brussels Life Tech” and Wallonia’s association is “BioWin.” Flanders in the North looks back to a strong tradition of biotechnology that is centered around the university towns of Gent, Mechelen and Leuven. Flanders is home to more than 120 biotech companies, most of which belong to the health and green biotechnologies sectors.

Brussels is home to mostly young biotech companies. Although the region covers not even one percent of the country’s territory, it represents more than 15 percent of the biotech activity in Belgium. Most companies in the capital work in medical biotech.

The same holds true for companies in Wallonia. Since 2005, the regional government of Wallonia supports biotechnologies with the so-called “Marshall Plan.” Setting out from this action plan, the Walloon government has updated and optimized its priorities via a “Marshall Plan 2.Green.” It has been endowed with a budget of 2.75 billion Euros for the period 2009 to 2014. 1.15 billion Euros are alternative funding.

One of the most important regional clusters is the “BioWin” life science network. 27 research and development projects are being funded within the cluster. “BioWin is establishing Wallonia as a world leader in various areas of cutting-edge technology, such as biopharmacy, cell therapy, radiopharmacy, diagnostics, biotechnological products for research and industry, bioinformatics and the processing of complex data,” says Frédérick Druck, communication and international relations director at BioWin.

The cluster has 510 members with 116 businesses and around 80 percent of its members are small and medium-sized companies. 400 research units employ about 11,000 researchers from five academic centers of excellence. With 14,300 employees and a turnover of 4.4 billion Euros, the health sector is key to the economy of Wallonia.

Of the 27 projects that have been funded as a result of the Marshall Plan, five have been completed. Druck says: “In the coming years, we will create 1,200 new jobs.” He adds: “With the help of the cluster we have made a big step in excellence in technologies.” One outcome of this is that 51 patents connected to the projects have been submitted and seven new products have been launched on the market. “We see that five new businesses have been set up,” Druck adds. “Now that there is a network there is a real dynamic.”

Internationalization is key to BioWin in order to strengthen its global competitiveness. Therefore, WAL-Dx/BioWin, the Walloon in vitro diagnostic network and its partner, EuroMediag, the diagnostic cluster of EuroBioMed, the health cluster for the PACA and Languedoc-Roussillon regions (France) joined forces to create EDCA, the European Diagnostic Cluster Alliance. The network already includes nine clusters and represents 400 companies and 40 universities across Europe.

“It was also important for us to create new technological platforms,” Druck says. MaSTherCell, Wallonia’s first technological platform dedicated to the clinical and commercial production of cell therapy products for third parties is a case in point. Realized in 2011, it helped create 20 new jobs. By 2014, 35 jobs will be created and 50 new jobs are predicted by 2017.

“In Wallonia, the universities in Brussels, Charleroi and Liège are hotspots for research,” says Druck. In total, 14 universities and several other research facilities add to Belgium’s great research experience. Flanders and Wallonia have five universities each and four schools are located in the Brussels area. On a regular basis, Belgium’s universities rank among the top 25, according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities. Leuven University, for example, has specialized on medicine, cell biology and gene therapy. Gent University, by contrast, focuses on biomedicine and plant genetics. Hasselt University is known for its expertise in autoimmune diseases.

The financial situation for biotech companies in Belgium is favorable. “For the last eight months we note that very small companies have found 60 million Euros private capital at venture capital funds,” says Frédérick Druck. The website reports that Belgium is Europe’s leader with regard to venture capital.

One recent investment was made by the biopharmaceutical company Union Chimique Belge (UCB). The company inaugurated a new biotechnology pilot facility at the Braine-l’Alleud site of UCB in September 2012. The site operates a research and production facility employing 1,500 people. The biopharmaceutical facility was constructed with an investment of 65 million Euros. Approximately 100 new jobs will be created. With the opening of the pilot biotech center, UCB is gearing up to reinforce its biotech activity through industry and academia collaboration. It is among the first plants in Belgium to produce cell-culture-based therapeutic proteins. The plant is a milestone in the development of new biological medicines and molecular development.

Luxembourg: Europe’s Solid Rock

“[Luxembourg has] a solid foundation to generate future economic diversification and growth,” says Dr. Thomas Dentzer, Head of Life Sciences Sector Development and Luxembourg BioHealth cluster manager. As the competitiveness of a country is more and more dependent on effective innovation networks involving private and public sectors, Luxembourg has implemented various initiatives in order to strengthen the research and development and innovation potential of companies and to reinforce links with public research organizations and academia.

Luxembourg’s House of BioHealth

“The Luxembourg Cluster Initiative, launched by the Luxembourg government, actively encourages networking between the private and the public sectors,” explains Dentzer. Healthcare and biotechnology are among the key technologies that have been identified as being important for the future sustainable development of the Luxembourg economy. Luxembourg’s research and development and innovation policy brings together biotech with other networks, such as eco-innovation-technologies or IT.

The Luxembourg BioHealth Cluster brings together public and private stakeholders whose activities are related to health science and technologies in Luxembourg. “It aims to foster partnerships and collaborations that favor innovative projects, thereby reinforcing and capitalizing on the national strategy developed to achieve scientific excellence in molecular medicine,” says Dentzer.

Luxembourg is strong in biomedical research. “The trends in Luxembourg, also due to the focus on personalized medicine, are going in the direction of computational biology and bioinformatics, using the latest IT-solutions to investigate complex processes,” adds Dentzer. The medical field is taking advantage of Luxembourg’s IT infrastructure and its expertise in data security.

Among the most important research facilities in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg are the Integrated BioBank of Luxembourg (IBBL), the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) and, most recently, the House of Biohealth, a new life science incubator.

The mission of IBBL is to work with the people of Luxembourg to provide high quality specimens and data, catalyze partnerships and support research. To accomplish its aims IBBL will, for example, support the four priority research programs in the personalized medicine initiative (cancer, type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and normal population cohort). The LCSB, by contrast, is accelerating biomedical research by closing the link between systems biology and medical research. Neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease, metabolomics and disease network analysis are in the focus of LCSB’s research.

Luxembourg’s most recent research facility is the House of Biohealth. The construction of the new life sciences incubator was officially launched in  November 2012 by the Secretary of Economy and Foreign Trade, Etienne Schneider. It aims to facilitate the transformation of research results into marketable products and services, and it is expected to receive its first tenants in the beginning of 2014. It will be built in the vicinity of the future city of sciences in Esch-Belval. Dentzer says: “This unique facility will offer office space as well as laboratories providing the necessary infrastructure for the creation and development of start-ups as well as already established companies in the fields of biotech, cleantech and ICT.” Within 10,000 square meters of laboratory space, the building is expected to host 500 to 700 researchers.

The building is a joint project of the Luxembourg Ministry of Economy and Foreign Trade, the ZARE Park for economic activities in Esch-sur-Alzette and private investors.

The Luxembourg government has developed financial aids for companies involved in research and development. The Ministry of Economy and Foreign Trade, for example, targets small enterprises or small private research organizations established in Luxembourg which were created less than six years before the aid is granted and which either will, in the foreseeable future, develop new products, processes or services, which involve a significant risk of technical or industrial failure or which have used at least 15 percent of their operating expenses for research and development over the least one of the three years preceding the granting of the aid, or over the current year. All of the enterprise’s expenses are eligible. This aid can only be awarded once and it cannot exceed one million Euros. Financial aids for new innovative businesses are, for example start-up loans or equipment loans offered by the Société Nationale de Crédit et d’Investissement. To support intellectual property rights, Luxembourg offers an 80 percent tax exemption to income from patents, trademarks, design, models and software copyrights or domain names. Capital gains generated on intellectual property will be exempt up to 80 percent. Plus, in 2009, net wealth tax was abolished on qualifying intellectual property.

Biotech company WaferGen Biosystems, Inc. set up its European headquarters in Luxembourg in 2010. The Luxembourg government provided the company with significant support towards increasing its research and development activities and raising its profile in Europe. WaferGen is working in partnership with the Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg and maintains offices in the business incubator Luxembourg Technoport. WaferGen is an emerging leader in the development, manufacture, and sale of state-of-the-art systems for genome analysis for the life science and pharmaceutical industries.

Another company that installed its European Headquarter in Luxembourg is Neo Medical Systems. The company collaborates with Luxinnovation and the BioHealth cluster. Founder Francois Scalais submitted a business plan to the 1,2,3,GO programme, which selected the company as a laureate in the 2012 round. With a prototype of a system that provides 3D laparoscopic images in operating rooms, Neo Medical Systems is currently preparing to participate in the Seed4Start initiative to bring in additional financing. Scalais explains: “Luxembourg is great for us.”

 Austria: Connecting East And West

The total revenue in biotech in Austria accounts for approximately 3 billion Euros. The vast majority is generated by only 36 large companies like Boehringer Ingelheim, Sandoz or Sanochemia that have 5,800 employees. In 2010, the research strength of these companies was as high as 107 percent. Innovation hubs are in Tirol, Upper Austria and Styria. The most important innovation hub for biotech, however, is Austria’s capital region, Vienna. Every second biotech company in Austria is based in Vienna.

The cluster LISAvienna connects more than 400 companies, 99 of which are core biotech companies, and 22 research facilities. 9,000 life scientists work in Vienna.

Austria is known for its research funding. In 2011, Austria raised the research rate/premium from eight to 10 percent for expenses in research and development. Companies that invest in innovation get the premium in cash.

“Two national funding agencies, AWS and FFG, fund pre-seed formations of companies with 200,000 Euros”, says Susanne Locker. She is a project manager in the LISAvienna cluster management. “AWS and FFG fund young high-tech-start-ups with one million Euro seed-financing.” The research funding company FFG supports innovative projects financially.

One central funding initiative is the Competence Center for Excellent Technologies (COMET). It aims to strengthen cooperation between industry and academia. During its run duration from 2006 to 2019, 1.5 billion Euros will be invested in industry-oriented research; a great part of this will go to life sciences.

One of Austria’s focus areas is cancer research. The competence center Oncotyrol in Innsbruck has a research volume of 37.5 million Euros until 2015. In 2012, the EU-project OPTATO was started to develop new strategies against an incurable bone marrow tumor. It has a research volume of four million Euros.

Also, the institute of molecular pathology (IMP) that is based at the Campus Vienna Biocenter, enjoys an excellent reputation. More than 200 researchers from all over the world work here. Boehringer Ingelheim invests more than 160 million Euros per year for cancer research in Vienna.

Among the most important research facilities next to IMP and Oncotyrol are the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria), the Austrian Center for Industrial Biotechnology (acib) and the Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering (RCPE) in Graz.

The RCPE was founded in 2008 in the context of the funding program COMET. RCPE’s CEO Johannes Khinast says: “With our special research focus, corporations like Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Roche, Novartis, sanofi-aventis, Bayer, AstraZeneca, Abbott or Merck like to partner with us. We work together with 10 renowned research facilities. There are only two comparable non-university research institutes in the world.”

In 2012, pharma-giant Baxter announced it will build a 30 million Euros production facility in Vienna. The company is planning to launch the operating site at the end of 2014. In 2011, Baxter invested approximately 47 million Euros in production sites in Austria. In 2012, the pharmaceutical corporation invested 100 million Euros. In total, the company employs 4,100 people in Austria. Baxter employs 900 people in Vienna and Orth in the field of research and development. Three out of four scientists who work for Baxter around the globe are thus based in Austria. The country is Baxter’s largest site in the world.

In 2012, Austria’s investment agency ABA was able to attract 201 foreign companies across all sectors to start their business or relocate to Austria. They invested 282.4 million Euros. 2,385 new jobs were created, which is an increase of 31 percent, compared to 2011.

One of 11 life science companies that invested in Austria in 2012 is biolitec AG. The German company develops medical laser systems and fiber optics. Biolitec CEO Dr. Wolfgang Neuberger says: “The infrastructure, funding options and flexible group taxation were crucial for our decision to relocate our headquarters to Vienna.”

Texas Biotech Out Of The Labs, Into The Market

In the U.S., the race is on to move promising biotech initiatives out of labs and into commercial production.

In the Lone Star State, a University of Texas spinoff company has pulled in $2 million to test a new technique for culturing non-embryonic stem cells. According to a regulatory filing, StemBioSys raised at least $2 million of a $3.5 million equity offering. CEO Dr. Steven Davis told the San Antonio Business Journal late last year (when the company began raising the round) that it would fund research projects to validate the quality of the stem cells generated by the company’s technology.

StemBioSys is developing XC-marrow ECM, a propriety three-dimensional culture for growing mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow, adipose tissue and umbilical cord blood. These immature cells have multiple potential uses in research and therapeutics because they can self-renew and mature into a variety of cell types. Stem cell therapies are being studied as a repair mechanism for tissues all over the body, from the heart to the brain to the knees.

