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'Road map' for bioscience industry unveiled Study: S. Ariz. a key player in biosciences

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A new report says the biosciences research industry could be the oxygen that keeps Southern Arizona's economy alive in the coming years.

If the recommendations in the report are carried out — and we certainly hope they are — it could mean the end of Southern Arizona's reputation as a place dominated by blue-collar workers and mediocre salaries.

It will shatter the perception promulgated by critics who describe Tucson's economy as one in which "we wash each other's laundry and work on each other's cars," as Steve Lynn, vice president of Tucson Electric Power Co., said to Star reporter Richard Ducote.

The report, prepared by the Battelle Technology Partnership Practice, was outlined Tuesday at a retreat for members of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council, and summarized in a story by Ducote in Wednesday's Star. The leadership council is an organization of 80 business and community leaders that helps to clarify and shape public policy issues. Lynn was among those in attendance.

The Phoenix-based Flinn Foundation financed the latest Battelle study, which is a localized version of a broader statewide study done four years ago. Both studies are linked to the state's interest in becoming a player in the booming international biosciences research field.

The Battelle report pointed out that the University of Arizona is the most significant engine driving the biosciences industry in Arizona. It said the university handles 59 percent of all university life sciences research in the state and attracts 62 percent of all National Institutes of Health grants in Arizona.

To many Southern Arizona residents, "biosciences" is a vague term, difficult to pin down in terms of a career path or an income. The term refers to the study of agricultural chemicals and livestock feeds, medicines, medical devices. It involves hospitals, and research laboratories where pharmaceutical products are developed and tested.

The industry requires an educated workforce, and educated workers earn more than is typically paid in Tucson, which is why the development of a biosciences industry may raise the overall standard of living.

The Battelle report notes that the average worker in the biosciences field earned $40,004 in 2004, which was $7,227 or 22 percent more than the $32,777 earned on average by other workers in the private sector.

The report makes several recommendations that may help move the biosciences industry along in Southern Arizona. One of the most significant deals with a campaign for a constitutional amendment that would allow universities to commercially exploit the fruits of their research.

In other words, the state constitution would permit universities to, in effect, become partners in a company that wants to develop a product based on research the university owns and that is potentially marketable. This is a possible way to generate new revenue for state universities, but the last time the amendment was proposed, voters rejected it.

In the future, proponents will have to do a much better job of clarifying the need for the amendment. It could be the legal incubator for numerous new bioscience-related companies.

From 2001 to 2004, Tucson-area employment in the biosciences, excluding hospitals, increased by 2,000 employees in 112 companies, the report said. That's a promising start, but those numbers can grow dramatically with more private and government investments, the development of a better-educated workforce, and laws that permit the commercial application of university-generated research.