Contact: Jodi Hoeser or Tom Still at 608-442-7557
To learn more: http://www.WisconsinAtBIO.com or http://bio.wisbusiness.com/
CHICAGO – Wisconsin’s growing biotechnology sector has been slowed by recession and Wisconsin still only represents a small piece of the nation’s biotechnology industry. But a new report released by a national economic research firm shows Wisconsin’s biotech industry is still strong and growing.
A new “State Bioscience Initiatives” report by Battelle Memorial Institute released at the 2010 BIO International, the gathering of the world’s bio sciences industry, reports that Wisconsin’s biotech jobs have grown by nearly 16 percent between 2001 and 2008 and the state is one of relatively few making headway in all four biotech sectors historically tracked by the report. The number of biotech companies in Wisconsin grew by 25 percent during that same period.
The report, which ranked Wisconsin in the top two-fifths of all states in bioscience and biotechnology activity, also credited Wisconsin for its commitment to academic research and a growing early stage capital market to help take scientific ideas from the lab bench to the marketplace.
The Madison metropolitan area and Bloomington, Ind., are the only two metropolitan areas in the nation with specialization in all four areas – agricultural feedstock and chemicals, drugs and pharmaceuticals, medical devices and equipment, and research and testing, said Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council. “Wisconsin’s biotech sector is weathering the storm of the recession and will continue to get stronger.”
The state is still a small player in the bio-sciences industry compared to a number of large states with only 24,700 jobs in an industry that now employs 1.4 million people, Still said. But that’s because a handful of states are so dominant.
Wisconsin, the report said, showed Wisconsin’s investment in its bio-tech sector is proof of its strength.
Venture capital invested in state bioscience during the last six years totaled $295 million, led by pharmaceuticals and human biotechnology, the report noted. The 2,187 patents issued to Wisconsin inventors over the same six-year period were well diversified, led by surgical, and medical instruments and biotechnology.
Since 2004, academic research and development funding in Wisconsin has risen by almost 21 percent, with $440.1 million of the state’s biotech research funding coming from the federal National Institutes of Health, according to the report.
In addition to the Madison area, the report noted that Sheboygan, Oshkosh-Neenah and Milwaukee-Waukesha have strengths in at least one of the four sectors. It also took notice of Wisconsin’s investment tax credit laws and R&D tax credits, as well as its strong per capita rankings in academic R&D spending (9th) and production of people with bioscience higher education degrees.
“This growth – and this strength – isn’t just in Madison,’’ Still noted. “We have a lot going on and the industry is taking notice.’’
To learn more, visit http://www.WisconsinAtBio.com or http://bio.wisbusiness.com/.