The company says its three-dimensional extracellular matrix can grow cells quicker than conventional media while retaining stem cell properties and may help overcome key obstacles in creating stem cell therapies. The technology was developed by Dr. Xiao-Dong Chen, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center and the company’s chief scientific officer, and licensed from UT.

Although it’s only available for research purposes now, this kind of technology could have therapeutic applications down the line. “If this research transfers successfully to clinical application in humans, we could establish personal stem cell banks,” Chen said. “We would collect a small number of older stem cells from patients, put those into our young microenvironment to rescue them–increasing their number and quality–then deliver them back into the patient.”

The company has struck a deal with GenCure, an affiliate of the nonprofit South Texas Blood & Tissue Center, to receive mononuclear cells from clinical grade umbilical-cord blood that it uses for R&D purposes. It was founded in 2010 in San Antonio, Texas and has received previous funding from the Texas Technology Development Center’s McDermott Pre-Seed Fund.

Currently, there are more than 160 Austin-area companies with over 8,200 employees operating in the areas of Biotech, Diagnostics, Medical Device, CRO/IRB, Pharma, Biosecurity and Agribio, among others. Texas is one of the leading biotech states in the country, with 3,400 companies and an estimated economic impact of $75 billion.

As relatively young industries in Austin, life science and biotechnology companies enjoy unique successes, with strong growth projected in the areas of biologics/biotech and medical device/diagnostics. Here’s a breakdown of the leading sectors:

• Medical device/diagnostics (40 percent)
• Biologics/biotech (20 percent)
• Contract Research Organizations (20 percent)
• Pharmaceuticals (10 percent)
• Other (11 percent)

Molecular Biotech Center Opens In Salt Lake City

The University of Utah has developed a well-deserved reputation for its research and business innovation, a reputation now enhanced by a new high-tech facility that could promises a financial return as well.

Leaders from the Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative in 2012 dedicated the James L. Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building—a $130-million, 208,000-square-foot research facility where scientists, physicians and engineers will collaborate to create new advances in the biotech field.

“The technology that is developed here is going to be a multidisciplinary …cross-pollination of ideas,” said Dinesh Patel, chairman of the USTAR Governing Authority, as reported by KSL.com. Located midway between the engineering and medical areas of campus, the new research building will facilitate increased interaction among faculty and student researchers,

Up to three additional buildings are planned to expand the university’s biotech center.

Financial support for the facility came from $100 million in state bonding and the balance from private donations, including $15 million from the Sorenson Legacy Foundation and $1.25 million from Micron Technology. Construction of the project began in April 2009 and was completed in December 2011. Tenants started moving in last month.

According to the KSL.com report, researchers at the new facility will have the ability to perform “dry” nano (fabrication) for silicon chips, etc., as well as “wet” nano—for use in biomedical devices. The facility also boasts precision equipment, including a $3 million confocal microscope for florescent imaging of cellular processes. Nanofabrication is the design and manufacture of devices with dimensions measured in nanometers. One nanometer is a millionth of a millimeter—less than the diameter of a human hair. The process is of interest to computer engineers because it could open the door to super-high-density microprocessors and memory chips that could one day store a data bit in a single atom.

Since its inception in 2007, USTAR has helped produce more than 300 invention disclosures and patent filings, along with 44 start-up companies or industry partnerships, according to a program statement.

USTAR collaborates with the University of Utah and Utah State University to create world-class research teams in strategic innovation development areas. Highly regarded faculty members, supported by teams of top researchers, lead the teams.

The infrastructure and multidisciplinary nature of the new Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building and at the related facility at Utah State University will likely help draw bigger research grants to Utah.

“To successfully win big federal and industry grants takes more complex, collaborative teams of researchers,” Patel told KSL.com. “The physical and intellectual infrastructure this building represents has already helped the U. of U. win a $20 million advanced materials grant.”

The new facility houses the Brain Institute, Nano Institute of Utah and Department of Bioengineering, according to USTAR spokesman Michael O’Malley.

Thus far, the USTAR program has recruited 32 principle researchers to Utah from such prestigious institutions as Harvard, MIT and UCLA. As of Dec. 2011, the researchers have generated nearly $80 million in grants since 2007, with more than $81 million in research proposals pending.

NBAF Bio-Defense Lab Moves Forward In Manhattan, KS

In Kansas, state leaders are celebrating recent progress in the region’s largest biotech project: the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF), in Manhattan, KS.

The federal Department of Homeland Security signed a formal land transfer agreement with the state to move ahead with NBAF.

“While there is much more work to be done, signing of the land transfer agreement is a good step forward in securing the future health, wealth and security of our nation,” Gov. Sam Brownback said in a news release. “It demonstrates DHS’ continued commitment to completing the NBAF in Manhattan. Kansas stands ready to partner with DHS to move this important national security priority forward.”

Rendering of the National Bio- and Agro- Defense Facility in Kansas

DHS will acquire about 46 acres of land near the north end of Kansas State University for the lab. The transfer clears the way for construction to begin, and a groundbreaking later this year.

NBAF scientists will research animal and human diseases and develop cures and vaccines to counter them. According to the news release, DHS already has invested more than $125 million in the lab, which is expected to cost $650 million. The state has committed $105 million dollars of matching funds for the facility and $35 million dollars of research funding. The project is expected to have a $3.5 billion economic boon to the state in its first 20 years, including 757 construction jobs and 326 permanent positions.

NBAF researchers would study animal-related diseases—including foot-and-mouth disease, classical swine fever, African swine fever, Nipah virus, Japanese Encephalitis, Rift Valley fever and contagious bovine pleuropneuomonia—and develop vaccines and treatments. The facility would be run jointly by Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“This was the next step we have all been waiting for and moves us further down the construction timeline,” said U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts. “We will continue to monitor each step in the process to ensure NBAF remains a top national security priority.”

VC Funds Flowing Into Florida Bio Initiatives

The bioscience industry in Florida is on the rise in terms of new companies and venture capital flowing into businesses, according to BioFlorida, an industry trade organization.

Venture funding for the industry in 2012, for example, rose 19 percent over 2011, to $103.5 million, according to a BioFlorida release. That was the best year for venture capital in the industry since 2007. Plus, the amount of deals rose from 15 in 2011 to 19 in 2012.

The amount of biotech start-up companies in the sector is growing, too. BioFlorida reports that tally is up 13.5 percent since the first quarter of 2012.

The statewide data comes from a University of Florida Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator report. “The new data is evidence of a strong, innovative and sustainable bioscience business climate here in Florida,” says David Day, assistant vice president of the University of Florida Office of Technology Licensing and the Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator.

“Not only is Florida experiencing growth in the number of biotechnology businesses, we are also seeing a continued increase in venture capital investments—demonstration of investor confidence in our biotechnology start-ups and breakthrough research,” Day added.

Naples-based biotechnology firm Kirax is planning a new high-rise headquarters. “My goal is to continue to expand Kirax in Naples,” said Edmundo Muniz, president and CEO of Kirax, which develops pharmaceuticals, in an interview with the Naples Daily News. “You will see a big tall building in Naples with the word ‘Kirax’ across the top.”

Southwest Florida is playing catch-up with other regions of the state in developing a biotech cluster. Of the 219 biotechnology companies based in Florida, seven of them are located in Southwest Florida, according to Florida BioDatabase. That puts the region sixth out of the state’s eight regions in terms of numbers of biotech companies, tied with Northeast Florida and behind the Panhandle and Central Florida, according to the database.

Florida experienced a biotech boom from 2006 through 2011, with the number of companies growing by 42 percent compared to just 5 percent nationwide, the university’s Florida BioPulse report shows. More than 10 percent of the nation’s biotech companies call Florida home.

The report gives much of the credit to then-Gov. Jeb Bush, who pushed a controversial $310 million incentive package through the state Legislature to lure the Scripps Research Institute to Palm Beach County, which threw in another $187 million for the first phase of construction.

The institute specializes in biomedical research. It opened in 2009. Scripps “opened up the dam” for biotech in Florida, said Patti Breedlove, associate director of UF’s Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator.

“That was a pivotal moment,” she said. “People stopped laughing about the possibilities of biotech in Florida.”

Getting Southwest Florida a larger share of the biotechnology pie isn’t “on our radar now,” said Michael Wynn, co-chairman of The Partnership for Collier’s Future Economy, an arm of the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce.

He said he sees a “huge potential” for attracting biotechnology firms when the county is ready to redirect its focus there, citing the region’s quality of life and the plethora of CEOs that live here and whose connections with the biotech world could be tapped.

In Estero, Florida Gulf Coast University’s fledgling biotechnology program has graduated 40 students, and is setting its sights on creating a master’s and doctorate degree program, said Takashi Ueda, an associate professor of biology and the biotechnology program leader. A 241-acre research park, dubbed Innovation Hub, is planned to break ground at FGCU in early 2013 with a focus on renewable energy sources, including biotech.

Roche Breaks Ground On Indy Learning Center

Late last year, Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard joined Roche Diagnostics President and CEO Jack Phillips as well as other Roche executives and community leaders to break ground on the company’s new Learning and Development Center. The center is the first element of a $300 million site transformation investment that was announced in June 2012. The city of Indianapolis and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation offered Roche tax abatements, tax credits and training grants.

“Roche has been an important part of our life sciences heritage for nearly 50 years now, and this expansion signals an important commitment to the region,” said Ballard.

“Central Indiana has been our home since 1964 and we are here to stay,” said Jack Phillips, president and CEO of Roche Diagnostics, adding that the company’s history and growth in the region is due in part to the community’s outstanding workforce and partnerships with the state and city that have enhanced job creation.

The capital investments at Roche’s North American headquarters on the northeast side of Indianapolis will support the company’s growing diagnostics and diabetes care businesses.  The new Learning and Development Center will host the training of more than 1,500 customers from across the nation each year.

“As a key piece of our North American Headquarters, the new Learning and Development Center will serve as a hub and gateway for worldwide operations,” said Phillips. “We felt that it was important for the building to reflect our global influence, right here in Indianapolis.”

Mississippi Medical Center Unveils New Research Hub

Construction of a new research building, which will include space for start-up biotechnology companies, is commencing this year at University of Mississippi Medical Center in Fondren. UMC leaders plan to spend $35 million initially on the eight-story shell of the Cancer and Biomedical Science Research Center and plan to finish the ground, first and second-floor interiors of the 220,000 square-foot building. That work should take about 18 months. Contractors would complete additional floors as funds become available. “We have very limited amounts of research space right now,” said Dr. John Hall, UMMC associate vice chancellor for research. “This building will help us recruit scientists, expand our research centers and institutes, and develop the Biotechnology Research Park at UMMC.”

Biotech company incubator space will occupy about 25,000 square feet on one floor. That will mark the first phase of a long-term plan to construct the Mississippi Biotechnology Research Park. The building also will house laboratory animal facilities and UMMC Cancer Institute labs. Hall said administrators will survey space needs of departments and research centers. UMMC leaders put plans on hold last year for a Mississippi Biotechnology Research Park project at the old farmers market when Congress swore off federally targeted funds, known as earmarks. The project already had received nearly $20 million in federal earmarks, and UMMC had taken ownership of the farmer’s market property, located at West Street and Woodrow Wilson Avenue. With little likelihood of further federal support, administrators opted to include biotech incubator space in the Cancer and Biomedical Science Research Center, which allowed use of the $20 million for the on-campus building.

Frederick County, MD: U.S. Biotech Research Hub

Frederick County, Maryland, is the prime location for bioscience companies to establish and continue their dynamic success in a global marketplace. Already home to more than 70 cutting edge bioscience companies, Frederick County has the second largest cluster of bioscience companies in Maryland.

In fact, Maryland is home to the highest concentration of federal biotech research facilities, anchored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Taken together, Maryland’s bioscience research complex is conservatively estimated to represent nearly $8 billion in research and development expenditures annually, third in total size only to California and New Jersey. The state also has a leadership position in academic R&D per capita, led by Johns Hopkins University, the top recipient of NIH funding in the U.S.

MedImmune is completing work on its $600-million Frederick Manufacturing Center, which will employ 250; when it ramps up to full production the center is expected to be the largest bulk biotech manufacturing facility in the United States.

Frederick County’s burgeoning biotech cluster continues to expand exponentially. A good example is MedImmune, now part of AstraZeneca, which recently completed its $250-million, 337,000- square-foot Frederick Manufacturing Center, creating 200 new jobs and bringing total employment to 450. The Frederick facility will be one of the biggest bulk biotech manufacturing facilities in the country. The workforce at the $600-million facility is expected to double when the plant ramps up to full production. MedImmune also has expanded its headquarters complex in Gaithersburg, investing $200 million and increasing the lab staff to 600.

