St. Louis Awarded $1 Million Grant to Promote Life Science Innovation
September 23, 2010
St. Louis, Mo. -- The Coalition for Plant and Life Sciences (the Coalition) and the BioGenerator today announced that St. Louis has been awarded a $1 million i6 Challenge Grant to promote the country's best ideas in technological innovation and economic growth. This is one of only six grants awarded nationwide today by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke as part of the i6 innovation competition. It is the only award made within the 10-state region that includes Missouri. The Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration, in partnership with National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation, administered the competition.
The grant winner is a regional collaboration, brought together by the Coalition and the BioGenerator, that includes St. Louis County, St. Louis City, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Saint Louis University, the University of Missouri -- St. Louis and Washington University.
The i6 Challenge Grant is designed to strengthen regional competitiveness in science and innovation, which is only possible through broad cooperation among entities with complementary expertise, the Coalition said.
"The i6 innovation competition served as a catalyst for regional collaboration," said Donn Rubin, Executive Director of the Coalition for Plant and Life Sciences. "St. Louis' ability to combine the public sector and civic non-profit organizations with our great universities and research institutions was a powerful advantage in our bid. Clearly, collaboration breeds success."
The BioGenerator will lead the implementation of this two-year grant, which will help to accelerate early innovations from the region's research institutions and entrepreneurs, making them ready to form new businesses, attract private funding and ultimately create jobs. This effort represents a unique strategy to reduce barriers to commercializing innovations in very early stages of development.
"This grant will help us to turn more ideas into viable businesses. Our long-term ability to grow the regional economy, create jobs and build on St. Louis' enormous potential will depend on how well we can unleash innovation," Rubin said.
In addition to the lead institutions who will be responsible for implementing the grant, other partners include Center for Emerging Technologies, CORTEX, Nidus, MoFAST and Innovate St. Louis.
About the Coalition for Plant and Life Sciences
The Coalition is comprised of many of the region's top civic, business, research, and academic leaders. It is working to position St. Louis as a global center in the high-growth bioscience industry. By translating science into commerce, the Coalition promotes the economic vitality of St. Louis.
About the BioGenerator
BioGenerator is a privately funded, non-profit organization created to help build successful, sustainable life science companies located in St. Louis. In recent years, the BioGenerator has created and nurtured 13 new companies, including 6 in the last 18 months alone.
Contact:
Mack A. Bradley, StandPoint Public Affairs
314.324.8567m 314.732.1334o
mack@standpointpa.com
