Clay Blair, chairman of the Kansas Bioscience Authority, is looking forward to addressing members and guests of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce next week.

There’s work to do.

“We want to partner with you,” Blair said. “We want to partner with you and leverage community assets.”

Whether it’s nurturing start-up firms, helping companies expand or attracting out-of-state and international companies to operate in Kansas, Blair knows he’s working with plenty of resources to make things happen.

The authority, formed in 2004, has received $20 million of the $588 million it expects to manage and distribute during the next 12 to 15 years, as it works to promote research, development and expansion of bioscience efforts statewide.

Quintiles already received $3.5 million to relocate 720 jobs from Kansas City, Mo., to Overland Park. American Ingredients received $1 million to move 105 jobs from Missouri and New Jersey to Lenexa. Prescription Solutions received assistance to shift 850 jobs from California to Overland Park.

“This isn’t blue sky,” he said.

Clay Blair, left, chairman of the Kansas Bioscience Authority, and Thomas Thornton, president and CEO of the authority, are working to boost bioscience development in the state.

Now he’s working on establishing bioscience incubators in key markets, to help foster development of emerging technologies that can spin off from universities and other sites.

“I think it’s important to have an incubator available to people that can innovate and create commercialization opportunities in bioscience,” Blair said. “Manhattan and Lawrence and Kansas City are the three main opportunities.”

During a luncheon meeting Tuesday at the Eldridge Hotel, Blair plans to outline the authority’s structure, explain its goals and offer insights into its businesslike approach.

“We expect a return on our investment,” said Blair, a former chairman of the Kansas Board of Regents who now runs a Lenexa-based development and investment firm. “We want to be accountable, in terms of our money and of the results of what we do.”

The authority now has a president and chief executive officer: Thomas Thornton, who started last month after spending four years as president of the Illinois Technology Development Alliance. In Illinois, Thornton developed the Technology Bridge Fund, a seed-stage fund for venture capital, and helped establish three federal technology and commercialization centers and a state-sponsored technology assistance program.

“He brings a wealth of experience and national connections with organizations that are doing what we want to do,” Blair said. “He will be instrumental in bringing collaborations from all over the country to Kansas.”