Qiagen, a Netherlands-based supplier of sample and assay technologies in the life sciences sector, expanded its North American headquarters and manufacturing center in Germantown. The $2-million, four-phase expansion is adding about 90 new jobs. Qiagen employs more than 3,500 globally, including nearly 700 across its three locations in Maryland at Germantown, Gaithersburg and Frederick.

Lonza Bioscience invested $26 million in an expansion of its cell production and office space in Walkersville, adding 80 employees bringing total employment to 480. Additionally, Life Technologies undertook a $5 million expansion of their life sciences manufacturing distribution center.

Many new and expanding bioscience companies choose Frederick County as their preferred business location for the following reasons:

• Business Friendly Environment
• No business personal property tax
• Competitive tax structure
• Fast Track permitting assistance
• Start-up companies benefit from a high-tech incubator at Frederick Innovative Technology Center

Recent bioscience expansions also include the Fort Detrick National Interagency Biodefense Campus; new laboratories and office for Interagency Biodefense R&D and new facilities at the SAIC-Frederick, Inc./National Cancer Institute.

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley is seeking to spur biotech development with his $100-million InvestMaryland program, which would provide tax credits to insurance companies so they could invest in technology companies, including biotech research facilities. The state also is well under way with its Bio 2020 plan to invest at least $1.3 billion in biotech across the decade. The 15-year-old Maryland Venture Fund, which makes direct investments in technology and life sciences early-stage companies, has invested $25 million and returned more than double that investment.

Under the Bio 2020 plan, the Maryland Biotechnology Center was established within the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development to coordinate a host of state, university and private sector initiatives to support biotechnology innovation and entrepreneurship in Maryland. The Center works closely with university technology transfer offices and commercialization programs such as the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) and the University of Maryland’s Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) program to foster and fund collaborative initiatives between bioscience enterprises, universities, and federal labs. In certain qualifying cases, the Center can supplement funding of industry-university and industry-federal labs research partnerships.

The Center has created a BioEntreprenuer Resources Program which assists entrepreneurs in leveraging available public and private capital. The Center also works closely with the University of Maryland School of Law’s Intellectual Property Legal Resource Center (MIPLRC). The MIPLRC provides free legal services on the subjects of business and intellectual property to start-up bioscience enterprises.

Higher-Ed Partnering For Progress In Minnesota

A biotechnology partnership has been initiated between Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC) and the University of Minnesota. In addition to the transferability of the Biotechnology program in its entirety, the partnership ensures graduates of MCTC’s Biotechnology program with grade point averages of 3.5 or higher will be enrolled at the College of Biological Sciences at the University of Minnesota, one of the University’s most prestigious schools.

“Minnesota has earned its place in the medical device industry by nurturing scientists,” said LifeScience Alley President and CEO Dale Wahlstrom. “This partnership moves students between two strong academic programs to graduate studies or careers in Minnesota’s famed bioscience sector.”

The first cohort within the new biotechnology partnership includes seven MCTC students. MCTC’s Biotechnology faculty leader Rekha Ganaganur noted all seven of the students have undergraduate research or internship experiences and some have obtained jobs in the bioscience industry. She applauded the vision of Robert Elde, the dean of the University of Minnesota’s College of Biological Sciences. “Dean Elde knows Minnesotans want colleges to collaborate to enhance the biotechnology workforce of the future.” Ganaganur is grateful for the LifeScience Alley membership for serving on the MCTC advisory group which made the partnership possible.

Elde and Ganaganur pledged their programs to support students who start their academic careers at community colleges. MCTC program participants can consider themselves University students as they grow their academic careers. “The partnership is a positive example of a collaborative effort that will help ensure a pathway for students to the top scientific careers in our state,” said MCTC President Phil Davis. “I am extremely impressed with the caliber of students enrolled in our programs, and MCTC welcomes this as a way to encourage academic success.”

New Jersey New Incentives For On-The-Job Training

NJ Gov. Chris Christie Administration recently announced that financial hiring incentives are now available to employers through the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development (LWD) if they hire and train former pharmaceutical industry employees. Employers willing to hire displaced pharmaceutical workers may reduce the cost to train new employees under this new on-the-job training program, which will reimburse each employer up to 50 to 90 percent of a new hire’s salary for up to six months and a maximum of $14,000.

“As a former business owner, I fully understand the expense associated with training new employees.  This is an opportunity for employers to bring on new staff and offset their training costs. This program benefits employers and employees and will help stimulate job growth here in New Jersey,” said Dept. of LWD Commissioner Harold J. Wirths.

New Jersey employers from all industries are eligible to participate in this program, which is commonly known as an On-the-Job-Training program, as long as the prospective new hires are among the former pharmaceutical industry workers covered under a National Emergency Grant first issued to the LWD by the U.S. Department of Labor in 2010.

The program is managed in collaboration with the state’s Life Sciences Talent Network at BioNJ. It is designed to help workers who were displaced from the pharmaceutical industry due to the economic downturn by providing job training and assistance in finding new employment. New Jersey applied for the grant to keep the state’s pharmaceutical talent in the state and maintain New Jersey’s economic competitiveness. The workers covered under the grant include those who were displaced from approved locations of Bristol-Myers Squibb, Hoffman-La Roche, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co., and Pfizer companies.

Under the new On-the-Job Training component, employers will not incur any fees and LWD or the Life Sciences Talent Network staff will pre-screen applicants for eligibility or will assist in qualifying candidates prior to the actual hire. New Jersey also is paving the way for increased cooperation between the state’s bio-pharma industry and academia.

Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno recently announced the formation of a new Council on Innovation to advise the NJ Partnership for Action on how industry and academia can better work together to improve New Jersey’s economy and attract more federal funding. Creation of the Council is among 15 recommendations in a report released by New Jersey Policy Research Organization (NJPRO) and Innovation NJ. In addition, Lt. Governor Guadagno announced Secretary of Higher Education Rochelle Hendricks as the newest member of the NJ Partnership for Action. The report recommends policy changes that would create an “innovation ecosystem,” making it easier for industry and academia to collaborate on new ideas and inventions.

Other recommendations include cutting red tape by creating standard agreements governing intellectual property rights and collaboration between entities. Identifying areas of expertise within New Jersey’s colleges and universities that can form the basis for Centers of Excellence. Designation of a single center of excellence for a topic would provide guidance to interested parties searching for a research partner; having a chief administrator at each college and university who will serve as a one-stop shop coordinator for businesses to connect with university information and resources.

Secretary Hendricks emphasized the importance of aligning businesses and academic institutions to grow New Jersey’s economy, attract more federal funds and bring innovative products and ideas to market.

“We need to be efficient and effective to win the competition to market commercial ideas and products,” she said. “Many of our academic institutions are already doing ground-breaking research. With improved collaboration among state agencies, colleges and businesses, that research can be directly connected with the economy, helping our institutions continue to compete on a national and global scale.”

Kentucky Spreads Seed Capital To Bio Start-Ups

Kentucky is offering a host of programs geared to jumpstart biotech start-ups. Commonwealth Seed Capital, LLC (CSC) is an independent fund that makes debt or equity investments in early-stage Kentucky business entities to facilitate the commercialization of innovative ideas and technologies. Investments are typically made in these specified innovation areas: health and human development; information technology and communications; bioscience; environmental and energy technologies; and materials science and advanced manufacturing.  CSC invests in companies that have a significant Kentucky presence, the prospect for substantial growth and the potential to generate an appropriate rate of return.

The Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development also offers a matching funds program to facilitate biotech start-ups. The Cabinet will match, on a competitive basis, Phase 1 and Phase 2 federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) awards received by Kentucky high-tech small businesses and those willing to become Kentucky-based businesses.

This includes matching Phase 1 federal awards up to $150,000 to support the exploration of the technical merit or feasibility of an idea or technology. The program also provides up to $500,000 of federal Phase 2 awards, which support full-scale research and development.

The post COVER STORY: Global Biotech Report appeared first on Business Facilities.

By Business Facilities Staff

Each year, Business Facilities selects the organizations that have established and consistently executed the best practices in our industry, bringing measurable success in targeted economic development to the locations they represent.

We honor these organizations with our Economic Development Excellence Awards, which are earned by the overall performance of the organization on behalf of its location, and with a series of awards for specific Achievements in Economic Development for categories including achievements in targeted incentives, business retention, downtown revitalization, public- private partnerships and ports/FTZs. We also bestow our Achievement in New Media Award for Best Use of Video and Best Use of Social Media.

The finalists for our new overall Economic Development Excellence awards were asked to prepare a detailed submission that summarized the most productive project development in their locations and gave our us an overview of the economic development strategy they have deployed to ensure sustained long-term growth. The information provided included the top projects (initiated since the beginning of 2012), in terms of capital investment and job creation. These projects included new facilities, expansions, relocations or corporate headquarters. In their strategic narratives, finalists identified the growth sectors they’re targeting and described the specialized tools being deployed to achieve growth in these sectors. We encouraged them to specify their approach to workforce training, specialized incentives and the support they provide to the development of start-ups, small businesses and other entrepreneurial initiatives.

In assessing the candidates for our Excellence awards, we assessed the diversity and scope of the agency’s overall economic development program (in terms of the expansion of existing industries as well as the attraction of new ventures). Our Achievement Awards throw the spot- light on agencies and organizations that have established the best practices in their specified category.

And now, without further ado, here are the winners of our 2013 Economic Development Awards.

Population Greater Than 500k

Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance
The Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, through its CEO Council—and through its headquarters marketing and recruitment initiative—set a new standard of excellence in 2012 for the delivery of high-quality, effective economic development programs. These programs have resulted in substantial upward mobility for current and new Broward County residents, while providing substantial returns on investment to local municipal partners through the generation of new revenue as a result of capital investments.

In 2012, a national TV ad blitz continued to promote Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County’s strong business value proposition. The campaign, built on the tagline of “Life. Less Taxing,” aired for six months in the NY/NJ/CT, Boston and Chicago markets.

Key to the new marketing initiative was a CEO Council-sponsored hosting event for leading corporate real estate executives, site selection consultants and media outlets, which included a reception at Nova Southeastern University’s new $50-million Oceanographic Center.

The Greater Fort Lauderdale area continued to notch headquarters relocation and expansion success stories, including:

• Custom clothier Astor & Black moved to Pembroke Pines, creating 62 jobs in a $1.48-million capital investment over a three-year period. State and local incentives from Florida and the City of Pembroke Pines totaled $554,000, including $434,000 from the Qualified Target Industries Tax Refund Program and $80,000 from the Governor’s Quick Action Closing Fund
• SmartWater CSI, a UK forensic technology firm also established its North American Headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, and UK-based Private Jet Charter expanded its headquarters there.
• Connecticut-based Turbine Controls, Inc. (TCI) announced it is undertaking a $1.5-million expansion in Miramar, creating 60 jobs. TCI, an industry leader in air- craft engine component MRO services, will locate its facility at Miramar Park of Commerce.

There also were 23 other company relocations and expansions throughout Broward County in 2012, resulting in 1,669 new jobs, 1,689 retained jobs and more than $88 million in new capital investment. Highlights include the largest industrial spec development lease in the last five years in Broward County. AeroTurbine, the Miami-based aviation supply company is expanding to a new, 264,000-square-foot building in Miramar. The project offers a direct capital investment of $30 million dollars and will create 75 jobs.

Saveology’s move to Margate will add 700 jobs to its operation. The Internet company received a $2-million incentive package (tied to job-creation commitments) for its relocation to the 100,000-square-foot office. Stretch Wrap Packaging Industries, a manufacturer of plastic stretch wrap for the logistics industry, also has relocated to the Fort Lauderdale area from Suriname, South America; the company has committed to add 200 jobs over the next three years. The total foreign direct investment is $12 million.

The Alliance substantially expanded international business activities to raise the global footprint of Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County by taking an active and participatory role in Gov. Rick Scott’s missions to Brazil, Colombia and Spain, and a separate mission to Mexico, along with hosting and facilitating visits from Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Italy and the United Kingdom.

The Alliance has a strong partnership with Broward County’s Workforce One employment center, securing nearly $1 million state and local training assistance for 1,107 employees in local companies.

The Alliance supports the GrowFlorida program designed to provide both technical assistance and access to capital to second-tier, high-growth companies in the area; it also provided assistance to Broward College to establish a new business incubator to promote small business.

