February 19, 2009

Purdue, IU-led life sciences initiative awaits full House vote

Presidents address
Statehouse crowd
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With approval Tuesday (Feb. 17) by the Indiana House Ways and Means Committee, a one-year $14.5 billion budget proposal that provides $35 million for the Indiana Innovation Alliance moves to the full House, which must approve the budget by Wednesday (Feb. 25). After that, the budget bill goes to the Senate.

"Indiana has a new fight song called the Indiana Innovation Alliance, and it is a song that we can sing together," Purdue University President France A. Córdova told a standing-room-only crowd of more than 700 people at the Statehouse on Tuesday. "The alliance will reach beyond the two universities to other institutions and businesses."

Córdova and IU President Michael McRobbie took center stage during Tuesday's Indiana Innovation Alliance Day rally, which showcased the strengths of partnering a leading medical school with the nation's foremost engineering and pharmacy programs.

McRobbie, Córdova
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"Working together side by side can make a difference," McRobbie said. "We can change our world."

The alliance would leverage the funding provided by the state for needed cost sharing on large-scale proposals to federal agencies, industry and foundations. It also is designed to position Indiana to gain a larger share of $14 billion market for life sciences research and development, an industry segment that's growing 15 percent a year.

The rally offered comments from alliance supporters and included exhibits and displays to highlight how the proposal could advance Indiana as a global leader in creating medical and health-related fields as well as new companies in pharmaceuticals, bioenergy, nanotechnology and health-care delivery.

State Rep. Sheila Klinker, D-Lafayette, brought the crowd to its feet when she closed the rally's program by announcing that the House Ways and Means Committee voted to approve the $35 million for the alliance's first-year budget request. It faces a hurdle in the Senate, however, she acknowledged.

"The money is there in the budget," Klinker said. "Not everyone agrees, but some of us see it (the alliance) as a real stimulus not only to help Indiana but in helping all of the universities in the state of Indiana."

 Senate minority leader Vi Simpson, D-Ellettsville, and Rep. Randy Truitt, R-West Lafayette, also spoke in favor of the proposal during the Purdue-IU rally.

 The House and Senate will advance their own versions of the biennial budget. Gov. Mitch Daniels and the chambers must seek compromises before the session ends April 29.

A three-minute video highlighting the alliance's benefits also made its debut at the event. The YouTube video, which includes Indiana industry and academic leaders, spells out how state funding could improve Indiana's top 10 U.S. ranking as a hotbed for growing jobs in the pharmaceutical, orthopedic and health-care sectors.

"This is global competition for leading opportunities in health-care and life sciences and all the jobs that come with them," David Johnson, executive director of BioCrossroads, a public-private collaboration supporting the state's life science industries, says on the video. "We're doing really well in that hunt, and we need to stay in it."

IU and Purdue are proposing that the General Assembly create the Indiana Innovation Alliance by appropriating $35 million in each year of the upcoming 2009-2011 state biennial budget. The funding also would include $5 million each year to expand the capacity of the IU School of Medicine to educate physicians and expand Purdue's Healthcare Technical Assistance Program in Discovery Park to help the state's businesses become more efficient.

Victor L. Lechtenberg, Purdue's associate provost for engagement, and William B. Stephan, IU's vice president for engagement, are leading the alliance's efforts.

 With its focus on research with applications in business, the Indiana Innovation Alliance would bring together a wide spectrum of businesses, government and universities to share research facilities and other resources to expand the state's capacity to support new and existing companies in the biology and health-related fields.

 "I think all the legislators present or those watching or listening can't help but be impressed by what a big, bold partnership this is," Córdova said. "Now is the time to retool, reinvest, reenergize. Now is the time to combine our two universities' great assets. Now is the time for the Indiana Innovation Alliance."

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

Writer: Phillip Fiorini, (765) 496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu

Sources: Victor Lechtenberg, (765) 494-9095, vll@purdue.edu

      William Stephan, (317) 231-2114, innovate@indiana.edu