Wisconsin may soon be home to a federal biotechnology research center due to a collaborative effort between state government, the UW System and private companies.
Gov. Scott McCallum is leading the effort to attract the biotechnology research center.
McCallum recently met with President Bush and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson to discuss the center and will soon meet with Wisconsin congressional delegates.
Though there has been no formal proposal, it is suspected Bush and Thompson will announce plans for the center within the year. No specific location for the center has been proposed.
“The governor wants to be out front on anything and be prepared,” said Tim Roby communications director for McCallum. “It’s going to be a very competitive process once this becomes public.”
David Olien, senior vice president of administration for the UW System, put together a team of UW, Medical College of Wisconsin, government and private-sector officials to discuss what Wisconsin needs to do to be competitive in the bidding process for a federally-funded biotech research center.
“The Wisconsin effort will be a collaborative one involving multiple people and institutions,” said UW System spokesman Erik Christianson. “It will need a strong coordinated collaborative effort and that’s what will be put forth.”
Before the assembly of this team, the UW System had already set the goal of bringing a federal research center to Wisconsin.
“Last fall, [UW System] President [Katharine] Lyall identified attracting a federal sciences and research facility as one of the top priorities for the UW System for this year,” Christianson said.
Advances in stem-cell research and other research achievements make UW a strong selling point for bringing the biotechnology research center to the state, Roby said.
“As the nation and the world knows, the University of Wisconsin System is one of the leading scientific research institutes in the world,” he said. “Our reputation is solid and growing and the governor feels that by bringing these types of positions into the state, the multiplier effect would be just fantastic.”
State Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, proposed several bills to strengthen the Biostar Plan, which attempts to increase research funding, and allow the state to invest up to $50 million in Wisconsin based biotech start-up companies.
Mike Browne, communications director for Chvala, said the senator hopes initiatives like this will attract companies to Wisconsin.
“Essentially, you just continue to create momentum,” Browne said. “The more business we have here and the more research that’s going on, the more business and research that will come.”
Besides the increase in high-paying jobs and federal money coming to the state, the university’s reputation will also grow, Browne said.
“It helps the university because it adds prestige to the university,” Browne said. “It helps attract more professors and researchers and it just keeps building.”
