OP-ED
March 6, 2009
Let's get behind Purdue-IU game plan to strengthen Indiana economy
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - |
This team — the Indiana Innovation Alliance — is already suited up, waiting for our support.
This partnership between Purdue and Indiana University combines the strengths of a leading medical school with some of the nation's foremost engineering and pharmacy programs. It also utilizes both universities' strengths in the sciences.
The alliance will focus on life sciences research that quickly translates to the marketplace, with an emphasis on creating medical and health-related fields as well as new companies in pharmaceuticals, bioenergy, nanotechnology, health-care delivery and the environment. Efforts will help the state address its physician shortage and grow education networks in medicine at IU and biotechnology, bioengineering and pharmacy programs at Purdue.
Companies will link with IU and Purdue's impressive teams of researchers and clinicians and then adapt and transfer the research findings to the marketplace. That's the spark that will create knowledge-based jobs and opportunity.
There's no question this is a terrific game plan. But we're racing the clock.
In an effort to grow their bio- and life-science industries, states like California, Massachusetts and Florida in recent years launched ambitious initiatives, some as much as $3 billion over 10 years, designed to foster stronger interaction between industry and research institutions.
Tough choices were made in these states just as the economy began to turn sour. "It was a way to get us into the game," remarked former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush during a speech last June at the BIO 2008 conference in San Diego.
Indiana, with its historic strengths in life sciences, has been in the "game" for years. This state remains the envy of our Midwestern brethren for its success in growing life-sciences jobs and companies in recent years.
Today, Indiana ranks fourth among all states with about 275,000 life-sciences workers, according to a 2006 report by the Biotechnology Industry Association. The average salary at the state's 670 life-science companies is $68,715, ranking among the highest of any industry in the state.
Because of our state leaders' vision, we now have established partnerships with economic development agencies in Boston and San Diego that are designed to capitalize on Indiana's strengths in pharmaceutical development, medical devices and biotechnology.
Our state leaders have not only invested in these efforts in the past, but they also have built a surplus to get us through these tough economic times. They agree the alliance makes sense for Indiana. But they are rightly concerned about the economy.
On the other hand, the competition is stiff. We cannot rest. We cannot blink. We dare not lose our position. Even better, we can advance it. While others are pulling back, Indiana can charge forward. In these tough economic times, we must develop a creative way to fund this $70 million investment.
Unlike so many industries that are down, research and development is a growing segment of the life sciences industry. The next discovery of a molecule, medical device or drug-delivery process can set a life sciences company apart from the competition. And the industry knows it. U.S. biotechnology companies, for example, spent $19.8 billion alone on R&D in 2006.
Much of that money is spent at universities and research institutions. That's because those in academia embrace the value of research that brings together scientists from an array of disciplines to tackle major challenges in health care, cancer, alternative energy and the environment.
They work together. Purdue and IU are working together. Business leaders need to give them our support. This team needs Indiana's financial backing today before the costs become even greater tomorrow.
Wayne Burris, a 1985 Purdue graduate in electrical engineering, is chief financial officer at Roche Diagnostics Corp. in Indianapolis.
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