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New York is experiencing biotechnology growth that is a direct effect of innovative state government programs that have successfully capitalized on New York's status as a research powerhouse by leveraging available funding and creating strategic alliances.
Once home to many of the big names in the pharmaceutical industry (Bristol-Meyers, Lederle Laboratories, Sterling-Winthrop, Geigy Pharmaceuticals), today only Bristol-Meyers-Squibb and Pfizer maintain corporate headquarters in New York City, and both of these have moved their basic research units elsewhere. This exodus of large pharma from New York left behind it the biological science training grounds and a highly-skilled workforce capable of generating intellectual property. With state support and innovation, these have become the foundation of New York's burgeoning biotechnology industry.
New York has more than 300 institutions of higher learning, ranking it second in the nation, and is home to more than 360,000 scientist and engineers. New York also boasts close to 10 percent of the Ph.D.s in the country as well as 200 members of the National Academy of Sciences. Private universities such as Columbia University, Cornell University, New York University, and Rockefeller University and their medical affiliates continue to produce and retain world-class researchers. The State University of New York (SUNY), the largest public higher education system in the country, has developed biotechnology research centers at its campuses in Stony Brook, Binghampton, Buffalo, Brooklyn, and New York.
Some of the worlds leading public and private research laboratories also call New York home. Among them, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory the home of James Watson, Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York State Department of Health's Wadsworth Center, Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, and the Memorial-Sloan Kettering Institute, contribute substantially to biotechnology research in New York.
Since 1995, the state government of New York, led by Governor Pataki has initiated several programs to enhance New York's strong position as a research hub, attract business and start-up ventures, and leverage public and private funds to create specialized biotechnology research centers. The comprehensive Jobs 2000 (J2K) Act provided $522 million for economic development of biotechnology and other high-tech industries by establishing a $250 million venture capital fund and creating the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR) responsible for administration of the states development programs. NYSTAR works on the premise that New York's academic and research center resources are powerful economic engines to drive business development and create jobs in New York. NYSTAR budget of more than $160 million will be directed towards improving and enhancing research infrastructure in New York state including workers, equipment, and facilities.
A significant component of NYSTAR's strategy are eight Strategically Targeted Academic Research (STAR) Centers and five Advanced Research Centers (ARC), and the state has promised $102.5 million, one of the largest one-time biotechnology related investments in state history. These specialized research centers such as Biomolecular Diagnostics and Therapeutics, Disease Modeling and Therapy Discovery, Structural Biology, Genomics Technologies and Information Sciences, and Pharmacogenomics create alliances between public and private research institutions to investigate areas and hopefully with result in new knowledge creation and continue to secure federal funding. NYSTAR has also awarded money to five Centers for Advanced Technology (CAT)s, research, technology transfer, and commercialization centers. NYSTAR also provides business services and legal consultation to enhance the competitiveness of New York's businesses.
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