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16 Worcester Business Journal | April 15, 2024 | wbjournal.com Gov. Healey is looking to reauthorize the Life Sciences Initiative, which Central Mass. leaders see as vital to building upon the growth of the last 15 years PHOTO | EDD COTE Life sciences boost BY MICA KANNER-MASCOLO WBJ Staff Writer F or the burgeoning life sciences hub that is Central Massachusetts, Governor Maura Healey's $3.5-billion Mass Leads Act economic development proposal looks to add fuel to fires. Filed on March 1, the omnibus bill aims to secure Massachusetts as a global leader and pioneer in the life sciences, climatetech, and applied artificial intelli- gence industries. For Central Massachu- setts, industry leaders say these funds could mean more jobs, more robust funding for startups and company initiatives, reduced drug costs, and strengthened municipal infrastructure. "e investments we've made till this point have helped establish Massachu- setts as the global leader in the bio- technology industry," said Jon Weaver, president and CEO of Worcester-based Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives. "Our feeling is that this round of the bill will help us maintain that dominance but also then really help extend the success of that industry outward from Boston and Cambridge, and that's the piece that we're really excited about." Establishing Worcester as a hub MBI, a life sciences incubator in its 40th year, is focused on establishing Central Massachusetts as a global bio- tech and biomanufacturing hub while creating jobs with upward mobility for community residents. Weaver, who has been CEO of MBI since 2019 aer act- ing as chief operating officer since 2015, is a prominent proponent of the Leads Act and is enthusiastically optimistic about the bill's potential impact on the area. e proposal is a playbook for accomplishing the goals out- lined in the Gov. Maura Healey Administration's 2023 economic development plan, Team Massachusetts: Leading Future Generations. e 2023 initiative was compiled aer a series of regional listen- ing sessions to gather perspectives and insights from business, legislative, and community leaders. In total, the Mass Leads Act looks to invest $3.5 billion in critical invest- ments, recommending $1.75 billion in bond reauthorizations for programs with a proven history of cultivating economic and community growth, $1 billion in bond authorizations for initia- tives promoting equity throughout the state, and $750 million in funds allocat- ed for statutory changes to economic development tax programs. Included in recommended funds are two $1 billion, 10-year initiatives: one to reauthorize the Life Science Initiative originally established in 2008 and the other to invest in climatetech and com- pete in the emerging clean energy sector. "ere's a piece in [the act] that would go towards establishing essential- ly tech hubs in Worcester and in Spring- field, providing some resources to really help those industries flourish in those areas," said Weaver, referencing the bill's $75 million for a new Massachusetts techhub capital program. "We're really excited about that because it just shows the partnership we've had with the Jon Weaver, MBI president and CEO Lina González, founder and CEO of SpadXTech, with two of her research scientists Azka Siddiq and Krysty- na Traverse. Sustainability is a core value in González's work in creating cellulose-based materials including the company's bio-based vegan leather. F O C U S H E A L T H C A R E & L I F E S C I E N C E S