Business is good at NCRC

Lee Anne Nance, an economic development official from Research Triangle Park, listens to Dr. Michael Luther describe progress of the N.C. Research Campus at Restaurant 46 in Kannapolis. Photo by Emily Ford

By Emily Ford

eford@salisburypost.com

KANNAPOLIS — Officials at the N.C. Research Campus say business continues to improve, with service contracts worth $1 million at the Core Lab and an effort underway to fund the continent's biggest cyclotron.

Research Campus leaders touted their life sciences hub Wednesday during a meeting with economic developers from the Research Triangle Park. The RTP, located near Raleigh, is the largest research park in the country.

In the past three or four months, the Murdock Research Institute in Kannapolis has booked $1 million in business, said Dr. Michael Luther, president of the institute that owns and operates the Core Lab. Universities and companies must pay a fee to use the world-class instruments in the Core Lab, the campus centerpiece.

The institute also intends to build a cyclotron in Kannapolis. A particle accelerator that produces radionuclides, the cyclotron would attract medical companies to the Research Campus, Luther said.

"We are well on our way," he said, with a number of grant proposals in the works and a funding commitment from campus founder and Dole Food Co. owner David Murdock. The public-private project would cost tens of millions of dollars and could generate hundreds of jobs.

The cyclotron would be a "huge stimulus" for the area, Luther said. Companies using radionuclides in oncology research must locate near the facility due to the short half-lives of the particles, which can last just a few hours.

North America has a shortage of radionuclides. Scientists with a two-year associates degree will play a key role in the development of the cyclotron, Luther said.

The Research Campus wants to become the Silicon Valley for human health, nutrition and agriculture, said Clyde Higgs, vice president for business development for campus developer Castle & Cooke North Carolina, which Murdock also owns.

The campus, which recently landed two U.S. Department of Agriculture projects worth $1 million each, will make "new announcements" in December or January and begin work on more "residential solutions" on the campus, Higgs said.

Castle & Cooke put the brakes on a large townhome development last year when the economy tanked.

The campus is vying to host a major international scientific conference in 2011, Higgs said, and he predicted that "a lot of the things we started doing three years ago will be coming to fruition."

Economic developers from the Research Triangle Park said they were impressed.

"You have to see it to believe it," said Lee Anne Nance, senior vice president for the RTP Regional Partnership.

Nance and 20 other visitors toured the ASU Human Performance Lab, where one guest jumped on a treadmill and allowed researchers to run a battery of tests. They also toured the Core Lab and met with Luther and Higgs at Murdock's restaurant, 46.

Local officials as well as visitors reiterated that the 51-year-old RTP and the fledgling Research Campus are collaborators, not competitors.

"This is an opportunity for us to help each other," Nance said.

Working together, the two research parks can help North Carolina win against the real competitors across the globe, she said.

The specific focus at the Research Campus on health and nutrition give it a niche, said John Cox, president of the Cabarrus County Economic Development Commission.

"This project will augment what takes place at RTP," Cox said. "In no way is this a competition."

Cox called the RTP and Research Campus "brother-sister institutions" and said they need to find ways to collaborate and exploit biotechnology and life sciences in North Carolina.

Local economic development commissions still want to recruit new companies, and the Research Campus provides a tool for attracting firms, said Robert Van Geons, president of the Rowan County Economic Development Commission.

Rowan County offers a good location for a company that wants to conduct research and development at the campus but needs land and a ready water supply for manufacturing.

"In the hyper-competitive global economy, there is no silver bullet," Van Geons said. "It's about building a comprehensive package to lure a company.

Marjorie Benbow, director of the N.C. Biotechnology Center in Charlotte, organized Wednesday's event to increase awareness of the Research Campus.