Business leaders, Kansas University administrators and government representatives have been talking for several years about making Lawrence a hub for biotechnology companies.

But until last year, they didn’t have a way to come together formally to work on the effort.

The Lawrence Chamber of Commerce in November announced the creation of the Life Science Task Force to deal with such issues as how to market Lawrence as a center for biotechnology, how to help fledgling entrepreneurs and how to make city and county government friendly to start-up companies.

“What we want to do is mobilize the community to make this happen,” said David Shulenburger, co-chair and KU provost and executive vice chancellor.

The task force is available for meetings on an “on-call” basis and frequently exchanges e-mails, said Ted Haggart, co-chair and president of Douglas County Bank.

“To encourage as much of the development of bioscience-based businesses, Lawrence needs to be really well synchronized,” Haggart said. “There was communication (before the creation of the task force), but as far as getting everyone to the same table and working on specific goals, that was the intent.”

One of the group’s first goals is to complete a study showing the impact of 5,000 jobs that could be created after passage of the Kansas Economic Growth Act in the Legislature. The measure would pump millions of dollars in Kansas communities to support life science efforts.

Issues to be explored by the study, which will be conducted by the Policy Research Institute at KU, include the balance of public and private sector jobs, effect on the housing market and how the jobs would affect commuting trends.

The task force also plans to discuss city and county policies toward attracting and developing companies, though Haggart said he didn’t know if there were improvements that could be made.

“There ought to be an open mind to that,” he said. “We need to look at what is a sensible type of growth, but there shouldn’t be unnecessary hoops to jump through.”

Shulenburger said he thought the best selling point for Lawrence someday would be telling success stories of companies that locate here. Getting those first few key businesses will be the challenge.

“Once you get a few here, there’s a critical mass,” he said. “What the committee is all about is developing a strategic plan to make that happen.”