Worcester Business Journal

www.wbjournal.com November 23, 2015 • Worcester Business Journal 13 >> H E A LT H C A R E National Grid is a proud sponsor of Mass Save. NG-CEE-136 // Worcester Business Journal // EveryPatient // 1/2 page // Trim Area: 9" x 6" Bleed: none // 4C // 200 dpi Energy upgrades mean better comfort for every patient. Our specialists can suggest energy saving solutions that will cut costs, improve your entire facility, and make patients more comfortable. Find energy saving solutions at ngrid.com/save "The really powerful ability through the center is to use the density of life sci- ences activity in Boston and Cambridge to radiate out into Central Massachusetts," said McCready, who formerly was vice president of the Boston Foundation and executive direc- tor of the Kendall Square Association. "You're starting to see that uptick in activity in the Worcester area with folks like AbbVie coming into the area." When it was spun off from parent company Abbott Laboratories in 2012, AbbVie placed an emphasis on a Worcester lab with more than 700 employees working on both clinical trial drugs and new molecules. The facility was originally built by BASF, which opened the lab in 1989. This is one example of how Worcester has estab- lished itself as a major hub of the Massachusetts life sciences industry, with academic institutions and nearly 100 companies, said Kamal Rashid, director of WPI's Biomanufacturing Education & Training Center (BETC). "The (Life Sciences) Center's invest- ments in our region have been smart and effective," Rashid said. "They have supported important capital projects, like WPI's BETC, and also helped sev- eral smaller companies with either direct support or funding interns to work in their labs." The activity in Greater Boston may make what is going on in Central Massachusetts small by comparison, but if Worcester was in another state, it would be considered a bioscience center unto itself, McCready said. The Albert Sherman Center at the University of Massachusetts Medical School was created with the help of $90 million in funding from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. While that was by far the largest grant locally – and the larg- est single grant in the center's history – the city has received a number of other grants towards equipment such as a $5 million high resolution electron micro- scope to the medical school. This equipment becomes not only a research tool for the school but builds the resources of the area as businesses are able to rent time on expensive machines they wouldn't have access to otherwise. This makes the entire area more attrac- tive to businesses, said Mark Shelton, UMass Medical School spokesman. As the state evolves its life sciences base, it must look ahead toward produc- ing what these research-and-develop- ment-focused companies have pio- neered while still continuing to support research, said McCready. This is where Central Massachusetts has the advantage over Cambridge and Boston, because this region and MetroWest have the manufacturing space and the workforce development infrastructure necessary to produce these products in mass, McCready said. "We have the space, and we are developing the skilled workforce that can support more companies bringing their manufacturing facilities here," Rashid said. GE Healthcare moving to Marlborough is a sign of this shift in the industry already taking place even before a change in the state's emphasis, Rashid said. Worcester is a kind of hybrid between the open expanses and sophisticated workforce of MetroWest with the research base of Boston through insti- tutes such as UMass Medical School, McCready said. While all industries go through cycles, it is important for Massachusetts to work to stay ahead of other states that are seeking a piece of the pie. Seven years ago, the competition was strictly between Massachusetts and California. Now the domestic competition extends to New York and Texas, McCready said. Internationally, China continues to improve, and Israel and England remain ever-competitive. "I don't ever want us to be in a situa- tion where the life sciences is to Massachusetts as the auto industry is to Detroit – slow to react and with a strat- egy that doesn't realize there are com- petitive threats developing elsewhere," McCready said. That is why it is important to continue to have an ongoing single point of gov- ernment contact for life sciences compa- nies and organizations interested in the state, said Bob Coughlin, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. "The message that the government is open to supporting the industry is cru- cial, and that is what has led to our suc- cess," Coughlin said. n "You have the institutions necessary in Worcester to support a right-sized R&D outpost, but importantly you also have the training, workforce development and skilled talent as well as real estate to support manufacturing operations that will support different kinds of jobs." Travis McCready, CEO, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center

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