July / August - Minnesota Precision Manufacturing Association

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Feature | Destination 2025 Destination 2025: A Roadmap for Growing the Bioscience Industry in Minnesota by Melissa DeBilzan It’s the economy. Bioscience good for plants, animals, people—and yes, even appears to have a promising future, which is why businesses, colleges and legislators are trying to plant seeds of growth here in Minnesota. However, the conditions must be right. In 2006, The BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota (BBAM), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the creation of industry jobs, assessed the overall health of the bioscience industry in Minnesota. It looked at six different, yet interdependent markets: medical devices, pharma/ About The BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota: The BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of biosciencerelated industries to create jobs for the citizens of Minnesota. The charter of the BioBusiness Alliance is to bring together all related areas of the biosciences in a coordinated effort to ensure the long-term health and success of Minnesota’s bioscience industry. biologics, animal health, food, renewable energy and renewable materials. The resulting report was the first of its kind, providing a comprehensive assessment of biobusiness throughout the state. What it revealed was that Minnesota has many noteworthy strengths, but also some potentially crippling weaknesses. “I think many people were surprised by some aspect of the results,” said Dale Wahlstrom, CEO of BBAM. “Especially how much overlap there is among the six markets.” In response, BBAM announced more than a dozen recommendations it believes will keep the state’s bioscience industry alive and growing. This report, released in January of 2009, is known as Destination 2025. It is a 20-year strategic plan or road map for growing the industry in Minnesota. So what do these recommendations, which range from policy creation to operational efficiencies, have to do with manufacturers? “Manufacturers need to stay abreast of the trends taking place, especially the convergence of biology and devices,” Wahlstrom said. “Because in the near future, they may have to change their skill set or infrastructure.” He and many others believe the impact of bioscience over the next 20 years will be similar to the impact of computers over the last 20 years. For that reason, bioscience is everyone’s business. Assessment: Where does Minnesota stand? The short answer is that the state is off to a good start. Minnesota recently was named a top state targeting biotech by FierceBiotech, a daily online monitor. Its middle school and high school bioscience performance was rated high, according to another recent report. In addition, Minnesota has a strong base of medical technology, agriculture and renewable energy. Add to that a skilled workforce and powerful academic resources. Indeed, Minnesota has the potential to be a leader in the bioscience industry. “We have the assets, we just have to take advantage of them,” said Melissa Kjolsing, BBAM communications manager. In addition, Minnesota has strong support from the state legislature, which has poured hundreds of millions into bioscience development and promotion over the last several years. In fact, BBAM was one organization spared from Governor Pawlenty’s spending cuts during this last legislative session. However, BBAM has noted some gaps in the industry representation that could threaten Minnesota’s position, particularly with regard to medical devices and renewable energy—two markets that have a direct impact on manufacturers. (For the complete report on all six markets, visit www.biobusinessalliance.org.) >>> 16 | PRECISION MANUFACTURING July | August 2009
Medical Devices 1. The cardiovascular medical device market—traditionally strong in Minnesota—is growing slowly. In some cases, it’s even shrinking. That’s because the market is maturing and medical device companies have yet to find other opportunities to grow new business using that core technology, according to BBAM. 2. The world of pharmabiologics is converging with medical devices. In other words, drugs and medical devices are becoming intertwined. Drugeluding stents are an example of this. Another example is renewable materials being placed inside implantable devices which then grow into cartilage. Although Minnesota is strong in medical devices, it is not strong in the commercialization of pharmabiologics, so this convergence could put the state at risk. Renewable Energy 1. Combustible biomass has been overlooked. The state is working hard to ensure that 25 percent of its energy will come from renewable sources by 2025. However, there is no energy requirement for heat generation, even though it accounts for one-third of all energy consumption. BBAM believes that combustible biomass (burning organic material) could help close that gap and create many jobs at the same time. 2. Biomass is being mismanaged. Nature has the capacity to produce a certain amount of biomass (trees, plants, foods and other organic