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"BioBelt"
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The St.
Louis region is positioning itself as the center of plant and life
sciences in the United States and around the world.
By Liese Hutchison
Some 1,200 plant and life sciences enterprises call the St. Louis
region home, along with 23,000 employees and an annual payroll of
$1.6 billion. In addition, the five academic research institutions
in the region—Washington University, the University of Missouri–Columbia,
the University of Missouri–St. Louis, Saint Louis University and
Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville—have a combined total
research and development investment of more than $360 million in
the plant and life sciences.
These astonishing numbers, along with a study by the Battelle Memorial
Institute commissioned by the St. Louis RCGA, with funding support
from the Danforth Foundation and Civic Progress, identified the
St. Louis area, through its core competencies in plant and life
sciences, as a potential international center in plant sciences
and a major center in life sciences. Battelle identified five specific
short- and long-term strategies for the St. Louis region to build
on its strong plant and life sciences foundation and expand its
global leadership position:
- Establish
a national and international image for St. Louis as the
leading center in plant sciences and a major center in
life sciences;
- Build
an entrepreneurial culture that supports and nurtures
new, young firms in plant and life sciences;
- Take
advantage of the region’s intellectual capital resources
to capture its commercial potential and applications locally;
- Ensure
a progressive business climate to foster and sustain the
growth of the region’s plant and life sciences industries;
- Build,
attract and retain a quality workforce.
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Based on the results of the Battelle Strategy, the RCGA and its
business and civic partners have taken immediate actions to begin
implementing the first of Battelle’s recommendations, establishing
an international image for St. Louis as a leader in plant and life
sciences through the BioBelt brand, logo and tagline, “The Center
of Plant and Life Sciences.”
“St. Louis no longer needs to be referred to as the ‘Silicon Valley
of the Midwest,’” notes Dr. Robert Calcaterra, president and CEO
of the Nidus Center for Scientific Enterprise. “We have our own
identity now, and the BioBelt name more accurately describes the
St. Louis region’s 21st century industrial strengths.”
The Battelle study compared plant and life sciences activity in
the St. Louis region with Baltimore/Washington; Boston; Philadelphia/Princeton;
Raleigh-Durham; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; Israel and Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan. The study found that the region is second only to
Saskatoon in plant sciences and that St. Louis is highly competitive
with all the benchmarked areas in life sciences.
“The Battelle study reveals the potential leadership of St. Louis
in plant and life sciences that was envisioned when the Danforth
Plant Science Center was established in 1998,” states Dr. Roger
N. Beachy, Danforth Center president. “Implementation of the regional
plan proposed by the study will require investment of time and resources,
but promises great rewards for the economic growth of the region,
as well as real and measurable impacts on the nutrition and health
of humankind around the globe. The strengths of the scientific community
coupled with the commitment of the region to make St. Louis a truly
outstanding region for plant and life sciences were key factors
in my decision to accept the position as the founding president
of the Danforth Center.”
“The RCGA and a variety of business and community leaders are working
now on short- and long-term action steps to implement all five strategies,”
says Dick Fleming, president and CEO of the RCGA. “We know these
goals won’t be achieved overnight, but we have a great number of
people committed to a deliberate, thoughtful strategy that will
make St. Louis a world leader and ensure continued growth in this
attractive employment sector.”
According to Steve Gilbert, senior vice president for new economy
enterprise at the RCGA and coordinator of the BioBelt program, the
St. Louis region has already moved forward on several initiatives
that are important to the accomplishment of these strategies including
the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Nidus Center for Scientific
Enterprise, the Center for Emerging Technologies, the Missouri Technology
Park, the Technology Gateway Alliance and the World Agricultural
Forum. “Numerous committees and efforts are underway to help position
the region as the BioBelt,” Gilbert states. Two such plans include
working with venture capital groups to fund plant and life sciences
companies and the other, spearheaded by Dr. William H. Danforth,
is the creation of a plant and life sciences coalition comprised
of universities and major corporations.
“The Coalition for Plant and Life Sciences formed last fall to help
fund the research, which is critical to making the BioBelt the success
that we know it will be,” Danforth says. “Some of the things we’re
working on are making sure there is enough investment capital for
start-up plant and life sciences companies, and enough wetlab space
to accommodate this growing cluster.”
One of the strengths of the BioBelt is the long list of plant and
life sciences studied in the region. The Battelle study concluded
the most noteworthy areas of strength are: genomics and gene sequencing,
neuroscience, cardiology, virology/microbiology/ immunology, plant
sciences, tropical botany and biomedical engineering.
Liese L. Hutchison is an assistant professor in the department
of communication at Saint Louis University and a free-lance writer.
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