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Maryland – A Biotechnology Leader

Last week I attended the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s (BIO) 2010 conference in Chicago, where I learned that the biotech industry thinks Maryland is a great place to do business, and it’s on track to get better.

On Wednesday, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley was awarded BIO’s “Biotech Governor of the Year” and used his acceptance speech to point out some of the reasons why.  Last year, the Governor launched BioMaryland 2020, a 10-year, $1.3 billion strategy for moving Maryland’s bioscience industry forward.

Maryland has always been a powerhouse of basic scientific research, home to global leaders like the NIH, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, and more.  Driving this tremendous amount of basic research to commercial success has historically been a challenge in Maryland, but that’s beginning to change.  Maryland has a growing commercial biotech industry and the BioMaryland 2020 program has already infused the industry with $100 million.

Much of this funding is going to research and academic institutions, but one of the effective industry infusions has been the Biotechnology Investor Tax Credit.  By offering a credit for qualified investors in biotech businesses, this program has already enabled dozens of Maryland start-up biotechnology companies to raise nearly $50 million from investors.

The state’s biotechnology sector is growing at a rate more than 10% per year, more than twice the national average, and Maryland is already home to more than 500 bioscience companies and employs the highest concentrations of PhD’s in the US.  Key Tech is seeing this growth and is already participating in the translational research and product development that will catalyze more commercial success.

Go Maryland!

Photo Credit: Thadz

Jenny Regan


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