Last week I was privileged to be able to participate in a focus group for California East Bay biomanufacturing.
The purpose of the focus group was to generate ideas on how best to utilize the $2.2 million in Federal grant funds given to the East Bay Economic Development Alliance (among others) in the form of the AMP2ED Grant.
According to Manex Consulting, one of the partner organizations for the grant, “The Advanced Medical/Biosciences Manufacturing Pipeline for Economic Development (AM2PED) will build a regional innovation ecosystem for technology transfer, economic development, and workforce development in medical device and bio-science manufacturing along the I-80/880 Corridor of the Inner San Francisco East Bay Area.”
For those who might not be aware, the San Francisco Bay Area is one of the strongest and most innovative clusters for biotech and medical device innovation in the world. And the East Bay region contains 469 bioscience companies, generating over $6 billion per year. As a CRO, PBL serve this cluster both in development testing, and also in lot release testing – thus we function as part of the supply chain for many local manufacturers.
It was in this capacity, as part of the bioscience manufacturing supply chain that PBL was able to provide perspective that will hopefully lead to the encouragement of more small companies and bioscience manufacturing in the East Bay region.
If you are part of a small company here in the East Bay, you would be well-served by learning more about some of the resources available to you here – including the Tech Futures Group (techfuturesgroup.org), a nonprofit that helps support small tech companies.
All in all, it’s exciting to be part of the innovation taking place here, and to support so many of this region’s bioscience companies.
Sources:
UC Berkeley News Center: http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2012/11/28/new-grant-will-accelerate-job-creat…
Manex Consulting: http://www.manexconsulting.com/blog/?p=182