In 2012, the Alliance formed its first Port Everglades Action Team, led by CEO Council member Terry Stiles, to work with the business community to generate support in securing necessary state and federal funding for expansion projects in the county’s Port Everglades Master Plan. Port Everglades, the 12^th largest cargo port in the U.S. and one of the top cruise ports in the world, is embarking on three critical expansion projects that will create 7,000 new jobs regionally and support 135,000 jobs statewide over the next 15 years.

Throughout the year, a primary focus of the Alliance is assisting local companies succeed through its Business Retention and Visitation Outreach (BRAVO) program. In 2012, the Alliance visited 178 companies to assist with access to capital, workforce training opportunities, permitting issues and site location assistance.

Gaining Honorable Mention Awards in this category were Greater MSP (Minneapolis Saint Paul Regional Economic Development Partnership) and Columbus (OH) 2020.

Greater MSP launched in 2011 as a public-private partnership dedicated to accelerating job growth and capital investment in the 13-county regional MSA. Thanks in large part to Greater MSP’s efforts, the region now boasts the highest per capita concentration of Fortune 500 and large privately held corporate headquarters. The area also has the second-highest concentration in the U.S. of employment in its biotech sector, anchored by its world-class research institutions, including the Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota.

Columbus 2020 represents the 11-county region centered on Columbus OH, working in collaboration with JobsOhio and local partners to offer comprehensive services to companies evaluating the area. The organization has targeted development in growth sectors including logistics, international business, manufacturing, corporate headquarters and bioscience.

Population Between 200K-500K

Lincoln (NE) Partnership
Lincoln, NE is a community recognized around the nation for its aggressiveness in pursuit of new job creation opportunities. This effort is focused at the Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development. The primary service territory of the organization is Lancaster County and its primary focus is on Business Retention and Expansion (BR&E), Business Attraction, Entrepreneurship and Innovation (E&I) and Community Competitiveness.

In 2012, the Partnership completed 100 annual surveys of key businesses in the region; it is spearheading key workforce issues including the development of a career academy which will be a partnership between Lincoln Public Schools and Southeast Community College to provide career-based educated for juniors and seniors in the LPS District. The overall BR&E program brings together representatives of the City, the County, Lincoln Electric System, Black Hills Energy and the State of Nebraska. Most recently, the Lincoln WIB was brought into the group.

The Partnership works through a regional marketing consortium that includes regional communities, utilities and higher education institutions including the University of Nebraska.

The Partnership and the Chamber and Convention and Visitors Bureau recently launched a new community branding strategy called “Life is Right: that is targeting young executives, workers and entrepreneurs.

The E&I program has been the top priority for the Partnership over the past three years, focused on two significant programs:

• Innovation Connect brings the engineers and executives from manufacturers together with University of Nebraska researchers, promoting the use of UNL technology in Lincoln-based businesses.
• Health Care Connect was unveiled in 2012. The program asks local health care providers to identify problems they believe can be solved through new technology, and then forwards these challenges to Lincoln’s software community. After two months, a quick-pitch contest was held and the winning software proposal got a 120-day test period at the health care institution.

The Partnership sponsors numerous quick-pitch and business plan competitions, and it was a key facilitator of the area’s software angel fund, Nebraska Global, which helped launch five companies in 2011 and 2012. Nebraska Global has launched its fifth software company, Elite-Form, which is producing programs for recording, coaching and evaluating strength training. Prototypes now are being used at the University of Nebraska’s athletic department.

The Partnership helped spearhead a successful effort by the University of Nebraska to take over the former state fair grounds; $80 million is being invested on four new facilities to attract, expand and grow new companies. The first, announced in 2012, is ConAgra’s new facility and research agreement. When fully developed, the project is expected to add over 2,000 high-tech jobs to the community.

The Partnership is leading an effort to undertake a $2.5-million redevelopment of the Lincoln Airpark, a 1000-acre industrial park located on a former Air Force Base. The project is expected to generate more than 3,000 new manufacturing jobs in the city.

The largest project in the community’s history, the West Haymarket redevelopment project, was sup- ported financially by the Partnership through the passage of a bond issue that will construct a new 16,000-seat arena. Over $100 million in investments are expected to be made by concerns adjacent to the arena, which could generate over 1,000 new jobs, new retail and significant quality of life enhancements.

Cabela’s credit card operation has moved into its expanded space in northwest Lincoln. The company $7.2-million expansion is to create about 340 new jobs. Cabela’s site is part of Nebraska Technology Park.

Family-owned Duncan Aviation is undertaking a $25-million expansion including an 80,000-square-foot maintenance hangar, 95,000 square feet of office and shop space; the new facilities are scheduled to open in June 2014. Last year, Duncan Aviation opened an $11.5-million paint shop. When all of its projects are complete, Duncan will employ more than 1,300 people in the Lincoln area.

Receiving Honorable Mention Awards in the 200k-500k category are Brick City Development Corp., Commerce Lexington, Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce and Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce.

Brick City Development Corp. (BCDC) was formed in 2007 to be the primary economic development catalyst for New Jersey’s largest city, Newark. BCDC is focusing on industrial, technology and commercial growth sectors, putting New Jersey’s Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit to good use to secure capital investments of more than $50 million for large-scale renovation or new construction projects.

A key priority is revitalization and development of site in Port Newark, the nation’s third-largest port; the program has succeeded in closing a series of industrial deals covering 750,000 square feet of production space. Pacific Group Holdings, one of the world’s largest importers, brought its Northeast U.S. headquarters to Newark.

BCDC also is targeting food processing and distribution. Success stories include Bartlett Dairy, kosher food producer Manischewitz, Damascus Bakery and grocery store distributor Wakefern.

More than 90 biotech incubator start-ups are now up and running at the University Heights Science Park, a mixed-use technology park anchored by the city’s huge university cluster. A major French pharma research concern, Biotrial S.A., has purchased a 1.2-acre parcel in the tech park for a new facility.

Commerce Lexington scored a major coup in 2012 with its recruitment of Bingham McCutchen’s Global Services Center. Lexington was chosen after a site-selection competition which considered 350 cities across the U.S.

Commerce Lexington is one of three members in the Bluegrass Business Development Partnership (BBDP), which Lexington’s economic development team together the University of Kentucky and the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government in a coordinated program which serves as a one-stop service provider linking entrepreneurs with key programs and incentives to help them jump-start business initiatives.

In May 2011, Joplin, MO was devastated by one of the worst tornados in U.S. history. In the months before the tornado hit, Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce was spear- heading two new regional development initiatives, the Joplin Regional Prosperity Initiative (JRPI) and the Joplin Region Partnership (JRP). Even during the massive recovery effort undertaken after the storm (about 560 business facilities were destroyed by the tornado), these development efforts have continued to grow and bear positive results.

In the wake of the tornado, these efforts have created more than 1,800 jobs in Joplin area. The Joplin Tomorrow Fund was deployed to distribute more than $1 million in funding to restart two companies, expand four businesses and assist a new start-up. Today, more than 500 of the businesses directly impacted by the storm have reopened, retaining more than 4,500 jobs in Joplin that had been considered “at risk.” Jasper County, which includes Joplin, has been named Missouri’s first national ACT “Career Ready Certified” community (Missouri is one of only four state’s that have made it to ACT’s second round).

In 2012, Airbus selected Mobile for its first final assembly line in North America, an investment of $600 million that is expected to create at least 1,000 direct jobs. The Airbus decision already is spurring suppliers to put down roots in Mobile, including a recent new plant announcement from Labinal.

In 2012, the Mobile Area Chamber assisted more than 1,600 entrepreneurs in developing business plans, one-on-one counseling and access funding.

Population Between 50K-200K

Operation Oswego County
Operation Oswego County (OOC) is a private, non-profit organization that works to enhance, promote and protect the business and industrial climate of Oswego County. To achieve that goal, they provide comprehensive assistance to existing businesses and those seeking to relocate, whether they are developing a business plan, looking for the best site, or searching for financing or other assistance.

OOC’s primary objectives are to help create new job opportunities, retain employment, build a broader real property tax base, diversify the economy and improve the area’s quality of life through a planned, organized and environmentally-friendly economic development process. They are guided by a board of directors made up of community-minded people from business, labor, education and government throughout Oswego County.

Coordinating and implementing special economic development initiatives allows OOC to enhance the potential to create and retain jobs. They operate three industrial parks in Oswego County—the Oswego County Industrial Park in Schroeppel, the Airport Industrial Park in Volney and the Lake Ontario Industrial Park in the city of Oswego—with other sites currently being studied for potential business parks.

The Start-up Facility in the Oswego County Industrial Park and the Business Expansion Center in the city of Oswego are designed to help non-retail, industrial and service businesses achieve significant growth and development during the first few years of business with the intention of eventually moving out of the building and into private commercial space.

OOC facilitates programs supporting entrepreneurship and small business development and growth including Women’s Network for Entrepreneurial Training, Connections Women’s Symposium, Next Great Idea Business Plan Competition and Workforce Development. The businesses obtain Minority and Women Business Enterprises state designation and are authorized to finance projects using the SBA 504 loan program which can fund up to 40 percent of fixed asset financing for eligible businesses at below market rates.

Oswego County is experiencing a growth spurt in the food processing sector. Over the last year, three companies have purchased existing facilities and are expanding their food processing ventures into Oswego County. Champlain Valley Specialty is renovating and expanding a former onion packing site into an apple processing facility. The $5.5 million project will create approximately 90 jobs. Teti Bakery USA plans to renovate a 200,000-square-foot building in Volney, using about 40,000 square feet of it as a bakery for its Italian flat breads. The Canadian company will create 63 jobs with the $5 million investment.

Our Honorable Mention Award in this category goes to Peoria Economic (AZ) Development. Peoria is taking an aggressive approach toward business attraction by creating partnerships focused on targeted industries including bioscience, health care and renewable energy.

The top 10 projects in Peoria in 2012 included a $75-million investment in Trine University Peoria Campus, a development which will create more than 1,200 direct jobs; a partnership between the city and BioAccel to create the Bioinspire Medical Device Incubator, including six start-up companies; and Genome Identification Corp.’s relocation of its forensics lab from Virginia to Peoria, where the company will continue to develop its proprietary DNA analysis technology.

Population Less Than 50K

City of Rochester (NH)
The City of Rochester has an independent and focused attraction program unique to the goals and objectives of each Targeted Industry Initiative.

The program for Advanced Manufacturing is based on input from the existing manufacturers and includes introductions and referrals as well as industry and trade publications and trade shows. Once a business has interacted with the development program, they may offer a testimonial on the www.thinkrochester.biz website, and may refer vendors and suppliers. The Retail/Hospitality strategy is based on data from the University of Shopping Centers Economic Development Program by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). The city contracted with the Buxton Company to develop a comprehensive retail assessment and analysis to support the commercial districts and the attraction of private developers and retailers. That research supports the trade shows and targeted retail and hospitality efforts of the city.

Rochester partnered with the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Planning at Northeastern University to complete a competitive analysis focused on infrastructure, local policy, planning and other factors established by NAIOP. This report led to infrastructure and policy improvements, and as part of this continuing emphasis, the city reorganized all the development related departments, creating the Community Development Division. The city is considering locating all of the staff in a modern and efficient “one-stop” center to improve efficiency.

The Back Office/Call Center effort involves the owners of the major office buildings and office parks in the city to do collaborative marketing and research. The Medical/Health Care program is based on a strong relationship with the city’s major medical center and other health care partners. They utilize community listening posts that included all of the major employers to discuss health care demands and anticipated impacts of changes to health care and insurance requirements.

Strategic Action items now on the agenda for Rochester’s economic development program include: Establishment of the Granite Ridge Commercial District; Expansion of the Granite State Business Park, Establishment of incentives including Tax Increment Financing, Establish a Downtown Revitalization Organization (Rochester is one of 10 NH communities Certified by the National Trust for Historic Preservation); and Implement a Business Retention and Expansion Plan.

Albany Engineered Composites and Safran USA have partnered for a $100 million state of the art aerospace composites facility on a 50-acre site in Granite Business State Park. They will add approximately 500 employees with a payroll of more than $30 million annually to produce LEAP-X engines, which incorporate green technology while retaining aviation power. The local economic development office for Rochester, NH led the Recruitment Team for the project, and persevered during a two year selection and negotiation process, managing a complex package of deliverables. The ultimate key to success was the team being small, talented and committed, and support from the State Department of Resources and Economic Development, the NH Business Finance Authority and Governor John Lynch.

Construction of a 57-acre, 330,000-square-foot marketplace that could bring up to 800 jobs in the Granite Ridge Development District is also under development. In addition, the City of Rochester recently issued a $100,000 JOB Loan (its biggest ever) to the young firm, LHR Sporting Arms, LLC so that they can begin hiring employees.

