Worcester Business Journal

www.wbjournal.com • Worcester Business Journal • 2 022 Economic Forecast 35 B I O T E C H Jon Weaver President & CEO Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives, in Worcester While it may seem like the biotech field is dominated by several big players, that's far from the case in Central Massachusetts, home to Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives. MBI, a nonprofit life sciences incu- bator, helps provide space and tools entrepreneurs in the life science field need to grow and develop their companies. At the helm of the organization is Weaver, who knows the industry inside and out. An advocate of the industry itself, MBI's in-house compa- nies, and equity initiatives across the field, Weaver is an easy go-to for anyone looking to get the pulse of how biotech is operating in and around Worcester. Matt Zicaro Vice president of real estate development, engineering and project management Galaxy Life Sciences, in Webster It's a very simple issue: If the biotech industry is going to set up shop in Central Massachusetts, it's going to need the space to do so. Enter: Galaxy Life Sciences, a young development firm dedicated to building out the bioscience industry around Worcester. In the city proper, this is happening through e Reactory biomanufacturing campus, whose first occupant will be a $60-million facility belonging to Chinese biomanufacturer WuXi Biologics. Zicaro and Michael O'Brien from Galaxy are handling the rest of the campus, which could fit up to a half dozen tenants. To start, they are developing a $50-million build-to-suit facility. A previous employee in the life sciences industry, Zicaro understands the field from both inside and out. Luis Pedraja President Quinsigamond Community College, in Worcester Pedraja might seem an unsuspecting standout in the region's biotech industry this year, but only if you're not familiar with the programming he leads at QCC. In October, QCC, in partnership with Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives and biopharmaceutical company AbbVie, launched a pilot program to help encourage and support those interested in entering the state's biomanufacturing industry. e 10-week program supported roughly a dozen non- native English speakers who underwent training in basic wrap-around so skills before learning about biomanufacturing content and industry terminology, and culminated in a resume workshop. at kind of programming is exactly what the industry needs. Three people in biotech to meet in 2022 2022: e year of biotech Central Massachusetts' industry du jour will do nothing but grow more entrenched next year B iotechnology in Central Massachusetts is a rapidly growing industry, characterized as much by its big players as its nascent, up-and-coming companies. Together, players old and new stand to define what biotech in and around Worcester will look like for generations to come. Major real estate moves Central Massachusetts was far from without major real estate moves this year, but it's no secret that just about everything was slowed down during the coronavirus pandemic and its incremental recovery. e pandemic may not be over yet, but businesses who delayed building and purchasing space are going to be eager to get to action in 2022, and with spaces in places like e Reactory in Worcester up for development, it's reasonable to expect a lot of movement in the biotech real estate space in Central Massachusetts over the coming year. BY MONICA BENEVIDES WBJ Senior Staff Writer Research dollars will funnel into region As Central Massachusetts becomes a hub for biotech and the life sciences, large-dollar donors are taking notice. Look no further than a $175-mil- lion donation given to UMass Medical School, now known as the UMass Chan Medical School, from e Morningside Foundation of Hong Kong in September. is comes on top of the annual National Science Foundation grants UMass Chan receives, which are typically the most outside of Greater Boston. But even when the dollar figures aren't that large, they're still significant, and they're being funneled in the science departments at local universities, where professors and their teams are being tasked with developing and advancing biotech and biotech-adjacent technologies. More college biotech Biotech is an industry du jour in Massachusetts, but it's one requiring a hey workforce, especially at the clip it's growing. Colleges who don't already have biotech majors are drawing them up, and schools that already have programs are going to expand in them, through larger curriculum, business partner- ships, and faculty hiring. STEM is trendy, and for good reason: the jobs are there, and so are the sala- ries. Colleges in Central Massachusetts, in large part tasked with fostering the region's skilled workforce, are going to want to beef up their ability to feed workers into biotech. A lab employee conducts an experiment at the Devens facility of pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb. PHOTO | COURTESY OF BRISTOL MYERS SQUIBB W W

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