The future of biotechnology in North Carolina
Norris Tolson is the CEO of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in Durham. Created in 1984, the center is the economic development arm of the biotechnology industry in North Carolina — which has the third-largest biotech cluster in the nation. Through grants, incentive programs and partnerships with state government and educational institutions, the center has promoted the biotechnology industry and training programs to diversify the state’s economy.
When did biotechnology become a priority for North Carolina?
In the early 1980s, Gov. Jim Hunt, along with legislators, were thinking about the future industry segments in the state ought to be. At that time, they thought about information technology and biotechnology. In 1984, Gov. Hunt incorporated the Micro Electronics Center of North Carolina and the biotech center to act as economic development engines to create those segments in the state ... and the primary focus was to create jobs to augment the jobs in tobacco and textiles in the state at that time The biotech center has done that. Since then, we have spend more than $200 million to develop the biotech cluster in North Carolina and the center serves as the focal point of that activity.
What are the state’s strengths in biotechnology?
We are the third largest cluster in the nation, behind California and Massachusetts, but as I tell people, I don’t care where we are ranked, I just want the jobs. We are ideally positioned to continue the progress of biotech in this state. The three flagship universities that formed the Research Triangle Park — Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State — all are major research and development institutions that use $1 billion in research funds a year.
We have a very strong pharmaceutical presence in North Carolina. We’ve created a new thrust in biofuels and we’re helping to commercialize marine biotechnology, nanotechnology. The effort [in expanding biotech] hinges on universities like UNC Charlotte and Carolinas Medical Center and the North Carolina Research Campus. It’s been natural for us because it is what we have been doing for 20 years — complementing the pharmaceutical and agricultural work that has been going on in biotech.
What challenges has the state faced in re-educating a workforce that is geared for manufacturing?
We have a world-class training effort and we have the model for biotech working training in America. North Carolina, in the last five years, has spent more than $100 million in creating that training engine and there is none like it in the world.
The Biotechnology Training and Education Facility (at N.C. State University) was literally designed by industry. Industry sits on the committee that designs the curriculum. Industry donated a lot of the equipment, so what you are training on is what you will be working with when you graduate. We have 59 community colleges that bridge the gap from high school to four-year institutions and industry. We have a pretty doggone hard model to beat. We have roughly 60,000 people working in biotech right now. It is projected that we’ll have 75,000 in the next 10 to 15 years. Also, for every job created in biotech, we create four or five peripheral jobs. Multiply that and that will tell you the job impact in the next 10 years.
What is the future of biotechnology in this state?
Biotechnology already is completely integrated in everything we do as human beings — in medicine, clothes, food, fuel. There is a whole area of marine biotechnology that is a whole different kettle of fish, if you will pardon the pun. It includes what we know about fish and aquaculture and human health implications, but we are still in the learning phase. We may be creating a $10 billion to $12 billion segment around marine biotech and spin out a lot of businesses we don’t even know about today. That is true in nanobiotech, in biofuels. It’s enormous for North Carolina. Instead of being at the top of the curve, we are on the growth side of the curve. This has been a planned activity for us for year now — we created the model of how to grow an industry.
That’s what makes us unique.
Interview by Ben McNeely
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