Just when you thought there couldn’t be another blog created, I’m doing just that. My blog will serve as the primary portal for reader feedback and contributor submissions, and become a vital component of our information service to the bioprocessing industry. As it takes form, we’ll be adding features that make it more useable and valuable, as well as a powerful forum for discussing the issues that cause the most trouble. Then to keep up with the times, we’ll offer the interface mechanisms for social networking services such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

But now let’s get down to brass tacks. Why are we still seeing so many talented people lose their jobs and so many promising companies close their doors? Of course “it’s the economy, stupid,” but I think it’s more than that. The business development models are all wrong and have been so for years, and the recession just made the structural flaws more destructive. Somehow we’ve developed a mindset in which every entrepreneur’s primary goal is to sell his business, and every big company wants to grow through acquisition. Guess what? It isn’t working and we’ve got to get back to basics and quit letting the finance people ruin our industry. They’ve been taking us down the “financial industry path” by creating a few companies that are too big to fail, an environment in which others can’t compete, and a resulting cost cutting frenzy which puts talented people on the street. 

Every industry, including ours, is better served by more, smaller companies. Most of the innovation and jobs come from smaller companies, but we don’t have an environment in which small firms can prosper, and certainly not one that entices entrepreneurs to risk everything. All the economic development programs are geared toward large firms, even while extolling the importance of small companies. For example, small companies can’t use tax incentives unless they can show a profit. But this is essentially all they are offered.

What small biotech companies have always needed are loan guarantees and the right strategic partners. These partners would benefit by licensing intellectual property, manufacturing rights, and marketing rights for the discoveries of these smaller and more innovative firms. And the small companies would be able to keep operating with grants, contract service income, licensing fees, and milestone payments. Sound familiar?

In addition, start-up firms need REAL incubator space with wet labs. The vast majority of “incubators” are simply real estate deals that cater to large, academic grant holders. Unless someone is willing to subsidize the cost of this space, or as the Wall Street folks say: “Take the haircut,” it’s essentially worthless for economic development. So who’s going to take the haircut to jumpstart economic development for our industry? I know right now it won’t be the universities, and so far, it hasn’t been the vast majority of state or local government entities.

Let’s get real about putting our industry back on a sustainable path.

The-Boss@BioTechnoBlog.Net, BS ChE, MBA