Private sector collaboration has a key place in our work around job creation and economic mobility. The bioscience center, an incubator for biotech and life science startups in Albuquerque, says they’re one of the for-profit organizations in Albuquerque “putting their money where their mouth is.”
The BioScience Center is one of several Albuquerque incubators focused on creating a place for new businesses to thrive. But the BioScience Center has a special appeal. As a privately funded for-profit institution, the BioScience Center says that it’s able to provide services that non-profit incubators may not be able to offer. “Being privately funded, we operate like any other nimble startup and can pivot as needed to meet the needs of our tenants,” says Lisa Adkins, BioScience Center COO and director. “Unlike non-profits, we don’t have to answer to funders. Publicly funded incubators may not necessarily be able to do things like invest in their tenants, and we’re able to do that.”
In a state occupied by some 700 biotech companies, employing more than 40,000 people, the BioScience Center certainly has an important role to play. Founder Stuart Rose recognized the need for a hub catering to developing bioscience businesses in 2012, just a couple years before founding the BioScience Center’s sister-center, FatPipe in 2014. Since, they’ve had three graduates who have all gone on to raise millions of dollars. One of the most recent graduates, a business built on a tool to detect lung infections, is now prospering with a Santa Fe headquarters. But it’s not just high-tech industries that the BioScience Center is interested in. Lisa says life science businesses can cover everything from vaccinations to food care and more.
The BioScience Center believes that the time for economic development in Albuquerque – in bioscience and many other areas – is now. But it will take a collaborative partnership between public and private organizations to get there.
“There’s finally a collaborative effort,” says Lisa about the Albuquerque Living Cities Integration Initiative. “The private and pubic sector are coming together in support of entrepreneurs. What matters is we’re all helping individuals start business and that creates jobs. Working together as privately funded and publicly funded organizations, that’s how we start to see real results.”
We are excited to have Lisa join us on our I3 table in 2017 to strengthen our team’s ability to identify innovative approaches to job creation.
