New York in $500 million de Blasio-backed biotech boost
pharmafile | December 14, 2016 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Research and Development | New York, biotech, funding
Mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, has announced a $500 million initiative to drive the development of the biotech industry within the city. The initiative has been dubbed LifeSci NYC, with a major focus of the development being to build a new Applied Life Sciences Campus. The aim of this new space being to provide an area where Biotech startups can grow their company without needing to move away to more affordable or spacious areas in rival cities, such as Boston or San Francisco.
The concerted effort to attract more people from biotech to consider investing and moving to work in New York has steadily gained ground over the last couple of decades. 20 years ago, there were around 50,000 tech jobs in the city and the number is now approximately 300,000, with this number steadily increasing.
From 2009 there has been a 16% growth in life sciences jobs, a figure which the mayor’s office believe will only increase with this new initiative. The major set out an aim of creating 16,000 new jobs, with an average salary of $75,000, and 1,000 paid internships.
“We have to break the vice grip of stagnant wages and the ever-rising cost of living in this city. That’s why we are giving thousands of New Yorkers a foothold in the 21st century economy through paid internships, training and career-track jobs,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We are creating a springboard into the innovative Life Science economy for our workers, innovators and startup businesses that will make our whole economy stronger.”
The $500 million figure will be broken down into the $100 million centre for Applied Life Sciences Campus, as well as providing $50 million to expand network of life sciences R&D facilities and $20 million to support early stage business. A large portion of the rest of the money will be set aside to attract investment in commercial lab space. The initiative has apparently caught the interest of Pfizer and Eli Lilly, amongst others.
Ben Hargreaves
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