State's bioscience industry gets glowing marks in study

Brice Wallace

Utah’s bioscience industry “is highly specialized in its concentration, diverse in its strengths, and is growing,” according to a recently released study of the industry.

The report, titled “The U.S. Bioscience Industry: Fostering Innovation and Driving America’s Economy Forward,” indicates that Utah is one of only three states that has a specialized employment concentration in three or more bioscience subsectors: medical devices and{mprestriction ids="1,3"} equipment; pharmaceuticals; and research, testing and medical laboratories. Utah also was eighth among states for per capita venture capital investment in the 2018-21 period.

TEConomy Partners LLC, a research, analysis and strategy company, produced the report commissioned by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. It examined the bioscience industry’s impact on the national economy and provided state-specific data.

“As the report shows, since 2018, Utah’s bioscience sector has seen solid increases in employment, venture capital funding, academic R&D and NIH (National Institutes of Health) awards,” said Andrea Kendell, chief financial officer for North America and vice president of finance global manufacturing at bioMerieux, and chair of the board of directors of BioUtah, a statewide trade association.

“BioUtah, working with industry, government and other stakeholders, is committed to supporting this progress and advancing the culture of innovation we’ve built here.”

“Clearly, Utah’s bioscience industry is continuing its growth trajectory as one of the fastest-growing life sciences communities in the country,” said Kelvyn Cullimore, BioUtah president and CEO. “Our bio community is creating jobs, attracting increased investment and driving life-changing innovation.”

According to the report, Utah’s biosciences industry in 2021 had 40,419 direct jobs — an increase of 17 percent since 2018 — at 1,845 businesses. Including multiplier effects, the industry accounted for about 195,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Venture capital investment from 2018-21 totaled nearly $900 million, compared with $181.7 million in 2018.

Utah generated nearly 1,900 biosciences-related patents from 2018-2021.

As for employment concentration, the industry in Utah was 74 percent above the national average for industry job concentration. Utah was fifth among states for medical device sector growth.

Among strong pockets of life sciences job concentration, Salt Lake City was No. 2 among large metro areas, at more than five times higher than the national average and No. 7 in total medical-sector jobs. Ogden-Clearfield was 260 percent above the national average, ranking it No. 5 among medium-sized metro areas. Among small metros, Logan was No. 7, at 445 percent above the national average.

Nationwide, the life sciences industry in 2021 had 2.14 million workers at more than 127,000 establishments. They supported another 8.2 million through indirect and induced effects. While the national economy shed 1.5 percent of its job base, the biosciences industry increased employment by 11 percent since 2018. Also, the industry’s economic impact in the U.S. was an estimated $2.9 trillion in 2021.

The full report is available at https://www.bio.org/value-bioscience-innovation-growing-jobs-and-improving-quality-life.{/mprestriction}