Kansas Bioscience Authority Plans $26 Million for Research Initiatives in 2013

The board of directors for the Kansas Bioscience Authority has adopted an operating plan for the upcoming year that sets a target of investing more than $26 million in various research initiatives.

The plan is for fiscal year 2013, which started July 1.

To date, the KBA has invested $272 million in bioscience researchers and businesses. Wichita State University’s Center of Innovation for Biomaterials in Orthopaedic Research is among those recipients.

A KBA news release highlights some of the key points of the plan:

• Continued investment in the eminent scholar and rising star programs, which have predominantly served in the past to recruit key professionals to the University of Kansas Cancer Center to help KU gain the recently awarded National Cancer Institute designation.

• Investment in the new Biosecurity Research Attraction Program, which will support researchers at Kansas State University and elsewhere working to develop unique biosecurity research capabilities and facilities to address emerging animal health and public health threats.

• Further investment in expansion and attraction grants that add high-paying bioscience jobs and capital investment in Kansas. Previous such grants have produced one job for about every $10,000 invested, with the average annual wage for those jobs being nearly three-quarters more than the state’s annual average wage overall.

• Continued investment in the operations and programs of Heartland Plant Innovations, Manhattan, which is working to accelerate the discovery and commercialization of innovations that improve market performance of leading Kansas crops such as wheat and sorghum.

• $4 million available to help small Kansas bioscience companies through vouchers to support innovative research and development collaborations with other Kansas companies and universities and grants to support critical proof-of-concept projects and secure new federal funding.

• Support of the Life Sciences Manufacturing Initiative, a new program to address the lack of manufacturing capabilities in the medical device and drug sector that may limit the growth potential for the area’s life sciences. The complete 2013 operating plan is available online at www.kansasbioauthority.org/about-the-kba/aop/.