A report from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center reported that NC increased the number of biotech jobs by 18.5% from 2001 to 2006. The increase came as a result of $1.2 billion in biotech investments. It seems these investment have provided solid return for North Carolina, as it enjoyed the highest 5 year growth rate in biotechnology jobs of any state in the union and is now the third largest center for biotech jobs in the country.

According to newsobserver.com, 180,000 in NC are now employed in biotech research and development, manufacturing or for companies supplying the biotech industry. These biotechnology jobs earn North Carolinians over $9 million per year.

 

The business outlook in New York is a bit dim as the financial markets continue to work themselves out. The New York Times published an article describing the effort to drive biotech jobs as part of a larger plan to attract non-financial services business. The article describes the plan to repurpose the Brooklyn Army Terminal, a military supply depot used during World War I, as a center for biotechnology research companies. The first biotechnology tenant is scheduled to open their lab this week. The biotech complex has been renamed the East river Science Park and will include more than 1 million square feet of biotechnology office and laboratory space. New York is getting aggressive in the fight for biotechnology jobs. The problem is, they are a bit late to the game and those biotech job hubs such as the Biotech Bay and Biotech Beach won’t give up biotechnology companies without fight.

 

Riding the Obama and Democratic wave, Michigan voters passed a constitutional amendment on stem cell research that could fuel the growth of biotech jobs in the state.

According to BioRegion News,  Michigan life-science leaders have be pushing for ways to grow human embryonic stem-cell research in the state.  Sources are quoted as questioning the benefit to Michigan, however, as many states already have fairly liberal stem cell research policies. Of course, job growth was a key driver in swaying the vote. This on the same day the Wall Street Journal published articles about Michigan’s struggling auto industry seeking Federal bailout funds.

 

Although States like to put the marketing spin on their Biotech Jobs activity, there is still one major hub when it comes to Biotechnology - Northern California.

San Francisco, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Santa Clara and other cities are home to many young Biotech firms that are raking in the angel and venture capital investments. In 2006, according to a CONNECT and San Diego Institute for Policy Research study, Northern California pulled in 36% of the Nation’s VC in 2006 and 2007 ($9.6 billion and $11 billion, respectively).  In the first 6 months of 2008, “Nor Cal” took 41% of the venture capital raised ($5.6 billion) in the US.

It is interesting to note that, despite massive amounts of venture capital, the ratio of life science start ups in Northern California is much smaller than San Diego/Southern California. When it comes to start ups, San Francisco sees a whopping 90% of its new tech firm activity in communications, software and computers/electronics.

So, where is all this VC going if not to biotech start ups? The answer is found in investing strategy. The vast majority of US venture capital, in fact 78%, went to companies in expansion stage or later. It seems, although considered a sexy investment, seed round and early stage companies garner much less attention and money from the investment community.