Rochester Business Journal

Rochester and Buffalo, with support from state policymakers, can combine to become a global pacesetter in bioscience, a report released Tuesday states.

The Rochester-Buffalo region was identified as one of two emerging primary hubs in the state’s bioscience industry in a study from the Public Policy Institute of New York State Inc., the research arm of the Business Council of New York State Inc.

The other hub is a downstate corridor spanning New York City, Westchester and Long Island.

OyaGen Inc., a bio-pharmaceutical company in Henrietta, is among the firms profiled in the report, titled “Cultivating the Next Generation of Discoveries and Development in New York Bioscience.”

“Thanks to extraordinary research facilities such as Roswell Park Cancer Institute and promising high-tech startups, Western New York has all of the components to be a world leader in bioscience,” BCNYS president and CEO Heather Briccetti said in a statement.

“What is missing, however, is a full appreciation of the extraordinary assets that exist in the region and comprehensive plan to promote them.”

The PPI study, which included input from Rochester firms OyaGen and Excell Partners Inc., urges policy makers to develop a strategy for maximizing the research-based economic development potential of the state’s bioscience industry. It asks officials to take the following actions:

• Create a Governor’s Council to spearhead development and marketing of the state's bioscience industry;
• Establish a Small Business Innovation Research matching grant program for bioscience companies as well as a dedicated Biosciences Commercialization Fund; and,
• Increase the amount of affordable incubator and laboratory space for startups and early-stage bioscience companies.

The biosciences support 250,000 jobs statewide, including 66,568 in the industry itself, generating $5.3 billion in wages and $309 million in state income taxes, the study states.

Research and development in the sector attracts significant federal funding and consistently is within the top three states in terms of National Institutes of Health research awards. In 2010 New York received $562.8 million from the Centers for Disease Control, $32.8 million from the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality, $4.5 billion from the NIH and $491.9 million from the National Science Foundation, the report shows.

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