Last month, the Ohio Life Sciences (OLS) team partnered with JobsOhio to host a booth showcasing Ohio’s achievements in the life sciences at the BIO International Convention, the largest and most comprehensive event for biotechnology in the world. Tens of thousands of life sciences leaders from around the world came together in San Diego.
In talking to them, it became clear that Ohio’s competitive advantage is our people: in the workforce we are developing, our existing talent pool, and our leaders in both science and policy, who are making it easier for life sciences companies to do their work. Amgen was a lead sponsor of BIO, and I was reminded of its success in opening Amgen Ohio — especially how its buildout in central Ohio was the fastest-to-completion in company history.
I also was reminded, yet again, how critical the life sciences are, not only for our economies, but for patients and the people who love them. This industry saves patients’ lives, through research and development, through devices, through technology and through care. It increases patients’ quality of life and gives them more time with their family and friends. It makes it possible for them to do the things that make them happiest.
What a powerful thing.
Supporting those patients means supporting this industry, which is growing every day in Ohio. And that means supporting its people. A recent report from global commercial real estate firm CBRE shows that the workforce talent pool in Ohio is among the strongest in the nation. Ohio was just one of just four states with three different geographies recognized for its life sciences talent pool — and unlike other states, those cities are all within a close drive of one another.
The report celebrated the workforce and talent pools in Cleveland for med-tech, Cincinnati for medical devices, and Columbus for research and development.
Columbus was listed in the top five regions nationally for higher education degrees awarded in genetics, continuing to highlight central Ohio’s acumen in gene and cell therapy. Cincinnati and Columbus were both among the 25 cities with the most life science R&D occupations by market. And both Cleveland and Cincinnati ranked among the top 25 cities in life sciences manufacturing jobs.
This is a statewide success, and it is the result of deliberate investment. Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus are home to our state’s three innovation districts, which have been supported through the state, JobsOhio, the private sector, universities and the federal government.
But we can’t stop here. At BIO, it also was clear to me that while Ohio is enjoying incredible success in growing its life sciences industry, we also cannot take our feet off the proverbial gas pedal, because many other regions would like to be where we are, and to beat us to where we’re headed.
And it was clear that our direct state government investments to date, while critical, still lag far behind other states who are committed to developing their life sciences industries. Ohio last year made a $5 million investment over two years to develop our state’s life sciences workforce — a project that is underway now. But other states have invested many times that amount — North Carolina put $16 million into community college life science education; Illinois provided $15.4 million in grants to fund wet lab expansions throughout the state; Arizona invested $50 million into the Arizona Health Innovation Trust fund; Virginia invested $66.7 million into the life sciences industry there. And New York City invested a staggering $1 billion to expand the industry, commercialize research and build on its research cluster.
So, while I celebrate the successes we’ve achieved, I also am aware that future investment is crucial. We at OLS are laser-focused on growing our life sciences talent pool even more over the coming years, and we are looking forward to seeing how our combined efforts pay off, for our economy, of course, but most importantly for the patients around the world who will benefit from therapies developed and built right here in Ohio — I’m eager to hear from you to answer any questions about how you can help!