The city has created two Tax Increment Financing Districts with a third in process, to expand the municipal infrastructure to industrial and commercial zones. The city has adopted three NH Economic Revitalization Zones, offering corporate tax credits to qualifying businesses. The City has two HUB Zones through SBA, and is a New Market Tax Credits eligible community. The city is working with the NH Foreign Trade Zone Program to consider expansion of an existing zone to Rochester.

The city has a Special Downtown Business District with an expedited approval process to encourage adaptive reuse. Also in Downtown, the city has adopted the property tax credit program 79e enabling real estate investors in the District to recoup their investment over five to 13 years before a tax increase. The city created a Sign & Façade Matching Grant to encourage investment into exterior improvements, even on a small scale. Rochester also has a revolving loan fund capitalized at $600,000 from Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). This program has created more than 300 jobs over the last ten years in manufacturing, hospitality and service industries, including start-ups. City staff provides one on one support for business plans, application process and follow up.

Honorable Mention Awards in the Population Less than 50K category went to Jackson County Industrial Development Corp. and Ponca City, OK.

In April 2012, Cummins-Seymour announced it will invest $219 in a new engine plant in Jackson County, IN, creating 290 new jobs. Jackson County Industrial Development Corp., which is based in Seymour, also scored a local success with Valeo Sylvania’s decision to invest $28 million in an expansion of their Seymour facility (creating 187 new jobs) and Aisin U.S.A. Manufacturing’s announcement that it will undertake a $21-million expansion of its two Seymour facilities (114 new jobs). Additionally, Seymour Tubing is putting about $20 million into expanded workspace and new equipment.

The top five projects in Ponca City, OK in 2012 totaled $78 mil- lion in capital investment. The largest capital investment in Ponca was made by Phillips 66, which is putting $50 million into an upgrade of its alkaline units, a lift station at its South Plant and equipment upgrades throughout it complex. Mertz Manufacturing, an oil and gas concern, completed a new $12 million facility on an 80-acre site. Dorada Foods, a chicken processor and supplier to McDonald’s restaurants, is preparing to add a new production line with upgraded equipment. The project is expected to create 75 new jobs.

Two companies new to the Ponca area were drawn to the location due to new oil drilling and the general resurgence in the oil and gas sector in Oklahoma spurred by fracking operations extracting natural gas/ Dawson Geophysical brought 85 jobs to their new office in Ponca City; Crescent Services, an independent oilfield support service and management company, established a satellite office in the city.

Business Facilities congratulates all of the well-deserved winners of our 2013 Economic Development Excellence Awards.

Achievement In Targeted Incentives

When we launched our annual Economic Development Awards two years ago, there was one category for which we knew the podium would be crowded when it came time to call up the winners. Every year, there are dozens of new incentives programs to consider for our Achievement in Targeted Incentives Award. This year was no exception and, as always, it was difficult to narrow the field. Here are the four winning programs that meet our criteria for an innovative effort to snare new projects for a targeted growth sector:

The widespread use of hydraulic fracturing drilling techniques to extract an abundant supply of natural gas from shale formations in the U.S. is transforming the economies of several states, especially in the region that includes the Marcellus formation (stretching from Ohio through Pennsylvania and into upstate New York). The fracking boom itself has become a development magnet, so it shouldn’t be surprising that state economic development agencies are beginning to tailor targeted incentives related to natural gas resources.

Pennsylvania has jumped ahead of the curve with its PA Resource Manufacturing Tax Credit (PRM).

Beginning in 2017, any manufacturer purchasing natural gas containing ethane as a petrochemical feedstock at a facility within the Commonwealth could be eligible for a PRM Tax Credit equal to five cents per gallon ($2.10 per barrel) of ethane purchased and used in manufacturing ethylene, so long as the company makes a capital investment of at least $1 billion and creates the equivalent of at least 2,500 full-time jobs while constructing the facility.  This credit is effective for ethane purchased between Jan. 1, 2017 and Dec. 31, 2042.

Thanks in part to the health care reforms enacted in Washington in 2010, employment in the health care sector is expected to outpace national averages in coming years. Anticipating this, Mississippi has structured an incentive which throws down a welcome mat for health-care providers to come to the Magnolia State.

The Mississippi Health Care Industry Zone Incentive Program was enacted in 2012 to encourage health care-related businesses to locate or expand in the state. The program benefits medical services providers and other health care-related businesses, such as those engaged in medical supply, biologics, laboratory testing, medical product manufacturing/distribution and diagnostic imaging that locate in a qualified Health Care Zone in the state. Health Care Zones are defined as areas where there are three contiguous counties which have Certificates of Need for more than 375 acute care hospital beds—the business must locate or expand within a five-mile radius of a health care facility with a Certificate of Need and/or areas located within five miles of a hospital that will be constructed before July 1, 2017, with a minimal capital investment of $250 million.

Qualifying businesses are eligible to receive an accelerated, 10-year state income tax depreciation deduction, a sales tax exemption for equipment and materials purchased from the date of the project’s certification until three months after the facility is completed, and a 10-year ad valorem tax exemption.

Workforce training remains a top priority across the nation, and we’re impressed with an initiative in Florida that targets incumbent workers to enable companies to maintain their competitive edge and retain employees.

The Incumbent Worker Training Program (IWT) provides training to currently employed workers to keep Florida’s workforce competitive in a global economy and to retain existing businesses. The program is available to all Florida businesses that have been in operation for at least one year prior to application and require skills upgrade training for existing employees. Priority is given to businesses in targeted industries, Enterprise Zones, HUB Zones, Inner City Distressed areas, Rural Counties and areas, and Brownfield areas.

The program provides funding for training to existing for-profit businesses. IWT grants are structured to be flexible to meet the business’s training objectives. The business may use a public or private training provider, or may use an in-house training provider based on the nature of the training.

Through June 2012, Workforce Florida awarded 230 IWT grants totaling more than $6.1 million to help companies train and retain more than 12,000 full-time employees. Trainees’ wages have increased more than 25 percent on average within a year of completing IWT-supported training.

Funding priority in the Incumbent Worker Training Program is given to businesses with 25 or fewer employees that is located in a distressed rural area, urban inner city or Enterprise Zone. The business should be part of a targeted sector whose grant proposals represent a significant layoff-avoidance strategy.

Recent announcements from Louisiana make it clear that the Bayou State is emerging as leading high-tech hub. Louisiana is moving quickly to capitalize on this trend and maximize its impact.

The Technology Commercialization Credit and Jobs Program provides a 40 percent refundable tax credit (not to exceed $250,000) on costs related to the commercialization of Louisiana technology and a 6 percent payroll rebate for the creation of new direct jobs.

The Tax Credit Incentive is open to individuals or businesses that invest in the commercialization of Louisiana technology in Louisiana. The technology must be created by a Louisiana business and researched by a Louisiana university or college. A company must submit the completed Technology Commercialization Eligibility Application and fee. The eligibility application should include a description of technology to be commercialized; an agreement with a university; a business plan; an estimate of commercialization cost, number of new jobs, wages and health benefits created. Eligibility application is due by December 31 of the year the company is seeking tax credits.

Achievement In Business Retention

New Jersey Partnership for Action; Metro Denver Economic Dev. Corp.
We are honoring two organizations this year with our Achievement in Business Retention Award: the New Jersey Partnership for Action and Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.

When Gov. Chris Christie took office in 2010, he made it a top priority to change the negative perception of NJ’s business climate by initiating one of the most comprehensive reorganizations of statewide economic developments we’ve seen in a long time. The new structure consists of three highly-focused organizational elements, all under the umbrella of the Partnership for Action—Choose New Jersey, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, and the Business Action Center—that provide economic development services, link companies to incentive programs and attract international investment to others.

Armed with NJ’s innovative Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit, the Partnership for Action has achieved notable success in its business retention efforts, including deals that kept Panasonic’s headquarters in the state and spurred Prudential to commit to a new HQ building in the heart of Newark.

NJ has used the forward-thinking transit hub credit as a financial tool to spur private capital investment, business development and employment by providing tax credits for businesses planning a large expansion or relocating to one of New Jersey’s designated Urban Transit Hubs.

The program offers developers, owners or tenants up to 100 percent of a qualified capital investment made within an eight period. Taxpayers may apply 10 percent of the total credit amount per year over a ten-year period against their corporate business tax, insurance premiums tax or gross income tax liability. Developers or owners must make a minimum $50 million capital investment in a single business facility, and at least 250 full-time employees must work at that facility. Tenants in a qualified business facility can represent at least $17.5 million of the capital investment in the facility, and up to three tenants may aggregate to meet the 250 employee requirement.

The Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation (Metro Denver EDC), an affiliate of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, was one of the nation’s first regional economic development entities. Its partners include 70 cities, counties, and economic development organizations in the seven-county Metro Denver and two-county Northern Colorado region. Metro Denver EDC works to create a competitive environment that attracts companies and is backed by the region’s business community, with primary funding coming from private-sector investors, as well as participating cities and counties. Strategic initiatives are developed among the partners, with final decision-making authority by an investor board of directors.

From energy to aerospace, to bioscience, information technology-software and financial services, Metro Denver offers a diversified economy of viable industries and the nation’s third-most highly educated workforce. Metro Denver is first among the 50 largest metros for total private aerospace workers, with 19,600 people employed at aerospace companies. Colorado has the nation’s second-largest aerospace economy and is home to four military commands, eight major space contractors, and more than 400 aerospace companies and suppliers. Denver International Airport and three reliever airports create a solid foundation for 15,910 workers directly employed by aviation companies.

Ten Metro Denver higher education institutions with bioscience programs and numerous bioscience research assets support the region’s bioscience industry. The industry also is enhanced by the opportunities to bring together academic, research, and corporate biotechnology institutions at the 578-acre, $5-billion Fitzsimons Life Science District and the adjacent Anschutz Medical Campus.

Metro Denver’s Mountain Time Zone location makes it the largest U.S. region with one-bounce satellite uplinks, providing companies real-time connections to six of seven continents. With a broad mix of broadcasting and telecommunications firms, the region ranks sixth out of the 50 largest metros for employment concentration in this growing sector.

The integration of cleantech and Colorado’s rich energy resource base places the Metro Denver region at the forefront of energy development. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden is the U.S. Department of Energy’s laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency R&D.

The Metro Denver region also is one of the few areas outside of the Northeast with a substantial financial services industry in three key market segments. A variety of trade associations and service firms support the diverse financial services industry base of more than 13,020 companies and 87,750 employees in the region.

Achievement In Downtown Revitalization

Indianapolis Downtown, Inc./Indianapolis
This year’s Achievement in Downtown Revitalization Award goes jointly to Indianapolis Downtown Inc. and the Indy Partnership for their continued success in making Indiana’s largest city a winning combination of business-friendly growth and exceptional quality of live. While progress has been notable in the past year, this award also honors a body of work that stretches back two decades.

Downtown Indianapolis has been transformed into a vibrant 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week urban center over the past two decades. Businesses have taken note and are flocking to the city.

Cities across the country look to Downtown Indianapolis as a revitalization model. Since 1990, Indianapolis has invested nearly $9 billion of public and private funds equaling more than 485 projects through 2011. This is an average of more than $408 million of new investment each year, for the past 22 years.

Even in a tough economy, Downtown development momentum continues with $3 billion of new construction and renovation efforts to be completed by 2017.

More people continue to come Downtown on a regular basis. Annual attendance at major Downtown leisure attractions has increased by 83 percent since 1994 to 8 million visits. Surveys of Central Indiana residents show 79 percent of Marion County residents visited Downtown in a six-month period, up from 47 percent in 1994.

Businesses are taking note, and they are flocking to the city. Rolls Royce last year moved 2,500 employees to Downtown Indy. Economic studies show spending by the company and its employees is expected to boost the Downtown economy by $510 million each year.

Three Fortune 1000 companies’ world or regional headquarters in Downtown Indianapolis continue their commitment through growth and expansion, including WellPoint, Inc. (32 new jobs), Eli Lilly and Company (122) and Simon Property Group (573).

NCAA recently completed a $40-million, 150,000 square-feet headquarters expansion; Simon Property Group, North America’s largest real estate investment trust, WellPoint, Inc., Emmis Communications, and Urban League of Indianapolis have all opened headquarters Downtown. Other Downtown headquarters include OneAmerica Financial Partners, Inc., Indiana University Health, Denison, Inc., Farm Bureau of Indiana, Regions Bank, The Indianapolis Star, Kite Realty Group, LDI, Ltd., National Association of High School Athletics, National Bank of Indianapolis, National Wine and Spirits Inc., Reilly Industries, Inc., and The Steak N Shake Company.

