RCCC a Welcome Addition

Last Thursday, there was a dedication ceremony for the new RCCC biotechnology training facility at the NC Research Campus. This building has been long anticipated and is a key link between the scientific activities at the Research Campus and the workforce in our community.

RCCC’s associate degree programs in biotechnology, applied science, and, in the future,  agricultural biotechnology will allow local residents to gain the education and training that will help them develop a career in biotechnology and related fields. These job skills will be transferable to future positions available at NCRC or elsewhere.

The new 62,000 square foot facility contains laboratories, classrooms, computer labs, faculty and staff offices, conference rooms, a community event room, library, and a student center. Up to 300 students and faculty will use the facility, helping to increase the daytime population in the center city area of Kannapolis. The new building also houses RCCC’s Small Business Center, which works with small business owners and entrepreneurs to develop and grow their ventures.

The biotechnology facility is a welcome addition to NCRC and downtown Kannapolis. It gives our community a great opportunity to learn more about a growing field and reposition our workforce for jobs of the future.

p.s. I’m back from maternity leave! Please feel free to contact me regarding any business and economic development issues.

Two New Studies Underway with the MURDOCK Study

The good folks at the Duke MURDOCK study have launched two new initiatives as a part of the overall study. The researchers are seeking those over 100 (you don’t have to live in Cabarrus or Rowan County) or those with MS over the age of 18.

For the centenarian study, the research team hopes  to uncover insights into why a small portion of the population have extraordinary life spans.  Specifically, does someone who lives to 100 or beyond have a unique genome – genes and chromosomes? If you know someone, visit www.murdock-study.com.

Also, the recruitment effort continues for the MURDOCK Study. Those living in Cabarrus and Rowan County are eligible, and to join you can visit the website for more information. The goal is 50,000 participants.

Biotechnology is Alive and Well

As the lingering effects of the great recession continue to lead to slow job growth (not only in Kannapolis but across the globe) there are some bright spots on the horizon.

UNCC economist John Connaughton recently predicted a net growth of 36,000 jobs in North Carolina this year. While that is much less than what was lost during the last two years, it does provide a positive sign.

What is really interesting, however, is the resilience of the biotechnology and life science sector in North Carolina during the last year. NC Biotech Center CEO Norris Tolson points out in a recent column in the Raleigh News & Observer that, while the state unemployment rate hit 11% last year, biotech jobs actually grew by 1%.

He goes on to predict that, with serious focus, the biotech industry in North Carolina could grow by more than 65,000 jobs over the next decade. I like to think that the hard work occurring in Kannapolis is a critical component of that focus. In fact, I know it is.

There appears to be lots of venture capital still finding its way to biotechnology projects as evidenced by a recent report by online venture capital database VentureDeal. The report showed a steady amount of biotech venture capital and almost no change from the third to fourth quarter of 2009.

One of the keys to remember when thinking about biotechnology as an industry is that it goes well beyond drug development. It crosses into agriculture, medical devices and biofuels. There is a great guide to learn more about the different areas on the NC Biotechnology Center website.

Not only does biotech cross multiple industry sectors, but it also creates other jobs. When you look at this list of top jobs in 2010 from the Wall Street Journal, the following stand out: statistician, biologist, mathematician, accountant and computer systems engineer. All of these jobs have a direct link to the environment being built at the NCRC.

Not only are the types of the jobs we’re working to create on the campus the best jobs of today, but they also hold the greatest potential for the future. One analysis by the US Department of Labor recently ranked biomedical engineer as the number one job based on growth potential over the next decade. Medical scientists, biochemists and biophysics made the top 10.

So, while the recession has been very difficult for so many in our community, I choose to take the long view. We have a budding economic engine in Cabarrus County the likes of which we haven’t seen since the Philip Morris announcement three decades ago. When this economy turns around, we’re going to be perfectly positioned to take advantage.

Good News on the Bio Labor Front

I had the opportunity to attend a very exciting meeting this morning at the Charlotte Regional Partnership. As a part of a larger effort directed by the NC Biotech Center, the CRP helped to commission an analysis of the labor market for biomanufacturing in our region.

The approach was very interesting. The contracted with Biggins, Lacy, Shapiro & Co, a New Jersey-based site selection consultant, to find out how our workforce looked if a large manufacturing interest was looking at our region as a possible location for a 400 job facility. Kannapolis was a specific point used for the report.

