Golden LEAF Launches State's Biotechnology Initiative With $60 Million Commitment

13-Aug-2003

The Golden LEAF Foundation has committed up to $60 million to launch a program to train North Carolinians for the emerging biotechnology industry. The action by the Foundation's Board catapulted North Carolina to the top of the list of state's attempting to make biotechnology the basis for future job creation and economic growth.

Golden LEAF administers half of the money received by the state from its settlement with cigarette manufacturers. It focuses on helping the state to make the transition from a tobacco-based economy and creating new job opportunities in tobacco-dependent areas.

The initiative totals $64.5 million, with the biotech industry contributing $4.5 million. There are three main players. North Carolina State University in Raleigh will receive $36 million to build and equip a center to train workers. North Carolina Central University in Durham will receive $19.1 million to establish graduate and undergraduate degree programs in biotechnology. And the State Community College System will receive $9.4 million to recruit and train workers in local communities and serve as a feeder system to programs at NC State and North Carolina Central.

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Governor Michael Easley and the state's legislative and business leadership have called for a major initiative to boost North Carolina's attractiveness as a center for the biotech industry and praised Golden LEAF for providing the funds to launch it.

Lawrence Davenport, who chairs the Golden LEAF Board, declared the initiative "a model for the nation" and said that it will result in North Carolina's having the best trained biotechnology workforce in the United States. "We already were in a favorable position to become a national center for the biotech industry, and this action should cause companies in both the research and development and manufacturing stages to look to North Carolina first," Davenport said.

Sam Taylor, Executive Vice President of the North Carolina BioSciences Organization agreed, saying, "We believe the Foundation's commitment to this program will propel North Carolina to the very forefront of the emerging biomanufacturing industry."

North Carolina not only has taken a major hit because of the decline of the tobacco industry, but also is losing thousands of textile and furniture manufacturing jobs because companies are taking jobs abroad.

"Since Golden LEAF was established in 1999, it has been about long-term economic development and jobs for North Carolinians," said Valeria Lee, President of Golden LEAF. "This biotech initiative is a major financial commitment by the Foundation, and it positions the state for the future and offers great promise at a time when North Carolina is losing jobs by the hundreds and thousands every day."

Lee said the Foundation is dedicated to creating high-paying jobs in the biotech industry throughout the state and that training workers in tobacco- dependent and economically distressed areas should make those areas highly attractive to the industry.

"North Carolina already has positioned itself as an international center for biomanufacturing, but the potential for further growth was limited by a shortage of skilled labor," said Taylor. "This initiative addresses that problem head on. It will allow biomanufacturing, pharmaceutical and other biotechnology-related companies to locate or expand in any area of North Carolina and know they will have immediate access to skilled workers with training in state-of-the-art technologies and manufacturing processes."

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