The Medical College of Georgia's Life Science Business Development Center got a healthy shot in the arm recently when Gov. Sonny Perdue announced the creation of the Life Sciences Innovation Center.
It marked the state's fourth Center of Innovation partnership and commits the state to providing $150,000 a year for three years to aid in outreach and marketing. It's another building block in helping MCG's Life Science Center translate its research into business success and shows that the state has confidence Augusta's medical community can make it work.
"The life science center represents an investment in one of the true growth industries of the 21st century," says Michael Gabridge, a top executive for technology transfer and economic development.
He's right. That's why the Perdue administration - and before that the Roy Barnes administration - made life sciences a top biotech economic development priority. The average wage in that industry, which is a growth industry, is about twice that in the manufacturing industry, which is struggling.
The MCG program will be targeting health-care-related firms to locate here to work with its life science incubator. Already it has attracted one tenant: an offshoot of HealthTronics, which has the nation's largest fleet of lithotripsy machines that use ultrasound waves to break up kidney stones.
As Augusta Mayor Bob Young says, the new MCG incubator is very important to the area's budding life sciences community. Down the line, if it continues to make progress, it will become increasingly important to the rest of our community. Life sciences is cutting edge, so it's heartening that local and state leaders are working hard to make it a key part of our area's future.
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