Achievement In Public-Private Partnership

Buffalo Niagara Enterprise; Upstate SC Alliance; Tucson (AZ) Regional Economic Opportunities
As more and more states decide to reconfigure their economic development operations from the traditional government-run structure to a public-private model, there are more entities to choose from when we make our annual pick of the best public-private programs. This year, we’ve selected three organizations as the co-winners of our Achievement in Public-Private Partnership Award.

Buffalo Niagara Enterprise (BNE) is a nonprofit, private business development and regional marketing organization dedicated to the proposition that, as a place “where life works,” the Buffalo Niagara region is the ideal place for businesses to locate, grow, and start-up.

The Buffalo Niagara region is comprised of eight counties that form the western-most end of New York State. The region is strategically located with in 500 miles of 40 percent of the continental North American population and is a bi-national gateway for commerce, facilitating $81 billion in annual trade between Canada and the United States.

BNE’s team includes local investors, a board of directors, economic development partners and professional staff. Since it was launched in 1999 by members of the local business community, BNE has succeeded in attracting more than $2.9 billion in capital investment and created or retained over 36,000 jobs in our region.

BNE provides services that run the gamut from demographic information to tax incentives to site identification. BNE acts as the central clearinghouse for the information and supporting services required by companies interested in locating and growing in our region. It provides market data and other information services relevant to business location decisions, including economic indicators, workforce information, industrial and commercial real estate information and customized business development data.

BNE also provides professional account management services, offering potential investors in our region a one-stop shop for information on economic development, and serving as a liaison with local economic development organizations.

Formed in 2000, the Upstate South Carolina Alliance is a public/private regional economic development organization designed to market the dynamic 10-county Upstate region to the world. The 10 counties represent the commerce-rich northwestern corner of SC.

The Upstate SC Alliance’s vision is to compete for business investment globally. The Alliance’s goal is to spearhead an aggressive, innovative and comprehensive global marketing strategy to attract new investment to the Upstate region. By creating a powerful brand and image for the region, Upstate SC Alliance is confident increased opportunities will ultimately lead to greater investment, enhancing the prosperity and quality of life for the entire Upstate. Funding for the Upstate SC Alliance comes through two sources: member counties/cities and private sector business partners. The Alliance’s private sector partners number more than 170 individual companies/organizations.

Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities, Inc. (TREO) was formed in 2005 to serve as the lead economic development agency for the greater Tucson, AZ area and its surrounding regional partners. The primary goal of TREO is to facilitate export-based (non-retail) job and investment growth, in order to increase wealth and accelerate economic prosperity throughout Southern Arizona. A secondary role is to shape policy and mobilize resources to ensure the region is competitive.

TREO engages in partnerships focusing on demonstrating leadership to strengthen education, create a vibrant downtown and engage in infrastructure improvements. To serve a population approaching one million residents, TREO offers an integrated approach of programs and services that support the creation of new businesses, the expansion of existing businesses within the region, and the attraction of companies that offer high wage jobs.

Achievement In Ports/FTZs

Philadelphia Regional Port Authority; El Paso, TX Foreign Trade Zone No. 68; Port of Mobile
We’ve only been bestowing our top honor for Achievement in Ports/FTZs for two years, but we already have our first back-to-back winner. We are pleased to grant this distinction to the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority. A co-winner of our port award is the Port of Mobile. El Paso International Airport’s Foreign Trade Zone No. 68 got our top honor for FTZs.

Philadelphia, one of the oldest and most venerable ports in the United States, continues to outshine the competition as it gears up to compete for what is anticipate to be a surge in new shipping next year.

Philadelphia’s harbor often was the point of arrival for the nation’s founding fathers when they emigrated from Great Britain in the early 1700s, but the port and the City of Brotherly Love are not resting on its laurels: the port is busy preparing to meet the challenges of 21st Century commerce, including an expansion of the Panama Canal that will see huge cargo ships arriving at East Coast ports directly from Asia beginning in 2014.

PRPA has renewed its MOU for the Panama Canal Authority and it has undertaken a channel-deepening project along the 102-mile Delaware River shipping lane. We also are impressed with PRPA’s ability to maintain and grow a thriving shipping hub while undertaking these improvements, evidenced by double-digit increases in cargo tonnage at the port in the past two years, despite a very challenging national and regional economy.

FTZ No. 68 is an integral part of El Paso’s regional and international investment strategy, providing a business platform for domestic and foreign trade to prosper in the region. The City of El Paso is the Grantee and Operator of Foreign-Trade Zone No. 68; it is administered through El Paso International Airport. The zone consists of 5 regional sites totaling 3,443 acres within El Paso County.

FTZ No. 68 has been ranked first in exports among U.S. General-Purpose Zones, ITA (2010). FTZ No. 68 is the only Grantee in the nation providing compliance and training services and one of only five Grantees with an Accredited Zones Specialist. FTZ No. 68 contributed to over 1,300 direct jobs to the El Paso economy in 2012, using innovative best practices in zone management and strategic alliances.

A recent economic impact study prepared by John C. Martin Associates, LLC, a leading maritime industry economic consulting firm, estimates $22.3 billion in total economic value for Alabama from the cargo and vessel activity at the Port of Mobile; of this value, $18.7 billion is directly tied to the Alabama State Port Authority’s (ASPA) public terminals. Martin’s study calculates between 55 and 65 million tons of cargo moves through the Port of Mobile annually.

In FY (Fiscal Year) 2011, there were 141,029 jobs in Alabama related to the cargo and vessel activity at the ASPA and the private terminals at the Port of Mobile, with 127,591 total direct, indirect, induced and related user jobs directly linked to ASPA’s operations. Martin concluded that the terminals at the Port of Mobile generated $573 million in direct, induced, indirect and related user taxes paid to state and local governments by individuals and firms dependent upon the Port of Mobile cargo and ship repair activity.

Achievement In New Media

BEST USE OF VIDEO

Saratoga Economic Development Corp.
SEDC is a perennial candidate for our top video award, consistently producing eye-pleasing and informative packages promoting the Saratoga, NY region. This year’s award-winner is a video entitled SEDC 35th Anniversary—Success Without Limits. The video is posted below. We encourage everyone to take a look at it and enjoy the presentation.

Our Honorable Mention Award in the Best Use of Video category went to Lubbock Economic Development Alliance (LEDA) for their informational video entitled Lubbock Economic Development Alliance – 2012 Forecast.

Each year, LEDA hosts an Economic Forecast luncheon for select members of the Lubbock, TX community. This video was used to highlight an entire year’s worth of work not only for LEDA, but also for Visit Lubbock (the convention and visitor’s bureau) and Lubbock Sports. This year’s video was created to appeal to a wide audience with eye-catching visuals and in-depth testimonials from clients, business partners and community partners. The video is a direct reflection of how all of these entities work together to enrich, empower and strengthen the entire Lubbock community.

BEST USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Saratoga Economic Development Corp.
SEDC’s award-winning networking strategy is to monitor all content coming in and out of their networks to make sure it is relevant to the Saratoga NY area’s mission. The key to their success comes from the SEDC’s members being very active themselves. The organization’s president, vice president, and director of marketing all are on these social networks (especially LinkedIn) and supporting SEDC’s cause.

The SEDC LinkedIn Group is their strongest social profile, boasting 1,849 members made up of primarily C-level executives from the region and industry sectors they are trying to reach. By keeping their group’s audience limited to only qualified members, it keeps the content being exchanged relevant and supportive to the area.

The post FEATURE STORY: 2013 Economic Development Awards appeared first on Business Facilities.

The post Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development – Utah Trending appeared first on Business Facilities.

It takes something really extraordinary to put an entire industry into play, but that’s what may be happening to the guns and ammo sector in the U.S.

The Newtown, CT school massacre moved gun safety legislation front and center on the national and state levels. Proposed new gun-control measures, including universal background checks, an assault weapons ban and limits on high-capacity magazines are moving towards key votes in Congress.

Meanwhile, several states already have acted to tighten their gun control laws. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed through a measure in January requiring registration of an estimated one million guns already in circulation. Other provisions in the NY package require five-year renewals of handgun licenses statewide; direct mental health professionals to notify authorities of patients deemed likely to seriously hurt themselves or others; and require federal background checks for private gun sales in New York.

New York’s new law–the first new gun restrictions in the nation following the Dec. 14 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown–also lowers the capacity limit of weapons magazines from 10 rounds to seven. In Colorado, Gov. John Hickenlooper bucked a strong tradition of gun ownership in the state and succeeded in enacting a landmark new law expanding background checks on gun purchases and limiting the size of ammunition clips. Several other states are moving forward with new gun restrictions, including New Jersey, Illinois and Connecticut.

Predictably, the National Rifle Association and its allies are mounting legal challenges to the new restrictions. This week, the NRA joined the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, other sportsmen’s groups, firearms businesses and individual gun owners in a lawsuit that aims to overturn New York’s law, citing the second and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

As the national debate heats up over new gun-control legislation, some weapons manufacturers are threatening to leave inhospitable states for less-regulated locations.

Colt Manufacturing President and CEO Dennis Veilleux told Fox News that Connecticut legislators’ proposals to enact ammunition restrictions, expand an assault weapons ban, curtail bulk purchases of handguns and create a new gun offender registry risk putting Colt and its 700 employees “in the crosshairs.”

Colt has called Connecticut home for over 175 years. Veilleux made it clear the gun maker is closely watching state legislative activity, especially Gov. Dan Malloy’s promise to ban both the purchase and sale of AR-15 rifles–one of Colt’s key products. Last week, Colt sent 400 of its employees to Connecticut’s state Capitol to personally lobby against new gun-control legislation. Meanwhile, a Malloy spokesman has stated that the governor does not want gun manufacturers to flee the state. In Colt’s case, it would mean a loss of $1.7 billion for the state’s economy

In Colorado, following the passage of Gov. Hickenlooper’s bill banning the sale of magazines capable of holding more than 15 rounds, munitions magazine manufacturer Magpul announced it will shut down its operations in the state .

As in any relocation paradigm, one community’s loss is another’s gain. In Montana, they ‘re moving quickly to put out the welcome mat for gun and ammunition manufacturers from across the country. In fact, local economic development agencies are openly targeting weapons producers.

The details of this effort were reported this week by Jeremy Vannatta, Director of Outreach, Recruitment and Marketing for the Big Sky Economic Development Authority (EDA), during a joint meeting of the Executive Committees for the EDA and its sister organization, the Big Sky Economic Development Corporation (EDC).

Vannatta said that a committee has been formed and they have compiled a list of some 300 prospective companies. Sixteen of those companies already have connections to the state and are considered prime candidates.

“We do have an industry here already,” Vannatta told the Big Sky Business Journal. There are ten gun manufacturers in the state, he said, as well as companies which manufacture components for guns manufactured by other companies.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

The post Locked, Loaded and Ready to Relocate appeared first on Business Facilities.

Rendering of new Boeing facility in West Jordan, UT

By Jonathan Sanders
From the January/February 2013 issue

A recent Utah Cluster Acceleration Partnership study reported that Utah’s life sciences industry grew by 25.8 percent from 2001 to 2010, which included a 9.2 percent increase in jobs from 2007 through 2010. At the national level, growth in life sciences employment was 8.4 percent from 2001 to 2010, but essentially flat during the period 2007 through 2010.

Across four major subsectors— Medical Devices and Equipment; Drugs and Pharmaceuticals; Research, Testing, and Medical Labs; and Biomedical Distribution—Utah is specialized with at least 20 percent higher level of industry concentration than is found at the national level for that subsector. In addition, each of the major subsectors of the life sciences industry is growing faster in Utah.

Utah’s life sciences industry is a source of high-wage jobs. The average wage for jobs in the life sciences stands at $59,480, or 53 percent above the private sector average of $38,932.

The life sciences industry has a significant impact on the Utah economy. In 2010, the cluster contributed $14.6 billion in economic output to the state and supported more than 63,000 jobs with workers earning $3.5 billion in personal income. Utah is targeting growth in four life science sectors:

• Novel medical devices
• Molecular diagnostics and personalized medicine
• Molecular medicine; drug discovery, development, and delivery
• Natural products/dietary supplements

In addition, the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development has a long history of offering tax incentives for biotech companies such as Edwards Life-sciences and Merit Medical. Most recently, the state supported a major expansion of BioFire Diagnostics, whose innovations in molecular diagnostics are helping propel Utah into its future life sciences economy.

