It has been more than a year since Lawrence and Douglas County commissioners agreed to pump a total of $400,000 a year, for up to 10 years, into boosting the area’s economic prospects by financing the hiring of a new bioscience booster and development of high-tech lab space in town.

And while other communities in the state already are moving forward with plans of their own – Manhattan has staked out space for its own lab project, plus a new Kansas State University campus in Olathe for even more work – the Lawrence effort remains unrealized.

“We put together a good plan, I believe, and we’re overdue on executing that plan,” said Bennett Griffin, president of Griffin Technologies in Lawrence and a board member of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, a partner in the area’s bioscience effort.

Griffin served on a task force that two years ago recommended hiring a new chamber executive to focus on bioscience efforts, and to finance construction of so-called “wet labs” – a description for high-tech scientific spaces capable of accommodating specialized research – designed to serve as an incubator for promising biotech startups and spin-offs from research at Kansas University.

Earlier this year, Manhattan used its own commitment of local financing to secure $1 million from the Kansas Bioscience Authority to build its own incubator labs. And this summer, K-State announced a partnership with the authority and the city of Olathe to establish a new research and commercialization campus on prime development land in Johnson County.

Two beakers with backlighting

The city of Shawnee recently announced plans for its own bioscience district, and other communities are lining up to tap into the promise of scientific opportunities – along with the high-paying jobs they might create.

Strategic implications

“While we wait, other communities are not waiting,” Griffin said. “Lawrence certainly had an early lead statewide in the area of biotechnology, but we cannot sit back or take that for granted, because other communities are very active, and they are in motion.

“The business of biotech is not waiting. There are 50 states – in addition to all the communities in the state – who are competing for these desirable biotech businesses and jobs. Watching on the sidelines is not an effective strategy.”

Beth Johnson, the chamber’s vice president for economic development, said officials were busy reviewing the plan that Griffin’s task force had created. The chamber worked to establish, in February, the Lawrence-Douglas County Bioscience Authority Inc. to pursue development of the labs intended to serve as a bioscience incubator.

By August, the local authority had filled all seven of its positions:

¢ LaVerne Epp, a consultant and former president of Bethel College, president;

¢ Bob Johnson, chairman of the Douglas County Commission, vice president;

¢ Lavern Squier, chamber president and chief executive officer, secretary;

¢ Boog Highberger, a Lawrence city commissioner, treasurer;

¢ Jim Roberts, Kansas University’s vice provost for research and president of the KU Center for Research;

¢ Val Stella, a distinguished professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at KU and co-founder of three biotech companies: CyDex Inc., CritiTech LLC and ProQuest Pharmaceuticals Inc.; last year he received the first KU Technology Transfer Leadership Award;

¢ Diarmuid Boran, entrepreneur in residence for the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp. and former director of corporate business analysis for Marion Merrell Dow.

The board is reviewing the initial chamber task force’s original recommendations, similar to how a corporate board might conduct an annual review of a company’s business plan.

“Now that the board is set, we are revisiting the goals and moving forward, deciding how to be the most successful,” Johnson said. “It’s moving along at a pace that ensures that we make the right decisions and have the most success.”

University efforts

KU is stepping up its efforts to be a player in the commercialization of bioscience efforts, Roberts said. Interviews are ongoing for the hiring of a new director of business relations and development at the KU Center for Research, a person who will be counted on to coordinate economic development efforts and help businesses tap into KU’s vast resources, such as faculty expertise, research efforts or other programs.

KU started advertising the job in May, took applications until June 30, and officials have since winnowed the field to five finalists. Roberts hopes to have someone hired within two months.

“We’re making it clear that we want to do more business with business, in terms of research, with the university,” Roberts said.

David Schauner, a Lawrence city commissioner, said he would expect the local bioscience authority board to hire its own leader within three or four months.

Schauner said that efforts involving K-State, Olathe, Shawnee and Leavenworth – still in the running for a potential National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, a federal project that could employ up to 250 scientists, cover 500,000 square feet and cost $451 million – actually could pay off well for the Lawrence area.

“We all are well-served by that,” he said. “A rising tide raises all boats. We all do well.”

Looking ahead

Tom Thornton, incoming president and CEO for the Kansas Bioscience Authority, said he was looking forward to the Lawrence community making an application to use authority funds for development of lab space. The state authority is charged with spending $580 million during the next 15 years to stimulate bioscience research, employment and business activities.

“Without the adequate infrastructure at a decent price, these people – these companies – they’re portable,” he said. “They’ll go anywhere. They will go where the best facilities are and where similar companies are.

“I think that there’s a potential for a life sciences cluster here, but in order to do that there needs to be a slick internal system – a public-private partnership – and the infrastructure locally – the facilities and capital – to actually help these companies get off the ground.”

Clay Blair, chairman of the state authority, said it would be “helpful” for Lawrence to “move forward” on its plans for lab space, given rising interest from other communities in the state.

“We’re anxiously awaiting a proposal, because we see the grand opportunity in Lawrence, with all its tremendous intellectual assets in place here – and the interest of companies outside Lawrence for this type of thing,” Blair said. “We look forward to working with them.”