“font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;”>BioSTL and its regional partners are the only bioscience cluster in the country to be awarded both the highly competitive i6 and Jobs and Innovation Acceleration Challenge (JIAC) grants.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The St. Louis regional bioscience collaboration was one of six nationwide to receive the i6 award and one of 20 to receive the JIAC award.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The St. Louis partnership was forged by semi-annual diversity meetings convened by BioSTL that focus on greater engagement of minority individuals and businesses in bioscience companies, organizations and research institutions.Â
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Matt S. Erskine, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Chief Operating Officer for the Economic Development Administration, came to St. Louis to recognize the BioGenerator, an affiliate of BioSTL.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>BioGenerator deployed and leveraged the $1 million i6 grant, matched by $1 million from BioSTL, to create eight new bioscience companies in the last year. Many of the companies were founded by individuals displaced from Pfizer and other St. Louis bioscience companies.Â
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Erskine congratulated the St. Louis bioscience collaborators on the additional award of $702,765 from EDA (also matched with an equal amount from BioSTL) which is the EDA part of the JIAC grant.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>BioGenerator will use this funding to engage several Entrepreneurs in Residence to work with the i6 and other start-up bioscience companies. One of the residents will manage the Center for Emerging Technologies’ Bio Entrepreneur Development Program, which trains and mentors first-time bioscience entrepreneurs.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Pat Brown-Dixon, Regional Administrator, SBA Region VII, came here to recognize the St. Louis Minority Suppliers Development Council for their grant of $150,000, renewable for a second year, from the SBA. The grant will be used to reach out to minority-owned businesses and introduce them to industry needs and the process of providing goods and services to bioscience companies.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Lance Potts, Federal Project Officer, ETA Division of Demonstration Grants –Special Initiatives & Demonstrations, was here to recognize the St. Louis Agency on Employment and Training for receiving a grant of $973,014 from ETA. The grant provides funding for on-the-job training for individuals hired by start-up and growing bioscience companies and to hold job education events for displaced bioscience workers.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The JIAC grant was the result of a partnership of EDA, ETA and SBA. A successful applicant had to have a winning proposal for all three agencies.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>In a national cluster report conducted by Harvard’s Michael Porter for EDA, the St. Louis region’s bioscience cluster is ranked number seven in the nation. The St. Louis region has nationally-competitive research institutions and support organizations (including the BioGenerator and CET) for start-up companies.Â
