Wisconsin Slowly Builds Reputation As Biotech Center

By Judy Newman, The Wisconsin State Journal

Oct. 15–Turning Wisconsin into a national biotechnology center may not be a pipe dream, but it is unlikely to happen any time soon, an official of the Milken Institute said Friday.

“It is unrealistic that in the next 10 years, Wisconsin would be in the top 10,” Ross DeVol, director of regional economics for the Santa Monica, Calif., economic think tank, said in an interview.

DeVol said Wisconsin’s pioneering stem cell research and its recent selection for the first National Stem Cell Bank could provide a strong boost to the state’s reputation. But he chided state legislators for refusing to grant incentives for support of stem cell technology.

“Those looking from the outside, including me, are baffled why the state Legislature would exclude stem cells from tax credits,” DeVol told about 330 people attending the Wisconsin Biotechnology and Medical Device Association conference at the Olympia Resort.

UW-Madison is among the top universities in the nation for research and development funding, but it falls short in terms of turning the discoveries into businesses and creating jobs, DeVol said. He said Wisconsin ranks 16th in the nation, overall, in the number of life sciences jobs.

“Without a shared vision, you’re never going to get there,” he said.

Biotech leaders said they are working to create that shared vision. At a meeting Thursday of 70 business, education, government and investment representatives, several goals were established, said Bill Hendee, Dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

They include:

–Developing a collaboration between researchers and health care providers to determine what types of innovations are most needed and to push them forward.

–Publicizing Wisconsin’s assets and creating a state brand that depicts Wisconsin as a place “that nurtures and values creativity.”

–Getting past what Hendee called “organizational sclerosis,” or doing things the same way as before. The key to success, he said, is innovation.

Hendee said a report will be developed and recommendations proposed. As for a timetable, he said, “This is forever. This is getting on the right pathway for the future.”

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