Healthy Bio Clusters
Require Right Prescription

Mark Dibner, president of BioAbility, a life sciences consulting firm in Research Triangle Park, N.C., has advised the Connecticut group and others on how to craft a successful biotech cluster.
        "Any state or any geographic area can do things in biotech if they have some basics to build on, but the [number of] areas that can grow into clusters is limited. You have to boil down three or four strategies that are doable."
        University and government officials must be attuned to a region's strengths and weaknesses before embarking into biotech development, Dibner says. Considerations should include local politics, culture and the capabilities of a region's universities. A good permitting climate is essential, he says. Citing North Carolina as a prime example, Dibner says regions that can put together the right ingredients for biotech manufacturing will be successful in the future.
        "You should assemble a local group of business, science and government leaders and let them all be a part of the process," Dibner says.
        Industry observers say tissue engineering, stem cell research, personalized medicine and gene therapy will be among the hot biotech niches in the coming years. Broad efforts to combat cancer account for about a third of current biotech initiatives.
        Keith Brownlie, who studies emerging life science markets for Ernst & Young, says much more than money is needed for biotech development. An area has to have the right science and the right mix of people.

See the SITES CURE www.curenet.org Southwestern Ontario Biotech www.swobiotech.com Tennessee Biotechnology Association www.tnbio.org

        "An area not only needs lead scientists but enough researchers to keep the program going," Brownlie says.
        Currently, funding is not a problem, Brownlie says.
        "Right now, biotech is one of the few places where money is readily available. The IPO market is hot right now and the first two months of this year were the best two months of funding in the history of the industry."
        Nearly every U.S. state and most Canadian provinces have an entry in the biotech sweepstakes. But the often-volatile sector is by no means a panacea for economic development.
        "It's a real expensive 'me too' game some areas are playing," says Richard Seline, founder and principle of New Economy Strategies, a consulting firm that advises on technology cluster development. "You must have a specific niche to sustain growth."
        Seline says other areas to watch in the coming years will be Arizona, Houston and Kansas City.
        "Arizona is doing all of the right things," he says. "They've attracted world class scientists."