Leaders want BioUtah to become better known

Still in its relative infancy, Utah’s life science association is looking to become a stronger voice for the industry. At the recent Utah Life Science Summit, leaders of BioUtah said one initiative for 2017 is to boost awareness of the association.

Still in its relative infancy, Utah’s life science association is looking to become a stronger voice for the industry.

At the recent Utah Life Science Summit, leaders of BioUtah said one initiative for 2017 is to boost awareness of the association.

Kelly Slone, BioUtah’s president and chief executive officer, said an association re-brand will focus on “really educating the outside community — outside Utah and inside Utah — about the life science industry here. We think that we, as a state, can do a better job.”

Launched in 2012 when split from the Utah Technology Council, BioUtah is an independent, nonprofit trade association with members focused on research and development, manufacturing and commercialization or support services related to life science technologies and treatments.

Gov. Gary Herbert noted that BioUtah has about 130 member organizations but needs more.

“I applaud you,” Herbert told the summit audience. “There’s others ought to be joined with you, though. That’s my point. There ought to be others that come here, unite your voices and make sure that we continue to have a great environment for life sciences and all aspects of life sciences as an economic sector that’s growing dramatically and has a tremendous growth potential here as we grow and expand our operations literally internationally.”

Utah has about 1,000 life science companies employing a total of 33,600 people. Those companies are growing at about 4 percent annually and pay an average annual salary of $64,400.

Utah overall is in “a solid economic growth position,” the governor said. “It’s a tremendous success story that’s taking place, and you are adding to our economic success of the state.”

Slone said key achievements for BioUtah in 2016 include generating membership growth and community value, including doubling membership over the past 15 months; creating four active working groups focused on issues/initiatives; producing the inaugural Entrepreneurs and Investor Summit; and hosting various education programs and networking events. BioUtah also has established itself as a respected voice in public policy, built stronger industry partnerships and helped secure a Medical Innovation Pathways (MIP) grant help students develop a career in life sciences, she said.

Dirksen Lehman, incoming chairman of the BioUtah board of directors, spelled out four issues facing the industry in Utah: access to capital, skilled talent, regulatory and payment challenges, and business and industry growth.

BioUtah will work to provide greater opportunities for startup companies to gain access to capital. “Utah is in the top 10 states receiving venture capital dollars, yet a relatively small portion of those funds are directed toward life sciences,” said Lehman, who is corporate vice president of public affairs for Edwards Lifesciences.

To help with workforce issues, BioUtah will partner with government, education and industry leaders to develop a skilled labor force and recruit and retain life science talent for Utah.

“We believe that development of the life science workforce is critical to increasing and sustaining job creation and economic growth in Utah,” Lehman said. “Currently, demand is simply outpacing the number of well-trained and qualified candidates.”

“We (Utah) have a low unemployment rate and, really, people that are employed have skills and those who are unemployed typically are under-skilled,” Herbert said. “We’ve got to do a better job in our educational environment to make sure that people are retrained, retooled and that we in fact start from K-12 and make sure that people are college- and career-ready as they move forward.

“And that’s a responsibility that we have in government: [to create] a fertile environment but also to help make sure that the labor force is skilled and has the necessary training and skills that will line up with the demands of the marketplace, particularly in life science, where there is so much opportunity.”

BioUtah will work to develop long-term strategic plan for industry growth. Lehman said that will include shrinking the “innovation gap” that exists between large and small companies.

The association also wants to help companies find opportunities to expand globally and attract national and international companies that can help grow Utah’s life science ecosystem.

Regarding regulatory and payment challenges, Lehman said the industry is “highly structured and highly regulated. … However, at times, the regulatory process can be inconsistent and unpredictable, which provides challenges for companies and can increase the time and costs in the development of innovation products.”