Improving the status of the state’s two flagship universities are key in keeping the state’s bioscience industry thriving, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback said.

Kansas University needs to grow its medical school rankings and Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine should aim to be among the top five veterinary schools in the country, Brownback said.

On Monday at the Kansas Bioscience stakeholder’s event in Topeka, Brownback spoke to a roomful of legislators, academic researchers and bioscience company representatives.

“We have got to grow Kansas, we have got to grow our future, we have got to grow our industries, we have got to grow our opportunities,” Brownback said.

Along with gaining designation as a National Cancer Institute facility, the KU Cancer Center needs to improve its rankings to have more industries and products spin out of the school’s research, Brownback said.

As for K-State, Brownback said having a top veterinary school was key in partnering with the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, a federal lab that is slated to be built in Manhattan.

“If we are going to land and grow NBAF into the facility it can be and to get the ancillary industries associated with that, you need NBAF and you need a top-flight veterinary medicine school sitting there side-by-side churning out scientists, churning out companies, churning out products,” Brownback said.

Monday’s event recognized some of the top bioscience companies in the state. KBA President and CEO Tom Thornton pointed to some of the organization’s top successes of the year, such as the state’s top 5 ranking for biotechnology strength in Business Facilities magazine.

Thornton also noted that for every $1 invested by the KBA, the state has seen a return of $9.41.