Phoenix’s Bioscience Strategic Initiative has received a 34.4% increase in funding since 2018, generating rapid business growth in the city.
Now in its third year, the $100,000 plan will send Phoenix and a delegation of new and established companies to the BIO International Convention in 2022.
Claudia Whitehead is the bioscience initiative program manager and she said companies such as Humabiologics earned over $1 million in investments after attending the convention.
“They got the chance to meet with global companies that have become their customers, and through collaboration they can help advance their technology,” Whitehead said.
Since the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGEN) found a home in Phoenix in 2006, it has spun out more than 26 new biomedical companies according to the city.
Local businesses such as TGEN act as magnets to young start-ups, and over the next decade new enterprises will begin to emerge out of the city, as they already have.
“It’s a never ending cycle of creating new companies, and it is transforming our economy from a consumption based economy to a product based economy,” Phoenix Economic Development Director Christine Mackay said.
According to Mackay, the Phoenix Biomedical Campus is only half way built, and through partnerships with all three local universities, has an economic impact of 1.3 billion dollars on the city.
“From an economic standpoint, you have businesses who are continuing to invest in Phoenix, and at the same time, they are hiring our graduates,” Mackay said.
David Krietor, executive director of the Phoenix Biomedical Campus, says the campus is “a unique collaborative place” where students and companies come together.
“Today, eight colleges from the three state universities are physically located on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus and they are training medical doctors, pharmacists, nurses, physical and occupational therapists, and physician assistants,” Krietor said.
With continued development the city will see an increase in construction in years to come, but Mackay says their assets will work in their favor.
“Construction is now supporting growth instead of driving growth, and bioscience and healthcare is right there at the top in terms of causing development in Phoenix,” Mackay said.
Phoenix City Council voted to fund the Bioscience Healthcare Strategic Initiative for the 2021-2022 fiscal year in October.
30 companies will be participating in the BIO International Convention in partnership with the city of Phoenix in June of 2022.
Contact the reporter dljohn62@asu.edu.