Long story short? There are more than 24,000 workers right now in our area that could be easily hired into a biomanufacturing plant. This is great news. To break it down further, the ratio that firms generally look for is 15:1. That is, 15 qualified workers for every job opening that would happen at their facility. Our ration is 30:1, meaning we would have 30 qualified workers for every 1 job at the 400 job facility.

Our strong manufacturing base and the skill sets already here translate well to this industry. We’ve already seen that with Harmony Labs. This report will provide a powerful marketing tool to companies looking at our state and will help tell our story. To read the report, click here.

NCRC Staffer Featured on Charlotte Talks

The topic on this morning’s Charlotte Talks radio program on WFAE was about food safety – in restaurants as well as on the farm. Diane Ducharme, the Extension Associate with NCSU at the NC Research Campus and the NC MarketReady (a program of NC Cooperative Extension), was featured on the radio program. She discusses food safety of tomatoes and other products, some of the risks, and what kind of improvements are being made to produce handling to increase safety. Click here to listen to the program.

The Vision of the NCRC and a Call for Patience

I have been a native of the Charlotte region for most of my 40-something years.  During this time I have watched with interest the development (and oftentimes redevelopment) of uptown Charlotte. Or downtown. Or Center City.

This weekend, while reading an article about the residential development in downtown Charlotte, I was struck that while only 8 of the 20 announced developments since the mid-2000s have been built, that downtown economic developers and promoters would have likely been thrilled by the knowledge in 1999 that, by 2010, there would be 8 new significant downtown residential developments.  It’s easy to look back now and focus on the 12 projects that didn’t happen (yet) and lose sight of the 8 that did happen and how they helped transform Charlotte’s urban core.

The parallels to the development landscape in downtown Charlotte and some of the recent talk about the slowdown of development on the North Carolina Research Campus are amazingly close. Can you imagine how excited in July 2003 we in Kannapolis and Cabarrus County would have been to know that by 2009 we would be witness to the removal of more than 6 million square feet of rapidly decaying and obsolete textile manufacturing space (with no public funds expended to do it); the construction of three huge buildings including a one of a kind, state-of-the-art laboratory facility and space to support eight public and private universities doing groundbreaking life science research; nearly $300 million in private investment; and more than 200 people in the biotech industry working in downtown Kannapolis?

The Great Recession has changed our real estate market and it has impacted development projects across the country, from downtown Charlotte to New York City’s World Trade Center site to yes, Kannapolis and the North Carolina Research Campus.

What hasn’t changed in Kannapolis is the vision. Over the past several years we have spent a lot of time talking about buildings, and rightfully so. But we’re moving into a phase of the maturity of the Campus where the science is starting to take flight. Scientific papers are being published. Scientists are being recruited on a daily basis.  Real scientific discoveries are starting to develop and emerge.  This growth in the business of the Campus (more so than the development of the Campus) is what will sustain the project over time.  It is the science and the discoveries that will lead to more buildings, more private investment and more jobs.  The transformation of our local economy is indeed occurring – just not in the five years we had originally hoped.

Even if we never witnessed another brick being laid on the North Carolina Research Campus, we as a community and a region are incredibly fortunate to have seen what has occurred to date.  We are already incredibly far ahead of the game.

The satisfying part of all this is that the North Carolina Research Campus is still in its infancy and there are no plans to stop (or even slow) its continued development once our national and global economy recovers.  There will certainly be plenty more bricks to be laid on the Campus and lots more jobs to be created; but more importantly, there will be real scientific breakthroughs in the areas of nutrition, food productivity and disease research.  We must remain patient and do our part to continue to support this great vision.

Building the Scientific Community

On Friday, Mike Legg, Irene Sacks and I had a fantastic lunch with Mike Luther and Sheetal Ghelani from the DHMRI. It was a catch up meeting about the DHMRI and their activities, and I walked away very impressed.

As someone with a non-scientific background, it is very easy for me to get caught up in buildings and land when I think about the NCRC. As in, cool! Another building is starting! That’s huge news!

In fact, for the past year, the activities at the DHMRI have been way cooler than another groundbreaking. And not only cooler, they have been more important.

The DHMRI is working with public and private institutions to help them solve problems and get new products to market. These institutions range from start-ups to major universities.

