Biotech center breathes life into state's economy.

• Author: Cline, Ned
• Position: Capital - North Carolina Biotechnology Center

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center, little known or understood but increasingly important to the state's economy, is sprouting branches. The intent is two-tiered: to encourage more higher-level university and industry research, which, in turn, creates more higher-paying jobs across the state.

Spawned by state government more than two decades ago and now a private nonprofit corporation with a staff of 53, the Biotechnology Center has long been a staple of Research Triangle Park, where all of its administrative decisions and most of its work have taken place, out of sight and mind of much of the rest of the state. That began changing earlier this year with the opening of satellite offices in Winston-Salem and outside Asheville. The Winston office is in the Piedmont Triad Research Park downtown, and the western office is in Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College's business incubator in Enka. Two more offices will open later this or early next year, one in the Charlotte region, the other in Wilmington.

Despite its name, the Biotechnology Center does not conduct lab research. It provides loans to startup biotech companies and grants for university researchers and education programs. Why the expansion and why now? "This is a very competitive industry," President Leslie Alexandre says. "We're ahead of most states because we have been innovative and creative and that's the way to stay ahead. We have universities and corporations in places where we are opening offices. They need more and better jobs in those areas. We don't expect to start up biotech industries in all 100 counties, but we want to put more companies and more research in more places. This is an investment we need to make."

North Carolina is, indeed, ahead of most states in biotech research. Nationally, the state ranks first in companies engaged in biomanufacturing relating to drug research and creation, second in agricultural research and fourth in biotechnology and in pharmaceuticals. Alexandre's use of the word investment is no accident. The biotech center represents a significant investment by state government but one that has paid healthy dividends since the $5 million grant that created it in 1981. Since being spun off as a nonprofit corporation in 1984, it has received $139 million from the state, 90% of its total revenue. The rest has come from federal grants, private foundations or corporations and the center's investments.

The state's investment, the center says...