Study Calls For 10-Year, $302 Million Biotech Effort

DES MOINES, Iowa A new study calls for an effort to help turn Iowa into a center for new and emerging biotechnology. It would take 10 years and 302 (m) million dollars to do it, but supporters say thousands of high-paying jobs would be one of the benefits. The study by Battelle's Technology Partnership Practice, based in Columbus, Ohio, says 16-thousand and 50 new jobs would be created by the year 2014. It recommends boosting research at state universities and transforming that research into new businesses. A state "bioscience advocate" would advise state leaders on how to grow the industry. About seven percent of the state's jobs are linked to biotech.