Riley sees state as biotech world leader
Governor hails potential for growth from new Hudson-Alpha Institute
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Gov. Bob Riley said the creation of a $130 million biotech facility here can position Alabama to "lead the world" in cutting-edge research on disease treatment, while creating a new kind of economy for the state.
Riley made the formal announcement Tuesday of the state's $50 million cash commitment to help build the Hudson-Alpha Institute for Biotechnology during a luncheon attended by several hundred people at the Von Braun Center.
"This can be a catalyst for a new type of growth," Riley said. "We are actively, aggressively positioning Alabama toward becoming a worldwide leader in biotechnology."
The institute is led by Huntsville biotechnology pioneer Jim Hudson. It will combine high-level nonprofit research with providing space for biotech companies to develop and market discoveries made by the institute. Hudson also wants to provide a major forum for science education throughout the state.
The institute is set to begin construction this winter and be completed by fall 2007. It will house and originally support eight research teams and provide license opportunities for companies based there to make commercial use of institute researcher discoveries.
The institute is backed by $80 million in private donations. The donors have asked not to be identified, Hudson said.
Won key support
Alabama's $50 million commitment to the project will likely be generated through the state's Capital Improvement Trust Fund which uses a share of the money generated by the state's oil and natural gas lease royalties.
Riley and Hudson said the chairmen of the Alabama Legislature's operating fund committees, Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, and Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery, provided key support for the project. Under state law, use of the fund has to be approved by one of the two chairmen. Both Bedford and Knight said they supported the project because it was good for Alabama.
Bedford, a cancer survivor, said the potential of the center to help find cures and treatments for disease can change "not just Alabama, but America."
Competition for such funds is fierce across the state and Knight said he was an "extremely difficult sell" for project supporters. Knight said he spent "countless hours" on the phone with U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Huntsville, who sought to persuade him of the project's value.
"After analyzing the type of project that it was, I knew I had to put aside my regional interests and think about the state as a whole," Knight said.
The biotech campus at Cummings Research Park located near the new Discovery High School will become the second largest of its kind in the United States, Riley said.
Bedford said there were turf battles surrounding the project, with Birmingham officials strongly supportive of the biotechnology and medical work performed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Those supporters wanted any state investment in expanding biotechnology to go there.
Riley and Hudson both said Tuesday the institute represents opportunity for the entire state, not just North Alabama.
A UAB spokeswoman, asked to comment on the announcement, said Tuesday the university has received "wonderful" support from both U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, and Riley, and said they've recognized the role UAB can play in the state's economic development through expansion of its biomedical research programs.
"We look forward to proving them right by sustaining our record of accomplishment in research and technology transfer," said Dale Turnbough, UAB vice president for public relations and marketing.
UAB reported that since 1986 its research foundation has commercialized faculty discoveries worth more than $22.6 million in royalty and license fees, 350 patents, 1,481 invention disclosures and 380 license and related agreements.
Opportunity tremendous
Rob Seitz, CEO of Huntsville's Applied Genomics, which will become one of the original eight biotech companies housed in the institute, said the opportunity to gather nonprofit research and commercial ventures together will provide tremendous opportunities.
"One of the big problems in biotechnology is that a great deal of the leads you find have value to the scientific community, but no real value as a commercial product," Seitz said. "The advantage of the institute, which combines profit and nonprofit entities, is that they can pool resources and allow scientific results to reach the community while also giving the commercial entity the opportunity to transform those small percentage of leads into products."
Riley likened the future of biotechnology to the Internet and the speed which it has transformed modern communications.
"In order to succeed, biotech research needs access to cutting-edge technology, venture capital, technology parks, a strong public-private partnership and a well-educated work force," Riley said. "The Huntsville area has all those elements in spades."
Riley also stressed that the jobs created by the institute - some 900 predicted when it's fully operating, with an average salary of $60,000 - will remain in Alabama, never to be exported to India, China, Honduras or Mexico.
Hudson, who said the institute represents a long-held dream, choked up Tuesday when talking about Huntsville's commitment to science and discovery and how it shaped his life. He described wanting to become a scientist because of the work done by the Wernher von Braun rocket team.
He said he was part of the crowd that cheered the team as they were carried through downtown Huntsville. He remembered weeping when the Apollo 1 astronauts were killed and he described holding his young children up to the TV set so they could watch Neil Armstrong walk on the moon.
"Not since those days have I felt so much excitement," Hudson said. "Not since those days have I had so much expectation for the future."
© 2005 The Huntsville Times
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