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Print Edition StoriesWednesday, October 7, 2009
The ‘Bio Governor’ hails possibilities of life sciences
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Two years after Gov. Deval Patrick and Senate President Therese Murray stood together and vowed to pass a $1 billion package of incentives for the life sciences industry, the governor joined Boston Mayor Thomas Menino to announce the return of a major annual biotechnology convention in 2012.
Standing together at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center last week, the drivers of the $1 billion legislation hailed it as a success that has generated hundreds of jobs and leveraged hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding. The bill was signed in June 2008, on the eve of a life sciences conference in San Diego.
Susan Windham-Bannister, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, which was established in that life sciences legislation, said a $48.5 million investment of public dollars has leveraged an additional $357 million in federal funds.
The conference, put on by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), proved to be an economic boon in 2007, generating $24.1 million in economic activity and bringing in more than 20,000 attendees from around the world, according to the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority. Officials expect the 2012 conference to generate more than $30 million and bring in 26,000 attendees, who will require 10,000 hotel rooms.
— State House News Service
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