Rounding out Utah’s life sciences story is continued investment in research and development and educating the workforce of tomorrow. Exemplifying this effort is the Utah Science Technology and Research (USTAR) initiative (innovationutah.com). USTAR accelerates the ability of the University of Utah (U of U) and Utah State University (USU) to recruit world-class researchers, specifically into high-growth focus areas such as neuroscience and biomedical innovations. The initiative enabled the construction of two interdisciplinary research and development facilities at Salt Lake City and Logan campuses. USTAR operates outreach teams across the state to help entrepreneurs and existing companies commercialize new technology and access the resources available at higher education institutions.

The new 208,000 square-foot USTAR center at the U of U and the 118,000 square-foot sister facility already in operation at USU in Logan have accelerated the state’s ability to bring in entrepreneurial- minded, “catalyst-type” researchers. As a result, Utah is fulfilling its objective to become a world-class research destination, particularly in bioengineering, genetics and cancer research.

USTAR also has invested in the BioInnovations Gateway, a life sciences incubator that supports up to seven client companies while exposing high school and college students to intensive internships in biomanufacturing and biotechnology. Client companies have not only trained these young students, but have also hired them upon graduation. For more information, contact Michael O’Malley at momalley@utah.gov or 801-538-8879.

BOEING SETS UP SHOP IN WEST JORDAN

Boeing has announced the purchase of a new building in Salt Lake County, UT. Employees at the new site, located in West Jordan, will focus on fabrication of composite horizontal stabilizer components for the 787-9 jetliner.

“The site we’ve chosen is an ideal location to add composite manufacturing capability focused on Boeing’s key business strategies,” said Ross R. Bogue, vice president and general manager of Boeing Fabrication. “This new facility will provide a real competitive advantage in our supply chain by expanding our internal composite capabilities.”

The new site, located 20 miles from Boeing’s fabrication and assembly site in Salt Lake City, was purchased from Masco. The close proximity of the two facilities will help improve the efficiency from component fabrication to assembly of the 787-9 horizontal stabilizer. The composite component fabrication facility is expected to create approximately 100 new jobs.

When finalized, the facility will provide the Boeing Salt Lake team with the flexibility to meet the demands of a highly competitive market.

“Boeing appreciates its continued relationship with the state of Utah and we are looking forward to creating a new partnership with the city of West Jordan,” said Craig Trewet, director of Boeing Salt Lake.

CAPTIONS:

p. 9 – Rendering of new Boeing facility in West Jordan, UT

UTAH FAST FACTS

• Population (2011 Est.): 2,817,222
• Largest Cities (2011): Salt Lake City, 189,899; West Valley City, 131,942; Provo, 115,321;
West Jordan, 105,675; Orem, 90,727
• Targeted Industries: Data Centers, Adv. Composites, IT, Digital Media, Renewable Energy, Manufacturing, Retail, Sports & Outdoor Products
• Key Incentives: Enterprise Zones, Rural Fast Track Program, ED Tax Increment Financing, Motion Picture Incentives, Private Activity Bond
• GDP (All Industry 2011): $124.5 billion*

*Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce

The post BUSINESS REPORT: Life Sciences Grow High-Wage Jobs in the Beehive State appeared first on Business Facilities.

The run-up to Washington’s latest manufactured budget crisis closely follows the script for a generic Road Runner cartoon. Wile E. Coyote arranges for an Acme safe to be hurled off a cliff over Road Runner’s favorite route through the cartoon desert. Mr. Coyote’s timing is off, the Road Runner zips through unscathed and Wile E. goes down to investigate. He looks up and gets clobbered by the tardy safe.

In the sequester cartoon unfolding in our nation’s capital, the budget safe falls off the Washington Monument and everything gets squashed, including the U.S. economy.

As this is being written, President Obama is racing around the country making dire predictions about which essential federal services will be decimated if the March 1 sequester deadline is breached and $85 billion in across-the-board budget cuts go into effect. The cuts are supposed to be a down-payment on $1.2 trillion in spending reductions spread over the next 10 years.

Here’s a sampling: Half of the USDA’s meat inspectors will be furloughed, forcing all of us to eat canned tuna fish; five divisions of the Armed Forces will be taken off the front lines, imperiling our national security; most of the folks who inspect our shoes, belt buckles and nail clippers at airports will be sent home, adding three hours to the average boarding time for air travel. And so on and so forth.

The president is so busy spinning these visions of gloom and doom he usually neglects to point out that he signed the law creating the sequester in the first place. This happened during an earlier pre-fabricated budget showdown in 2011, which featured a threatened default on the national debt and resulted in the first-ever downgrade of the United States’ AAA credit rating.

To sort out fact from fiction, we think it’s useful to check some non-partisan sources. Unfortunately, their prognostications are just as dire as the stuff coming from the political combatants in Washington.

According to a study issued last fall by the Aerospace Industry Association, the sequester will cost the U.S. more than two million jobs by the end of next year, reduce the nation’s GDP by $215 billion this year, decrease personal earnings of the workforce by $109 billion and send the unemployment rate spiraling back up over 9 percent.

Because nearly half of the automatic sequester cuts are earmarked to hit the Pentagon’s budget, the job-loss pain will be felt most severely in states that are home to the aerospace/defense industry and other critical military supply-chain facilities. At the top of the list are California (an estimated 225,464 jobs lost), Virginia (207,571), Texas (159,473)), Maryland (114,795) and Florida (79,459).

Most Vulnerable States (job losses/sequester budget cuts). (Credit: Aerospace Industry Association)

A consensus of independent analysts warns that the U.S. is poised to plunge back into the depths of the Great Recession if the folks in Washington don’t get their act together.

Partisans on both sides of this drama think they have a failsafe mechanism which will enable us to step aside at the last second and avoid getting crushed by the sequester safe. It’s called a continuing resolution. The script goes something like this:

Step One: The sequester goes into effect and the country writhes in agony as thousands are sent to the unemployment lines (and contaminated meat flows into supermarkets).

Step Two: President Obama and Republicans in Congress stage a month-long orgy of recriminations, each trying to pin the blame for the crisis on the other guy.

Step Three: Congress passes a continuing resolution in April restoring most of the cuts in exchange for a non-binding agreement to raise the retirement age to 85 in 2040 and everyone declares victory.

Of course, even if this outcome is realized, neither side has bothered to calculate the impact of their cartoon drama on the U.S. economy and our sputtering recovery. There’s a distinct possibility that another two months of bickering in this latest fake crisis could by itself extinguish glimmers of business and consumer confidence and spawn a very real Recession not unlike the downturn we recently emerged from. Then federal tax revenues will plunge, the budget deficit will explode and our long-term debt will exponentially increase — the exact opposite of what Congressional leaders claim they were trying to accomplish when they enacted the sequester.

This grim prospect has prompted calls for a ceasefire from some unexpected quarters. Even Karl Rove, Secretary of Political Warfare under President George W. Bush, is urging a compromise of sorts. In an Op-Ed piece this week, Rove suggested that Congress immediately pass a continuing resolution authorizing spending for the rest of the year, capping federal funding at sequester levels and giving President Obama the authority to decide where the cuts will be made to avoid the most onerous reductions. With his usual Machiavellian flourish, Rove’s solution would appease Democrats who want to avoid cuts to social programs like Head Start, while enabling Republicans to place the blame for Defense spending cuts directly on the president’s lap.

The most sage advice we can offer is to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

At least one state appears to be acting on this suggestion: A bill making its way through the Montana legislature offers Montanans an alternative to the tainted meat that may fill supermarket shelves if federal meat inspectors are sent home. The Montana House of Representatives passed a bill last week, introduced by State Rep. Steve Lavin, to allow “game animals, fur-bearing animals, migratory game birds and upland game birds” who have been killed by a car to be harvested for food.

That’s right, they’re making it legal to eat roadkill. To which we can only say, in the immortal response of Wile E. Coyote staring up at the looming Acme safe:

“GULP!“

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

The post Sequestration Nation appeared first on Business Facilities.

Already home to world-class research labs at Georgia Tech and the Centers for Disease Control, Metro Atlanta lures another high-tech gem in Baxter’s $1.3-billion bio-pharma investment.

By Business Facilities Editorial Staff
From the January/February 2013 issue

Gold

Project Title: Baxter International Bio-Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant
Entered By: Georgia Department of Economic Development

The nominees for Business Facilities’ 2012 Economic Development Deal of the Year Awards competition reflected a diverse cross-section of growth strategies, most of which are built on a foundation of new manufacturing capacity.

Entries from 17 states that jousted for our top awards included a biotech mega-complex in Georgia, a world- class commercial aircraft assembly facility in Alabama, a yogurt plant in Idaho and even a refinery in Philadelphia. All of the contenders held the promise of hundreds of new jobs; the biggest projects offered the potential to transform the economies of entire regions.

As always, our award recipients were selected by a blue-ribbon panel of industry experts who carefully reviewed project details provided by the finalists. The task of separating the wheat from the chaff was especially challenging for our 2012 awards, as all of the nominees were worthy contenders.

Projects nominated for Business Facilities’ annual Economic Development Deal of the Year competition are asked to submit an Economic Impact Analysis for the project (using standard analysis methods including RIMS II, REMI or IMPLAN) and a narrative detailing how the project came together.

Our judging panel, including leading site selection consultants, evaluates the overall impact of the project and assesses the effectiveness and innovation of the location’s approach to landing the deal. Key factors in this evaluation include creative use of incentives, regional cooperation, partnerships with higher education resources, potential for growth and execution of overall economic development strategy.

The judges have spoken and Baxter International’s decision to make a $1.3-billion investment in Georgia is our 2012 Economic Development Deal of the Year Gold Award winner.

The Baxter bio-pharmaceutical facility, an integrated campus which will include three main manufacturing components as well as warehousing, utilities and lab support facilities, is expected to directly create 1,800 jobs with an economic impact of $6.2 billion.

Over a 10-year period, the bioscience complex will generate an overall regional economic impact estimated at nearly $13 billion, creating more than 8,700 direct, indirect and induced jobs. The campus will be located in Covington, GA in Stanton Springs, a 1,620-acre master-designed industrial park west of Interstate 20 at the intersection of Newton, Walton, Jasper and Morgan counties.

Artist’s rendering of Baxter International bio-pharmaceutical campus in Georgia.

Baxter’s new biologics manufacturing facility will include an advanced plasma fractionation facility, giving the bio/pharma giant additional capacity for testing and purification of its medications. Products to be made at the Georgia site will include immunoglobulin treatments for patients with immune deficiencies and albumin products used as plasma-volume replacement therapies in critical care, trauma and burn patients.

“Baxter’s decision to come to Georgia marks a new era in the growth of our biosciences industry and will have a far-reaching impact on our economy,” Gov. Nathan Deal said when the project was announced. “We are honored to welcome this flagship company to Georgia and proud that our state’s vast resources for the biomedical field will assist the company with the groundbreaking medical advances it is renowned for.”

Deerfield, IL-based Baxter makes medical devices, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology products with a focus on hemophilia, immune disorders, cancer, infectious diseases, kidney disease, trauma and other chronic and acute medical conditions. The company’s 2011 revenue was $13.9 billion; it employs about 19,000 U.S. workers and has 14 plants, including three in Puerto Rico.

According to the Georgia Department of Economic Development, Baxter will get about $80 million in state incentives, including $65.6 million based on the number of jobs it will create, and a $13.7 million project development grant.

“This mega-project will anchor Georgia’s thriving bioscience sector for years to come, moving the Peach State into the front ranks of national biotech players,” Business Facilities Editor in Chief Jack Rogers said.

Rogers said BF’s judging panel was particularly impressed by the regional cooperation that brought this project to fruition, and the flexibility shown by state and county agencies in tailoring solutions to meet Baxter’s needs. Baxter narrowed the location search to four candidates internationally in 2009.

The entities involved in landing the project included the Georgia Department of Economic Development, the Joint Development Authority of Walton, Newton, Morgan and Jasper Counties and the Technology Park of Atlanta.

The quick turn-around time between the site selection decision announcement last April and construction of primary facilities in the Baxter project is unprecedented, Rogers noted.

“Baxter announced its decision in April and by August 1 ground was already broken on a 1-million- plus-square-foot facility,” he said. “Georgia’s willingness to cut red tape will be followed by a ribbon-cutting on a world-class bioscience complex.”

Construction of the first manufacturing buildings at the new Baxter campus is expected to be completed in 2015, with full commercial production commencing in 2018.

The Metro Atlanta plant will be Baxter’s third in the Southeast; it also has plants in North Cove, NC, and Cleveland, MS. According to a Triangle Business Journal report, Baxter International executives toured sites in Granville County, Wake County and Lee County in North Carolina before selecting the Covington, GA location.