materials) each year. Now that biomass is needed to produce energy, it must be managed appropriately or it will fall below renewable levels in about 20 years, according to BBAM. Destination 2025: Where does Minnesota need to go? Medical Devices 1. Grow the state’s job base by expanding the application of current medical device technology. Much of the core technology involved in medical devices—particularly pacemakers and other active implantables —can be applied to other technologies. It’s a matter of finding those opportunities, according to Wahlstrom. “We, as a state, are not capitalizing on these opportunities as we should,” he said. “In fact, many new applications are coming from other states that are taking our technology. So we need to get focused on applying our technology to applications in our state. Within the next 20 years, for example, some of the new medical devices won’t even use current materials. They’ll use biologically engineered materials.” 2. Develop a biologic and biopharmaceutical industry in Minnesota. Minnesota conducts a lot of research in this area, but it is typically commercialized outside the state. The first step then, according to BBAM, is to assemble a team of experts from the animal and human health industries who can offer ideas on how to expand commercialization of intellectual property and grow biotechnology jobs in Minnesota. Another step would be to expand the diagnostics and monitoring industry in Minnesota in order to facilitate the discovery of future diseases. In addition to supporting the medical device market, a strong biopharmaceutical base offers another advantage. “In the world of biopharmaceuticals, there’s very little difference between animal and human health,” Wahlstrom said. “So we have a great opportunity to leverage and benefit from both of them.” Renewable Energy 1. Create a combustible biomass industry in Minnesota. According to BBAM, the countries with the greatest success replacing fossil fuels are leveraging biomass combustion heat and electricity generation. Wahlstrom said this technology is both available and affordable. It could be a natural fit given Minnesota’s forestry and agricultural resources. “It’s a matter of creating incentives and programs,” he said. 2. Develop a biomass management system. BBAM believes there must be a management system in place to oversee the planting, harvesting, storage and allocation of plants so their consumption among different industries can be managed. To that extent, it has developed a computer model to identify the supply and demand for biomass in different areas and industries. “Within a couple of decades we will run out of biomass to meet the needs of the population,” Wahlstrom said. “So this is an overriding recommendation.” Next Steps Implementing BBAM’s 14 recommendations is no easy task, which is why the organization is in the process of pulling together teams of experts to tackle each one. “Right now we have four projects moving forward,” Wahlstrom said. “We have teams around diagnostics and monitoring, combustion and biomass, biomass management, and manufacturing via renewable materials.” Seven additional projects are taking shape. However, their success largely depends on input from businesses. BBAM is going around the state and presenting its findings to almost any company or organization interested in learning more, hoping many of them will jump on the bioscience bandwagon. Through a series of smart, targeted investments, BBAM believes the bioscience industry will yield lasting results. Minnesota has a road map. Now it’s up to businesses, organizations, legislators and ordinary citizens to drive its growth. “Manufacturing organizations are where most of these jobs will come from,” Wahlstrom said. “We want to get the message out about what we found.” For more information about the BioBusiness Alliance, or to learn about a personalized presentation for your company or organization, contact Jeremy Lenz at 952.746.3812 or jlenz@biobusinessalliance.org. PM Bioscience: Bioscience is knowledge-based on the life sciences, especially emerging molecular and cellular biology, and also science applied to human health, agriculture, and bio-related industry. Biobusiness: Biobusiness is economic activity devoted to the development and commercialization of bioscience or bioscience-related technologies, products or services. July | August 2009 PRECISION MANUFACTURING | 17
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Page 7 and 8: Cover | Minnesota TECHNOLOGy LANDSC
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Page 13 and 14: MADE | IN MINNESOTA The Johnson Sim
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Page 19 and 20: sales | and marketing Fishbowls, Mi
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Page 25 and 26: W hen you ask your local Federated
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Page 33 and 34: MEMBER | DIRECTORY Lifetime Members
Page 35 and 36: MEMBER | DIRECTORY Glenn Metalcraft
Page 37 and 38: MEMBER | DIRECTORY Principal Financ
Page 39 and 40: “Packnet explores all available o
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