Future of Manatee-Sarasota biotech industry looks quite bright
Manatee County stands poised for major growth in a key economic sector that garners fierce competition nationally. The region's life-sciences industry, one of the focal points of the Bradenton Area Economic Development Corp.'s business recruitment efforts, holds the potential to expand well beyond the current 27,000 direct and indirect jobs in the Manatee-Sarasota area.
This month, the master developer of Lakewood Ranch, Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, unveiled a bold vision -- plans to build a 305-acre biotech industrial campus over the next two decades. Called CORE at Lakewood Ranch, the complex is being promoted as a future site for national health care and life sciences firms. Development is expected to begin in several years.
The unveiling of CORE -- an acronym for Collaboration Opportunities for Research and Exploration -- came the week before the BioTech Expo, appropriately held at State College of Florida's Medical Technology and Simulation Center in Lakewood Ranch. Attendees discussed products, employment and bioscience education, and put local resources and companies in the spotlight. A number of manufacturing firms there are planning for growth.
Emphasis on STEM
Gov. Rick Scott maintains a sharp focus on expanding the creation of science and technology-based programs and rewarding colleges and universities that accomplish that goal.
He's been working to push more students into science, technology, engineering and math programs, known as STEM, all to meet workforce needs.
Last week, the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee announced the creation of a new STEM college. The College of Science and Mathematics, which will debut next fall, will unite USF's existing STEM programs under one banner to better serve students. Program growth will not occur immediately, but one can only imagine that is coming in the future.
SCF, New College, the Ringling College of Art & Design and the local campus of Florida State University are also vital to the growth in the number of STEM graduates here, hopefully feeding the region's job market, Lakewood Ranch Commercial, an SMR subsidiary, noted in the unveiling of CORE.
The Roskamp Institute, the region's premier life and health sciences research institution, launched a doctoral program in 2010 and the first graduates remained on staff at the center.
That's a vital part of expanding STEM education here because graduates often stay in the community where they earned their degree.
At the BioTech Expo, the president of the Sarasota-Manatee BioFlorida chapter, Michael Van Butsel, lauded the region as a rare place where a full science and technology education can be obtained and a career launched in one place.
CORE's plan also envisions an education component on the sprawling campus, which will be well positioned within walking distance of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine's medical, pharmacy and dental schools.
All this synergy looks promising. EDC consultants determined that the life sciences sector could grow by 10 percent, with jobs paying in excess of $70,000 annually on average. That growth is vital in the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton region, which nationally ranks 97th out of 100 metro areas in STEM employment.
CORE could be the key piece of the puzzle as the project moves forward. SMR deserves credit for a bright vision -- and an investment in the tens of millions of dollars.
This story was originally published November 22, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Future of Manatee-Sarasota biotech industry looks quite bright ."