Yes, they have snazzy equipment at the DHMRI. But more than that, they have the ability to help scientists both here in Kannapolis and others from across the globe solve complex problems. (That’s right. They can do work remotely.)

In short, the DHMRI is the foundation for the scientific community that is the cornerstone of the transformation here in Kannapolis. As they grow and prosper, so does the NCRC.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love buildings. I think they’re great. And I especially love the high quality buildings constructed on the Campus.

But the work at the DHMRI – which we often don’t think about because they’re hidden away in a highly secure lab building – is what really matters in the long run. In the end, the NCRC will be about people, not buildings.

If you want to know more, check out their site at http://www.dhmri.org/about.html.

Motorsports and Research Campus Mix

The Salisbury Post had an interesting article over the weekend about how the Appalachian State University’s Human Performance Lab at the NC Research Campus is working with NASCAR teams to improve their health and endurance, which should result in better performance at races. This shifts the focus from the car’s performance to the crew’s physical preparation.

This is the kind of real-life applications that are exciting to see come out of the work at the Research Campus. Watch out for Hendrick Motorsports to see if this partnership helps them win!

NCRC Researcher Quoted in Wall Street Journal

The topic is exercise, and our friends with App State have found that daily exercise decreases sick days. One more reason to keep that resolution this year.

Here’s the quote:

“No pill or nutritional supplement has the power of near-daily moderate activity in lowering the number of sick days people take,” says David Nieman, director of Appalachian State University’s Human Performance Lab in Kannapolis, N.C. Dr. Nieman has conducted several randomized controlled studies showing that people who walked briskly for 45 minutes, five days a week over 12 to 15 weeks had fewer and less severe upper respiratory tract infections, such as colds and flu. These subjects reduced their number of sick days 25% to 50% compared with sedentary control subjects, he says.

Here’s the full article.

North Carolina JOBS Commission

Lt. Governor Walter Dalton was in Kannapolis on Friday at the N.C. Research Campus. He is the chair of the JOBS Commission (“Joining Our Businesses and Schools”), which is a group formed by the N.C. General Assembly to make recommendations on how to better link public education and the needs of the businesses in the state. The meeting included panels of business leaders and education leaders. Some of the comments that were made echoed the presentations made at the recent Kannapolis City Council retreat.

Kenny McDonald, VP of Economic Development Services with the Charlotte Regional Partnership, pointed out three key talent challenges that we face as a region:

• Creating places that allow us to attract talent from U.S. and abroad. At the City Council retreat, we discussed the importance of human capital recruitment, and that establishing a strong quality of life and sense of place are critical to making Kannapolis attractive to talented workers.
• Preparing educated individuals and an entrepreneurial culture. Another topic at the City Council retreat was economic development, and the need for Kannapolis to foster an entrepreneurial culture and to develop and attract a well-educated workforce – these are the foundations of growing a strong economic base.
• Preparing specialists capable of solving multi-disciplinary problems. The future workforce needs a wide range of skills and a deep knowledge base. Increasingly, jobs and the problems we face are multi-disciplinary – meaning that you may need different types of degrees or at least an understanding of different fields to be able to tackle work and business challenges. Locally, the N.C. Research Campus is designed to achieve the multi-disciplinary work and collaboration needed for the future. For example, the MURDOCK study being conducted by Duke University, brings together experts with experience in fields such as radiology, cardiology, proteomics, and clinical research.

Scott Lampe, CFO of Hendrick Motorsports, echoed McDonald’s comments and noted that at his company, while they have a variety of jobs from retail operations to licensing to performance racing, what makes their company successful is the process of creating leaders and entrepreneurs. As a community, that should also be Kannapolis’ goal – for us to work together collectively to make this a place that can grow and attract leaders and entrepreneurs. Those are the types of people who create jobs, increase local wealth, and give back to our community.

John Cox, CEO of the Cabarrus Regional Chamber and Cabarrus Economic Development, used the acronym TINKER when it comes to workforce development needs – Think, Innovation, Nurture, Knowledge, Entrepreneurship, and Research. As our future workforce, our kids need to develop or experience all of that through their school years.

As a city government, we have limited direct influence on our educational systems. (Did you know there are 3 school districts in Kannapolis?) However, it is important for us as community leaders to support and encourage the advancement of education and workforce development in the Kannapolis area – it is the essential ingredient to our future prosperity.