Here is the verbatim text of information supplied on behalf of a Northern California land development/stem cell research proposal involving California stem cell Chairman Robert Klein. It was supplied by the Sacramento political consulting and PR firm of Townsend Raimundo Besler & Usher.
Innovation Corridor
California and the nation face a serious shortage of comprehensive sites devoted to cutting-edge biomedical research, life science incubators and allied private enterprise support for university-related research and therapy development. A group of researchers, civic leaders and private entrepreneurs are working on a plan to provide the physical and economic infrastructure to support an international research center for regenerative medicine and biotechnology on Interstate 80 between Mace Boulevard and E. Chiles Road interchanges.
Life and Health Sciences – Leading California Into the Future
California is the world leader in life and health sciences and technological research. Biotechnology was born in California and today is one of the state's most important economic engines. A quarter of a million Californians work for more than 2,700 companies, making biotech a larger employer than the computer, aerospace, telecommunications or motion picture industries.
Demand for Research and Development Centers is Growing
Advanced R & D in the biosciences will be the most significant contributor to the well-being of Americans and to the nation's economic well-being for decades. That promise can only be realized, however, if researchers, civic leaders, universities, government officials and private entrepreneurs work together to overcome serious financial barriers and a shortage of sites where new therapies can be discovered.
Californians recently voted to make $3 billion available for stem-cell research but only $300 million for construction of sophisticated facilities to carry out that research. A leading California life sciences consortium recently found that high costs and a scarcity of approved R & D sites is a growing problem. It urged leaders "…to cooperate to identify areas where facilities (e.g., bio-research parks) can be located, to secure those areas, to provide incentives for development and for companies to locate there, and, most importantly, to maintain a level of ongoing support to keep these areas vital."
Innovation Campuses can Provide Infrastructure to Sustain R&D
Operational mixed-discipline research centers, life science incubators and therapy development centers cannot support themselves. Many potential tenants are start-up companies or non-profits. Most require venture capital, government subsidies, non-profit foundation grants and other support to provide working capital needed to carry a new medical therapy from validated discovery to clinical trial.
Regional Leaders Working with Yolo County to Identify Potential Innovation Corridor
The Yolo County Board of Supervisors has identified the Interstate 80 corridor between East Chiles Road and Mace Boulevard as a planning study area for a university-related research and development corridor. Regional leaders are working with the county to explore a practical plan to support the county's goal of a local environmentally sensitive, university-related R&D site.
Innovation Place Foundation to Provide the Incubator
Governed by a panel of leading local and international researchers, entrepreneurs and university representatives, an Innovation Place Foundation would develop a not-for-profit regenerative medicine and biomedical research incubator; support allied research in clean energy, agriculture and environmental sciences; and administer a for-profit mixed-discipline research park.
The foundation would operate with more than $200 million to provide working capital for research and therapy development advancing validated discoveries to clinical trials. Financial support would come from a share of the proceeds of ancillary and adjacent commercial and residential development that would follow SACOG Blueprint guidelines, provide a jobs-housing balance and protect agriculture and open space in step with Yolo County's heritage.
No comments:
Post a Comment