By Emily Ford
eford@salisburypost.com
North Carolina has spent more than $1 billion on the biotechnology industry in the past decade, and experts say the investment is paying off.
The biotech sector directly contributes $28.7 billion annually to the state’s economy and creates 53,200 jobs, according to a study released Thursday by the N.C. Biotechnology Center.
Biotech job growth was five times that of the rest of North Carolina’s private business sector.
“Smart, steady investment in biotechnology has created a major economic engine in North Carolina,” said Norris Tolson, president and chief executive officer of the Biotechnology Center.
The state’s newest biotech hub, the N.C. Research Campus, opened Oct. 20 in Kannapolis. Founder David Murdock is expected to spend $1 billion of his personal fortune developing the campus.
North Carolina’s biotech employees earn an average $69,725 a year, $32,000 more than other private-sector workers in the state.
From 2001 to 2006, net job growth in the state’s bioscience sector was 18.5 percent, three times the national rate, according to the study conducted by the Battelle Technology Partnership Practice based in Cleveland, Ohio.
Biotechnology will help North Carolina meet the world’s need for health care, energy and food, Tolson said.
“But it also brings tangible benefits to North Carolinians in the form of jobs, and the potential is there for many more,” he said.
Another study commissioned by the city of Kannapolis in 2006 said the Research Campus would generate 5,000 biotech jobs locally and about 35,000 jobs across the state.
North Carolina is the third leading state for biotech, behind California and Massachusetts. The state’s $1 billion investment in the sector includes:
– $857 million in research and facilities;
– $135 million toward workforce training;
– $115 million to the N.C. Biotechnology Center; and
– $102 million in direct company incentives.