The Indianapolis Business Journal (IBJ) hosted the IBJ Life Science Power Breakfast Series this morning at the Marriott Hotel downtown Indianapolis. It was a great panel discussion with industry leaders and well represented by many of the regional life sciences companies and service providers, including (and proud sponsors) Pearl Pathways’ CEO Diana Caldwell and Director, Business Development Chad Pannucci. In addition to an interesting presentation and panel discussion, we enjoyed conversation and getting better acquainted with some of our life science clients & colleagues from Indiana startups, universities and industry experts hosted at the Pearl Pathways table. The impact of the Indiana life science industry cannot be overstated. As mentioned, the output by Indiana life science companies (#medical device, #pharmaceutical, #biotech, #diagnostic etc) represents a $59B per year economic impact and almost $10B in worldwide annual exports where 1 out of every 10 Hoosiers (or ~56,000) work in the life sciences sector. There is tremendous innovation happening right now at places like Purdue University where current president and former State of Indiana governor Mitch Daniels have done a tremendous job to accelerate innovation by creating a framework to spin up startup companies and pursue licensing opportunities with Purdue based research and intellectual property (IP). For example, Purdue recently gained national press and media coverage when researchers recently deciphered the structure of the #Zika virus which will help to more quickly identify and develop therapeutics to treat it, while #GE and #Rolls Royce announced significant multi-year and multi-million dollar investments to further their partnership with the university and leverage engineering talent and facility capabilities to develop and built out new technologies related to jet engine research and advanced manufacturing. Closer to Indianapolis mentioned was the 16 Tech project which will be anchored by the new $250M Indiana Bioscience Research Institute on 60 acres of land situated just northwest of downtown along Indiana Avenue between Indiana University School of Medicine, IUPUI and downtown Indianapolis, not to mention only 20 minutes from the Indianapolis International airport. 16 Tech will be designed as an #innovation hub and a conduit between life sciences research institutions, industry, expertise and facilities to foster and speed development of new products and technologies for medical innovation in Indiana. Events like the IBJ Life Science Power Breakfast Series are important to showcase the progress we have collectively contributed as a state under the guise of not just as a national, but a global effort to push forward technology and breakthrough medical advances to help patients around the world.
