Massachusetts has made its way over the past half-dozen years to being an undisputed leader in biotechnology and life sciences research. Now it faces an entirely different challenge: staying there.
Cities and states across the country and around the world have escalated their long-simmering efforts to poach from this region’s concentration of biotech startups and pharmaceutical mega-companies.
California has a new tax break. Texas is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to position itself as “the third coast” of biomedical research. South Korea is building laboratories and looking for scientists to fill them.
“I’m sweating,” said Robert Coughlin, chief executive of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, after spending hours promoting Massachusetts at the BIO International Convention in San Diego last week. “It’s hard to stay on top. Either you continue to improve or you go backwards.”
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Massachusetts has long been a research hub for the life sciences, boasting world-class universities, teaching hospitals, and other institutions, but in recent years it has achieved new heights.
The state is six years into the Life Sciences Initiative, a $1 billion, decadelong public spending program that offers grants, loans, and other funding for the industry.
Read the full, original story: Rivals to biotech sector sprout all over
