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Biotechnology Training in NC boosted by full funding for NCCCS BioNetwork Raleigh - Legislators and the Governor showed their commitment to promoting biopharmaceutical job education and training in North Carolina by fully funding the North Carolina Community College BioNetwork. In doing so, legislators made clear the importance of growing 21st Century knowledge-based jobs in the state. North Carolina is already ranked third in the US in biotechnology and is home to some of the world's largest pharmaceutical and biomanufacturing facilities. This industry creates about 3000 new jobs a year in the state. The $7.1 million approved by the legislature will sustain the momentum made by NCCCS BioNetwork in providing the specialized workforce education and training that this highly-regulated industry requires. Start-up funding for BioNetwork was provided by Golden LEAF and continued funding from the legislature was needed. North Carolina's Community College System trains 70 percent of the workforce for the biopharmaceutical industry, which has shown steady growth and is forecast to continue doing so. Community College System President H. Martin Lancaster said "one of our System's highest priorities this session was to make sure that the funding provided for in the past two years by the Golden LEAF foundation to develop our BioNetwork was continued by a state appropriation. We are pleased that the General Assembly fully funded this request, recognizing the important role our colleges will be playing in preparing the biotech workforce of the future. We also appreciate the support of Golden LEAF during the past two years." BioNetwork Director Susan Seymour thanked the legislature for its leadership and foresight. "BioNetwork is closely watched by other states and countries that realize the economic value our coordinated approach provides to training for this industry. Last year's Milken survey stated that the biopharmaceutical industry generated $1.3 billion for North Carolina. This legislative funding will help BioNetwork retain, grow and attract this industry to North Carolina," she said. "BioNetwork has already made an impact on site- selection decisions, so this funding is strategic for North Carolina." Industry will also be pleased with the spending. In the past year, already, the injection of funding from Golden LEAF into BioNetwork enabled community colleges to ramp up training across the state. Terence Novak, the Chief Marketing Officer for DSM, an international contract manufacturer with a large facility in Greenville, NC, had this to say at BIO International in Philadelphia; "BioNetwork has been instrumental in helping us find a qualified workforce, and it now takes much less time to train workers for our aseptic lines. Our aseptic processing is state of the art, world class. It can take as much as six months to train just one operator to go into the facility to work on the line. The amount of time it takes now, with BioNetwork, is much less and they can hit the ground running." BioNetwork forms part of an initiative given $60 million in start-up funding by Golden LEAF. The initiative, called the Biomanufacturing and Pharmaceutical Training Consortium, is made up by the NCCCS BioNetwork, North Carolina State University, and North Carolina Central University. The consortium combines the resources of North Carolina's university and community college systems to meet the growing demands of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. NCCU will host BRITE - the Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise in a new building on its campus. NC State will host the BTEC - the Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center - a commercial scale pilot plant at its Centennial Campus and it will share that space with BioNetwork. The BioNetwork Capstone Center will provide workforce training at the BTEC in the dedicated community college aseptic suite. The Capstone Center is already offering highly technical training to industry at its interim facility at Wake Tech, with courses such as Microbial Identification and Operations in Biotechnology Processes. Of the $8.7 million the Community College System received from Golden LEAF, $6.4 million has been distributed via 65 competitive grants to community colleges statewide. The grants enabled colleges to buy the specialized equipment required to train workers for the biopharmaceutical industry as well as develop specialized curricula and short courses, provide faculty enhancement and launch a student recruitment campaign. Six Centers were created, providing the necessary infrastructure and support to assist community colleges further develop the education and training they offer. This networking has enabled community colleges to grow the numbers of students and workers they can train and numbers have shown a positive upward trend. It will also allow community colleges to remain up-to-date with the needs of this fast-changing industry. More about BioNetwork can be found at its website www.ncbionetwork.org Research shows that industry growth - as is typical elsewhere in the US - is outstripping the numbers of trained workers. The continued funding by the legislature will enable BioNetwork to address this. "Not only will we meet industry's needs, if a company considers opening a facility in North Carolina, we will be able to give them the assurance that by the time they open their doors, we will have a pool of trained workers from which they can choose," said Seymour. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biotech-news/ http://www.arizonabiotech.com/ http://www.azhttp.com/ http://www.bill-austin.com/ http://www.arizonabiotech.com/ <a href="http://www.arizonabiotech.com/";>Arizona Biotech</a> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biotech-news/ <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biotech-news/";>Biotech News</a> http://www.arizonaentrepreneurs.com/ <a href="http://www.arizonaentrepreneurs.com/";>Arizona Entrepreneurs</a> http://www.azhttp.com/ <a href="http://www.azhttp.com/";>Arizona High Tech</a> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biotech-news/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! 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