ST. LOUIS NAMED "ONE OF FASTEST GROWING & TOP-RANKED EMERGING LIFE SCIENCES MARKETS IN THE U.S."

NOTE: This article was published two years ago, as St. Louis continued to emerge as a national leader in Plant & Life Sciences. This momentum has continued with this past week's announcement by St. Louis-based Benson Hill that they had gone public, yielding a $1.35-billion valuation --- as Benson Hill grows to capture its share of a projected plant-based meat segment alone of $140 billion, in addition to proprietary products in the plant-based protein, animal feed, and oil categories.

St. Louis' successful two-decade long emergence as the BioBelt: Center of Plant & Life Sciences is receiving substantial national recognition in a number of articles and U.S. rankings, dubbed a "biotech hotbed," in a fascinating in-depth article this week in BioSpace.com, as well as from a real estate perspective in the annual CBRE Research Report which annually ranks the biotech sector --- in which researchers at C.B. Richard Ellis rank St. Louis #6 in the nation and name St. Louis one of the fastest growing life sciences markets in the country:

St. Louis: One of the Fastest-Growing Life Sciences Markets | BioSpace.com | March 27, 2019

https://www.biospace.com/article/st-louis-one-of-the-fastest-growing-life-sciences-markets/

BioSpace.com notes that St. Louis' life sciences success is "built on the presence of several top academic institutions and commercial organizations, Washington University in St. Louis, BJC HealthCare (BJC), St. Louis University (SLU), Bayer (formerly Monsanto), University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL), Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, and others."

Singled out as unique and key civic assets in the St. Louis BioBelt's success to date are:

• the Center of Research, Technology & Entrepreneurial Exchange (CORTEX), the 240-acre bioscience district launched in 2002 by Washington University, UMSL, BJC, the Missouri Botanical Garden, Civic Progress, and the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association (RCGA). The article notes that since its founding, CORTEX has completed or has under construction 1.7 million square feet of new and adaptive reuse rehab space, representing over one-half billion dollars of investment, generating some 4,200 tech-related jobs to date. Further, when completed, it notes that the CORTEX Master Plan projects $2.3 billion of investment in over 4.5 million of research, office, clinical, residential, hotel, and retail facilities and an eventual 15,000 tech-related jobs;
• BioSTL (the nonprofit civic driver of the St. Louis BioBelt effort, which itself evolved from the original Coalition for Plant & Life Science, established by the Danforth Foundation and the RCGA back in 2000, and chaired by former Washington University Chancellor Dr. William Danforth);

"St. Louis could become biotech leader. The issue: Fostering economic sectors.” | NWI Times | Neal Peirce, Washington Post Writers Group | July 30, 2001

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V-OEel4pa7wBib5vLyM-Tw2nKpr_9f-z/view?usp=sharing 

• the BioGenerator and its Accelerator Labs, the privately-funded not for profit initiative "to build and invest in a robust pipeline of bioscience companies and entrepreneurs" supported by Wash U and St. Louis philanthropists William Danforth and John McDonnell. BioGenerator has has dramatically increased commercialization of biotech technologies in recent years;
• Bio Research & Development Growth (BRDG) Park and its Danforth Plant Science Center anchor, and related plant sciences office space, wet labs, greenhouses, growth chambers, microscopy and proteomics facilities in BRDG Park being developed by Wexford Science& Technology; and,
• the Helix Fund, which provides seed capital to earl-stage startups.

These St. Louis biotech assets (and others) were among the 5 overall strategies and 21 recommended specific actions by the Battelle Memorial Research Institute, following its in-depth Plant & Life Sciences Industry Cluster Study, commissioned and funded by the Danforth Foundation and the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association back in 2000.

Following the completion of the Battelle Report, the Coalition for Plant & Life Sciences was was established, and was chaired by Dr. William Danforth:

“Biotech Firm Raises $1.2 Million;

?St. Louis BioBelt Continues to Grow."

Dec 2018

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/biotech-startup-raises-12-m-stl-biobelt-continues-grow-dick-fleming 

The CBRE Report describes the St. Louis BioBelt as an emerging life science market and one of the several that "exhibit an attractive combination of a substantive life science workforce, including key scientists, strong recent life sciences employment growth, ample NIH funding, top-ranked schools and medical institutions, and a sizable high-tech workforce to support future convergence between their industries."

Highlighting one such nationally competitive advantage in NIH research funding, the BioSpace.com article cites St. Louis' ranking "#1 For Hospitals, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report, with Washington University receiving $484 million in NIH funding in 2018."

With respect to industry growth and another growth indicator, BioSpace.com cites the MassBio 2018 Industry Report, which noted, from 2008 to 2018, employment in Missouri biopharma manufacturing companies grew 15%, and from 2016 to 2017, grew another 4%.

The article concludes with a reference to CORTEX's documentation that 1,183 plant and life sciences companies currently make St. Louis their home.

Bravo to the past and present leaders of the St. Louis BioBelt's emergence as a national leader and a hotbed for the industry --- especially to Dr. Willam Danforth, and leaders of CORTEX, the BioGenerator, and BRDG.

As St. Louis now also aspires to become a national hub for FinTech, Geospatial Intelligence, Advanced Manufacturing, and Logistics, Freight & Transportation --- the success of its BioBelt Center of Plant & Life Sciences is an inspiring model to emulate.

--- Dick Fleming, CEO, Community Development Ventures, Inc., CIC@4220, CORTEX Innovation District, St. Louis