Metro Atlanta already is home to several major research institutions, including Emory University, Georgia Tech and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Baxter’s plant puts Georgia on the map as a player in the life sciences industry, said Mike Cassidy, president of the Georgia Research Alliance. “It’s validation of a long-term strategy to make the state attractive to the life sciences industry,” Cassidy said.

South African energy giant Sasol makes the largest private-sector investment for a single industrial project in U.S. history with its Lake Charles, LA petrochemical complex. In this photo, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (left) and officials hail Sasol’s mammoth petrochemical project.

Silver

Project Title: Sasol North America Inc.
Entered By: LED, Southwest Louisiana Economic Development Alliance, Port of Lake Charles

One of the largest private-sector investments for a single industrial project in U.S. history is our 2012 Economic Development Deal of the Year Silver Award winner.

Sasol Ltd., a global energy company based in South Africa, decided that Louisiana’s highly developed pipeline infrastructure is perfectly suited to its plans to develop a $10-billion gas-to-liquids processing plant that will enable it to tap into the natural gas bonanza in the U.S. emanating from abundant shale gas reserves.

In addition to the processing plant, which will yield 96,000 barrels/day of premium fuels, Sasol North America also plans to build a $4.5-billion cracker unit at its Lake Charles Chemical Complex in Westlake, LA. The cracker will produce up to 1.4 million tons annually of ethylene used to make plastics.

The new facilities in Calcasieu Parish will result in the creation of more than 5,000 permanent jobs in the Southwest Louisiana region, in addition to the 5,500 construction jobs that will be engaged in building the project through 2020. The expanded Lake Charles complex will have a direct economic impact in the region estimated at more than $29 billion over the next 20 years.

BF’s judging panel was particularly impressed with Louisiana’s willingness to go the extra mile in securing land options for the project, the customized incentives package offered to Sasol and the state’s creative use of LED’s GIS mapping in presenting its proposal to the energy giant.

Using a multi-layered GIS map displayed on an iPad, LED officials were able to show site details, utilities, nearest rail access, proximity to the river and the Port of Lake Charles during the first site visits by the Sasol team. According to LED, the introduction of the new GIS mapping enabled Southwest Louisiana to pull ahead of a Canadian province that was competing for the project.

In announcing the mega-deal, Gov. Bobby Jindal said the $14.5-billion petrochemical complex “will bolster Louisiana’s position as the No. 1 exporter of energy in America.” Gov. Jindal also noted the Lake Charles complex will represent a huge new source of demand for natural gas in the state, including gas extracted from deposits in the Haynesville Shale formation.

The Sasol project was a joint effort involving Louisiana Economic Development, Southwest Louisiana Economic Development Alliance and the Port of Lake Charles.

To secure the project, Louisiana offered Sasol a custom incentive package that includes a performance-based grant of $115 million for land acquisition and infrastructure costs associated with the facility. Sasol also will receive the services of LED FastStart™, the nation’s No. 1 state workforce training program.

In addition, the company will qualify for Louisiana’s new Competitive Projects Payroll Incentive (up to 15 percent payroll rebate for each GTL job) and Quality Jobs Program (up to 6 percent payroll rebate for each ethane cracker job).

One of the largest grants in the history of the Texas Enterprise Fund and local property tax abatements bring Apple’s primary operations nexus to the Texas state capital.

Bronze

Project Title: Apple Inc. Americas Operations Center
Entered By: Austin (TX) Chamber of Commerce

Apple’s selection of Austin, TX as the site for its new $304-million Operations Center is the Bronze Award winner in Business Facilities’ 2012 Economic Development Deal of the Year competition.

The new facility, which will increase Apple’s workforce in Austin to more than 6,700, will serve as the primary operations nexus for the company in the Americas outside of Apple’s global headquarters in Cupertino, CA, centralizing accounting, human resources, sales, marketing and finance.

State, county and local agencies came together to put together a package for Apple that sealed the deal in an intense site-selection battle for the operations center. The Austin Chamber of Commerce, Travis County and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development and Tourism were key players in bringing the project to fruition.

“Texas put down a marker with an aggressive incentives package which made it clear that the Lone Star State did not intend to be outgunned for this project, which turbocharges a strategic growth sector for the Austin region,” said Business Facilities Editor in Chief Jack Rogers.

The state of Texas awarded one of the largest grants from the Texas Enterprise Fund in the history of the program—$21 million—which together with a property tax abatement from the City of Austin and Travis County provided for a total incentive package of $35 million for the operations center. Apple gave candidate locations a three- month window in which to make their proposals.

The new 1-million-square-foot campus in Austin will directly create 3,635 jobs generating about $273 million in new wages over the next 10 years. The Apple facility in Texas will become one of four major global operations centers for the tech giant outside of its California HQ.

The impact of this project on the state is estimated at 16,000 jobs (direct and indirect), $1.4 billion in personal income and an overall Economic Output impact of $5.7 billion.

Austin is no stranger to BF’s annual Economic Development Deal of the Year competition. The $3.6-billion expansion of Samsung Austin Semiconductor’s huge chip fab complex was our 2010 Deal of the Year Gold Award winner.

Samsung has committed to investing more than $13 billion in the Austin facility, which has vaulted Texas into second place among national leaders in semiconductors, behind only California. The 2010 project netted more than 7,600 new jobs (direct and indirect) and came with an estimated economic impact of nearly $2 billion over the first three years of operation.

Last year, the Austin Chamber of Commerce was the winner of our first annual Economic Development Excellence Award (Population Greater Than 500k). Austin also had an excellent showing in our 2012 Metro Rankings Report, taking first place in our coveted Economic Growth Potential ranking (employment greater than 450k).

Honorable Mentions

Projects:Airbus Assembly Facility (Mobile, AL Chamber of Commerce); eBay Campus (Utah Governor’s Office for Economic Development); Caterpillar Production Plant (Georgia Department for Economic Development); Bridgestone Americas Tire Plant (South Carolina Department of Commerce).

Gov. Robert Bentley (second from right) congratules Airbus officials as they announce the selection of Mobile as the site of the European aircraft giant’s new North American assembly plant.

The number of projects deserving of recognition in our annual Economic Development Deal of the Year contest always exceeds the number of awards categories. This year, our judges have selected four entries to receive our Honorable Mention Awards.

Airbus announced in July that it will invest $600 million in an aircraft assembly facility at the Brookley Aeroplex in Mobile. The plant—which will assemble A319, A320 and A321 passenger aircraft—is expected to commence operations in 2015, creating 1,000 new jobs. The assembly facility will hit full capacity in 2018, when it is expected to produce up to 50 aircraft per year.

“Mobile’s selection as the only site in the Western Hemisphere assembling aircraft for Airbus cements Alabama’s status as an up-and-coming aerospace manufacturing giant,” said Business Facilities Editor in Chief Jack Rogers.

Mobile’s victory in the fierce competition for the Airbus plant was the culmination of a seven-year effort by state and local officials to land the prize from Europe’s aerospace giant. The triumph also marked a stunning turnaround from the disappointment of the U.S. government’s reversal of a 2008 decision to award Airbus’s parent, EADS, a huge U.S. Air Force refueling tanker project. EADS had selected Mobile as the site for tanker production, but in 2011 Congress rebid the project and awarded it to Boeing.

The decision by eBay to construct a new 40-acre campus in Draper, UT will directly bring 2,200 new jobs to the state, creating more than $1.6 million in new wages over the next 20 years.

“The ongoing eBay expansion is another success story for Utah’s burgeoning software and IT industry cluster,” Rogers said, noting that industry giants including Microsoft, Twitter, Adobe and IM Flash already have put down roots in the Beehive State.

Rogers added that the Economic Development Deal of the Year judging panel was impressed by the cooperation between eBay and Utah to develop alternative energy resources, including wind energy power generation, which will be used to provide electricity to the Draper facility.

“eBay chose Draper for a customer support center in 1999 primarily because of the quality of the workforce, favorable business climate and proximity to San Jose,” said William Lasher, eBay senior director. “As the Draper facility grew, we became increasingly aware that the business conditions in the state were ideal.”

The Economic Development Tax Increment Financing eBay received from the state, coupled with incentives from local cities, were helpful when eBay made decisions about whether to grow the Draper operation during the past 10 years (creating 1,000 new jobs). Lasher said. eBay was especially impressed with the level of involvement from state and local economic development agencies in working with eBay to solve its problems and meet its needs, he added.

Caterpillar reviewed proposals from more than 100 locations in the U.S., as well as sites in Canada and Mexico, before selecting Athens, GA to be the home of its new $200- million factory. The Georgia plant, which will employ 1,400, will manufacture construction equipment previously produced in Sagami, Japan.

Earth-moving equipment like the unit above will be produced at Caterpillar’s new plant in Athens, GA.

An emphasis on the availability of workforce training, including presentations from Georgia Quick Start and Athens Technical College, helped seal the deal. The Georgia Department of Economic Development, the Economic Development Authorities of Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties, and Electric Cities of Georgia all played a role in shaping the proposal for the Caterpillar project.

“Georgia put its best foot forward in presenting all of its resources to this industry giant,” Rogers said.

The Caterpillar project will have an estimated direct Economic Output impact of $2.92 billion over the next 10 years, directly creating more than $78 million in new wages. When it made the decision to put the new plant in Athens, Caterpillar already was operating facilities in Griffin, LaGrange, Toccoa and Thomasville, GA, so the equipment giant was very familiar with the benefits of locating in a manufacturing-friendly state.

Bridgestone Americas $1.2-billion investment in the construction of a new 1.5-million-square-foot off-road radial (ORR) tire manufacturing facility on a site in Aiken County, SC—and a 474,000-square-foot expansion of an existing tire plant nearby—marked the largest single initial capital investment in South Carolina’s history.

“Bridgestone’s decision to transplant technology and manufacturing to South Carolina that had been exclusive to its facilities in Japan is another indication of the Palmetto State’s emergence as a world-class manufacturing competitor,” Rogers said.

The Bridgestone facility is expected to have a direct Economic Output impact of nearly $2 billion over the first two years of operation, directly creating more than $362 million in new wages.

The new ORR manufacturing plant is part of the company’s global sourcing strategy. The facility will be a greenfield site in the Sage Mill Industrial Park in Aiken County. Previously, large and ultra-large ORR tires had been produced exclusively at Bridgestone’s
Shimonoseki and
Kitakyushu plants
in Japan. Bridgestone will install
ORR production
technologies developed in Japan in
the new plant to
more effectively
respond to customer needs and growing global demand. The new plant will be a green facility—it is expected to meet LEED Construction Certification environmental standards.

Business Facilities congratulates all of the winners in our 2012 Deal of the Year competition. Nominations are now being accepted for our 2013 contest here.

The post COVER STORY: 2012 Economic Development Deal of the Year Awards appeared first on Business Facilities.

JPSS mission (Photo: Ball Aerospace)

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has opened the door on a new era of space programs by celebrating the completion of an advanced satellite manufacturing center that more than doubles current spacecraft production capability. The 90,000-square-foot expansion is designed to accommodate larger and more sophisticated satellites and simultaneous spacecraft builds to fulfill new NASA and the Department of Defense contracts for space-related assets.

The $75M capital investment includes expansion and improvements underway since 2005 at Ball’s Fisher Integration Facility in Boulder, CO, and comes on the heels of the opening of expanded facilities at the company’s manufacturing center in Westminster, CO, in 2011.

“The expansion we proudly unveil affirms our commitment to growing Colorado’s dynamic aerospace economy,” said David L. Taylor, Ball Aerospace president and CEO.

The larger aerospace manufacturing complex in Boulder includes a 60 percent increase in clean room space, state of the art environmental testing systems, and build-out capacity for a larger thermal vacuum chamber to test spacecraft. These spacecraft include NASA’s Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), the WorldView-3 remote-sensing satellite for DigitalGlobe, the Sentinel Mission for the B612 Foundation and multiple Department of Defense and national security missions. The new facilities enable Ball to provide the full range of manufacturing, assembly, integration and test capabilities needed to be the industry’s go-to partner for high performance satellites and instruments.

Ball Aerospace has more than 2,800 employees and reported sales of $784 million in 2011. In the past five decades, the company’s strength has grown in several areas, including space science and exploration; space-based monitoring of the Earth’s weather and environment; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; supporting the military in creating an integrated battlespace; and building space superiority for the nation. Ball is also a leading provider of commercial remote-sensing satellites.

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. supports critical missions for national agencies such as the Department of Defense, NASA, NOAA and other U.S. government and commercial entities. The company develops and manufactures spacecraft, advanced instruments and sensors, components, data exploitation systems and RF solutions for strategic, tactical and scientific applications.

The post Ball Aerospace Completes Final Phase of $75M Colorado Expansion appeared first on Business Facilities.